19-25 February 2018 - 16 new-min

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10 19 - 25 February, 2018 Z S Africa News 6 African nations among the worst to be young in a war zone ix African nations are among the 10 worst in the world to be a child in a war zone, a new report says. The Save the Children report released on 15th February looks at factors including attacks on schools, child soldier recruitment, sexual violations, killings and lack of humanitarian access and is based on analysis by the Norway-based Peace Research Institute Oslo. Syria tops the list followed by Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan, Iraq, Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic. Almost 360 million children worldwide, or one in six, live in affected areas, the report says. In addition, conflicts are grinding on longer than before. “Crimes involving children are not lesser crimes and need to be pursued with the www.NewDelhiTimes.com same vigor that we expect when war crimes are committed,” said Tirana Hassan, crisis response director with Amnesty International. “Concern and outrage are not enough.” The new report comes just ahead of the Munich Security Conference, which brings together global leaders to discuss security policy. Children living in conflicttorn countries like South Sudan, where civil war has entered its fifth year, say they’re traumatized. “When you expose children to bad things like killing and death it’s very bad for the child,” one former child soldier named Roda told The Associated Press in the town of Yambio last week. The AP is using only her first name to protect her identity. Three years ago, at age 14, she said she was abducted from school and forced to fight for the opposition. She spent the next three years praying she’d stay alive. Although she was one of over 300 child soldiers released this month, she said she still has nightmares of being recaptured. More than 19,000 children have been recruited to armed groups since South Sudan’s war erupted in 2013 and over 2,300 children have been killed or injured, according to UNICEF. Rights groups say children in South Sudan have lost their innocence. The government said it doesn’t mean to make life “uncomfortable for the children” and that others share the blame. “It’s the responsibility of the international community and (the United Nations mission in South Sudan),” government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told the AP. He blamed the U.N.’s protection of civilian sites, where more than 200,000 civilians shelter, for “aggravating the children’s situation” by having them live in harsh conditions. The U.N. has said it is committed to protecting children and that the ongoing fighting has severely affected them. Save the Children is calling on world leaders to do more to hold perpetrators to account. “Crimes like this against children are the darkest kind of abuse imaginable and are a flagrant violation of international law,” said Carolyn Miles, the aid group’s president and CEO. Credit : Associated Press (AP) NEW DELHI TIMES Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dies at 65 imbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai died on 14th February at age 65, ending a long campaign to lead his country that brought him jailings, beatings and accusations of treason. Tsvangirai died in a Johannesburg hospital, said Elias Mudzuri, a vice president of the Movement for Democratic Change party. The opposition leader had been battling colon cancer for two years. Tsvangirai for years was longtime ruler Robert Mugabe’s most potent challenger and even became prime minister in an uncomfortable coalition government for a few years. Mugabe, 93 and in power for 37 years, resigned in November after pressure from the military and ruling party. In January, the ailing Tsvangirai suggested that he would be stepping down, saying he was “looking at the imminent prospects of us as the older generation leaving the levers of leadership to allow the younger generation to take forward this huge task.” His death leaves the opposition in disarray just months before national elections. An opposition alliance had endorsed him as its candidate, even as his deputies tussled to act as party leader while he was out of the country for treatment. Those power struggles are now likely to intensify, which may give an edge to the ruling party, ZANU-PF, and its candidate, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. “We are still mourning. This is not the time to talk about that,” MDC party spokesman Obert Gutu said. Tsvangirai came tantalizingly close to the presidency in 2008 when he won the most votes in the election. But the results, delayed nearly a month as Mugabe’s officials “verified” the count, gave him just 47 percent, shy of the more than 50 percent majority needed to win outright. Tsvangirai boycotted the runoff, citing widespread violence against his supporters, handing Mugabe the victory. Negotiations then led to the coalition government, an uneasy alliance that ended in 2013 when Mugabe won elections amid charges of intimidation and rigging. Being Mugabe’s most prominent opponent brought Tsvangirai considerable hardship. He was jailed several times and charged with treason. He suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding when he and more than a dozen other leaders of his party were arrested and beaten with gun butts, belts and whips in 2007. In an earlier incident Tsvangirai was almost thrown from his office window by a government agent. “Morgan Tsvangirai will be remembered as one of Zimbabwe’s great patriots,” opposition figure and human rights lawyer David Coltart said . “Although, like all of us, he made mistakes none of us ever doubted his commitment to transform Zimbabwe into a modern, tolerant state.” Born March 10, 1952 in the rural Buhera area southeast of the capital, Harare, Tsvangirai was the oldest of nine children. After graduation from secondary school Photo Credit : AP Photo he worked at the Bindura Nickel Mine for 10 years, eventually becoming plant supervisor. It was during the years of the nationalist war against