19-01-2019

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NEWS SATurDAY, JAnuArY 19, 2019 2 Bangladesh Diploma Fisheries Association held a meeting at Matsya Bhaban Auditorium of the capital city yesterday demanding implementation of diploma scale and prompt promotion. Photo : TBT 'Women filmmakers still face disadvantages' DHAKA : 'Through Her Eyes' is an initiative which showcases works of Bangladeshi women filmmakers. Goethe-Institut, Bangladesh is cohosting the event. Its Director Kirsten Hackenbroch spoke to UNB about various aspects of the event and how it can benefit Bangladeshi women filmmakers. What are the objectives of 'Through Her Eyes' initiative? The Goethe-Institut and the International Film Initiative of Bangladesh want to promote Bangladeshi women filmmakers with 'Through Her Eyes'. There are a few female filmmakers who have become internationally successful. However, looking at bothBangladesh and the global perspectives, we see that women filmmakers still face disadvantages and find it more difficult to join the international independent film community [but they] continue to produce films. So, we really want to create a platform where young, aspiring and talented filmmakers from Bangladesh can ask questions to those who have already gone through the international stage, can reflect on their possession, on their career perspectives and enter into discourse with the larger group of society. You are helping through the process but do they get any financial help from this? The programme that we are setting up now is not a programme for financial assistance. It's where young filmmakers have a chance to find a forum or space to discuss, to share their sorrows, and get guidance. What can evolve from this is that we will understand the needs of the young filmmakers in general and young female filmmakers in particular. [We hope to understand] what kind of support will they need, what sort of PM mourns death of ex-Mahila AL president Ashrafunnesa DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday expressed deep shock at the death of former president of Bangladesh Mahila Awami League, former MP and freedom fighter Ashrafunnesa Mosharraf. In a condolence message, the Prime Minister prayed for salvation of the departed soul and expressed deep sympathy to the bereaved family members, reports UNB. 25 kgs venison seized in Sundarbans SATKHIRA : The Forest Department seized 25 kgs of venison from Terkathikhal area in the Sundarbans under Burigoalini Forest Station in Shyamnagar upazila on Thursday night, reports UNB. On information, forest guards conducted a drive in the around 8pm and seized the venison, said Burigoalini Forest Station official KM Kabir Uddin. seminar, workshop sessions would be helpful, what kind of information is not readily available in Bangladesh. With this series, we hope to understand, and then [we] should be able to react and design the programmes. Is there any mission statement for Goethe-Institut? Why Goethe-Institut is doing that? Is there any story behind that? Yes, certainly. First of all, the Goethe- Institut is a cultural and language institute. We are supporting cultural activists' ideas, especially from the independent artists, around the world to pursue entering into global dialogues and to pursue the work that they can [produce] and support them as much as we can. Weorganiseda Berlinale spotlight in September 2018, particularly for films. The Berlinale International Film Festival came to Bangladesh with two delegates. We organised theBerlinatespotlight together with DocLab and the IFIB (International Film Initiative of Bangladesh). Three Bangladeshi films are going to Berlinale. How is theirprospective? It's a huge success. There have been films from Bangladesh and filmmakers going to Berlinale but not in big numbers. So, I see it as somewhat connected also to the Berlinale spotlight. [It's a] chance for Bangladeshi filmmakers to engage with people from Berlinale to understand what kind of programme they offer and now it's a huge success to see that three filmmakers in one year are going to Berlinale. I am very happy to see that. And I hope that through the work that we are doing, through the programme 'Through Her Eyes', [we'll] have a stable flow of Bangladeshi independent filmmakers going to represent their projects at film festivals such as the Berlinale also the Doc Club, the doc Californians were cleaning up and drying off Friday after a series of storms dumped heavy rain and snow throughout the state, caused at least six deaths and forced the rescue of more than a dozen people in rushing rivers, reports UNB. Road crews will be working to clear mud, debris and trees that blocked some roads from Malibu to San Francisco. In Ventura County, residents were urged to avoid coming into contact with storm runoff or ocean water for several days after flooding at an RV park sent 4,500 gallons (17,000 liters) of sewage into a river. The latest storm moved east Thursday and was set to unleash heavy rain, snow and wind in Colorado. "(It) will be slamming the East Coast by Sunday," National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson said. "From Maine to Florida." The three-day drenching put a dent in California's drought, dumping as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in parts of Southern California, and between 3 and 6 inches (7.6 and 15 centimeters) in Los Angeles. Rain and snow that battered the state canceled flights, uprooted trees, knocked down power lines and caused localized flooding. A 57-year-old hiker was in critical condition Thursday night after a boulder hit her in Malibu. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties east of Los Angeles, firefighters rescued 13 mostly homeless people who became stranded on islands in the Santa Ana River. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's light click Documentary Film Festival in July. Is there any long-term plan or future plan with the current initiative? The future plan is to really see from the discussions that we will have at Goethe-Institut what the young filmmakers need in order to continue or for more sustained engagement in the independent film industry. [We'll come up with] workshops or seminars or we could bring experts from Germany to work with the young filmmakers here in Bangladesh. What do you expect from this event? What I expect is that the forum we offer will lead to a greater network among young filmmakers, so that especially those who are new in the profession don't feel intimidated by, for example, the dealings with international festivals which can be quite a headache. So, we really hope that this sharing between seniors and juniors, between more experienced and less experiencedfilmmakerswill create an atmosphere of helping each other, of being available for each other, of being mentors to the younger generation. Obviously, the programme is very much an offertothe film community and I would be very glad if the film community itself takes charge of the programme and really explains or expresses their wishes on how the programme should continue in future, what particular discussion they would need in order to be able to improve or make the work they aredoing more sustainable. So, [the expectation is] to understand the talented filmmakers' perspective. I think there are brilliant Bangladeshi independent films. It's more about a chance to have more people to tell their stories and to have more people who are really talented to get the support they need to tell the stories. California dries off after storms batter state for days Department posted a dramatic video of a helicopter rescue of one person caught in the rising San Gabriel River. Also in Los Angeles, about 20 residents were evacuated from their homes in the Hollywood Hills when mud slid from beneath a house. No one was hurt and the residents were allowed to return home several hours later. In San Francisco, fallen trees blocked the city's iconic cable car tracks for hours Thursday and similarly delayed other commuter trains in region. In the Marin County community of Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco, a man was killed when he jumped into the street to dodge a falling tree Wednesday night and was hit by a van, according to the California Highway Patrol. Road crews will be working to clear mud, debris and trees that blocked some roads from Malibu to San Francisco. In Ventura County, residents were urged to avoid coming into contact with storm runoff or ocean water for several days after flooding at an RV park sent 4,500 gallons (17,000 liters) of sewage into a river. The latest storm moved east Thursday and was set to unleash heavy rain, snow and wind in Colorado. "(It) will be slamming the East Coast by Sunday," National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson said. "From Maine to Florida." The three-day drenching put a dent in California's drought, dumping as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in parts of Southern California, and between 3 and 6 inches (7.6 and 15 centimeters) in Los Angeles. 2 motorcyclists killed in Bogura road crash BOGURA : Two motorcyclists were killed as their vehicle hit a tree beside Talora-Jamdar road at Kalipara village in Kahalu upazila on Thursday, reports UNB. The deceased were identified as Suja Uddin Khan, 36, son of late Samsul Khan of Luknathpara village in Durgapur Union Parishad and also the former chairman of the union, and Lebu Khan, 55, son of Sabir Khan of the same village. Officer-in-charge of Kahalu Police Station Sawkat Kabir said the accident took place when a speeding motorcycle carrying three people crashed into a banyan tree beside the road around 7pm, leaving the duo dead on the spot. Bus-truck collision claims 2 lives in Cumilla CUMILLA : Two passengers of an auto rickshaw were killed as their vehicle collided head on with a speeding bus on Cumilla-Noakhali highway at Chandanabazar village in Laksham upazila on Thursday afternoon, reports UNB. The deceased were identified as Idris Mia, 55, resident of Paschimgaon village in Lakhsham municipality and Al-Amin, 35, hailing from Amtali village in the upazila. Officer-in-Charge of Lakhsham Police Station Manoj Kumar De said a Noakhali bound bus hit the auto rickshaw in the afternoon, leaving the duo dead on the spot. Three passengers of the auto-rickshaw including its driver, who were also injured during the collision, were taken to a private hospital in Laksham. GD- 103/19 (10 x 4) After cover-up trial, officer who shot teen to be sentenced A judge rejected allegations that the shocking video of Laquan McDonald's death proved that Chicago police officers tried to stage a cover-up in the fatal shooting of the black teen. Now