Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - Voice of America
Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - July 30, 2024
This is The Daily News, I'm Tommy McNeil. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Monday, claimed victory in the country's presidential election, but opposition rival, Edmondo Gonzalez, claimed he was the victor and had the polling to prove it. Reuters correspondent Zachary Goldman. The United States has said it has serious concerns that the results announced by the electoral authority do not reflect the votes of the people. Meanwhile, reactions from Latin American leaders were mixed. Argentine President Javier Millet called the official result a fraud, while Costa Rica and Peru rejected it, and Chile said it would not accept any result that was not verifiable. Russia and Cuba cheered Maduro's victory. Reuters correspondent Zachary Goldman. Analysts say that Armenia's military exercises with the United States in July and increased diplomatic contacts with Western Europe suggest efforts to pivot away from Moscow, Dorian Jones reports. July's joint military exercises in Armenia between Armenian and United States forces his analysts say the latest step in Yarovan's efforts, backed by Washington, to pivot away from its Russian neighbors' fear of influence and more towards the West. Armenia is landlocked and wants to reduce its economic dependence on Russia. It's pressing Turkey to open its border to provide a new gateway to Western markets. Dorian Jones, VOA News, Istanbul. Bloody children ran screaming from a dance in yoga class like a scene from a horror movie to escape a teenager's savage knife attacks that killed two children and wounded 11 other people Monday in northwest England. A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in the stabbing in Southport, a seaside town near Liverpool. The motive was not clear, but police say detectives were not treating the attack as terror-related. This is VOA News. Authorities in Seoul said on Monday that North Korean officials are seeking medicines for Kim Jong-un's obesity-related health problems, AP correspondent Karen Shamis. South Korea spy agency told lawmakers that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have obesity-related health problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. It's added that Kim's officials are looking for new medicines abroad to treat them. The 40-year-old Kim, known for heavy drinking and smoking, comes from a family with a history of heart problems, both his father and grandfather, who ruled North Korea before he inherited power in 2011, died of heart issues. I'm Karen Shamis. Dozens of Wagner mercenaries were killed by insurgents and rebels over the weekend in Northern Mali, and what one analyst described as the largest battleground blow to the shadowy Russian group in years. At least two others were taken captive. This is how specialists who says he counted bodies in a video of the aftermath estimates that at least 50 Wagner fighters were killed and are now kind of ambushed along the border with Algeria. Wagner confirmed that some of its fighters, as well as Malian troops, were killed in battle with hundreds of militants, Al-Qaeda asserted that 50 Wagner fighters were killed. The FBI announced on Monday that former U.S. President Trump agreed to speak with investigators looking into the attempt on his life during a rally earlier in the month via way National Security Correspondents Jeff Seldin, former President Donald Trump, will have the chance to tell the FBI what he saw in the moments before a 20-year-old shooter tried to kill him in rural Western Pennsylvania. It is a standard victim interview like we would do for any other victim of crime under any other circumstances. FBI Special Agent Kevin Roja. We want to get his perspective on what he observes. My interview will be in addition to more than 450 others investigators have carried out as they try to determine why Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed to the top of a building overlooking Trump's July 13th rally and fired eight shots. Jeff Seldin, VOA News, Washington. Morocco's King Mohammed VI has pardoned three journalists who were charged with sex crimes in espionage and prosecutions widely condemned by press freedom advocates, as retaliation for critical reporting. Three were among 2,278 people who received pardons this week according to Morocco's Ministry of Justice. The pardons were announced Monday as Morocco celebrated throne day marking the anniversary of Mohammed VI taking the throne. More at VOANews.com I'm Tommy McNeil, VOA News. [Music] Protests in Venezuela over the presidential election results. The Israeli military is holding nine soldiers following allegations of substantial abuse of a Palestinian prisoner and people storm the facility in protest. And on a phone Diego Maradona's Jersey from the 1986 World Cup. The 1986 World Cup is one of the most famous World Cups of all time. This shirt is from the World Cup's semi-finals, Argentina played Belgium in 2016. He signed the jersey with a personal note. I'll tell you how you can, today is Tuesday, July 13th, and this is VOA's International Edition. I'm Scott Walterman, thousands of protesters trip to the streets of Caracas on Monday to express their discontent with Nicholas Maduro's recent victory in the presidential election. The men and women of all ages, including many teenagers, burned barricades, blocked roads, and banged pots and pans in various neighborhoods accusing Maduro of fraud. