Month: August 2022

An agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, mediated over the weekend by the European Union and the U.S., settled a dispute over identity documents, but tensions over the matter, as well as license plates for ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo, are a reminder of the fragile stability in the region.

Citizens can now move freely between the countries with their national ID cards. Until now, Kosovo citizens were given temporary Serbian documents when traveling to Serbia. In the latest deal, Kosovo agreed not to introduce entry/exit documents for Serbian ID holders.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, hailed the agreement.

“This is a European solution. We congratulate both leaders on this decision & their leadership,” he said on Twitter.

“The United States supports this agreement and sees it as an important step forward towards normalized relations, centered on mutual recognition,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA on Monday.

But analysts say it is precisely Serbia’s refusal to recognize the sovereignty of its former province that lies at the crux of the problems between the countries.

David Kanin, adjunct professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University and a former CIA senior analyst, told VOA, “There’s only one problem between Serbia and Kosovo, and that is the status of Kosovo.” He said that problems such as ID cards and license plates are “simply part of that issue.”

Frank Wisner, a retired U.S. ambassador who served as the U.S. special envoy to U.N.-backed talks between the countries, told VOA that the U.S. is steadfast in its support for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, which it declared in 2008.

“The United States has been foursquare behind Kosovo in consolidating that independence and achieving the widest possible recognition, but most particularly recognition by Serbia. That has not happened,” he said, adding that it is not likely to happen soon.

Kosovo sees the latest agreement as one step on the road to mutual recognition, with Prime Minister Albin Kurti saying full reciprocity on other issues will be imposed, if an agreement to that end is not reached.

“We want there to be normalization to be achieved through an internationally and legally binding agreement for the complete normalization of relations with mutual recognition at the center,” he said one day after the deal on ID cards was achieved.

But Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that allowing border crossing with Kosovo ID cards is done for practical reasons and “cannot be interpreted as recognition of Kosovo’s independence.”

The European Union is leading the dialogue between the countries. Five of its own members do not recognize Kosovo, and Kanin says that that puts Serbia in a comfortable position.

“On the Kosovo side, on the other hand, they can’t do anything to force through their sovereignty because the context in which they are operating prevents their sovereignty from being universally recognized, because that context includes five members of the EU who do not recognize Kosovo as a country,” he said.

The European Union has told both countries their EU aspirations hinge on normalizing relations.

Roadblocks in Kosovo

The latest round of high-level diplomacy followed tensions in late July in a part of northern Kosovo where ethnic Serbs are in the majority, after Kosovo’s government announced it would begin requiring Serbian document holders entering Kosovo to obtain temporary Kosovo-issued IDs, just as Kosovo citizens entering Serbia have had to do for over a decade.

Kosovo also said it would begin requiring ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo to use Kosovo license plates for their cars, instead of Serbian ones. Some local Serbs responded by blocking roads, prompting NATO to warn against escalation.

“Should stability be jeopardized KFOR stands ready to intervene and will take any measures that are necessary to ensure a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement for all the people of Kosovo,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, referring to the 3,770-troop peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

Roads were opened after Kurti agreed to postpone implementation of the plan for ID cards and license plates until September 1, but the flare-up was a reminder that security is fragile in a region where old disagreements are not settled and memories of the 1998-99 Kosovo war remain fresh. Kosovo still plans to implement the license plate requirement on September 1.

Between EU and Moscow

Since the July flare-up, Moscow has repeatedly expressed its support for Serbia. The countries have historical ties. Serbia – like Kosovo and other Western Balkans countries – aspires to become an EU member, but unlike them it has not imposed sanctions on Russia.

Last week its minister of interior, Alexandar Vulin, met in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Referring to Western sanctions, Vulin said Belgrade “will never engage in anti-Russian hysteria.”

“Serbia is the only state in Europe that didn’t introduce sanctions and was not part of the anti-Russian hysteria,” he told Lavrov.

Serbia, however, has joined the U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s invasion. In a Reuters interview on Monday, Vucic said that his country is the stage for a proxy war between East and West.

