Month: March 2023

President Joe Biden saw for himself the flattened homes, broken furniture and upended lives left behind by last week’s deadly tornado in Mississippi and pledged Friday that the federal government is not leaving until the area is back on its feet. 

In the close-knit community of Rolling Fork, Biden read aloud the names of each of the 13 residents of the small town killed in the storm and toured the wreckage. He acknowledged to residents that the road to recovery will be long and hard, but said he was committed to helping them through it. 

“We’re not just here for today,” said Biden, standing near an animal shelter and a hardware store reduced to rubble by the powerful storm as he addressed members of the devastated community. “We’re going to get it done for you. We’re going to make sure you can stay right here.” 

Biden lost Mississippi by more than 16 percentage points in 2020, but people were grateful that he came — and hopeful they won’t be forgotten. Resident Paul Rice said he welcomed the continued attention Friday’s visit brought to the town’s plight. 

“Right now, everybody’s here, but I imagine it’ll start drying up,” said Rice, who was driving around town to survey the damage and check on friends whose homes had been destroyed. “We’re Americans first and foremost. And that means we all have to work together.” 

The president heaped praise on Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and the area’s longtime Democratic congressman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, for moving quickly to help Rolling Fork and surrounding communities following last week’s storm. 

Under a canopy set up blocks from Rolling Fork’s obliterated city hall building, church volunteers doled out packages of breakfast sausages and pancakes with syrup Friday morning. Joseph Thomas, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran and lifelong Rolling Fork resident, arrived to claim his meal wearing a bandana emblazoned with an American flag. 

Thomas said he never imagined any president would come to his rural Delta hometown. 

“I’m proud that he is coming to this little small town. That means a lot to me,” Thomas said. “Because we need a lot of help to come through here, federal help, boots on the ground to put all this back together.” 

Last week’s tornado destroyed roughly 300 homes and businesses in Rolling Fork, and the nearby town of Silver City, leaving mounds of lumber, bricks and twisted metal. Hundreds of additional structures were badly damaged. Overall, the death toll in Mississippi stands at 21, based on those confirmed by coroners. One person died in Alabama, as well. 

From Marine One, as they flew from Jackson to the area hardest hit by last week’s storm, the president and first lady, Jill Biden, saw the devastation across acres of farmland — destroyed homes, toppled trees and piles of debris. 

“This is tough stuff,” Biden said as he was greeted by state, local and federal officials in Rolling Fork. “The most important thing is we got to let people know the reason for them to have hope, especially those who have lost somebody.” 

Biden announced that the federal government will cover the total cost of the state’s emergency measures for the next 30 days, including overtime for first responders and debris cleanup. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will open disaster recovery centers in storm-ravaged counties to help residents access resources. 

The Bidens also met with residents impacted by the storms and first responders and received an operational briefing from federal and state officials. 

Last week’s severe weather makes life even more difficult in an area struggling economically. Mississippi is one of the poorest states, and the majority-Black Delta has long been one of the poorest parts of the state — a place where many people live paycheck to paycheck, often in jobs connected to agriculture. 

Biden approved a disaster declaration for the state, which frees up federal funds for temporary housing, home repairs and loans to cover uninsured property losses. But there’s concern that inflation and economic troubles may blunt the impact of federal assistance. 

Just days after an explosive device detonated on Lenin Artieda’s computer, injuring him, the journalist was back in the newsroom, refusing to let the incident keep him from working.

The main political interviewer for the Ecuavisa television channel was one of five journalists who received letter bombs last week. The attack is the latest in a wave of violence directed at the media in the South American country.

All the targets in the letter bomb campaign were high-profile television and radio journalists.

The Ecuadorean prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into what it terms a crime of terrorism but did not say why it believed the media offices were targeted.

Organizations that document violations against media and advocate for a safer environment say they are troubled by the attacks.

César Ricaurte, executive director of the media freedom group Fundamedios, described it as a “worrying” development.

“These were designed to send a very strong message of disrespect for the media,” he told VOA.

Ricaurte said that journalists are coming under increasing pressure in Ecuador.

His organization documented a record 352 verbal, physical and legal threats made to 441 reporters.

For Artieda, he said the package containing the explosives had seemed legitimate at first.

“I received a pen drive with a piece of paper which said it contained information about corruption in the government of Correa,” he said referring to former President Rafael Correa. “It had a name and an address, so it seemed OK.”

“When I put it in my computer, it exploded, cutting my face and injuring my right hand slightly. The bomb squad said only 50% of the explosives went off. If all of it had gone off, I would have suffered serious injury.”

Though he sustained only minor injuries, he and his family have been left with mental scars, he acknowledged.

“It could have been worse. My family and friends have been scared. But this will not put me off doing my work, providing information for the people of Ecuador,” he said.

When he spoke with VOA days after the attack, Artieda was already back in his office.

He declined to speculate on who might be behind the campaign, saying, “That is a job for the police and the legal authorities.”