another judge must decide how long the officer who pulled the trigger spends behind bars, reports UNB. Jason Van Dyke was convicted in October of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery. He will likely go to prison for at least several years, if not decades, when he's sentenced Friday. But critics of the police department and protesters who cheered Van Dyke's conviction are clearly worried after a judge on Thursday acquitted three officers accused of trying to conceal what happened to protect Van Dyke, who was the first Chicago officer found guilty in an on-duty shooting in a half century and probably the first ever in the shooting of an African- American. "We will be down here tomorrow by the hundreds, and we will cry out for justice for Laquan," activist Eric Russell said after the hearing in which Cook County Judge Domenica Stephenson acquitted former officer Joseph Walsh, former detective David March and officer Thomas Gaffney on charges of obstruction of justice, official misconduct and conspiracy. Friday's hearing will be emotional. Van Dyke's wife and young daughters, who pleaded for leniency in letters submitted to the judge, will make statements. Court officials do not know if McDonald's mother, who has remained silent ever since her son's Oct. 20, 2014, death, will speak. The courtroom will be packed with activists worried that Judge Vincent Gaughan will impose a light sentence. Thursday's verdict "means that if you are a police officer you can lie, cheat and steal," said a shaken Rev. Marvin Hunter, McDonald's great uncle. Stephenson accepted the argument that jurors in the Van Dyke case rejected: that the video that sparked protests and a federal investigation of the police force was just one perspective of the events that unfolded on the South Side. The judge said the video showed only one viewpoint of the confrontation between Van Dyke and the teen armed with a small knife. She found no indication the officers tried to hide evidence or made little effort to talk to witnesses. "The evidence shows just the opposite," she said. She singled out how they preserved the graphic video at the heart of the case. Prosecutor Ron Safer tried to put a positive spin on the verdict. Jason Van Dyke was convicted in October of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery. He will likely go to prison for at least several years, if not decades, when he's sentenced Friday. But critics of the police department and protesters who cheered Van Dyke's conviction are clearly worried after a judge on Thursday acquitted three officers accused of trying to conceal what happened to protect Van Dyke, who was the first Chicago officer found guilty in an on-duty shooting in a half century and probably the first ever in the shooting of an African- American. "We will be down here tomorrow by the hundreds, and we will cry out for justice for Laquan," activist Eric Russell said after the hearing in which Cook County Judge Domenica Stephenson acquitted former officer Joseph Walsh, former detective David March and officer Thomas Gaffney on charges of obstruction of justice, official misconduct and conspiracy. Friday's hearing will be emotional. Van Dyke's wife and young daughters, who pleaded for leniency in letters submitted to the judge, will make statements. Court officials do not know if McDonald's mother, who has remained silent ever since her son's Oct. 20, 2014, death, will speak. The courtroom will be packed with activists worried that Judge Vincent Gaughan will impose a light sentence. Thursday's verdict "means that if you are a police officer you can lie, cheat and steal," said a shaken Rev. Marvin Hunter, McDonald's great uncle. Stephenson accepted the argument that jurors in the Van Dyke case rejected: that the video that sparked protests and a federal investigation of the police force was just one perspective of the events that unfolded on the South Side.
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2019 3 Internal Revenue Service employees, front row from the left, Brian Lanouette, of Merrimack, N.H., Mary Maldonado, of Dracut, Mass., and Maria Zangari, of Haverhill, Mass., display placards during a rally by federal employees and supporters, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, in front of the Statehouse, in Boston, held to call for an end of the partial shutdown of the federal government. Photo : AP Trump, Pelosi feud heats up again She imperiled his State of the Union address. He denied her a plane to visit troops abroad, reports UNB. The shutdown battle between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing out as a surreal game of constitutional brinkmanship, with both flexing political powers from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as the negotiations to end the monthlong partial government shutdown remain stalled. In dramatic fashion, Trump issued a letter to Pelosi on Thursday, just before she and other lawmakers were set to depart on the previously undisclosed trip to Afghanistan and Brussels. Trump belittled the trip as a "public relations event" - even though he had just made a similar warzone stop - and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government. "Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative," wrote Trump, who had been smarting since Pelosi, the day before, called on him to postpone his Jan. 29 