The European Union announced a comprehensive plan Tuesday to fight the growing problem of antisemitism on the continent, using a three-pronged strategy that includes combating hate speech and crimes, protecting Jewish culture, and educating the public about Judaism.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, introduced the plan at a news conference in Strasbourg, France.

In a statement, the commission said antisemitism is worryingly on the rise, in Europe and beyond. Citing statistics from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, 90% of Jews said antisemitism has increased in their country and it is a serious problem, and 38% of Jews have considered emigrating because they do not feel safe in the EU. 

Under the newly unveiled plan, which will be rolled out over a decade, the commission will use EU funds to support member countries as they develop their own national strategies to fight hate speech online and elsewhere and to promote fundamental rights. 

Discussing the strategy with reporters, EU Commission Vice-President for Promoting European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas said, “Antisemitism is not the problem of the Jews, but the problem of antisemites, and fighting it is the responsibility for all of us. I want to be very clear: antisemitism is incompatible with everything that the European Union stands for.” 

The aim is to set up a Europe-wide network of “trusted flaggers” along with Jewish organizations to help remove illegal online hate speech. 

EU leaders will also work with industry and IT companies to prevent the illegal display and sale of Nazi-related symbols, memorabilia and literature online. 

Funding will be provided to better protect public spaces and places of worship to help Jewish people feel safer, with $28 million available next year. 

Other steps will be taken to safeguard Jewish heritage and raise awareness about Jewish culture, life and traditions. 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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The United States is sending nearly 900,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to Mongolia. They are scheduled to arrive Wednesday, a White House official told VOA.  

“Scientific teams and legal and regulatory authorities from both countries have worked together to ensure the prompt delivery of safe and effective vaccine lots to Mongolia,” the official said.  

The 899,730 doses, sent through COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative co-led by Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), the WHO (World Health Organization) and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), are in addition to 188,370 doses of the Pfizer vaccine shipped to Mongolia in September. The U.S. has also provided more than $4 million to support the country’s pandemic response.

A low-income country bordered by vaccine-producing neighbors, China and Russia, Mongolia has been able to secure millions of vaccine doses largely through deals with Moscow and Beijing. It has administered at least 4,383,409 doses of COVID vaccines so far, according to its Ministry of Health. That’s enough for about 68% of the country’s population, assuming each person receives two doses.  

The number of infections is decreasing, with 2,230 new cases reported on average each day. That is 60% of the peak reported on September 6.  

There have been 312,376 infections and 1,347 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus.

 

Vaccine inequality

Humanitarian organizations say wealthy nations still need to do more to address global vaccine inequality.  

“When it comes to vaccine access around the world, you have 80% of the doses that have been administered have gone to rich countries, while only 0.5% have gone to low-income countries,” said Robbie Silverman, Oxfam America’s senior advocacy manager.  

The U.S. has been criticized for announcing plans to provide booster shots for certain demographic groups while many at-risk populations around the world have yet to receive a single shot.   

The Biden administration says they can help vaccinate the world at the same time as they protect Americans.  

“As the president has said, America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19,” the White House official told VOA Tuesday.

At the virtual COVID-19 summit on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in September, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an additional donation of 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to low-income and lower-middle-income countries, bringing total U.S. pledged donations to 1.1 billion shots.

The U.S. is the global leader in both pledged and shipped doses, according to data compiled by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center.  

As of October 1, however, the U.S. had shipped only 15% of the 1.1 billion doses it has promised. It is lagging behind other areas with less ambitious donation goals, including China (46%), Japan (30%) and the European Union (25%).

Some information from this report comes from Reuters.
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The crew of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft was welcomed aboard the International Space Station Tuesday, though a communications glitch during their final approach delayed their eventual boarding.

The Soyuz spacecraft was launched Tuesday from the Russian spaceport in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The ship was carrying a history-making crew, as it included film director Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild, who will be filming a feature film during their stay at the station.

After the spacecraft orbited the earth twice and made a final approach to the ISS, mission control reported the Soyuz craft experienced some communication issues. Those issues resulted in the crew abandoning automated docking procedures. Veteran Cosmonaut Shkaplerov, the other crew member on the Soyuz craft, manually guided the spacecraft into place without a problem.

The manual docking set back the scheduled opening of the hatch between the spacecraft and the station by an hour.

Once they were welcomed on board the ISS, Shipenko and Peresild will spend the next 12 days filming segments of a new feature film called “Challenge” — the first to actually be shot in outer space.  

NASA says filming will begin almost immediately. Pereslid will play a doctor who is launched to the orbital outpost to save an ailing cosmonaut. Shkaplerov and two fellow cosmonauts already on board the ISS, Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, will all have speaking roles in the film.

Shipenko and Pereslid will return to Earth on October 17 with Novitskiy.