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Carina Machado said on Monday, the country's opposition has 73.2% of the voting tallies from Sunday's election, allowing it to prove election results, it says, gave it the victory. The National Election Authority has proclaimed incumbent Maduro the winner of the vote, giving him a third term in office, but independent pollsters called the result implausible, and opposition leaders and foreign observers have urged the election authority to release details of the contested election results. Let's get the latest now, joining us is Silvia Mendoza from VOA Latin America. Thanks so much for joining us to give us the latest, what's happening right now. In the past few hours, we have seen claims of fraud as well as other issues within the election. A very tense campaign was done during the past few months, especially because of the government barred the lead competitor Maria Carina Machado, who is one of the key figures of the opposition. So as we can see from the ground, a lot of people are not happy with what happened, but also they're claiming that it's fraud that took place. That actually has been echoed by the international community, and we saw a rapid response by Secretary of State Antoni Blinken, who expressed from Tokyo, where he is an official visit, said that they have serious concerns that the results announced do not reflect the will over the votes of the Venezuelan people, and it's critical that a revolt be counted fairly and transparently. He has also asked the electoral authorities to publish the detailed tabulation of the votes that is something that has been also asked by many countries within the region, especially Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay that not only have expressed their deep concern about what happened in Venezuela, but they also sent a letter earlier Monday requesting an urgent meeting before the organization of America and the states to talk about this particular subject, and we saw the breaking of diplomatic relationships with countries like Panama, the president of that country announced in a press conference that the Panamanian government was withdrawing the diplomatic personal from Venezuela and the suspension of diplomatic relations until a complete review of the minutes and the computer system of the vote count is carried out, according to them will allow to know the real will of the people. So we have seen a great number of countries, however, Venezuela has some allies that have come to congratulate Maduro, Bolivia, Honduras, and the region, Cuba as well, but also China, Iran, and Russia. And President Millet was also fairly harsh in his comments, wasn't he? Yes, he was, president of Argentina, Millet called directly Nicolas Maduro a dictator. He did it within hours after the voting polls were closed, and especially after motorized guys came into the entrance of Andres Vayo school, which is the largest voting center in the whole country in Caracas, and people have the opportunity, that's part of the law in Venezuela, to come in and to observe the process of counting. Those people were prevented from coming in, authorities were present in the area, but they call it collectibles, is the word used in Venezuela to describe motorized guys and with their helmet, they come in and they harass people according to what it was reported by our colleagues on the ground. Some of the people were beaten by them, others got their telephones stolen, and they created the chaos to prevent the people to be able to enter those locations, but the biggest claims are the fact that the observers from the campaign of the opposition were not able to access the locations or to see how the process was handled. As we are speaking right now, Maria Corinna Machado, who is the leader of the opposition, has also been accused by the attorney general of Venezuela of being part of what they call a cyber attack to try to sabotage the election. She's named along with Leopoldo Lopez, one of the leaders of the opposition, who is exiled after spending a green amount of time in jail in Venezuela, and also Lester Toledo, who is part of the opposition, and who also lives in exile. What happens next, do you think? Venezuelan people will continue to protest, that's what they have expressed during today's events in the streets, but we have seen it shift within the population that is going out to the streets. A few years back, between 2014 and 2016, we saw a lot of the middle class coming out to protest, a lot of people have left the country, and what we have seen is a change in popular neighborhoods like Petare, where working-class people usually, the base of the pursuit, which is the party of Chavez, inherited by Nicolas Maduro, has always been friendly to them. Today, they were part of the people on the streets protesting against the results. Silvia Mendoza with VOA Latin America, thanks for the update. Thank you so much. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesperson, says transparency is the key to keeping the peace in Venezuela. The Secretary General trusts that all electoral disputes will be addressed and resolved peacefully and calls on all Venezuelan political leaders and their supporters for moderation. White House national security spokesman John Kirby also called for the government to present the vote tabulation. He had serious concerns that the result as released by electoral authorities doesn't reflect the will and the votes of the Venezuelan people, we want to see our concerns as swaged. We believe the best way to do that is a full transparent release of the tabulation. Analysts say the disorder in Venezuela threatens to deepen its economic isolation and any movement toward restructuring its debt. He's really protesting, he broke into an army base on Monday after the military opened an investigation into suspected abuse of a Palestinian held at a tension camp, but prisoners captured during the Gaza war. Nobody can judge our soldiers, not the people who died defending us, not my friends who died defending us. The military said its advocate general had ordered the inquiry following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee. It provided no further details. The Israeli army radios at military police arrived at the detention site where about 10 reserve soldiers were suspected of abusing a prisoner captured from an elite unit of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Hamas is