“You have a proxy war of big powers going on in Serbia through political players, the nongovernmental sector on both sides, the media and various social organizations, and you can see it every day, in every way,” he said, speaking to Reuters at his office in Belgrade.

Kanin says Vucic is comfortable sitting on two stools.

“Serbia is not going along with Western policy in total,” he said. “They’ve gone along with certain things, [such as] the U.N. vote. There have been certain areas in which Vucic has leaned toward the Western stool. In certain situations, he leans toward the Russian stool.”

Next steps

There is no agreement yet on the license plates for local Serbs in Kosovo’s North, and on Wednesday, Serbia’s Vucic said he does not believe that a solution is possible.

“From September 1, [Kosovo] will … try to force Serbs to change car plates, and I don’t think they will have a big success” Vucic told reporters.

However, Major General Ferenc Kajari, the commander of NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, sought to dispel fears about a conflict. “We are monitoring the situation … and we don’t see even an indication of any preparation for a war,” he told Reuters.

The U.S. envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, has called on the parties to continue the dialogue and to implement all the agreements that they have agreed on, including one on a Community of Serb Municipalities in the North of Kosovo. Kurti is against such a monoethnic body with executive powers within the country.

Whether one believes that incremental progress will ultimately yield mutual recognition or that agreements on practical matters are beneficial for their own sake, Kosovo and Serbia are bound to face their disagreements.

Wisner said full resolution is the ultimate goal, “but you can only get there step by step.”

“It also falls to the two governments in Belgrade and Pristina to find steps short of a full resolution that will bring good sense to the region and allow practical solutions to practical problems and give time a chance to make a difference on the overall question of recognition.”

Besim Abazi and Milan Nesic contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters and The Associated Press.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

VOA’s Kane Farabaugh spoke with NASA Astronaut Victor Glover ahead of Monday’s scheduled Artemis launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. While the launch was postponed, NASA’s quest to return to the moon and eventually send humans to Mars remains a priority for the U.S. space agency.

A new prime minister will take power in Britain next week after the resignation of Boris Johnson in July, following a series of scandals. His successor faces a series of daunting economic and political challenges, while Britain’s allies — especially Ukraine — are watching closely.

The fewer than 200,000 Conservative party members, around 0.3 percent of Britain’s voting population, will choose the next leader of the party and the country. The field has been whittled down to two candidates: former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who resigned from Johnson’s cabinet, and the current foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who polls show as the overwhelming favorite.

Ukraine

Their first challenge: war in Ukraine. Britain has provided around $2.7 billion of military aid to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion in February, second only to the United States. Britain is training hundreds of Ukrainian troops and has pledged to invest millions of dollars in rebuilding the country.

The outgoing prime minister is hugely popular in Kyiv. Bakeries sell Boris Johnson-themed cakes and biscuits, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made no secret of his wish for Johnson to remain in power. So will his departure spell a changing relationship? That’s highly unlikely under Liz Truss, said political analyst Alan Wager of the U.K. in a Changing Europe program at Kings College London.

“There’s almost zero chance of any significant change in the U.K.’s approach to the crisis in Ukraine. [Truss] was foreign secretary under the Boris Johnson administration and many of her key backers are, if you like, hawks when it comes to Ukraine. She’s also committed to increasing U.K. defense spending to 3 percent of gross domestic product and continuing the supply of arms to Ukraine,” Wager told VOA.

Ukraine may be the least complicated of the challenges facing Britain’s next prime minister.

Energy crisis

Domestic gas and electricity prices are set to soar by 80 percent in October, with even higher increases for businesses, compounding the post-COVID-19 economic crisis and raising the prospect of an imminent recession.

Charities say such price rises could be deadly for the most vulnerable in society.

“Families just cannot afford anything close to this. It’s a disaster. Ten thousand people die every year in the U.K. directly because of a cold home. That number is going to skyrocket,” Adam Scorer, chief executive of the charity National Energy Action, told Reuters.

Truss has, for now, ruled out price caps or cash handouts to help people pay their bills — and says tax cuts are the answer.

