Egyptian security forces arrested three political activists known for their outspoken criticism of Egypt’s government and president, defense lawyers said Wednesday, amid an intensified crackdown on dissent following small but rare anti-government protests over the weekend.

The demonstrations erupted over corruption allegations earlier this month against the military and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, by an Egyptian businessman living in self-imposed exile. El-Sisi, who is currently attending the United Nations General Assembly, has dismissed the corruption allegations as “sheer lies.”

Police quickly dispersed the protests, but they signified a startling eruption of street unrest. Demonstrations have been almost completely silenced in recent years, with those who dare take to the streets being quickly arrested and receiving lengthy prison sentences.

Attorneys Nour Farahat and Khaled el-Masry identified the three detained activists as Hazem Hosny, Hassan Nafaa and Khaled Dawoud.

Hosny and Nafaa are political science professors at Cairo University and were arrested Tuesday. Hosny also was a spokesman for the 2018 presidential campaign of Sami Annan, who served as chief-of-staff for former president Hosni Mubarak. Annan was detained in January last year.

Dawoud, a journalist and former head of the liberal al-Dustour party, was arrested Wednesday. Dawoud, Hosny and Nafaa have been brought before prosecutors, according to attorney Khaled Ali.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, which oversees police, could not be reached for comment.

The short-lived protests impacted Egypt’s stock exchange, which suspended trading for 30 minutes on Sunday, the first day of the country’s work week, after its main index fell by 5 percent. After three days of losses, the exchange went up 3.22 percent Wednesday, according to the state-run MENA news agency.

Wave of arrests

Over the past week, authorities have conducted a wave of arrests, according to rights lawyers. The arrests came amid new calls for protests in the coming days on social media, from which Friday’s demonstrators took their cue.

Over 1,200 people, including political activists, journalists and rights lawyers, were detained, el-Masry said.
 
Prosecutors have questioned at least 750 people about claims that they took part in activities of an outlawed group, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, and disseminating false news, he said.

Prosecutors ordered the three activists to remain in custody for 15 days pending investigations into claims they, too, took part in activities of an outlawed group and disseminating false news.

Heavy security measures are still in place in Cairo, the capital, since the weekend, particularly around Tahrir Square. The square was the epicenter of the so-called Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

El-Sisi, a general-turned-president, led the 2013 military’s ouster of an elected but divisive Islamist president amid mass protests against his brief rule. Since then, he has overseen an unprecedented crackdown, silencing critics and jailing thousands.

MPIGI, UGANDA — Faith Aweko of Uganda describes herself as a “waste-preneur.”  She has come up with an innovative way to transform discarded plastic bags into backpacks for everyday use.  

Aweko has no problem picking up waste.  She had to do it all the time as a child, when rainwater and trash would flood her home, located in a slum, in a low-lying part of Kampala.

Now, she works with women who are hired to collect and wash plastic bags in the Mpigi district of southern Uganda. The bags are then transformed into durable, sustainable, waterproof and beautiful bags.

Aweko and her colleagues, through the Reform Africa project, wanted to do something with the plastic bags that litter streets across Uganda, soiling the environment.

“They are collecting plastic bottles around, but the polythene bags are really being left. Yet they are the most dangerous for the environment. And you find them poorly disposed. Some people even burn them, others dump it in their gardens which doesn’t lead to good agricultural production,” Aweko said.

In Uganda, the most popular imported polythene bag is the 30 microns polythene.  Research has shown that it will take 1,000 years for each bag to decompose.

Aweko’s idea was to compress bags together using an iron, then stitch the material into backpacks.

“We iron this. We have to compile 15 plastic bags of these ones to come up with a strong back pack. We have designs, our customers need designs on it, we cannot iron it as plain as it is, so we have to get these Lato milk buveera’s (polythene), or the plastics, other plastic small bags to really add in the creativity so that it looks very strong,” Aweko said.

Rachel Mema, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is working with Reform Africa.

When she lived in one of Uganda’s refugee settlements, Mema says, there was a lot of plastic trash, which bred mosquitoes, leading to disease outbreaks.

“So, those solutions is something that is not just for urban people but also those people out there who really need to have something like that and eco-friendly and it’s an action towards our health right now, for who are suffering from plastic,” Mema said.

As world leaders set new agendas to fight climate change and save the environment, Mema, Aweko and others at Reform Africa believe they are doing their part — and generating some income in the process.

 

 

Myroslava Gongadze in Washington and Celia Mendoza in New York contributed to this report.