a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. government. We're following these other stories from around the world, the United States on Monday cautioned Israel about escalation with the Iranian back Hezbollah as Israel weighs its response to a rocket attack from Lebanon over the weekend that killed 12 young people in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights. Top diplomats from Japan, the U.S., Australia and India, also known as the Quad, have compiled measures to reinforce maritime safety and cyber security and to support other Asia-Pacific countries in improving their defenses. These steps came out of a meeting Monday in Tokyo of the envoys from the Quad nations. Lawmakers from at least six countries say Chinese diplomats are pressuring them not to attend the China-focused conference in Taiwan. Politicians in Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and one other Asian country that declined to be named, told the Associated Press it's a meeting of lawmakers from 35 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing. In our continuing coverage of the 2024 U.S. presidential election with President Joe Biden withdrawing from re-election, Republican nominee Donald Trump is shifting focus to his likely opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, the away immigration reporter Elene Barrow says Trump's Republican Party is attacking Harris' work on immigration issues, calling her a border zone. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has switched his focus to Vice President Kamala Harris, his likely opponent in the race for presidency, criticizing her record on immigration. She wants everybody to have an amnesty, then Joe Biden made her the border czar, and that's when it really got bad. She launched a colossal illegal alien invasion of a country. She said, come on in, remember? Illegal immigration is a leading issue among Republican voters, and the Trump campaign tries to link Harris to Biden immigration policy by calling her his border czar. She was never named a border czar. In fact, the border was not her issue priority at all. Early in the Biden administration, Harris was assigned a task of reducing migration to the U.S. southern border in collaboration with Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. She was in charge of developing a strategy and gaining commitments for development assistance and investment into those three countries of the Northern Triangle to help reduce the so-called push factors for migration. After Biden asked Harris to spearhead a strategy to help improve living conditions and discourage migrants from leaving their home, Harris' immigration message became stricter. "I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous sex for the United States-Mexico border. Do not come, do not come." Trump says Harris' record shows she is ultra-liberal on immigration. "Kamala voted in favor of deadly sanctuary cities. She supports decriminalizing illegal border crossings, and she supports mass amnesty for oil and leg. I'll stick to that." House Republicans last week passed a resolution condemning the Biden administration and its quote, "Borders are Kamala Harris" for failing to secure the border. Leading House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries says Republicans are lying about Harris because they have no plan to address challenges at the border. "The vice president was not a border czar, they are making that up because they have no affirmative agenda, vision, or track record for the American people." Immigration lawyer Hector Quiroga says that immigration reform is needed no matter who is elected president. "We have 3 million cases stuck in courts, there's not enough immigration judges. We've been saying that for a long time." The Biden administration says it's making progress at the border, reporting that arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico in June were the lowest of any month during Biden's presidency. Alini Barrows, VOA News, Washington. Former South African President Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the African National Congress after packing a rival party in May's parliamentary election. Here's ANC Secretary-General Fikalay Mbalula. Former President Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC and campaigned to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he had not severed his membership. Zuma, who's nine years in office from 2009, were marked by corruption scandals and sluggish economic growth and has been at odds with the ANC's leadership since he was ousted in 2018. Human Rights Watch on Monday accused the paramilitary group fighting against the military and Sudan's civil war of rampant sexual violence against women, including gang rape and forced marriages of girls. "Women are sometimes killing Kim. A suicide as a result of those violations and the rates are climbing." The group, in a report released Monday, called for the United Nations and the African Union to establish a joint mission to protect civilians in Sudan as more than 15 months of fighting between the military and the paramilitary rapid support forces show no signs of abating. The OA's International Edition continues. I'm Scott Walterman. Forests and other land ecosystems failed to curb climate change in 2023 as intense drought in the Amazon rainforest and record wildfires in Canada hampered their natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide. "You have this double hit of fires in North America and the Amazon being less effective at taking up carbon. And in fact, we're already seeing fires starting again in North America." That's Stephen Sitch, co-author of the study and carbon expert at the University of Exeter. According to the study presented on Monday, this means that a record amount of carbon dioxide entered the Earth's atmosphere last year further fueling global warming. Armenia's military exercises with the United States in July and increased diplomatic contacts with Western Europe suggests Armenia continues its effort to pivot away from Moscow. Historian Jones reports from Istanbul the success of those efforts depends largely on Armenia's rival Azerbaijan and ongoing U.S.