Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - Voice of America
Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - July 02, 2024
This is VOA News. I'm Kristina Menente. U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday criticized the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity that was seen as a win for his election rival, former President Donald Trump. Biden said the decision meant Trump was highly unlikely to go on trial before this year's November election for his role in seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The U.S. Supreme Court found on Monday Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, but can't be for private acts in a landmark ruling recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution. Donald Trump's lawyers are asking the Manhattan judge and his hush money criminal case for permission to file a motion to set aside the verdict. AP's Lisa Dwyer has more. In a letter to judge Juan Mershan, Trump's lawyer cited the new U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity and asked the judge to delay Trump's sentencing while he weighs the high court's decision and how it could influence the New York case. The Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that former presidents have brought immunity from prosecution. Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records arising from what prosecutors say was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment just before the 2016 presidential election. I'm Lisa Dwyer. Barrill has strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane in the Eastern Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said late Monday. The hurricane was located about 840 miles east to southeast of Jamaica with maximum sustained winds of up to 160 miles per hour. The U.S. National Hurricane Center called the Category 4 storm an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation. Michael Brennan is the hurricane center's director. You can see the very well-defined eye in both visible and infrared satellite imagery. Barrill has restrinked in this morning as it's gone through an eyewell replacement cycle. So now is when we're experiencing those catastrophic Category 4 wind conditions in portions of the Grenadines, places like Union Island, Palm Island, Petite, Martinique, Petite St. Vincent, Carriacou. The appearance of a major hurricane this early in the Atlantic hurricane season is rare. That was Alex Cohen from Reuters. Grenada's prime minister said late Monday that one person has died and authorities had not been able to assess the situation on the other islands. There were initial reports of major damage, but communications are largely down. Grand jury transcripts have been released in the Jeffrey Epstein sexual assault case. A P correspondent, Ben Thomas, reports Florida prosecutors knew Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted teenage girls before they cut a plea deal with him long criticized as too lenient. That from transcripts detailing 2006 grand jury testimony. One girl testified she was paid $300 to give Epstein a sexual massage and $200 every time she recruited a friend. The investigation was the first of many by law enforcement into Epstein's rape and sex trafficking of teenagers and how his ties to the rich and powerful seem to allow him to avoid prison for more than a decade. Under that deal, he was sentenced to one and a half years in the Palm Beach County jail system during which he was allowed to go to his office almost daily as part of a work release program. I'm Ben Thomas. South Korean joint chiefs of staff spokesperson Lisa June says its military has responded to North Korea's Tuesday report that it had test fired a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a huge warhead, saying it is highly possible that it was deception. North Korea is pushing to modernize its weapons arsenal to cope with what it calls US led threats. Iran's two presidential candidates are accusing each other of having no solution for the country's problems ahead of Friday's runoff election. This election is aimed at choosing a successor for the late President Abraham Raisi, who died last month in a helicopter crash. You'll find expanded coverage of world news and events at our website VOA news.com 24 hours a day for pictures, videos, stories and more. Follow Voice of America on X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. I'm Kristina Menente, VOA News. The US Supreme Court ruled for the first time that former presidents have brought immunity from prosecution. I think this is a remarkably sweeping opinion that upends assumptions that we have had for almost 250 years about nobody being above the law. I find it shocking and frankly I find it terrifying. Hurricane barrel rips through the southeast Caribbean. Honestly have not seen any recorded storms perform such an intensification rate prior to September 1st in history books. And documenting McDonald's restaurants, global history in photos and words. Checking in from the largest McDonald's in the Philippines, the base of Mt. Fuji, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Nevada, Linvallen, Sweden, Yangtuo, Singapore. Today's Tuesday, July 2nd and this is VOA's International Edition. I'm Scott Walterman, a groundbreaking decision from the US Supreme Court. The president has absolute immunity for actions that are within the core of his constitutional functions. That's Joel Paul, a professor of law at the University of California Hastings Law School in San Francisco. It's that sort of mind-boggling. It is more than mind-boggling. It is contrary to everything in our history up to this point. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution extending the delay in the Washington criminal case against Donald Trump. On charges, he plotted to overturn the 2020 presidential election loss. All but ending prospects the former president could be tried before the November election. In a historic 6-3 ruling, the court's conservative majority, including the three justices appointed by Trump, narrowed the case against him and returned it to the trial court to determine what is left of special counsel Jack Smith's indictment. There's never been a court holding that says that the president does not have immunity. So it's not that the court has overruled something that was already there. But there and there haven't been criminal prosecutions of former presidents in the past either. So in that sense, this is an unprecedented situation on both sides. Let's Professor Carolyn Shapiro, the founder and co-director of Chicago Kents Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States. There is a principle that nobody is above the law. And it has always been understood that the president himself has to abide by the law. This opinion not only does it grant this immunity, but it grants the immunity in some really sweeping ways that are, I think, go far beyond anything that anybody could have assumed or anticipated. For example, the court says that the motive for what the president does is not relevant in determining whether or not there's an official act. So if the president conspires with justice department officials to throw an election, because talking to justice department officials is part of an official act is generally an official act. The fact that he's doing it for corrupt and criminal reasons is not relevant, and it's still, and he still will have immunity. So my first thing, the first thing that popped into my head was, so Nixon calls the FBI and says, don't investigate Watergate. Is not illegal under this ruling? Yes, I mean, the remarkable thing about this ruling, one of the remarkable things about this ruling is that it suggests that Nixon's pardon was superfluous, because basically what Nixon did was he told people who worked for him to commit a crime. But he communicated that within his constitutional authority as president, and therefore the court would say, I assumed that he had absolute immunity. Before this ruling, Nixon's actions would have been considered obstruction of justice. We would have, yes, I mean, and it would be, we would care about the intent behind the motivation behind the call. Was it, was it part of a criminal cover up, or was it part, was it because the Nixon believed somehow that it was in the interests of the country or that this was I don't know, a misguided investigation and some sincere way. That's that those distinctions are gone. The ability, I mean, when, you know, Nixon said, when the president does it, it's not illegal and that was seen as a shocking thing to say. It appears that he may have been right under the current Supreme Court. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined by fellow liberal justices Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson delivered a sharply worded dissent, saying the ruling effectively creates a law free zone around the president. The constitutional powers in any way, under the majority's reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Once again, Joel Paul, a professor of law at the University of California Hastings Law School in San Francisco. The Constitution has no language in it that affords the president any immunity. In fact, the impeachment clause in the Constitution expressly states that the president can be prosecuted criminally for actions that he undertakes after he is impeached. If the court were correct in its reading of the Constitution, it would suggest that even after being impeached, the president couldn't be criminally prosecuted for those things that are within his core presidential functions. The president orders the military to have a coup or tells the FBI to go out and assassinate his political rivals. This court suggests by this opinion that it would fall within his absolute immunity because he's communicating with the people who work for him. And that seems contrary to the very principle that no man is against the law, no man is above the law. The thing that's most curious about this decision by the conservative justices is that they claim to be traditionalists arguing that they only make decisions based on what's written in the Constitution and based on history in previous court decisions. Professor Carolyn Shapiro, the founder and co-director of Chicago Kent Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States. Yes, the conservative justices. Most of them claim to be original, which is to say that they said they look to what they would call the original public meaning of the Constitution at the time it was written and ratified, or the specific amendments at the time they were written and ratified. And they rely on that, that what they can deduce from that history and also from tradition. So they look to what has been part of our system for a long time to determine the meaning of the Constitution. Now, they make claims about how this leads to a certain amount of constraint on judges and justices. They make claims about this being the most sensible way to engage in constitutional interpretation. Those are highly contestable claims, but in this case, they didn't even try to do that. In this case, just as Sotomayor lays out the history and lays out the history that shows that the framers would have been aghast at something like this. They did not want to have a king. We just fought a revolution to get away from a king. And the majority has really nothing to say about it. They just kind of say, well, yeah, there's some evidence there, but it's kind of a wash and then they move on. They engage in no meaningful historical analysis at all. So that's, I think, a big part of her, of her accusation. President Biden weighed in in a live speech to the nation Monday night. The presidency is the most powerful office in the world. So an officer not only tests your judgment, perhaps even more importantly, it's an office that can test your character. Because you're not only face moments when you need to courage, exercise the full power of the presidency. You also face moments