NEW YORK/CAPITOL HILL — U.S. President Donald Trump asked Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate if Democratic presidential contender and former Vice President Joe Biden shut down a probe into a Ukrainian company that employed his son, according to a summary of a transcript of a July telephone call between the two leaders.

Democrats have accused Trump, who is seeking re-election next year, of seeking Zelenskiy’s help to dampen Biden’s chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great,” Trump said, according to the summary released Wednesday by White House.

“Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me,” the transcript summary said.

U.S. President Donald Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July telephone call to investigate whether former Vice President Joe Biden shut down an investigation into a company that employed his son, a summary of the call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday showed.

President Donald Trump is meeting Wednesday in New York with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy amid reports the U.S. leader pushed his Ukrainian counterpart during a phone call to investigate Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden over a high-paying job his son Hunter had with a Ukrainian gas company.

The phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy is now at the center of an impeachment inquiry announced by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Trump has acknowledged the issue of the Bidens came up during a phone call Zelenskiy but insists there was no pressure put on the Ukrainian leader.

President Trump confirmed he told his staff to withhold about $400 million in aid to Ukraine days before the phone call.  He has said he will release the transcript of the conversation.

“You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!” Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Ahead of his talks with Trump, Zelenskiy told VOA’s Ukrainian service “We just want the U.S. to always support Ukraine and Ukraine’s course in its fight against aggression and war.”

Zelensky added “I think the meeting will be very warm.”

 

One of the wonderful ways that playgrounds have changed is in the way many are now making room for the disabled. Khrystyna Shevchenko visited one of the first special needs playgrounds in California. Anna Rice narrates her story.

A tech company is offering literature and short films created specifically for mobile devices. They already have 50 million monthly subscribers. Deana Mitchell tunes in.

Dozens of activists have marched in the capital of Ghana to protest impunity surrounding attacks on women and girls in the West African country.  The women activists added their voices to the global conversation about seeking justice for victims of sexual abuses, and holding abusers to account. Stacey Knott reports from Accra on the weekend protest march.

A collection of striking photographs set in the arid landscapes of northern Ethiopia aims to spotlight the harsh reality of water scarcity and how it impacts the lives of women across Africa, said artist

Americans’ diets are a little less sweet and a little crunchier but there’s still too much sugar, white bread and artery-clogging fat, a study suggests.

Overall, the authors estimated there was a modest improvement over 16 years on the government’s healthy eating index, from estimated scores of 56 to 58. That’s hardly cause for celebration – 100 is the top score.

Diets are still too heavy on foods that can contribute to heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other prevalent U.S. health problems, said co-author Fang Fang Zhang, a nutrition researcher at Tufts University near Boston.

The study was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The results are from an analysis of U.S. government health surveys from 1999 to 2016 involving nearly 44,000 adults.

“Despite observed improvements,” the authors wrote, “important dietary challenges” remain. 

Among them: Getting Americans to cut down on snack foods, hot dogs, fatty beef, butter and other foods containing saturated fats. The study found these unhealthy fats increased from 11.5% to almost 12% of daily calories, above the recommended 10% limit.

And while the biggest change was a small drop in added sugars, from about 16% to roughly 14%, that’s still too high. The government says less than 10% of daily calories should come from added sugars. Researchers think fewer sweetened sodas contributed to the decline, but Zhang noted added sugars are often found in foods that don’t even seem sweet, including some yogurts and tomato sauce.

Fruits, nuts, oatmeal and other whole grains are among the types of foods adults ate slightly more of. Still, each of those contributed to less than 5% of daily calories in 2016, the study found.

Salt intake dipped slightly and a small decline in fruit juice contributed to a drop in low-quality carbs. But these still amount to 42% of daily calories, including many likely from highly processed white bread and other refined grains, Zhang said.

The study is based on in-person health surveys conducted every two years that ask adults to recall what foods they ate in the previous 24 hours. Starting in 2003, adults were asked that question twice several days apart.

The study lists food groups rather than individual foods; for example “whole grains,” not oatmeal, and “refined grains,” not white bread but Zhang said those two foods are among the most common grains in the U.S. diet.

U.S. dietary guidelines recommend a “healthy eating pattern” to reduce chances of developing chronic disease. The focus should be on nutrient-dense foods including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy products; plus varied proteins sources including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs nuts and seeds, the recommendations say.   

During the study years, U.S. diabetes rates almost doubled, to more than 7%; obesity rates increased during many of those years, with about 70% of U.S. adults now overweight or obese. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death.