Radio journalist Miguel Rivadeneira, who was also targeted, said he believes he had a lucky escape.

The device sent to Rivadeneira, who is director of news for radio station Ecuadoradio, failed to explode.

“The police told me that as I plugged it into a radio which has a lower electrical charge it failed to explode, whereas a colleague plugged a pen drive impregnated with explosives into a computer and it went off,” he told VOA.

Rivadeneira conducts political interviews for the radio station and writes a newspaper column for El Comercio newspaper.

“We are being targeted by people on the margins of the law who are allied with the opposition. The government wants to uphold the law,” he said.

“We are trying to conduct responsible and reliable journalism, but some people do not respect that.”

Rivadeneira said his country was also increasingly coming under pressure from drug traffickers.

His radio station had been critical of former President Correa, like other media that were targeted.

Correa was granted asylum in Belgium after he was convicted in absentia of graft and sentenced to eight years in prison.

The Ecuadorean prosecutor’s office is leading the investigation into the media attacks and says it has identified a suspect, according to reports. The suspect has not been named and authorities have not said whether the person has been detained or why it believed the journalists were targeted.

Juan Zapata, the interior minister, disclosed that the envelopes were sent from Quimsaloma, a town in the coastal province of Los Rios. Three were sent to Guayaquil, a crime-ridden city, and two to the capital, Quito.

“There is an absolutely clear message to silence journalists,” Zapata said. The device was “the same in all five places,” he told journalists.

Envelopes containing USB sticks were delivered to Artieda, Rivadeneira, Mauricio Ayora of TC Television, and Milton Perez of Teleamazonas.

Police said the USB drive sent to Artieda could have been loaded with RDX, a military type of explosive.

Another package was sent to journalist Carlos Vera, who has worked for TC Television channel, but it was intercepted by the police at a courier company in Guayaquil and did not reach its target, police said.

In the letter bomb addressed to Teleamazonas, a note contained information about Correismo, which is a political movement named after Correa.

The Ecuadorean government said in a statement that it “categorically rejects any form of violence perpetrated against journalists and media outlets.”

It added that any attempt to “intimidate journalism and freedom of expression is repugnant.”

With attacks on media overall on the rise in the country, Ricaurte of Fundamedios said he wants “a strong response from the state and more protection for the media.”

He added that some cases involving media killings are still unresolved, adding, “Another journalist is missing.”

Ecuador, which is sandwiched between Colombia and Peru — seen as the world’s biggest cocaine producers — has become a focus of the global drug trade in recent years, according to the research group Insight Crime.

Guayaquil, where some of the bombs were mailed to, is one of the most violent cities, with frequent clashes among rival drugs gangs over smuggling routes, Agence France Press reported.

Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso has declared war on the gangs. The groups control the illicit trade from prisons which are also engulfed in violence and riots that have claimed the lives of more than 400 inmates since 2021, according to the AFP.

The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders notes that journalists in the country “are working in a climate of growing danger.”

Journalists regularly report receiving death threats. Last year, the RTS TV station came under gunfire attack, and in 2020 a bomb exploded at the entrance to the Teleamazonas broadcaster in Guayaquil.

Some information for this report is from Agence France-Presse.

Regulations from Ukraine covering media access to the front lines of the war have drawn criticism from reporters and media advocates who say the rules are not proportionate with the dangers for war correspondents.

Two of Ukraine’s operational commands, in the country’s east and south, released new rules in March governing how media can operate in areas under their control.

The rules bar journalists from working in “red zones” deemed the most dangerous and require a military press officer’s escort to work in less dangerous “yellow zones.”

Journalists can work freely in “green zones.” And commanders will have discretion to allow reporters access to red zones in certain circumstances, according to local media.

Restrictions ‘worrying’

But media watchdogs have said that the new regulations mean journalists are now denied access to over 50 municipalities in Ukraine.

“It’s worrying that such a decision can be made to restrict the access of journalists,” said Jeanne Cavelier, the Eastern Europe expert for media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF. “It’s in [Ukraine’s] interest” to facilitate reporting on the war.

At least one command later removed the order from its website, Cavelier told VOA.

Officials are advising journalists to connect with press officers directly when planning an assignment “to know in which color it is, if they’re allowed [access] or not,” said Cavelier.

The order is part of amendments to regulations under martial law governing how journalists can work.

All military commanders are now required to classify the territories under their control into separate zones.

Ukraine’s Washington embassy did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

VOA emailed the Ukraine Ministry of Defense on Friday to ask whether the rules are now being enforced, and for its response to media concerns. At publishing time for this article, VOA had not received a response.

A Ministry of Defense statement provided to the advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists said, however, that the rules are meant “to improve interaction with representatives of the mass media while working in combat areas.”

Media risks

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made the country one of the deadliest for journalists. More than a dozen local and foreign correspondents have been killed there in the past year while on assignment.

The war also attracted large numbers of freelance journalists, many of whom were unfamiliar with working in conflict zones.

