Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - Voice of America
Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - July 12, 2024
for the years. This is the only news. I'm Tommy McNeil. If you take a ways as an Adles Summit in Washington wrap up wrapped up G7 foreign ministers met on the sidelines with Ukraine in the Middle East topping their agenda. US Secretary of State Adity Blinken said the G7's work compliments the work that's being done at NATO. I think you see through the G7 extraordinary collaboration and coordination on the critical issues of our time including of course Russia's aggression against Ukraine the ongoing challenges in the Middle East and all the work that we're doing together in the Indo-Pacific. The G7 leaders met in June in Italy where they affirmed their support for Ukraine announced a plan to provide Ukraine with 50 billion in new financing and called for a comprehensive deal in Gaza to lead to an immediate ceasefire. Meanwhile AP correspondent Charles Eladezma reports Beijing is telling NATO not to create chaos in Asia. China's accused NATO of seeking security at the expense of others until the alliance not to bring the same chaos to Asia. The statement from a foreign ministry spokesperson comes a day after NATO labeled China a decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine. Lin Jan said at a daily briefing NATO agitating about China's responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has synesthematives adding the bloc's so-called security comes at the cost of security of other countries to her back Russia's convention that NATO's expansion poses a threat to Russia. I'm Charles Eladezma. In Australian army private and her husband accused of spying for Russia and the first charges brought under El-Shelia sweeping espionage laws in acting in 2018. The Russian-born couple are Australian citizens with Russian passports and are scheduled to appear and Brisbane magistrates court Friday they're each charged with one counter preparing for an espionage offense. This is viewing news. AP Washington correspondent Sager McGonney reports US presidential Biden has used a rare solo news conference to forcefully defend both his record and his decision to stay in the presidential race. Still the president notes he does need to allay fears about his age and fitness. If I slow down I can't get the job done that's a sign that I shouldn't be doing it. Saying there is no indication of that yet but he did make two flubs within two hours answering the news conference's first question about Vice President Harris. I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President but I think she's not qualified to be president. And earlier at a NATO summit event with Ukraine's leader. The four quickly catching himself. I'm so focused on beating Putin. We got to worry about it anyway. I'm better. You are a hell lot better. Sager McGonney Washington. The head of the US agency overseeing American humanitarian assistance worldwide says Israel has agreed to an improved system across the Gaza Strip to ensure humanitarian workers and aid can more safely move around. Samantha Power Administrator of the US Agency for International Development said that Israel has also taken new steps to increase the flow of aid through its port of Ashdod just north of Gaza. Humanitarian workers have complained throughout the war that the system by which the Israeli military assures safe patch the passage to aid has been a failure power set a system by which the UN and Israeli military communicate more closely will be extended across Gaza. AP correspondent Joe Federer and reports the Israeli military has ordered a mass evacuation of the Gaza Strip's largest city. The Israeli military has ordered a mass evacuation from the Gaza Strip's largest city. Most of Gaza City's people evacuated long ago when Israel sent its troops into the city at the beginning of the war but tens of thousands of people are believed to remain behind. This has been a recurring pattern throughout the war where the Israeli army returns to areas where previously it had said it was done operating. That is AP show Federer and reporting. The world's population is now expected to grow by more than 2 billion people in the next decades and peak in the 2080s at around 10.3 billion which is a major shift from a decade ago. That's according to a new report by the United Nations Thursday the report released on world population day since that the global population is then expected to decline to around 10.2 billion by the end of the century. I'm Tommy McNeil, viewing news. He was president Joe Biden defends his fitness to be president. Am I getting the job done? Can you name me somebody who's gotten more major piece of advice I can pass to three and a half years? An Israeli military report finds the army failed to protect civilians on October 7th. The investigation found Israel's military was unprepared for the scenario of a massive infiltration of militants into Israel and want to own a giant set of dinosaur bones fully assembled well as one a for auction. APEX is the largest most complete stegosaurus ever found. Today is Friday July 12th and this is VIOA's International Edition I'm Scott Walterman. I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again. He was president Joe Biden opened his highly anticipated NATO news conference with a forceful defense of his foreign and domestic policies and batted away questions about his ability to serve another four years. The president pushed back at every suggestion that he was slowing down or showing noticeable signs of decline or that he was not in command of the job. My schedule has been full bore. I've done where's my first trumpet right now in his golf cart filling out a scorecard before he hits the ball. I mean look he's done virtually nothing and I have I don't know how many don't hold me to roughly 20 major events summer with thousands of people showing up. It was 20 minutes into the news conference before he got the first question that wasn't about his ability to stay in the race and govern if he won but those questions were few and far between the ones that word about that. As Biden made the case for why he still felt he had to and while he still felt he could beat former president Donald