Besides continued public health efforts, “Cooperation from the food industry” is key, a journal editorial said, including by reducing sugar, salt and saturated fats in foods.

North Korea has quietly reopened a construction firm in Senegal in an apparent violation of United Nations sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s nuclear programs, VOA Korean has confirmed.

At least 31 North Koreans are working at the firm, Corman Construction & Commerce Senegal Sural (CCCSSS), according to interviews and official documents reviewed by VOA Korean.

Under a series of sweeping sanctions enacted two years ago, the U.N. prohibited member states from conducting most business activities with North Korea. The sanctions also prohibited member states from allowing in new North Korean workers and required any North Korean workers in place be expelled by the end of 2019.

Senegal told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in January 2018 that it had responded to the most recent sanctions by shutting down the North Korean company, Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies (MOP).

But documents show that Corman Construction was registered in June 2017 under management of a North Korean national. The company is working on some of the same construction projects that Mandudae Overseas worked on before it was closed.

Reporters from VOA Korean traveled to Dakar, the Senegalese capital, and reviewed business papers, immigration documents and copies of passports identifying the North Korean business activities in the African country. The source of the documents requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

On the morning of Sept. 16, VOA Korean reporters watched as a handful of North Korean workers emerged from a lodging compound in Dakar.

They squeezed into a double-cab pickup truck, then traveled for an hour to a factory owned by the Senegalese food processor,

Everton Simpson squints at the Caribbean from his motorboat, scanning the dazzling bands of color for hints of what lies beneath. Emerald green indicates sandy bottoms. Sapphire blue lies above seagrass meadows. And deep indigo marks coral reefs. That’s where he’s headed.

He steers the boat to an unmarked spot that he knows as the “coral nursery.” “It’s like a forest under the sea,” he says, strapping on blue flippers and fastening his tank before tipping backward into the azure waters. He swims down 25 feet (7.6 meters) carrying a pair of metal shears, fishing line and a plastic crate.

On the ocean floor, small coral fragments dangle from suspended ropes, like socks hung on a laundry line. Simpson and other divers tend to this underwater nursery as gardeners mind a flower bed — slowly and painstakingly plucking off snails and fireworms that feast on immature coral.

When each stub grows to about the size of a human hand, Simpson collects them in his crate to individually “transplant” onto a reef, a process akin to planting each blade of grass in a lawn separately.

Even fast-growing coral species add just a few inches a year. And it’s not possible to simply scatter seeds.

A few hours later, at a site called Dickie’s Reef, Simpson dives again and uses bits of fishing line to tie clusters of staghorn coral onto rocky outcroppings — a temporary binding until the coral’s limestone skeleton grows and fixes itself onto the rock. The goal is to jumpstart the natural growth of a coral reef. And so far, it’s working.

Almost everyone in Jamaica depends on the sea, including Simpson, who lives in a modest house he built himself near the island’s northern coast. The energetic 68-year-old has reinvented himself several times, but always made a living from the ocean.

Once a spear fisherman and later a scuba-diving instructor, Simpson started working as a “coral gardener” two years ago — part of grassroots efforts to bring Jamaica’s coral reefs back from the brink.

‘Rainforests of the sea’

Coral reefs are often called “rainforests of the sea” for the astonishing diversity of life they shelter.

Just 2% of the ocean floor is filled with coral, but the branching structures — shaped like everything from reindeer antlers to human brains — sustain a quarter of all marine species. Clown fish, parrotfish, groupers and snappers lay eggs and hide from predators in the reef’s nooks and crannies, and their presence draws eels, sea snakes, octopuses and even sharks. In healthy reefs, jellyfish and sea turtles are regular visitors.

With fish and coral, it’s a codependent relationship — the fish rely upon the reef structure to evade danger and lay eggs, and they also eat up the coral’s rivals.

Life on the ocean floor is like a slow-motion competition for space, or an underwater game of musical chairs. Tropical fish and other marine animals, like black sea urchins, munch on fast-growing algae and seaweed that may otherwise outcompete the slow-growing coral for space. When too many fish disappear, the coral suffers — and vice-versa.

After a series of natural and man-made disasters in the 1980s and 1990s, Jamaica lost 85% of its once-bountiful coral reefs. Meanwhile, fish catches declined to a sixth of what they had been in the 1950s, pushing families that depend on seafood closer to poverty. Many scientists thought that most of Jamaica’s coral reef had been permanently replaced by seaweed, like jungle overtaking a ruined cathedral.