The historic mission beats out a similar plan announced last year by Hollywood superstar actor Tom Cruise, the U.S. space agency NASA and Elon Musk’s privately-owned SpaceX company, which ferries crews and cargo to the ISS.  

Russian space officials are hoping the film will restore some luster to the program, which has fallen from its glory days of the 1950s and `60s, when it launched the first man-made satellite as well as the first man and woman, into orbit, but has been plagued by delays, accidents and corruption scandals in recent years.

Tuesday’s launch comes nearly a month after four Americans became the first all-civilian crew to orbit the Earth, spending three days in space aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press.
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French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed potential areas of cooperation Tuesday, as Blinken visited Paris to try to improve relations between the two allies following a dispute about a security partnership among the United States, Britain and Australia.

A U.S. official told reporters the meeting, which was not on Blinken’s public schedule, lasted about 40 minutes, and included discussion of joint projects the two sides could announce during a meeting later this month between Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Blinken held earlier talks Tuesday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and French National Security Advisor Emmanuel Bonne.  The top U.S. diplomat is also due to chair the Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and give an address.

Tensions over AUKUS deal

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration announced on September 15 a new security pact with Australia and Britain. Under the deal, Australia will get at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to be built domestically using American technology. The agreement came after Australia pulled out of an earlier deal with France for diesel-electric submarines, angering Paris.

France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and to Australia within two days following the announcement. Le Drian declared there is a “crisis of trust” in the United States.

 

After a phone call between President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on September 22 that sought to ease tensions over the submarine deal, both leaders decided to “open a process of in-depth consultations” to ensure “confidence.” Macron also decided that French Ambassador Philippe Etienne would return to Washington the following week.

Thursday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Etienne at the White House to “continue advancing shared agenda,” in advance of Biden’s meeting with Macron in Europe at the end of October. Both are scheduled to attend the Group of 20 summit in Rome at that time.

“We need to make sure trust is there,” said Karen Donfried, the newly confirmed assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, in a phone briefing on Friday.

While the U.S.-France relationship remains an important one for both sides, James Goldgeier, who is a senior visiting fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said the Biden administration “seems to have been a bit taken aback by the angry French reaction” to the AUKUS deal.

“It’s good that the two presidents are looking for ways to move forward. There is no question that the Biden administration sees the Indo-Pacific as its main focus. U.S. policy toward regions like Europe are seen through that lens,” Goldgeier told VOA.

The State Department said in a statement that the U.S. delegation to OECD’s October ministerial also includes Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

 

OECD & China

The OECD gathering will discuss the climate crisis, promoting the transition to net-zero emissions, as well as market-economy principles while continuing its commitment on shared values such as democracy, rule of law, and human rights.

A senior State Department official said another focus during the OECD meeting is the Blue Dot Network, a mechanism to certify infrastructure projects that meet robust international quality standards.

The United States, Japan and Australia launched the Blue Dot Network in 2019. Named for the view of Earth from space as a mere “blue dot,” it encourages development by certifying public-private investments in global infrastructure that are market-driven, transparent, and environmentally sustainable.

“The administration is very interested in engaging like-minded partners and allies to talk about the behaviors of non-market economies, including China,” said Matt Murray, a senior official from the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, during a phone briefing on Friday.

Murray told VOA that China will participate in the OECD meeting as an observer.

“Separate from the ministerial council meeting, and more generally, the U.S. government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the U.S.-China trade relationship because the United States welcomes healthy, fair competition with our trading partners. And economic competition with the P.R.C. should be fair,” added Murray.

Blinken heads to Mexico

Blinken’s weeklong trip also includes a stop at Stanford University, as well as meetings in Mexico City from October 7-8 for the U.S.-Mexico High Level Security Dialogue.

He will join U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss security issues, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said this week.

The high-level meeting comes amid a recent migration crisis as tens of thousands of Haitian migrants gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border last month.

The Biden administration confirmed on September 24 that a makeshift camp where 15,000 Haitian migrants braved desperate conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border was now vacant.

In late September, Mexico also began flying Haitian migrants back to their homeland.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters
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World leaders, politicians and pop stars are among thousands of individuals revealed to be concealing huge wealth through a network of anonymous companies. The revelations, known as the Pandora Papers, are part of a huge leak of almost 12 million files from the archives of several legal firms, which shed light on the secret world of offshore finance. 

Camera: Henry Ridgwell

 
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World leaders, politicians and pop stars are among the thousands of individuals revealed to be concealing huge wealth through a network of anonymous companies.

The documents, known as the Pandora Papers and published Sunday, are part of a leak of almost 12 million files from the archives of several legal firms, which shed light on the secret world of offshore finance. They are being analyzed by a team of more than 600 journalists.

Among the most startling revelations in the Pandora Papers is the hidden wealth of the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and his family. The leaks show the Aliyevs and their associates traded property in Britain worth $544 million over the past 15 years.