white minority-ruled Rhodesia. Tsvangirai later said he did not join the guerrilla fighters because his salary supported the education of his younger siblings. Photo Credit : AP Photo When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, Tsvangirai joined Mugabe’s ZANU- PF party and became active in trade unions, rising to become secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The labor organization had been a rubber stamp supporter of Mugabe and ZANU-PF, but under Tsvangirai’s leadership it became a vocal critic of Mugabe’s government. The labor federation became a key component of an emerging network of antigovernment civil society groups including lawyers, students and churches demanding an end to worsening human rights abuses and deepening economic problems. In 1999 he founded the MDC, which attracted support from blacks and whites and in rural and urban areas. The party quickly became a serious challenge to Mugabe’s party. Tsvangirai was also leader of the National Constitutional Assembly, a coalition of civil society groups that successfully campaigned in a 2000 referendum against a new constitution they alleged gave Mugabe too many powers. Most of the organization’s leaders joined Tsvangirai’s MDC. Nine months after its formation, the MDC won 57 seats in parliament, five short of the ruling party’s 62, the first time Mugabe’s party came close to losing its parliamentary majority. Tsvangirai then continued for years as the country’s opposition leader, facing significant repression from Mugabe and ZANU-PF. Shortly after becoming prime minister in 2009, Tsvangirai suffered a serious blow when his wife, Susan, died when the car they were travelling in overturned. Without his wife, Tsvangirai lost domestic stability and became involved in romances that were widely publicized by the Zimbabwean press. His time as prime minister was criticized as being marked by his search for a new wife and also by his enjoyment of the trappings of power, but Tsvangirai was also credited with encouraging stability, civility and international goodwill. His long struggle as Mugabe’s main challenger was credited with helping to keep a measure of democratic space open in Zimbabwe. “Thank you for making it possible for people like me to find the courage to say enough is enough,” said pastor Evan Mawarire, who led large anti-government protests in 2016. “Zimbabwe owes you a great debt.” Credit : Associated Press (AP) Tunisia’s central bank head resigns amid pressure T he governor of Tunisia’s central bank has resigned after Prime Minister Youssef Chahed set in motion a process to remove him from his post. Chedli Ayari tendered his resignation, a week after the European Parliament put the North African country on a list of non-EU nations believed to pose a risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. Tunisian media accused the Central Bank of Tunisia, under Ayari’s direction since 2012, of turning a blind eye to “obscure transfers” received from non-governmental organizations and political parties. Ayari’s critics also hold him responsible for the fall in the value of the Tunisian dinar and the decline in the central bank’s foreign reserves, which have reached their lowest level in over 20 years. Credit : Associated Press (AP) India’s only International Newspaper
19 - 25 February, 2018 11 North America News New Texas group opposes bipartisan efforts to end cash bail A new Texas nonprofit promoting crime victims’ rights is opposing bipartisan efforts to end cash bail systems that have gained traction around the country — hitting back at one of the few issues that unified powerful advocates on both the right and left. Formally kicking off, the Texas Alliance for Safe Communities said it wants to strengthen public safety and curb violent crime by pushing in the Republican-controlled Legislature and beyond for criminal justice system accountability while preserving “judicial discretion.” The group hopes to halt bail system overhauls favoring assessments of defendants’ danger to the public. Supporters of such changes say defendants deemed little risk should be eligible to be released from jail on “unsecured” bonds that don’t require cash payments — rather than traditional, cash bond systems where defendants forfeit payments if they fail to show up in court. “Texas communities are under assault by activist judges and misguided bureaucrats determined to let violent criminals get out of jail free,” said Mark Miner, who was spokesman for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign and now holds the same role for the alliance. Similar groups defending cash bonds have popped up in other states and are often sponsored by bail bond companies worried about losing business. Miner said bail bond interests “are assisting with funding as the group is beginning.” He said two of its five founding board members have links to the industry. “They are part of the organization, but they’re not the only part,” Miner said of bail bond interests, adding that the alliance expects to attract members of other victims’ groups, police organizations and “many ordinary citizens.” Bail system reform has been approved in New Jersey and New Mexico, and discussed in California, Florida and elsewhere. It’s been applauded by conservatives anxious to reduce prison costs, like the powerful Austin think tank the Texas Public Policy Foundation, as well as groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, that argue current bail rules — like the prison system as a whole — disproportionately punish minorities and poor people. “Money bail doesn’t have anything to do with public safety because there’s not really a correlation between how much money someone has and whether they’re a risk India’s only International Newspaper to the public,” said Marc Levin, the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s vice president for criminal justice policy. Billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch haven’t been as vocal about bail reform, but have promoted a variety of wider criminal justice reform efforts, including initiatives meant to reduce prisoners’ recidivism