“What I’m talking about is enabling people to keep more money in their own pockets,” Truss said during a campaign event August 9. “What I don’t believe in is taxing people to the highest level in 70 years and then giving them their own money back. We are Conservatives, we believe in low taxes, and what I’m not going to do is announce the next budget in advance.”

Former chancellor Sunak has pledged more support for energy bills but did not give further details.

“If a British Conservative government goes through the autumn [fall] and winter and does not provide direct support to those vulnerable people, I believe it will be a moral failure and the British people will never forgive us,” Sunak said during a debate August 19 in Manchester.

In a sign of the country’s economic pressures, the British pound has fallen to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since early 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Europe

Meanwhile Britain’s relations with European neighbors remain strained, six years after the country’s vote to leave the European Union. Asked on the campaign trail if the president of France was a friend or foe, Truss said, “The jury’s out. … But if I become prime minister, I will judge him on deeds not words.”

She was applauded by some Conservative party members — but others criticized her for questioning Britain’s relationship with a close neighbor and NATO ally.

Asked about Truss’ comments, French President Emmanuel Macron said, “The British people, Britain, is a friend of France, a strong ally, no matter its leaders — and sometimes despite its leaders.”

Truss has also pledged to rip up the Northern Ireland protocol, a key Brexit customs agreement that Boris Johnson signed with the European Union to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“That could lead, in time, to a trade war between the U.K. and the EU,” said analyst Alan Wager.

He added the two candidates are appealing to a relatively tiny electorate and have rarely been tested on the campaign trail.

“The U.K. is entering into this new crisis if you like — this new economic crisis coupled with this international crisis in Ukraine — without its political leaders having to confront the key challenges that the U.K. faces. And that leaves the U.K. extremely vulnerable going into this winter across many fronts,” Wager told VOA.

Earth’s concentration of greenhouse gases and sea levels hit new highs in 2021, a U.S. government report said Wednesday, showing that climate change keeps surging ahead despite renewed efforts to curb emissions. 

“The data presented in this report are clear — we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing,” said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

“With many communities hit with 1,000-year floods, exceptional drought and historic heat this year, it shows that the climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today,” he said in a statement. 

The rise in greenhouse gas levels comes despite an easing of fossil fuel emissions the previous year as much of the global economy slowed sharply because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The U.S. agency said that the concentration of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere stood at 414.7 parts per million in 2021, 2.3 parts higher than in 2020. 

The level is “the highest in at least the last million years based on paleoclimatic records,” the annual State of the Climate report found. 

The planet’s sea levels rose for the 10th straight year, reaching a new record of 3.8 inches (97 millimeters) above the average in 1993 when satellite measurements began. 

Last year was among the six warmest on record since the mid-19th century, with the last seven years all the seven hottest on record, it said. 

The less headline-grabbing average temperatures were in part thanks to La Nina, an occasional phenomenon in the Pacific that cools waters, which took place early in the year and contributed to February being the coldest since 2014. 

But water temperatures were also at records, with exceptionally high recordings documented in particular in lakes in Tibet, an environmentally crucial region as a water source for many of Asia’s major rivers. 

Tropical storms, which are expected to increase as the planet warms, were sharply up in 2021, the report said. They included Typhoon Rai, which killed nearly 400 people in the Philippines in December, and Ida, which swept the Caribbean before becoming the second strongest hurricane to hit Louisiana after Katrina. 

Among other extraordinary events cited in the report, the celebrated cherry trees in Kyoto, Japan, bloomed at their earliest since 1409. 

Wildfires, also expected to rise because of climate change, were comparatively low following recent years although devastating blazes were witnessed both in the American West and Siberia. 

The 2021 report comes days after a study said Greenland’s ice sheet is set to melt at dangerous levels, even without any future warming, with major effects for low-lying areas around the globe that are home to hundreds of millions of people. 

The planet remains far off track from an ambition set by the Paris climate accord in 2015 to aspire to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change. 

In August, the United States under President Joe Biden pushed through the most expansive government package ever to address emissions from the world’s largest economy. 

The effort will invest heavily in clean energy and comes as California moves to require all cars to be zero-emission by 2035, a decision with far-reaching consequences for the automobile industry. 