But today, the corals and tropical fish are slowly reappearing, thanks in part to a series of careful interventions.

Restoring reefs

The delicate labor of the coral gardener is only one part of restoring a reef — and for all its intricacy, it’s actually the most straightforward part. Convincing lifelong fishermen to curtail when and where they fish and controlling the surging waste dumped into the ocean are trickier endeavors.

Still, slowly, the comeback effort is gaining momentum.

“The coral are coming back; the fish are coming back,” says Stuart Sandin, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. “It’s probably some of the most vibrant coral reefs we’ve seen in Jamaica since the 1970s.”

“When you give nature a chance, she can repair herself,” he adds. “It’s not too late.”

Sandin is studying the health of coral reefs around the world as part of a research project called the “100 Island Challenge.” His starting assumption was that the most populated islands would have the most degraded habitats, but what he found instead is that humans can be either a blessing or a curse, depending on how they manage resources.

In Jamaica, more than a dozen grassroots-run coral nurseries and fish sanctuaries have sprung up in the past decade, supported by small grants from foundations, local businesses such as hotels and scuba clinics, and the Jamaican government.

At White River Fish Sanctuary, which is only about 2 years old and where Simpson works, the clearest proof of early success is the return of tropical fish that inhabit the reefs, as well as hungry pelicans, skimming the surface of the water to feed on them.

Jamaica’s coral reefs were once among the world’s most celebrated, with their golden branching structures and resident bright-colored fish drawing the attention of travelers from Christopher Columbus to Ian Fleming, who wrote most of his James Bond novels on the island nation’s northern coast in the 1950s and ’60s.

In 1965, the country became the site of the first global research hub for coral reefs, the Discovery Bay Marine Lab, now associated with the University of the West Indies. The pathbreaking marine biologist couple Thomas and Nora Goreau completed fundamental research here, including describing the symbiotic relationship between coral and algae and pioneering the use of scuba equipment for marine studies.

Disasters

The same lab also provided a vantage point as the coral disappeared.

Peter Gayle has been a marine biologist at Discovery Bay since 1985. From the yard outside his office, he points toward the reef crest about 300 meters away — a thin brown line splashed with white waves. “Before 1980, Jamaica had healthy coral,” he notes. Then several disasters struck.

The first calamity was 1980’s Hurricane Allen, one of the most powerful cyclones in recorded history. “Its 40-foot waves crashed against the shore and basically chewed up the reef,” Gayle says. Coral can grow back after natural disasters, but only when given a chance to recover — which it never got.

That same decade, a mysterious epidemic killed more than 95% of the black sea urchins in the Caribbean, while overfishing ravaged fish populations. And surging waste from the island’s growing human population, which nearly doubled between 1960 and 2010, released chemicals and nutrients into the water that spur faster algae growth. The result: Seaweed and algae took over.

“There was a tipping point in the 1980s, when it switched from being a coral-dominated system to being an algae-dominated system,” Gayle says. “Scientists call it a ‘phase shift.’”

That seemed like the end of the story, until an unlikely alliance started to tip the ecosystem back in the other direction, with help from residents like Everton Simpson and his fellow fisherman Lipton Bailey.

Protecting reefs

The fishing community of White River revolves around a small boat-docking area about a quarter-mile from where the river flows into the Caribbean Sea. One early morning, as purple dawn light filters into the sky, Simpson and Bailey step onto a 28-foot motorboat called the Interceptor.

Both men have lived and fished their whole lives in the community. Recently, they have come to believe that they need to protect the coral reefs that attract tropical fish, while setting limits on fishing to ensure the sea isn’t emptied too quickly.

In the White River area, the solution was to create a protected area — a “fish sanctuary” — for immature fish to grow and reach reproductive age before they are caught.

Two years ago, the fishermen joined with local businesses, including hotel owners, to form a marine association and negotiate the boundaries for a no-fishing zone stretching two miles along the coast. A simple line in the water is hardly a deterrent, however; to make the boundary meaningful, it must be enforced. Today, the local fishermen, including Simpson and Bailey, take turns patrolling the boundary in the Interceptor.

On this morning, the men steer the boat just outside a row of orange buoys marked “No Fishing.” “We are looking for violators,” Bailey says, his eyes trained on the rocky coast. “Sometimes you find spearmen. They think they’re smart. We try to beat them at their game.”