-backed peace efforts. July's joint military exercises in Armenia between Armenian and United States forces his analysts say the latest step in Yarovan's efforts, backed by Washington, to pivot away from its Russian neighbors' fear of influence and more towards the West's Eric-Hajopian political consultant in Armenia. "These are serious exercises and they were followed up either pre or right before with the news that there's going to be a U.S. permanent representation in our mission defensive Armenia as advisors." Armenia is landlocked and wants to reduce its economic dependence on Russia. It's pressing Turkey to open its border to provide a new gateway to Western markets. And analysts say opening the border now could coincide with Ankara's goals to expand Turkey's regional influence. Washington is working to broker a permanent peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently saying that a deal is close with several issues unresolved. And let's say Baku sees Turkey's reopening of the Armenian border as an important leverage. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has developed close ties with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilhan Aliev, and is ruling out opening the border with Armenia until Baku's demands are met. Turkish support helped Azerbaijan defeat Armenian-backed forces. Despite that support, some analysts say Baku is dictating Turkey's policy. Stolio Zell teaches international relations at Istanbul's Kadahas University. "It is because of Turkey's military assistance, intelligence assistance and all that. And it is befuddling for me that Turkey cannot open the borders with Armenia, which the Armenia both needs and wants, because of Azerbaijan's veto. And especially if indeed Azerbaijan for one reason or another believes that its interests are once more in turning towards Russia." Azerbaijan's soccer energy company is the biggest foreign investor in Turkey, giving Baku powerful leverage over Ankara. Analysts say any hope of reopening the Turkish Armenian border appears to depend on the wishes of Azerbaijan's leadership. Victorian Jones, VOA News, Istanbul. U.S. President Joe Biden wants U.S. Supreme Court justices to be subject to term limits and an ethics code, and wants a constitutional amendment that presidents are not immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office. Reuters correspondent Zachary Goulman reports. Biden wants Congress to adopt an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices. The nine members of the court currently enjoy lifetime appointments. John Roberts was appointed Chief Justice in 2005 and has been in the role for just over 18 years. Justice Clarence Thomas, who joined the court in 1991, has been on the bench more than 32 years. Unlike other members of the federal judiciary, the Supreme Court's justices have no binding ethics code of conduct, but they're required to report outside income and certain gifts. Last year, reporting from ProPublica revealed Clarence Thomas accepted lavish vacation travel from a wealthy benefactor without disclosing it. In response, the court adopted its first code of conduct. But critics say that code doesn't go far enough, particularly in requiring justices recuse themselves. Some point to work by Thomas's wife, Ginny, in support of Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud as reason for the justice to recuse himself from related cases. Others point to Samuel Alito, apparently flying flags at two of his residences associated with Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss. Neither justice recuse themselves. Legislation would be required to impose term limits and an ethics code on the Supreme Court, but it is unlikely to pass the current divided Congress. Biden will also propose a constitutional amendment that makes clear that having served as president does not guarantee immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing. That's after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president in a landmark decision recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution. An amendment like that would be even more difficult to enact, requiring two thirds of support from both chambers of Congress or a convention called by two thirds of the states and then ratification by 38 of the 50 state legislatures. That's Reuters correspondent Zachary Goldman. And finally, behind us, we have Kobe Bryant's Staples Center locker, which is up for auction for $1 to $1.5 million. Sotheby's in New York kicks off its sports week with 23 items that highlights athletes at the height of their careers. So here we have Michael Jordan's last career game used shorts from his time with Washington Wizards. Brendan Hawks, Sotheby's assistant vice president for sports and modern collectibles, also up for auction in this collection, a Diego Maradona jersey from the 1986 World Cup. The 1986 World Cup is one of the most famous World Cups of all time due to Diego Maradona's infamous Hand of God goal. That was in the quarter final game. This shirt is from the World Cup semifinals in which Argentina played Belgian. They won two to zero, and this shirt was used in the second half when Maradona scored two goals. Many consider this to be one of his greatest games of all time. This shirt is up for auction for $800 to $1.2 million, $800,000 to $1.2 million. Also in the auction, Florence Griffith Jones running sneakers and a Raphael Maddow tennis racket. This has been International Edition on the Voice of America. On behalf of everyone here at VOA, thank you so much for listening. For pictures, stories, videos and more, follow VOA News on your favorite social media platform and online at VOA News.com. You can also get our apps from Google and Apple. In Washington, I'm Scott Volkerman. (upbeat music)