Trump. Do you think our democracy's under siege based on this court? Do you think democracy's under siege based on project 2025? Do you think he means what he says when he says he's gonna do away with civil service eliminates the Department of Education makes you I mean we've never been here before and that's the other reason why I didn't you say hand off to another generation. I've got to finish this job. I've got to finish this job because there's so much at stake. There were a few gaps like when he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump but for the most part he answered complex policy and personal questions even so. Biden is facing a growing chorus of calls from lawmakers and celebrities and other prominent Democrats to step aside from the 2024 race and that's not likely to go away after one news conference performance so if it turns out that Biden is not the Democratic Party nominee who would be in our continuing coverage of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns looks at some of the contenders. President Joe Biden says he's in this race to win. I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president. Following his debate struggles late last month some leaders of his party are calling on Biden to step down as the presumptive Democratic nominee but after months of voter primaries and caucuses the Democratic Party cannot force him out says University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato. There is only one way for a nominee to be removed and that is for the nominee to decide not to run before the convention to open it up to let the in this case Democratic National Committee set the rules for the convention. If Biden does step down Vice President and running mate Kamala Harris would top the list of Democrats to replace him. Harris says Biden is the party's nominee and demonstrated her loyalty by sliding Trump who has split from his former Vice President Mike Pence. Note between Joe Biden and Donald Trump only one candidate on that stage has the endorsement of his own vice president Joe Biden. Harris as the party's presidential nominee might help with independent voters says University of Southern California political science professor Christian Gross. The one thing with Kamala Harris though I think makes her a little bit more electable than Biden right now so if you look at the polling there's more independence who are undecided about her so she can persuade people in a way that Biden maybe can't persuade people to move. Also on the completely unofficial list of people who might replace Biden is California Governor Gavin Newsom. He too says he's backing Biden and showed his support campaigning for the president's reelection in Michigan last week. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is among those discussed as a possible Biden replacement. She too says she's still backing the president. Whitmer won reelection in an important swing state and is popular with national Democrats for supporting labor unions and efforts to combat gun violence. Week after week in America we see grim familiar headlines. Every place you can think of every situation you can imagine has been shattered by gun violence. Kentucky governor Andy Bashir is less known nationally than Newsom or Whitmer but he is a popular governor in a southern region dominated by republican politics. Illinois governor JB Pritzker hosts this year's democratic convention and has the personal wealth to self-finance much of what would be a last-minute presidential run. And then there's former first lady Michelle Obama who has consistently rejected any notion of running for office but who remains popular with many voters. A Reuters Ipsos poll last week showed Biden and Trump in a tie but Michelle Obama beating Trump by more than 10 percentage points. Sabato says there's no way she's running. She's much too smart after eight years in the White House to want to go back much less to be present. So you know we can speculate about names all night long but what matters is who has the intense ambition the ability to raise money and the opportunity to put together the kind of coalition that could produce a majority in the convention. If Biden stays in the race that speculation about other names may carry on through next month's Democratic Party Convention in Chicago. Scott Stearns, V.A. News. We're following these other stories from around the world. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Horban is said to have met with Donald Trump in Florida on Thursday that according to three people with knowledge of the matter. South Korea and NATO have signed an airworthiness certification for South Korean-built military aircraft. The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday demanded that Russia quote urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorized personnel unquote from Ukraine's Zapparicia nuclear power plant and return it to the full control of Ukrainian authorities. The 193 member general assembly adopted the resolution 99 votes in favor, 9 against and 60 abstentions. At a summit between India and Russia this week, both countries said they were committed to deepening the relationship and Jana Pashrisha reports on why India is enhancing its partnership with Russia which has been isolated by Western countries over its war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin's confirmant of his country's highest civilian honor on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a recent summit in Moscow showcased the commitment made by the two leaders to enhance their ties. Indian Prime Minister Modi told Putin that the foundation you set for a strategic relationship between the two countries has become stronger and blossomed over time. India's effort to keep ties on track is driven partly by the decades-old dependence of the world's second-largest military on Russian weapons. Harsh Panthe is Vice President for Studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. Despite attempts at diversification that India still remains very much a country that is in control of Russian weaponry that you know Russian technology, Russian weapons systems pose a legacy issue as far as India's defense policies concerned and it's unlikely to change any time soon. So I think India