Most of the older and more established fishermen, who own boats and set out lines and wire cages, have come to accept the no-fishing zone. Besides, the risk of having their equipment confiscated is too great. But not everyone is on board. Some younger men hunt with lightweight spearguns, swimming out to sea and firing at close-range. These men — some of them poor and with few options — are the most likely trespassers.

The patrols carry no weapons, so they must master the art of persuasion. “Let them understand this. It’s not a you thing or a me thing. This isn’t personal,” Bailey says of past encounters with violators.

These are sometimes risky efforts. Two years ago, Jerlene Layne, a manager at nearby Boscobel Fish Sanctuary, landed in the hospital with a bruised leg after being attacked by a man she had reprimanded for fishing illegally in the sanctuary. “He used a stick to hit my leg because I was doing my job, telling him he cannot fish in the protected area,” she says.

Layne believes her work would be safer with more formal support from the police, but she isn’t going to stop.

“Public mindsets can change,” she says. “If I back down on this, what kind of message does that send? You have to stand for something.”

She has pressed charges in court against repeat trespassers, typically resulting in a fine and equipment confiscation.

Boundary skeptics

One such violator is Damian Brown, 33, who lives in a coastal neighborhood called Stewart Town. Sitting outside on a concrete staircase near his modest home, Brown says fishing is his only option for work — and he believes the sanctuary boundaries extend too far.

But others who once were skeptical say they’ve come to see limits as a good thing.

Back at the White River docking area, Rick Walker, a 35-year-old spearfisherman, is cleaning his motorboat. He remembers the early opposition to the fish sanctuary, with many people saying, “‘No, they’re trying to stop our livelihood.’”

Two years later, Walker, who is not involved in running the sanctuary but supports its boundary, says he can see the benefits. “It’s easier to catch snapper and barracuda,” he says. “At least my great grandkids will get to see some fish.”

When Columbus landed in Jamaica, he sailed into Oracabessa Bay, today a 20-minute drive from the mouth of the White River.

Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary was the first of the grassroots-led efforts to revive Jamaica’s coral reefs. Its sanctuary was legally incorporated in 2010, and its approach of enlisting local fishermen as patrols became a model for other regions.

“The fishermen are mostly on board and happy, that’s the distinction. That’s why it’s working,” sanctuary manager Inilek Wilmot says.

David Murray, head of the Oracabessa Fishers’ Association, notes that Jamaica’s 60,000 fishermen operate without a safety net. “Fishing is like gambling, it’s a game. Sometimes you catch something, sometimes you don’t,” he says.

Fish populations

When fish populations began to collapse two decades ago, something had to change.

Murray now works as a warden in the Oracabessa sanctuary, while continuing to fish outside its boundary. He also spends time explaining the concept to neighbors.

“It’s people work — it’s a process to get people to agree on a sanctuary boundary,” he says. “It’s a tough job to tell a man who’s been fishing all his life that he can’t fish here.”

But once it became clear that a no-fishing zone actually helped nearby fish populations rebound, it became easier to build support. The number of fish in the sanctuary has doubled between 2011 and 2017, and the individual fish have grown larger — nearly tripling in length on average — according to annual surveys by Jamaica’s National Environment and Planning Agency. And that boosts catches in surrounding areas.

After word got out about Oracabessa, other regions wanted advice.

“We have the data to show success, but even more important than data is word of mouth,” says Wilmot, who oversaw training to help start the fish sanctuary at White River.

Belinda Morrow, a lifelong water-sports enthusiast often seen paddle-boarding with her dog Shadow, runs the White River Marine Association. She attends fishers’ meetings and raises small grants from the Jamaican government and other foundations to support equipment purchases and coral replanting campaigns.

“We all depend on the ocean,” Morrow says, sitting in a small office decorated with nautical maps in the iconic 70-year-old Jamaica Inn. “If we don’t have a good healthy reef and a good healthy marine environment, we will lose too much. Too much of the country relies on the sea.”

VOA’s Victoria Macchi contributed to this report.

With the U.S. Supreme Court’s

After a week of political gridlock, and one politically-charged year, Israel appears to have avoided its third election now that President Reuvin Rivlin has announced both sides have taken significant steps toward forming a unity government.

Rivlin’s role is largely ceremonial, but he has been thrust into the spotlight to choose which contender will first get to form a government.  He has fiercely advocated for a unity government between Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party and Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud.  And last night, he just might have succeeded in letting the two leaders work it out for themselves.