where you need the wisdom to respect the limits of the power of the office of the presidency. This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States. With today's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed. For all, for all practical purposes, today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits what a President can do. This is a fundamentally new principle, and it's a dangerous precedent. Because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States. Biden then turned to Donald Trump. Only four years ago, my predecessor sent a violent mob to the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. We all saw with our own eyes. We sat there and watched it happen that day. Attack on the police. The ransacking of the Capitol. A mob literally hunting down the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Gallows erected to hang the Vice President of Mike Pence. I think it's fair to say it's one of the darkest days in the history of America. Now the man who sent that mob to the U.S. Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day. And the American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election. The public has the right to know the answer about what happened on January 6th before they asked to vote again this year. Now because of today's decision, that is highly, highly unlikely. It's a terrible disservice to the people of this nation. The Supreme Court's ruling in former President Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case makes it all but certain that the Republican will not face trial in Washington ahead of the November election. The court did not dismiss the indictment alleging Trump illegally scheme to cling to power after his loss to President Biden. But the ruling still amounts to a major victory for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee whose legal strategy in all his criminal cases has focused on delaying the proceedings until after the election. The Trump legal team is also moving to have his New York Hushmani trial verdict overturned based on the immunity ruling. This is International Edition on the Voice of America. We're following these other stories from around the world. The Netherlands will supply Ukraine with the first of 24 promised F-16 fighter jets soon. The Netherlands has been one of the driving forces behind an international coalition to supply Ukraine with F-16s. Panama's new president Jose Raul Molina took office on Monday, valing to reactivate the economy and put the brakes on illegal immigration coming through the Central American nation's southern jungle. The Brazilian Amazon recorded 13,489 wildfires in the first half of this year. The worst figure in 20 years, the total up 61% compared with the 8,300 fires from the same period last year. An increase that experts say is the result of a historic drought that struck the world's largest tropical rainforest last year. After weeks of political deal-making, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the cabinet of his new government of national unity. Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg that ministers from different parties will now have to put political differences aside to run the country successfully. South Africa's new ministers are a diverse group from a former armed robber to a white Afrikaner nationalist. After the long governing African National Congress or ANC lost its majority in May elections, Ramaphosa opted to form an inclusive government with 10 opposition parties that don't necessarily see eye to eye. Ramaphosa had to divvy up cabinet positions to keep everyone happy with the result a somewhat bloated government of 32 ministers and 43 deputy ministers. The establishment of the government of national unity in its current form is unprecedented in the history of our democracy. Kate Bartlett, V.O.A. News, Johannesburg. [Music] V.O.A.'s International Edition continues. I'm Scott Wolterman. The Israeli army is ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians from much of Gaza's second largest city, Hanunis, associated press correspondent Joe Federman. The latest order is a sign that Hamas has managed to regroup and we could soon see Israeli forces moving back into Hanunis and a resumption of heavy fighting. The evacuation call covered the entire eastern half of Hanunis and a large swath of the Gaza Strip Southeast corner. The third UN conference on Afghanistan is concluded in Doha. Joining us now from Doha is V.O.A.'s Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman. I realize that this process is moving forward at a glacial pace because it's an extremely difficult topic to maneuver. We're not really expecting anything is what I'm saying to come out of this conference like, "Oh, we got this or we got that." But in a bigger picture, longer term, what is the United Nations trying to do here with the Taliban? So these talks are basically a product of an assessment that the UN did and the result of the assessment was that basically there needs to be structured engagement with Afghanistan. And what that basically means is that the global community must get together and decide together in a practical manner about how to move forward with Afghanistan where the Taliban's heartland government has not been recognized and is coming up on three years in August. Afghanistan, when you listen to the Taliban, their demands are that their frozen assets must be released, that there shouldn't be any difficulty for people to do business outside of Afghanistan. Now, if I'm not banks don't really face any sanctions, but the banking system is largely cut off because Western banks don't really want to do business with the foreign banks because of the reputational risk that they offer and also because of just the financial risk that is involved. On the other hand, the basic problem that the Afghan Taliban government is completely not flexible at all when it comes to women's education, girls' education, women's, you know, their right to have mobility, to have