“Since this family took power in 1993, they have taken control of many of the country’s vital industries and its natural resources and used that to amass wealth,” said Rachel Davies Teka, head of advocacy at the anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International UK. “And this is being done at the expense of the people of that country. There are people who are suffering because their leaders are taking resources which should be shared out amongst those countries’ citizens,” Davies Teka told VOA.

Jordanian king’s property empire 

The leaked documents show that King Abdullah II of Jordan has a secret property empire in the United States and Britain worth more than $100 million, using anonymous offshore companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. In a statement, the Jordanian royal palace said that the foreign properties were not disclosed for security and privacy reasons, adding that they were purchased using the monarch’s private wealth. 

During a meeting with tribal elders Monday, Abdullah rejected allegations he had tried to conceal his wealth. “Unfortunately, there is a campaign against Jordan; there are still people who want to sow discord and build doubt between us. There is nothing I have to hide from anyone, but we are stronger than this, and this is not the first time Jordan gets targeted,” the king said. 

Pakistani Cabinet ministers and their families, including close allies of Prime Minister Imran Khan, are revealed to own offshore companies worth millions of dollars. Khan said they would be investigated.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, the country’s second-richest person, used anonymous offshore companies to finance the purchase of an $18 million property in France. Babiš is competing in a general election this week. In a televised debate with rival candidates, he defended his actions.

“The money was sent out of a Czech bank. The money was taxed. It was my money and it returned back to the Czech Republic,” he told the television audience in Prague on Sunday. 

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and six members of his family are linked to more than a dozen offshore companies, one with assets worth at least $30 million. There is no evidence that the Kenyatta family stole any state assets.

In a statement issued by the office of the president, Kenyatta welcomed the publication of the Pandora Papers. 

“These reports will go a long way in enhancing the financial transparency and openness that we require in Kenya and around the globe. The movement of illicit funds, proceeds of crime and corruption thrive in an environment of secrecy and darkness. The Pandora Papers and subsequent follow up audits will lift that veil of secrecy and darkness for those who cannot explain their assets or wealth,” the statement read.

Music stars, including Shakira and Elton John, and Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar are also revealed to have set up offshore companies. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing concerning any of their financial activities.

Much of the activity revealed by the Pandora Papers, including use of offshore companies, is legal. Governments must do more to reveal hidden wealth, argues Davies Teka.

“This investigation and what these journalists have uncovered is vital because, unfortunately, governments, particularly in the West, are not doing enough to bring transparency to where all this money is moving to — where this money is being hidden,” she told VOA.

Role of London 

One thread that is common to many of the revelations is London. The capital and the British Overseas Territories linked to it, such as the British Virgin Islands, offer a hidden network of legal structures designed to conceal who really owns the money, says Davies Teka.

“You can buy property anonymously if you use a company that’s registered and formed in an overseas territory where there is currently secrecy. We also have luxury services on offer to the global elite, and, unfortunately, we have a concerning amount of professionals, accountants, lawyers, estate agents who are happy to help corrupt and criminal actors launder and hide and manage their wealth.”

The British government has put forward legislation to prevent individuals from using offshore companies to conceal ownership. “However, for three years now they have hesitated to lay this legislation down in parliament and actually pass it, which raises questions about how serious they really are about tackling this problem,” Davies Teka said. 

Britain’s ruling Conservative Party has become embroiled in the accusations after the leaks revealed party donors were linked to alleged corruption. Speaking at the start of the weeklong Conservative Party conference Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected accusations that his party had accepted corrupt money.

“All I can say on that one is that all these donations are vetted in the normal way,” he told reporters.

British Chancellor Rishi Sunak denied that London’s reputation on tax avoidance was “shameful” and said the government had a strong track record on tackling global corruption. 
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Like many others, Azra Ozdemir’s parents sent her off on the first day of school with the usual sage advice about doing well so she could get into a good college.  

That was her first day of kindergarten.   

“I knew three words in English: Yes. No,” and the letter P to indicate the need to use the facilities. But by the end of that first year, “the teacher was already telling my parents that I was talking too much in class.”

Now a law student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Ozdemir speaks for others who might encounter language, cultural or financial barriers. She has been working in the Las Vegas Misdemeanor Clinic at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law.  

A misdemeanor charge usually indicates a lesser infraction, like a driving violation, and carries a penalty of less than one year in jail. Misdemeanors can include endangering the welfare of a child and sex crimes, like prostitution.  

Based on arrest data from the FBI and other statistical reports, legal scholar Alexandra Natapoff of Harvard University estimates that 80% of all arrests are misdemeanors, according to her website. “Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal,” is the title of her 2018 book on the subject. 