will have to continue to keep Russia in good humor. New Delhi which has not joined Western countries in isolating Russia for its invasion of Ukraine pledged to increase bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030. New Delhi also does not want to isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Due to fears that Russia's growing ties with China pose a geostrategic challenge to India as its border confrontation with Beijing persists, Panthe said. Russia and China of course have taken the relationship to another level and I think there are concerns in India that if this relationship continues it might significantly alter India's national security calculus and that's something that India certainly does not want to happen. India has not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine but in Moscow Modi urged a resolution through dialogue calling the deaths of children heart-wrenching. Modi said it is not possible to find solutions on the battlefield. He said that peace talks cannot succeed amid bombs, guns and bullets. The remarks were seen as an effort to balance India's failure to join the United States in criticizing the conflict. Washington's partnership is also critical for India according to Sun Kalp, Gurtur, at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. UF is also a major partner when it comes to technology with trade, defense, everything. Same with Russia. So I think India needs both. Following the summit, White House Press Secretary Karin Jompere said at a press briefing that all countries including India must support efforts to realize peace in Ukraine. So we also believe India's long-standing relationship with Russia gives it the ability to urge the President, President Putin to end his brutal war and unprovoked war in Ukraine. There is growing understanding in western countries or why India is nurturing ties with Russia, Pant again. The criticism from the West has also been more measured understanding the imperative that India at the end of the day is also looking at the Russia relationship to the China lens and not simply through the lens of the Russia-Western conflict. However, balancing ties between the United States and Russia could become more challenging if the Ukraine conflict drags on. Anjanapastricha, VOA News, New Delhi. VOA's international edition continues. I'm Scott Wultraman. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant on Thursday called for a state inquiry into failings around the October 7th Hamas attack saying it should investigate Galant himself and his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now the Israeli military published on Thursday the findings of a first probe into its own security failings during the Hamas attack acknowledging it had not protected the citizens of one of the worst hit communities. Here's Reuters correspondent Zachary Goldman with the details. Kabut's Bayeri was one of the worst hit Israeli communities in the devastating October 7th attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip. More than 100 people were killed in the attack on the community of about 1,000 people and 32 members were taking captive back to Gaza, 11 of whom are still believed held hostage. And on Thursday the Israeli military published the findings of a first probe into its own security failings acknowledging it failed to protect the citizens of Bayeri. Israeli Army spokesperson Daniel Huggari. "It is painful and difficult for me to say this. The Israeli Defense Forces should have defended the residents of Kabut's Bayeri. But unfortunately we were not there. For long hours of fighting for hours the residents of Bayeri defended their families with their bodies alone in front of the terrorists." The investigation found Israel's military was unprepared for the scenario of a massive infiltration of militants into Israel, had inadequate forces in the area, and did not have a clear picture of the events until hours after the attack began. The rampage through Bayeri and other Israeli communities near the border with Gaza killed 1,200 people. According to Israeli tallies, it was Israel's deadliest day and the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. The military presented its reports to Bayeri's residents, many of whom were relocated across the country to a resort beside the Dead Sea. Amit Solvei is Kabut's Bayeri's chairman. "We didn't get answered because they don't have an answer. They did an investigation and the conclusion of this investigation this is what's supposed to calm me down in the future. But we didn't get the answer why the army didn't come in a minute." Israeli Defense Minister Jov Galant on Thursday called for a state inquiry into the security failings of the October 7th attack. He said the probe should investigate Galant himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Galant spoke at a military graduation ceremony with Netanyahu present. Netanyahu has dismissed past calls to form a state inquiry. "Woulders correspond to Zachary Gorman reporting. Violence in Cartoum has forced doctors without borders to evacuate its team from the Turkish hospital. It's one of the few remaining hospitals operating in the Sudanese city. The MSF team had been providing hands-on life-saving treatment in the hospital for nearly 14 months during the ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary rapid support forces." Claire and Nicolette, head of the MSF emergency response in Sudan, tells via ways Carol Van Dam, the decision was not made lightly. "Unfortunately, the past months, June, the months of June, it was very hard for the team with many inclusion inside the hospital and some violence with some armed men coming and shooting around for treating their patients quicker and so on. And really, the situation was so hard for the team that they requested to go out of the Turkish hospital for a little while at least. So the situation was really, really tense and very difficult to continue activities in Cartoum at the moment." I understand that even at one point recently at the Turkish hospital, the team was aggressively woken up and and Kalishnikovs were fired in their bedrooms? "Yes indeed, so the team had been living in the hospital for four months now, most of the team at least. And unfortunately, yes, in