In order to form a government, a party must win at least 61 seats to get a majority. Typically, as there are numerous parties, Israel has a coalition government.  However, neither Gantz nor Netanyahu have been able to cobble enough parties together.

This election has been centered on two hot button issues: security, and the divide between religion and the state.

On security issues, observers say Netanyahu and Gantz are not that different. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Stayyeh described them as “the difference between Coke and Pepsi.” Both have advocated for a hardline against Hamas in Gaza, and have declared that the Jordan Valley along the border between the West Bank and Jordan must remain under Israeli control.  Israeli citizens have largely sustained economic stability and strong homeland security under Netanyahu’s tenure.  

However, the candidates starkly contrast on the issue of just how much influence religion should yield in government, business, schools, and even romance.

Ultra-orthodox backing

Ultra-Orthodox parties have historically been necessary to form coalition governments. The group does not serve in the military and receives government financial aid to study Torah full-time, opting out of work to pray.  Secular Israelis argue they are not contributing their part to society, and the ultra-orthodox argue their faith serves the nation through pleasing God with their piety.

The group’s demands are often met, and Netanyahu is no exception to this rule.  His campaign almost requires the religious conservative ultra-Orthodox parties’ backing to serve yet another term in office.  Another requirement of ultra-orthodox backing is their power over Israeli marriage practices.  Jewish Israelis cannot legally marry in Israel outside of the Jewish faith.  However, secular marriages performed abroad are recognized.

Arab parties

Gantz supports a secular “liberal” government, which would exclude the ultra-orthodox from the coalition.  He has mentioned his interest to media outlets about forming a unity government, and hastening the election process in the meanwhile.  Gantz stated that a “paralyzed national government does not benefit the people.”

Meanwhile, no Arab party has ever joined an Israeli government in history, but that did not stop Arabs Israeli citizens from showing up at the polls.

The Joint List scored third after Gantz and Netanyahu’s parties with 13 seats.  Party leader Ayman Odeh reports that his supporters showed up at the polls exclusively to vote out Netanyahu stating “We want to put an end to the Netanyahu era. . . There is no shared future without full and equal participation of Arab Palestinian citizens.”  

The question now is whether or not the Arab parties will be invited to join in Gantz and Netanyahu’s unity government, and be viewed as legitimate partners to shape the national agenda.

U.S. relations

The United States is watching political developments in Israel closely, to see what impact it could have on relations and issues in the region.

VOA reached out Iran-Israel expert Henry Rome with Eurasia Group for comment and analysis.

He assessed that for U.S.-Israel relations, “The ties are institutional and historical, and endure even if the two leaders do not get along.  As Prime Minister, Gantz would likely emphasize, much more than Netanyahu, the importance of a bipartisan relationship with the United States.”

Support within the U.S. for a Jewish state comes from the small American Jewish community (~2% of the population), and the much larger evangelical right-wing base that politically backs U.S. President Donald Trump.  However, amongst liberal Democrats, support for Israel has waned amidst partisan lines deepening in the US.  General Gantz is more likely than Netanyahu to reach out specifically to Democrats and be cautious to steer clear of partisan battles in Congress.

Rome also noted that Gantz would feel equally as strong against US diplomatic relations with Iran; however, he would certainly be less likely than Netanyahu to publicly engage in speaking caustically against sitting US presidents or Iranian threats.

One thing is for sure: whether or not Netanyahu manages to cling on as prime minister in his possibly new rotating role, little will likely change in the U.S.-Israel relationship.   

Since coming into office in January 2017, the White House has been working towards an Israel-Palestinian peace plan. Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt tweeted on August 28, 2019 that “We have decided that we will not be releasing the peace vision (or parts of it) prior to the Israeli election.”  If Israel’s Arab population felt involved in a Gantz government, then Trump’s Palestinian-Israeli peace plan would have a greater chance of being treated seriously by Palestinian leaders.

 

The New York Times says it turned to the Irish government to rescue a reporter threatened with arrest in Egypt two years ago out of concern that the Trump administration wouldn’t help.

Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger revealed the incident during a speech at Brown University and in an op-ed published Tuesday. Sulzberger said the paper was warned by a U.S. government official that Egypt planned to seize reporter Declan Walsh.

The official said the Trump administration intended to let the arrest be carried out. The official worried about being punished for even warning the Times about it.

The paper turned to Ireland, where Walsh is a citizen, and one of that country’s diplomats helped the reporter get out of Egypt.

 

A masterpiece attributed to 13th century Italian painter Cimabue has been discovered in a French woman’s kitchen —and it’s expected to sell for millions of euros at an upcoming auction.