 

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Frustrated residents in Mississippi’s state capital faced a second day without drinking water and the prospect of long lines for bottled water handouts after a neglected treatment plant failed this week.

Many businesses were shuttered again in the city of Jackson, while local schools and Jackson State University, a historically Black college, resumed classes online. Store shelves once packed with bottled water stood empty as residents waited for cases of water to be distributed later in the day.

“Jackson is in a water crisis and we do not trust what water we get to even bathe in,” said Cassandra Welchlin, 49, a social worker. She said her family of five was fortunate because they could shower at her sister’s place outside the city.

As a stop-gap measure to restore pressure to the water system, crews scrambled to install a temporary pump at the O.B. Curtis plant, which stopped operating on Monday and left the city of about 180,000 people without running water.

The plant, long plagued by inadequate staffing and maintenance problems, broke down from complications after a weekend of heavy rain and flooding, angering residents of a city that is about 80% African-American.

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba told CNN he expected water to be restored to residents by the end of the week.

Governor Tate Reeves has declared a state of emergency for Jackson and surrounding areas and called up the state National Guard to assist in efforts to bring relief to the city.

Late on Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s administration approved an emergency declaration and ordered federal assistance to supplement the state’s response. The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will coordinate all disaster relief efforts in the state, the White House said.

In addition to bottled drinking water distributed at several sites, the state trucked in 10 tractor-trailers of non-potable water and was expecting another 108 trucks in the coming days, Stephen McCraney, the state emergency management director, told reporters. The non-potable supplies are intended for flushing toilets and washing clothes.

The city is likely to see some relief with the installation of the temporary pump which would boost the plant’s capacity, which had already been boosted to 40% by an emergency team.

Even so, the system was still short of sufficient water pressure to guarantee service citywide.

Even before the crisis, the city had been under a boil water notice for the past month due to “elevated turbidity levels,” which makes the water appear cloudy. That followed a string of disruptions to the city’s water supply in recent years caused by high lead levels, bacterial contamination and storm damage.

Reeves, a Republican, has alleged that the water treatment plant suffered from years of city mismanagement, while Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has accused the state of failing to support efforts to maintain and update the plant.

Each side had been offered differing accounts of why the treatment plant failed, though they appeared to agree on significant facts by Tuesday afternoon.

The governor, who previously blamed pump failures, conceded that a scenario earlier presented by the mayor was correct: that floodwaters had entered the plant and altered the chemistry of the water. That rendered the existing treatment inadequate, forcing the plant to shut down.

Many Jackson residents say that the lack of investment in Jackson’s water infrastructure reflected the racial makeup of the city, which is more than 80% Black or African American, according to U.S. Census data.

“Extreme racist politics are being put before the people. It’s time that we put that to the side,” said Danyelle Holmes, a Jackson resident and social justice organizer.

The number of coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 15% in the past week while new infections dropped by 9%, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

In its latest weekly assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.N. health agency said there were 5.3 million new cases and more than 14,000 deaths reported last week. WHO said the number of new infections declined in every world region except the Western Pacific.

Deaths jumped by more than 183% in Africa but fell by nearly a third in Europe and by 15% in the Americas. Still, WHO warned that COVID-19 numbers are likely severely underestimated as many countries have dropped their testing and surveillance protocols to monitor the virus, meaning that there are far fewer cases being detected.

WHO said the predominant COVID-19 variant worldwide is omicron subvariant BA.5, which accounts for more than 70% of virus sequences shared with the world’s biggest public viral database. Omicron variants account for 99% of all sequences reported in the last month.

Earlier this week, Pfizer asked U.S. regulators to authorize its combination COVID-19 vaccine that adds protection against the newest omicron relatives, BA.4 and BA.5, a key step towards opening a fall booster campaign.

The Food and Drug Administration had ordered vaccine makers to tweak their shots to target BA.4 and BA.5, which are better than ever at dodging immunity from earlier vaccination or infection.

Meanwhile, in the U.K., regulators authorized a version of Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine last week that includes protection against the earlier omicron subvariant BA.1. British officials will offer it to people aged 50 and over beginning next month.