State of the Union address due to the shutdown. Denying military aircraft to a senior lawmaker - let alone the speaker, who is second in line to the White House, traveling to a combat region Ex-judge: Romania ruling could collapse murder trials A top Romanian legal expert says a court ruling that the country's prosecutors obtained evidence illegally could collapse murder and child pornography trials, reports UNB. Romania's Constitutional Court ruled this week that secret protocols signed between the Prosecutor's office and the Romanian Intelligence Service in 2009 and 2016 were unconstitutional. The system helped prosecutors obtain evidence through phone taps and other electronic surveillance, Prosecutors declassified the protocols last year. Augustin Zegrean, chief judge of the Constitutional Court from 2010 to 2016, said Friday that "bribery, drug trafficking, people trafficking, murder, child pornography and other cases" could be affected by Wednesday ruling. "What about people currently serving sentences? Do you let them out? " Zegrean told The Associated Press by telephone. Avalanche in Kashmir Himalayas kills 1, leaves 9 missing An avalanche at a Himalayan mountain pass in Indian-controlled Kashmir has killed one person and left another none people missing, reports UNB. Top civil administrator Baseer Khan says the avalanche hit Khardung La pass in the remote Ladakh region early Friday and trapped 10 people under snow. Khan says one body has been recovered while rescue teams of police and army soldiers are searching for the missing. Avalanches and landslides are common in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. Last year, 11 people were killed after their vehicle was hit by an avalanche in the northwestern Kupwara area. - is very rare. Lawmakers were caught off guard. A bus to ferry the legislators to their departure idled outside the Capitol on Thursday afternoon. The political tit-for-tat between Trump and Pelosi laid bare how the government-wide crisis has devolved into an intensely pointed clash between two leaders both determined to prevail. It took place as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay and Washington's routine protocols - a president's speech to Congress, a lawmaker's official trip - became collateral damage. Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said the speaker planned to travel to Afghanistan and Brussels to thank service members and obtain briefings on national security and intelligence "from those on the front lines." He noted Trump had traveled to Iraq during the shutdown and said a Republicanled congressional trip also had taken place. Trump's move was the latest example of his extraordinary willingness to tether U.S. government resources to his political needs. He has publicly urged the Justice Department to investigate political opponents and threatened to cut disaster aid to Puerto Rico amid a spat with the island territory's leaders. Second US-North Korea summit the focus of talks High-level talks aimed at finalizing a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are planned for this week in Washington, U.S. officials said, reports UNB. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to meet former North Korean spy chief Kim Yong Chol at a Washington hotel on Friday. The meeting will likely be followed by a Kim visit to the White House, where he could meet with Trump, according to two officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity. Neither the U.S. nor North Korea has announced any meetings, although Kim Yong Chol arrived earlier Thursday in Beijing, where he was booked on a flight to the U.S., South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported. A motorcade that included the North Korean ambassador's car and a Chinese car with a sign reading "state guest" could be seen departing from a VIP area at the airport. Trump has spoken several times of having a second summit with Kim early this year and has exchanged multiple letters with the North Korean despite little tangible progress on a vague denuclearization agreement reached at their first meeting in Singapore last June. Since then, several private analysts have published reports detailing continuing North Korean development of nuclear and missile technology. At a conference of U.S. diplomats at the State Department on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged the lack of progress. He called the Trump-Kim dialogue "promising" but stressed that "we still await concrete steps by North Korea to dismantle the nuclear weapons that threaten our people and our allies in the region." A planned meeting between Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol in New York last November was called off abruptly. U.S. officials said at the time that North Korea had canceled the session. A White House official, while not confirming plans for Friday's meeting, said "a lot of positive things" are happening related to North Korea's denuclearization. The official said Trump and Kim Jong Un had established a "good relationship" and that U.S.