While misdemeanors have decreased in the past decade, Blacks and Hispanics are arrested at much higher rates than whites, according to the Data Collective for Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. John Jay College is part of the City University of New York. 

Ozdemir says growing up, she saw other immigrants also at a loss for where to find legal help, particularly for lesser charges like misdemeanors.  

“I just saw so much of the hardship in my community and just how hard it was to get a good immigration lawyer, even in my own family,” she said. “There was nobody we could talk to, you know. Nobody knew.”

Now that she’s part of the legal community in Las Vegas, Ozdemir said she realizes that many resources are available.  

“I wanted to really just pick a career where I could just be a part of this community that helps with the people in need, and to me the best way to do that was to be a lawyer,” said Ozdemir, who also credits hours and hours of watching court television while waiting after school in her father’s car repair shop.

Although misdemeanors will be reduced in Nevada from criminal charges in 2023 when the law will lessen their legal impact, until then a motorist could be offered community service or be sent to jail for rolling through a stop sign, she said, if the person misses a court date or fails to pay a fine.

“If you have to spend a night or two in jail to pay off a ticket, what about your work? What about your employment? A lot of people in that situation are already having a hard time with making ends meet. So, what are we expecting them to take time off of work?” she asked.  

Jails are crowded. Not everyone incarcerated may be in the best of health, physical or mental. There might be needs at home that imperil family members — child or elder care — without the jailed person present.  

Ozdemir and UNLV classmate Mia Bacher work with the courts to find a solution that works for both parties.

“We’re like, ‘Hey, this is really what the issue is,’ and oftentimes, we really hope that the judges or the courts are understanding and accepting. Sometimes they’re not and then we need to get creative with solutions. So, it’s an interesting situation.”

Azra and her parents came to the U.S. from Turkey on a family sponsorship in 1996 when she was five years old. Her aunt had married an American, and other family members followed. Education was always paramount, she was told. UNLV, she said, offers experiential learning that gives students hands-on exposure to their field beyond the classroom.  

“It’s an incredible opportunity for everybody involved that we get to work really closely with our clients, and we really get to know them and interview them and really see what their specific needs are,” Ozdemir said. “It’s probably one of the best things I’ve done so far in my education.”
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Pope Francis and other religious leaders made a joint appeal on Monday for next month’s U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) to offer concrete solutions to save the planet from “an unprecedented ecological crisis”.

The “Faith and Science: Towards COP26” meeting brought together Christian leaders including Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as well as representatives of Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism.

“COP26 in Glasgow represents an urgent summons to provide effective responses to the unprecedented ecological crisis and the crisis of values that we are presently experiencing, and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations,” the pope said.

“We want to accompany it with our commitment and our spiritual closeness,” he said in an address which he gave to participants instead of reading out in the Vatican’s frescoed Hall of Benedictions so that others had more time to speak.

The appeal, which described climate change as a “grave threat”, was handed to Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Britain’s Alok Sharma, president of COP26 in Glasgow.

“The faith leaders who have come here today represent around 3/4 of the world’s population. That is by any measure a significant percentage of people across the globe and that’s why their voice matters so much,” Sharma said after the meeting, which was organised by the Vatican, Britain and Italy.

‘War on Creation’

Welby, spiritual leader of the world’s Anglicans, called for a “global financial architecture which repents of its past sins”, including changes in tax rules to promote green activity.

“We have in the past 100 years declared war on creation… Our war against the climate affects the poorest among us,” Welby said.

The appeal urges all governments to adopt plans to help limit the rise in the average global temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible.

Wealthier countries must take the lead in reducing their own emissions and in financing poorer nations’ emission reductions, it said.

“We plead with the international community, gathered at COP26, to take speedy, responsible and shared action to safeguard, restore and heal our wounded humanity and the home entrusted to our stewardship,” said the appeal, which followed months of online meetings among the 40 or so religious leaders.

Several participants stressed that no nation could go it alone.

“If one nation sinks, we all sink,” said Rajwant Singh, a Sikh leader from the United States, who sang a poem for the participants.

In his written address, Francis said cultural and religious differences should be seen as a strength, not a weakness, in defending the environment.

“Each of us has his or her religious beliefs and spiritual traditions, but no cultural, political or social borders or barriers prevent us from standing together,” he said.

The Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, told Reuters on Sunday he hoped Monday’s meeting could “raise ambitions” on what can be achieved at Glasgow.

Scotland’s bishops said in July that the pope would attend the opening of COP26, health permitting. A decision is expected in the next few days.

Francis, 84, strongly supports the goals of the 2015 U.N. Paris accord to reduce global warming. He told young people at the weekend that theirs was “perhaps the last generation” to save the planet.

U.S. President Joe Biden returned the United States to the Paris accords after his predecessor Donald Trump pulled it out. Biden and the pope are expected to meet at the Vatican at the end of October.
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