access to public spaces. So certain parts have become very difficult to move on. Now, a Western diplomat that I was speaking to today, and he spoke to me on background, said that it's not as if the donor countries are using girls rights as a bargaining chip. That is not something that they want to do, but they still want to see that the Taliban make some kind of progress on issues that matter to Western countries that matter to the larger global community. Sara Zman, the OA's, Pakistan Bureau Chief in Doha. Thanks again for joining us with that update from the conference. Thank you for having me. Hurricane barrel strengthened as it turned toward the Caribbean's Windward Islands on Monday, threatening devastating flooding and storm surges as life threatening high winds picked up speed. Hurricane barrel is the first hurricane to reach category four this early in the season. And Christopher Rosoff, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research said the speed at which it strengthened is something they've never seen before this early in the year. It had a very intense shift in intensity from a category one to category four storm in less than 24 hours, making it one of the most impressive rapid intensification cases in Lelandic history. And we honestly have not seen any recorded storms perform such an intensification rate prior to September 1 in the history books so for a storm to do this in late June is something we have not seen before communications are down on the storm, so news about conditions there aren't available at the time of this show, the storm is on path to hit Jamaica where warnings have now been issued. And finally, it is the largest restaurant chain in the world. Whenever it adds a menu item, it kind of changes or moves market. The photographer and writer Gary Hee, he has single-handedly documented McDonald's evolution over the last 40 years in his new book, Macathless. Checking in from the largest McDonald's in the Philippines, the base of Mount Fuji Amsterdam, Linvalen, Sweden, Yangtuo, Singapore, Porto, Portugal, Melbourne, Australia, Rotterdam. The seat of Macathless was sewn during a 2019 visit to a McDonald's in Marrakesh, where he experienced the meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan. The encounter sparked the realization that if McDonald's had to adapt its menu in Morocco, it must have done so elsewhere. This led to his comprehensive research on the world's largest restaurant chain culminating in this book. I visited McDonald's on six continents, 55 countries, maybe a couple more that are not in there, but the information kind of works their way into the text. And I must have had hundreds, if not thousands of meals. And I also photographed hundreds of items that are not available in the United States that McDonald's has sort of brought on to menus in these localized markets. Macathless will be released in November and is currently available for pre-sale. This has been International Edition of the Voice of America. On behalf of everyone here at VOA, thank you so much for spending this time with us. For pictures, stories, videos and more, follow VOA News on your favorite social media platforms. Online at VOA News.com and download our apps from Google and Apple. In Washington, I'm Scott Walter. Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently released the State Department's 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, which examines government's efforts to combat human trafficking through prosecuting traffickers, protecting victims and prevention. Around the globe, an estimated 27 million people are exploited for labor, services and commercial sex. Through force, fraud and coercion, they are made to toil and fields and factories in restaurants and residences. Traffickers prey on some of the world's most marginalized and vulnerable individuals, profiting from their plight. The theme of this year's report examines the challenges associated with digital technology and how it has created new opportunities for traffickers to exploit individuals for profits at Cindy Dyer, ambassador at large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons. This year's report also highlights the intersection between forced marriage and human trafficking and forced labor in Cuba's labor export program. We also highlight key human trafficking issues in the Western Hemisphere, said Ambassador Dyer. Unprecedented irregular migration affects many Western hemisphere countries, including the United States. We encourage governments to prevent trafficking and prioritize screening among migrants, who often assume deaths to pay migrant smugglers and are then vulnerable to trafficking when they are unable to repay the money. Unfortunately, some governments are part of the trafficking problem, said Ambassador Dyer. This year, the Secretary determined 13 countries exhibited a policy or pattern of trafficking. Belarus rejoined this list and Sudan was newly added to the list, while several other governments, including Cuba, the PRC and Russia, remained on the list from previous years. Another troubling trend highlighted in this year's report is the coercive or fraudulent recruitment of fighters for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities, middlemen, private military companies, or Russian-affiliated forces reportedly used coercion, deception, and in some cases, force in the recruitment of foreign nationals. On a more positive note, total prosecutions of traffickers and convictions were up overall, and victim identification reached the highest level ever, said Ambassador Dyer. For the third consecutive year, there was notable progress to combat labor trafficking, with labor trafficking convictions and victim identifications substantially increasing from last year to reach their highest levels ever. The United States is proud to work alongside its partners at home and abroad to protect the vulnerable and prevent more individuals from being sucked into the underworld of human trafficking. [MUSIC PLAYING]