In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet approved legislation Wednesday that ensures basic protective measures against the coronavirus pandemic are continued during the fall and winter, when more virus cases are expected.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, millions of students wearing face masks streamed back to primary and secondary schools across the country on Monday for their first in-person classes after two years of coronavirus lockdowns.

Officials had grappled with daunting problems, including classroom shortages, lingering COVID-19 fears, an approaching storm and quake-damaged school buildings in the country’s north, to welcome back nearly 28 million students who enrolled for the school year.

Sri Lanka’s president said Tuesday that his bankrupt country’s talks with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package have successfully reached final stages as he presented an amended budget that seeks to tame inflation and hike taxes.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, said in a speech in Parliament that his government will soon start negotiating debt restructuring with countries that provide loans to Sri Lanka.

Declaring that Sri Lanka is on the “correct course in the short term for recovery,” Wickremesinghe warned the country must prepare for at least 25 years of a national economic policy, staring with the 2023 budget.

An IMF team is visiting Sri Lanka and is expected to end the current round of talks on Wednesday.

Prior to the visit, the IMF said that because Sri Lanka’s public debt is unsustainable, the IMF’s executive board will need assurances by Sri Lanka’s creditors that debt sustainability will be restored before any bailout program begins.

Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt exceeds $51 billion — of which it must repay $28 billion by 2027.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis with acute monthslong shortages of essentials like fuel, medicine, and cooking gas due to a severe foreign currency dearth. Though cooking gas supplies were restored through World Bank support, shortages of fuel, critical medicines and some food items continue.

Wickremesingh delivered his first budget proposal after he was elected by Parliament in July to cover the remainder of the five-year term of ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe said that the United Nations along with other international organizations has launched a program to ensure food security. Schools have reopened and universities have resumed classes after long closures, he said. However, long fuel lines have reappeared after a quota system seemed to have brought them under control over the past weeks.

“I thought things are improving,” salesperson Asanka Chandana said. “For several weeks in May and June, we faced severe hardships, but things were getting better over the last two weeks after the introduction of the quota system. Now it looks like the shortage is still there and we are back to the square one.”

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said lapses in distribution, delays in unloading, and payments for orders by fuel stations have created long lines. He said the issues will be sorted out within days.

Wickremesinghe also said that his administration’s fiscal program envisages government revenue increasing to around 15% of GDP by 2025 from 8.2% at the of end 2021. He also aims to reduce public sector debt from around 110% of GDP in 2021 to less than 100% in the medium term.

He also vowed to control inflation to a mid-single digit level, and proposed a value added tax increase to 15% from the current 12%. Other taxes approved in May will soon come into operation, he said.

The new budget comes amid a relative calm following months of public protests that led to the ouster of Wickremesinghe’s predecessor and his family members from power. Protesters accused the once-powerful Rajapaksa family of being responsible for the economic crisis through corruption and mismanagement.

Rajapaksa fled the country in July and resigned after protesters stormed his official residence. He is now in Thailand. Party leaders say he is expected to return from exile early in September and have asked Wickremesinghe to provide him with security and facilities to which a former president is legally entitled.

Since becoming president, Wickremesinghe has cracked down on protesters and dismantled their main camp outside the president’s office. The use of a harsh anti-terror law to detain a protest leader has led to the United States and European Union raising human rights concerns.

On Tuesday, police fired tear gas on students demonstrating against the detention of a student leader also under anti-terror laws.

“I don’t see a significant change except there is a new person in the office of the president,” political analyst Jayadeva Uyangoda said, as criticism mounted that Wickremesinghe was an extension of the Rajapaksas’ administration.

“No opposition party seems to be willing to join Mr. Wickremesinghe’s proposed all-party government for two reasons: they think Mr. Wickremesinghe lacks legitimacy and they are not happy with the dominance of the Rajapaksa party,” Uyangoda said.

“Persuasion,” a new film based on Jane Austen’s early 19th century novel, has ranked among the top 10 on the Netflix streaming platform. While Austen diehards and many critics have slammed it as inauthentic, others say such modernized versions could attract new audiences to the books of the celebrated English author. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
Video editor: Penelope Poulou