June, there was someone did because of the current fighting, obviously, and yes, armed men penetrated inside the house and the rooms of our staff and and that shooting around." Is surgery even still going on at this hospital? "Ministry of health is trying its best to continue activities, but surgery has to stop because of the lack of now and of MSF. We struggle for the moment." Who controls this part of Cartoum? Why do you feel like is there a blockade underway and is that why you feel like you've had to pull out your team? "So unfortunately, we cannot rotate our team since October last year, so because of the blockade in this, both for personal and also for supplies. So it means that student authorities have refused one after the other our request of travel family to get to Cartoum to this area and the RSF control, which means that indeed we cannot rotate our team. We didn't manage to send enough supply for almost eight to nine months. So the situation has been really, really difficult and with the lack of staff and with the lack of protection as well of the presence of our full team as much as we could." "Now MSF has pulled out of the hospital, at least for now. How many hospitals or health facilities are even operating still in the capital?" "So there are very few hospital working, I mean, functional at the moment. There are still a few of them, but for instance, for pediatric school maternity, it's really difficult now. And there are for instance, neonatology, it's only in Turkish hospitals. So now I'm very unsure, our ministry efforts will manage to continue activity there and we'll be able to do this patient. So for surgery, there are two to three hospitals still operating and obviously as well, because it's so difficult for the people to move around in the city, even to get there, it will not be easy to access a few operational hospitals." "So what is MSF asking for from both sides in this war?" "Well, basically, we really call for warring parties to protect civilians, to protect health structures, to protect health staff, and unfortunately that's not what we are witnessing." "That's Claire Nicollet, the head of the MSF's emergency response in Sudan, speaking with VOA's Carol Van Dam from Paris. And finally, Apex is the largest, most complete Stegosaurus ever found." "That's Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's global head of science and popular culture. Yes, Sotheby's auction house. That's because the dinosaur is up for auction this month." "Who wouldn't be excited about these massive creatures? I think we've been, you know, we've been talking about them forever. We've kind of built them into mythology, the concept of dragons and Godzilla. I mean Godzilla is based on Stegosaurus, you know, it's just a bipedal Stegosaurus, basically. It's just something that's really captured our imagination." "The fossil stands 3.3 meters tall. It's 6.9 meters long and boasts an impressive femur with a length of 1.14 meters. It'll be up for auction at Sotheby's in New York on July 17th." "You know, I think the fact that they're gone. You know, they're completely gone. Our Earth was so wildly different, ruled by completely different creatures and all we have left are kind of, you know, the fossilized evidence." "So if you're like me, there's really only one question, right? How much? Apex carries an estimated price tag of between 4 to 6 million dollars. This place is Apex among the most valuable dinosaur fossils ever to be offered on the market. This has been International Edition on the Voice of America on behalf of everyone here at VOA. Thank you so much for joining us. For pictures, stories, videos, and more, follow VOA News on your favorite social media platform and online at VOANews.com. You can also download our apps from Apple and Google. In Washington, I'm Scott Wolter. Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government. Leaders from the 32 NATO member states and representatives from partner nations were greeted by President Joe Biden in Washington on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the alliance. "And here they signed the Washington Treaty and created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the single greatest, most effective defensive alliance in the history of the world." Today, said President Biden, NATO is a more powerful and better resource than it has ever been. "It's good that we're stronger than ever because this moment in history calls for our collective strength. Auto-crats on overturn global order, which is by and large kept for nearly 80 years and counting. Terrorist groups continue to plot evil schemes to cause mayhem and chaos and suffering. In Europe, food's war of aggression against Ukraine continues. And food wants nothing less, nothing less than Ukraine's total subjugation. And we know food won't stop in Ukraine, but make no mistake. Ukraine can and will stop Putin, especially with our full collective support." President Biden noted that nearly two dozen allied partners have signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine with more to follow. He announced the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Italy will provide Ukraine with the equipment for five additional strategic air defense systems. And in the coming months, he said, "The United States and our partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of additional tactical air defense systems." Make no mistake, Russia is failing in this war, said President Biden. "Over the two years in the Putin's war of choice, his losses are staggering. More than 350,000 Russian troops dead or wounded. Nearly 1 million Russians, many of them young people, have left Russia because they no longer see a future in Russia. And Kyiv was still standing two and a half years later and will continue to stand." NATO remains the bulwark of global security, said President Biden. "Again and again in critical moments, we chose unity over disunion, progress over retreat, freedom over tyranny, hope over fear. Again and again we stood behind our shared vision of a peaceful and prosperous Transatlantic community." Here at this summit, President Biden declared, "We gather to proclaim NATO is ready and able to secure that vision today and well into the future." That was an editorial.