- North Korea conversations were continuing. The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two sides were "working to make progress" on the denuclearization goal and that Trump "looks forward to meeting Chairman Kim again at their second summit at a place and time yet to be determined." The talks had stalled over North Korea's refusal to provide a detailed accounting of its nuclear and missile facilities that would be used by inspectors to verify any deal to dismantle them. The North has been demanding that the U.S. lift harsh sanctions and provide it with security guarantees before it takes any steps beyond its initial suspension of nuclear and missile tests. Kim Jong Un expressed frustration in an annual New Year's address over the lack of progress in negotiations. But on a visit to Beijing last week, he said North Korea would pursue a second summit "to achieve results that will be welcomed by the international community," according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. North Korean official Kim Yong Chol is expected to meet Mike Pompeo on Friday. Photo : AP ASEAN ministers rock no boats in Myanmar, S. China Sea Foreign ministers of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations have hewed to the group's practice of reaching the least provocative consensus possible in discussions of such divisive issues as Myanmar's Rohingya crisis and China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. A two-day Foreign Ministers' Retreat that ended Friday was the group's first meeting since Thailand took its over annual chairmanship, reports UNB. The host's summary of the meeting emphasized the humanitarian role ASEAN members could play in Myanmar's Rakhine State, from which more than 700,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority fled to escape a brutal government counterinsurgency campaign. It claimed progress on concluding a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, long touted as a way of avoiding volatile confrontations in the disputed territory. Russian officials rule out attack in building collapse Russian authorities are denying reports that a terrorist attack was to blame for an explosion that brought down an apartment block, killing 39 people, reports UNB. The explosion ripped through a building in the city of Magnitogorsk in the Ural mountains on Dec. 31. Sparse official reports and a security incident the following day fed speculation that the explosion was a targeted bombing. The Islamic State weekly online newspaper al-Nabaa in its Thursday issue claimed responsibility for the explosion in Magnitogorsk, saying that it did not do so earlier for security reasons. Palestinian forces soldier on amid Israeli raids, US neglect On a cold winter's night earlier this month, a convoy of 10 Israeli armored jeeps drove into the heart of the West Bank city of Ramallah and parked in front of the Palestinian police headquarters, reports UNB. Soldiers fanned out, searching nearby shops for security cameras after a pair of recent shooting attacks against Israelis in the occupied territory. The raid attracted dozens of stone-throwing Palestinians, and the Israelis responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. It was the latest in a series of Israeli raids into urban areas that the Palestinians say undermine their own U.S.-trained security forces. Those forces have been coordinating operations with Israel in the West Bank for years but ties have frayed as the peace process ground to a halt. "This humiliates the Palestinian Authority," said Zakariya Musleh, head of Palestinian military intelligence. "It's a clear message from the occupying power that we are not a partner for peace." The Palestinian Authority has faced mounting protests over the security coordination as the Trump administration pursues policies seen by critics as obliterating whatever chance remains for a two-state solution, from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital to cutting off economic aid to the Palestinians. And yet the security coordination with Israel has endured for more than a decade, through one crisis after another, including three wars in Gaza and clashes at Jerusalem's holiest site. This is in part because the Palestinian Authority and Israel have a shared enemy in the Hamas militant group, which drove Palestinian security forces from Gaza in a week of street clashes in 2007, less than two years after Israel withdrew from the territory. The Israeli military declined to comment on the recent raids or the security cooperation. Alon Eviatar, a retired Israeli colonel who served in the Palestinian territories for nearly three decades, said Israel is aware of the political pressure the Palestinian Authority faces. He said Israeli forces only launch their own West Bank raids in "sensitive cases" when they need to quickly apprehend an assailant or act on highly classified intelligence. "The Israeli side was afraid (of) a real escalation in the West Bank, especially in Ramallah," he said, referring to last month's shootings, in which gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers at a West Bank bus stop and wounded seven Israelis outside a settlement, including a pregnant woman whose baby later died. Israeli forces killed one of the suspected gunmen in December and arrested the other earlier this month. Both were found north of Ramallah. In this Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, Israeli forces deploy during a raid in the West Bank City of Ramallah. Israel has been launching raids into the heart of Ramallah, and the U.S. is cutting off aid and taking actions that many fear will obliterate any remaining hope