Titled “Christ Mocked,” the small wood painting depicts Christ surrounded by a crowd. Experts think it to be part of a larger diptych Cimabue painted around 1280, said Stephane Pinta, an art specialist with the Turquin gallery in Paris.

“It’s a major discovery for the history of art,” Pinta said of the newly discovered work measuring about 10 inches by 8 inches (24 centimeters by 20 centimeters). Other experts agreed.

Until recently, the painting hung on a wall between the kitchen and the dining room of a home in Compiègne. The woman considered it an icon of little importance until an auctioneer spotted the painting while going through her house and suggested bringing it to art experts, Pinta said.

Cimabue, who taught Italian master Giotto, is widely considered the forefather of the Italian Renaissance. He broke from the Byzantine style popular in the Middle Ages and incorporated elements of movement and perspective that came to characterize Western painting.

After examining the French kitchen find, Turquin gallery specialists concluded with “certitude” it bore hallmarks of Cimabue’s work, Pinta said.

They noted clear similarities with the two panels of Cimabue’s diptych, one displayed at the Frick Collection in New York and the other at the National Gallery in London.

Likenesses in the facial expressions and buildings the artist painted and the techniques used to convey light and distance specifically pointed to the small piece having been created by Cimabue’s hand.

Pinta said all those characteristics animate the newly discovered piece.

“What’s moving in this painting is the motion that we see in Christ,” Pinta said.

Alexis Ashot, an independent art consultant for British auction house Christie’s, said the discovery in France sent ripples of excitement in other parts of the art world.

“It’s wonderful to be reminded that there are paintings of such major importance that are still out there and still to be discovered,” he said.

The painting will be the first Cimabue masterpiece to be auctioned when it is put up for sale at the Acteon auction house north of Paris on Oct. 27, according to Pinta. Turquin experts think a major art museum will buy it for a price of between 4 million and 6 million euros.

Ashot said he thinks the painting could fetch even more.

“I could easily see that if word gets out there that this painting is available for sale, then the price could be much higher than they are estimating,” he said.

Israel’s two largest parties met Tuesday to discuss the possibility of forming a unity government, in a long-shot effort to break the political deadlock following last week’s national elections.

The meeting between party representatives comes a day after Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the rival Likud party held their first working meeting since the vote. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin brought them together in hopes of breaking an impasse that could lead to months of political limbo and potentially force a third election in less than a year.
“We took a significant step this evening, and now the main challenge is building a direct channel of communication out of trust between the two sides,” Rivlin told the two rivals. “People expect you to find a solution and to prevent further elections, even if it comes at a personal and even ideological cost.”

Israel’s president is responsible for choosing a candidate for prime minister after national elections. That task is usually a formality, but it is far more complicated this time since neither of the top two candidates can build a stable parliamentary majority on his own.

Rivlin summoned Gantz and Netanyahu for another summit Wednesday before making his decision. No breakthrough is expected, and it is unclear which way Rivlin is leaning.

On Tuesday, negotiators from the two parties met for what they described in a joint statement as a “matter-of-fact” meeting “held in good spirits.”

Gantz’s centrist Blue and White came in first in the elections, with 33 seats, trailed by Netanyahu’s Likud with 31. With smaller allied parties, a total of 55 lawmakers have thrown their support behind Netanyahu, against 54 for Gantz, leaving both men short of the required 61-seat majority.

A unity deal between the large parties, with a rotating leadership, is seen as perhaps the only way out of the gridlock. That’s what Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, is insisting upon. Lieberman, who controls eight seats, has refused to endorse either candidate and is demanding they join him in a broad, secular unity government that excludes the ultra-Orthodox parties
Netanyahu’s long-time partners. A former aide and ally of Netanyahu, Lieberman forced the Sept. 17 repeat vote by refusing to join Netanyahu’s coalition and robbing him of his parliamentary majority.

Both Netanyahu and Gantz have expressed support for a unity government but have deep disagreements over its agenda and who should lead it.

Gantz insists he should go first and has vowed not to partner with Likud so long as Netanyahu is at the helm, citing the prime minister’s legal predicament. Israel’s attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu with a series of corruption-related charges and is expected to make a final decision following a hearing with the prime minister early next month.