rates. A proposal mandating risk assessments for bail-eligible criminal defendants was approved by the Texas Senate last year but stalled in the state House. Still, a lawsuit in Harris County, Texas’ largest, prompted a federal judge to rule in October that county bail requirements violated the rights of poor defendants accused of minor crimes — and to order jails to release within 24 hours nearly all offenders facing misdemeanor charges. An appeals court panel mostly upheld the previous decision but found some of its conclusions “overbroad” and ordered the 24-hour deadline pushed back to 48 hours. That was a small win for the Alliance for Safe Communities, which had said that because misdemeanor defendants released in Harris County didn’t have to put up a cash bond or hire a bail bond service, 43 percent failed to appear for subsequent court dates. County officials, though, have questioned the accuracy of that figure, pointing to confusion in jail reports — including inmates possibly being double-counted. The alliance has produced two online ads it contends highlight the dangers of ending cash bail. They include the case of a Harris County man suspected of killing his girlfriend in October, days after he was previously jailed on assault charges but released after saying he couldn’t afford $5,000 bail. “The other side has been very well-financed, but on one side of the issue,” Miner said. Houston Police Officers Union President Joe Gamaldi said cash-free bonds should be extended to people jailed for minor offenses like shoplifting, but not violent criminals or repeat offenders. “Not every case is the same,” Gamaldi said, citing the same 43 percent failure-to-appearin-court figure from Harris County. “When you paint everything with a broad brush, this is what happens.” Credit : Associated Press (AP) Photo Credit : AP Photo NEW DELHI TIMES Report details harm to Cuba diplomats but offers no cause D octors are releasing the first detailed medical reports about the hearing, vision, balance and brain symptoms suffered in what the State Department has called “health attacks” on U.S. diplomats in Cuba. Still missing: A clear diagnosis of just what happened to trigger their mysterious health problems. All together, the symptoms are similar to the brain dysfunction seen with concussions, concluded a team of specialists from the University of Pennsylvania who tested 21 of the 24 embassy personnel thought to be affected. Whatever the cause, the Havana patients “experienced persisting disability of a significant nature,” the Penn team concluded. Cuba has insisted there were no attacks. The Journal of the American Medical Association released the report, although key findings were first disclosed by The Associated Press in December. The mystery began in late 2016 when U.S. embassy personnel began seeking medical care for hearing loss and ear-ringing that they linked to weird noises or vibrations — initially leading investigators to suspect “sonic attacks.” Now, officials are carefully avoiding that term, as doctors involved in the probe wonder whether the sounds were a byproduct of something else that might help explain the full symptom list: memory problems, impaired concentration, irritability, balance problems and dizziness. The report makes clear that the findings are preliminary, essentially a listing of symptoms and tests. And important complications remain, including that there’s no information to compare the patients’ brain or hearing health before they went to Cuba. “Before reaching any definitive conclusions, additional evidence must be obtained and rigorously and objectively evaluated,” JAMA associated editor Dr. Christopher Muth cautioned in an accompanying editorial. He noted that many of the symptoms overlap with a list of other neurologic illnesses. “It really looks like concussion without the history of head trauma,” report co-author Dr. Douglas Smith of Penn’s Center for Brain Injury and Repair, said in a podcast provided by JAMA. He said that sound, heard by 18 of the 21 patients, couldn’t be to blame: “There is no known mechanism for audible sound to injure the brain. We have to suspect that it’s a consequence of something else.” The mysterious case has sent U.S.-Cuba relations plummeting from what had been a high point when the two countries, estranged for a half-century, restored relations under President Barack Obama in 2015. The new report outlined the battery of testing the patients underwent, including some findings that can’t be even unconsciously altered, bolstering the doctors’ belief that the symptoms were not mass hysteria. At least six people had a change in work performance noted by supervisors and colleagues, the JAMA report found. Viruses or chemical exposures are unlikely, Smith’s team wrote, although they couldn’t be “systematically excluded.” Advanced MRI scans spotted “a few” changes in what are called white matter tracts of the brain in some patients, with three showing more than would be expected for their age, the report said. But the authors acknowledged those abnormalities could be due to something earlier in life. For many the symptoms lasted months, and doctors designed customized rehabilitation therapy that did seem to help. Dr. S. Andrew Josephson, neurology chairman at the University of California, San Francisco, who wasn’t involved in the study, called the work “a really important step” because it carefully describes the medical findings and shows they are remarkably similar across the group of patients. “It moves you closer to understanding what the possible causes may be,” he said. The State Department, which wasn’t involved in writing the article but reviewed it to ensure it did not contain any classified information, issued a health alert citing the article “in order to inform U.S. citizens and medical providers.” “We encourage private U.S. citizens who have traveled to Cuba and are concerned about their symptoms to share this article with their doctor,” the State Department said. Credit : Associated Press (AP) Photo Credit : AP Photo www.NewDelhiTimes.com
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