for a two-state solution. Photo : AP Australian police arrest man over Israeli student’s death Australian police arrested a man Friday for questioning over the death of an Israeli student in Melbourne, while the victim's tearful father visited the flower-strewn crime scene where her body was found, reports UNB. Aiia Maasarwe was slain at 12:10 a.m. on Wednesday shortly after she got off a tram in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora. A 20-year-old was taken into custody on Friday morning in the neighboring suburb of Greensborough, a police statement said. Police did not say if any charges have been filed. The 21-year-old victim was studying at La Trobe University in Melbourne as an exchange student from Shanghai University in China. Her father Saeed Maasarwe arrived in Melbourne on Thursday to bring her body home. He cried Friday when he saw an impromptu floral memorial arranged by members of the public at the site where her body was found behind a hedge not far from the tram stop. "This is the last place my daughter - was here," the father told reporters. "I had many dreams to be with her." The father was also among hundreds of people who attended a vigil later on the steps of the Victoria state parliament in honor of the victim and in a protest against male violence. Saeed thanked the crowd for coming and said if someone else had died, his daughter would "be the first" to come to the vigil. "This is Aiia," he said before breaking down in tears. Police have not detailed the attack on Maasarwe, which they assume was random and opportunistic. Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed that she had been raped. "I just want to begin by saying how devastated I am by the despicable, tragic and violent killing and rape of Aiia Maasarwe," Morrison told reporters in Fiji. "Every woman in Australia - every person in Australia - should be able to travel home in safety. I can't begin to think of what I could say to her family," he added. Her uncle, Abed Kittani, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Maasarwe was speaking by phone to a younger sister when she was attacked. "She heard the cars passing by and she was helpless, she couldn't do anything," Kittani said of the sister. The sister sent messages, but there was no response. "Instead of coming home with a diploma, she is coming back in a coffin," Kittani said. Another uncle, Rame Maasarwe, said: "We cannot believe that something like this happened in Australia; we think it's very safe there." Congo court poised to rule on presidential vote challenge Congo's constitutional court is poised to rule as early as Friday on a challenge to the presidential election results. But the African Union continental body has issued a surprise lastminute request for Congo's government to suspend the announcement of final results, citing "serious doubts" about the vote, reports UNB. Declared runner-up Martin Fayulu has requested a recount, alleging fraud. Upholding the official election results could spark violence in a country hoping for its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960. The AU statement late Thursday said heads of state and government agreed to "urgently dispatch" a high-level delegation to Congo to find "a way out of the post-electoral crisis" in the vast Central African nation rich in the minerals key to smartphones and electric cars around the world. The statement reflects concern by Congo's many neighbors that more unrest could spill across borders. The delegation including heads of state will leave for Congo on Monday, an AU spokeswoman said. There was no immediate Congo government comment. Fayulu has asked for a recount of the Dec. 30 election, asserting that Congo's electoral commission published provisional results wildly different from those obtained at polling stations. He makes the extraordinary accusation of an election rigged in favor of the opposition, asserting that outgoing President Joseph Kabila made a backroom deal with the declared winner, Felix Tshisekedi, when the ruling party's candidate did poorly. The electoral commission has said Tshisekedi won 38 percent of the vote and Fayulu 34 percent. However, results compiled by the influential Catholic Church's 40,000 election observers show Fayulu won easily with 61 percent. In leaked data published this week by some media outlets, attributed to the electoral commission and representing 86 percent of the votes, Fayulu won 59.4 percent while Tshisekedi received 19 percent. The court could uphold the election results, order a recount or order a new election. It is likely that the court, full of Kabila appointees, will confirm Tshisekedi's victory, said Adeline Van Houtte, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "It will come with the risk of increased instability, which could put a halt on the electoral transition," Van Houtte said in a statement. "However, it would also mean that Kabila will have avoided the worstcase scenario for him," a Fayulu presidency. Fayulu, a lawmaker and businessman who is outspoken about cleaning up Congo's sprawling corruption, is widely seen as more of a threat to Kabila, his allies and their vast wealth. Tshisekedi, the son of charismatic opposition leader Etienne who died in 2017, is relatively untested and has said little since the election.
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