Netanyahu, seeking protection from prosecution, believes he should remain as prime minister and has signed a deal with his smaller allies, including ultra-Orthodox parties, to negotiate as a “bloc.” The joint statement noted that while Netanyahu’s negotiator, Yariv Levine, claims to represent all 55 members of the right-wing bloc, Gantz’s negotiator, Yoram Turbovitch, views Levine as representing only Netanyahu and the Likud.

“It is going to be very hard, if not downright impossible, to form a government based on the two larger parties, when one of them drags its satellite parties along with it,” wrote columnist Nahum Barnea in the Yediot Ahronot daily. “That’s like a bride who wants to bring her brother, cousin, neighbor and rabbi along with her to the consummation of her marriage. It won’t work.”

U.S. President Donald Trump told his staff to withhold about $400 million in aid to Ukraine days before a phone call with the country’s leader that is at the center of a debate between Congress and the White House over a whistleblower complaint.

Reports late Wednesday from the Associated Press, Washington Post and New York Times all cited multiple senior administration officials saying Trump froze the funding, and that the order was communicated to the State Department and Pentagon with the explanation that he was looking into whether the money needed to be spent.

Earlier Wednesday, the leaders of three House of Representatives committees demanded Secretary of State Mike Pompeo turn over all documents related to the call Trump made to Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.  

The Democratic chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight committees — Elliot Engel, Adam Schiff, and Elijah Cummings — set a Thursday deadline, the same day the intelligence committee is set to hear testimony from acting director national intelligence Joseph Maguire about the whistleblower complaint linked to the call.

Trump is said to have pushed for an investigation into leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who served for years on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

The three House members said in their letter the State Department has admitted that a senior Pompeo staffer directly helped set up meetings between Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Ukrainian officials days after the call.

“By withholding these documents and refusing to engage with the committees, the Trump Administration is obstructing Congress’ oversight duty under the Constitution to protect our nation’s democratic process,” they wrote.

Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters Monday that he met several weeks ago with Zelenskiy, and that the Ukranian administration worried the aid cutoff “was a consequence for their unwillingness, at the time, to investigate the Bidens.”

“They were unwilling to conduct this investigation because there was no merit to it,” Murphy said.

Also Monday, a group of first-term Democratic members of the House of Representatives with backgrounds in national security wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post saying if the allegations of Trump’s actions are true, the lawmakers believe they “represent an impeachable offense.”

“The president of the United States may have used his position to pressure a foreign country into investigating a political opponent, and he sought to use U.S. taxpayer dollars as leverage to do it,” they wrote.  “He allegedly sought to use the very security assistance dollars appropriated by Congress to create stability in the world, to help root out corruption and to protect our national security interests, for his own personal gain.”

The group includes Reps. Gil Cisneros, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Elaine Luria, Mikie Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin and Abigail Spanberger.

Trump on Monday dismissed the Democratic drumbeat for impeachment, saying he does not take such threats “at all seriously.” He insisted his call with Zelenskiy was a “very nice call,” congratulating him on becoming Ukrainian president.

Trump said he could very easily release a transcript of the call, and the press would be disappointed. But he refused to commit to doing so, saying it would be a bad precedent.

The controversy began last week when reports emerged that an unidentified whistleblower in the national intelligence community became alarmed about a series of actions inside the Trump administration. They include what is now known to be Trump’s telephone call with Zelenskiy. 

This person contacted the intelligence inspector general, who called the complaint “serious” and “urgent.” 

Maguire has refused to turn over the inspector’s report to Congress, which the law requires him to do.

As vice president under Barack Obama, Joe Biden went to Ukraine in 2016 and threatened to withhold billions of dollars in U.S. loan guarantees unless the government cracked down on corruption. Biden also demanded that Ukraine’s chief prosecutor Viktor Shokin be fired. 

Shokin had previously investigated the gas company on which Hunter Biden served on the board. But the probe had been inactive for a year before Joe Biden’s visit. Hunter Biden has said he was not the target of any investigation and no evidence of any wrongdoing by the Bidens has surfaced. 

An angry Biden said “there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s willingness to abuse his power and abase our country.”

Generally the tarmac of a large international airport is strictly off limits to civilians. But every year hundreds storm the runways of Washington Dulles Airport for an annual traditional that involves teamwork and big planes. Sandzhar Khamidov visited the event. Anna Rice narrates his story.

Plastic pollution continues in Lake Malawi despite a recent ban on the use of plastics. Conservationists say the plastic is putting a strain on aquatic life in the lake. Studies have warned that the fish stock in the lake could be depleted by 2050 unless the pollution stops. Lameck Masina reports from Lakeside district of Mangochi.