“The thing about war is the situation can change day to day and even hour to hour,” said Clothilde Redfern, director of the Rory Peck Trust, an organization that supports freelance journalists.

“The situation in Ukraine is changing all the time, and up-to-date, accurate in-country information is crucial for journalists’ safety,” she said.

Other media experts told VOA they thought the restrictions were excessive and not commensurate with the risks for journalists.

Sergiy Tomilenko, president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, told VOA that “the new rules of military accreditation should not completely stop coverage of this war.” He added that areas should be considered red zones only if reporting is impossible there because of the conflict.

Skepticism on safety

Oksana Romaniuk, the head of the Institute of Mass Information, a local press freedom group, said the restrictions appeared to be about safety, but she said she thought they were more about control.

“We do not think that it is connected with the desire to make the work of journalists safer. It is, rather, connected with the desire to make everything work like the army,” she told VOA from Kyiv.

Romaniuk said she thought Ukraine’s north and west operational commands had developed similar rules but had not yet published them because of the criticism of the other commands’ policies.

“They’re too rigid,” Karol Luczka said of the rules. Luczka, who focuses on Ukraine for the International Press Institute, a media rights organization, said, “There shouldn’t be a pre-established list of places which are excluded to journalists.”

“Access should really only be based on the situation on the ground,” on an ad hoc basis, Luczka said.

Cavelier, of RSF, said it’s important that the Ukrainian government balance journalist safety with the freedom to report. “We understand that some parts of the front line — very hot areas — are forbidden for journalists,” she said, but that doesn’t mean journalists should be barred entirely.

Details on the new regulations have also been unclear, analysts said, with zone lists on some fronts incomplete. This has added to the confusion and frustration, Cavelier said.

Military escorts — which Ukraine’s Institute of Mass Information said are in short supply — are also supposed to escort reporters in yellow zones, but some journalists already live and work in yellow zones full time. That has led to questions about how a journalist based in one of those areas is supposed to operate.

Alongside the war on the ground in Ukraine is a battleground on the internet, with disinformation pushed out in an effort to influence opinion.

“Journalists in Ukraine are crucial to countering Russian disinformation,” said IPI’s Luczka. “In order to ensure that the world continues to trust Ukraine in terms of what is going on on the front lines, journalists need to be present.”

The ultimate consequence, said Romaniuk, is that some stories may never be told.

Reporting that, for the past year, has documented crimes and informed people about the plight of Ukraine’s people will now be harder to achieve.

“For us, it is extremely important to tell the world, because people are dying every day,” Romaniuk said. “It is the only thing that gives us hope and gives us strength and resilience.”

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.

Days before news broke that a grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump, VOA asked passers-by near Trump Tower in New York City for their thoughts on the expected legal action. Igor Tsikhanenka reports. Camera: Alex Barash.

A Philippine coast guard commander said Friday that the tragic scenes of death his team saw aboard a gutted ferry, including bodies of adults clutching children, had moved them to tears and sparked fears other passengers could be found dead in the still-smoldering ship. 

At least 29 of more than 250 people onboard the M/V Lady Mary Joy 3 were killed in the blaze that raged through the ferry Wednesday while it was on an overnight trip from the southern Zamboanga city to Jolo town in Sulu province. At least seven passengers, including two army soldiers, remained missing in the country’s deadliest sea disaster this year, the coast guard said. 

Basilan Governor Jim Hataman initially reported 31 deaths Thursday but later reduced the toll to 29 after search and rescue groups cross-checked their figures. 

All 35 crew members survived, including the captain, who issued an abandon-ship order when the fire hit close to midnight and then ran the ferry aground on an island off Basilan province to give remaining passengers a better chance to survive, coast guard officials said. 

Many passengers jumped into the sea in panic without life jackets and were saved by rescuers but at least 11 drowned. When a team of coast guard personnel, including Bureau of Fire officers, boarded the burned ferry on Baluk-baluk island’s coast, they discovered the bodies of 18 passengers scattered on the uppermost open-air economy deck and another floor below, coast guard Commander Chadley Salahuddin said. 

The passengers, including an adult clutching a child by the railing, could have easily jumped into the sea and survived like many others but failed to do so for unclear reasons. Two passengers, apparently siblings who were among the missing, were found holding each other in a bathroom, he said. 

“When I first saw that scene, I was moved to tears with some of my men,” Salahuddin told The Associated Press by telephone. “It was a short journey. Why did so many have to die?” 

“What if my mother or my other loved ones were the ones who were trapped here? They were just a step away from the open sides but why did they not jump off like the others?” Salahuddin asked. 

The passengers, some of whom were burned beyond recognition, could have been overcome by smoke and passed out or could have been immobilized by injuries. Some survivors said they heard a series of firecracker-like blasts during the fire, but Salahuddin said all those details could only be confirmed by investigators. 

He feared more bodies could be found in the lower enclosed decks, which remained dangerously hot and could not be inspected Thursday by his team. 

His team found a partly burned rifle, which may have been left by a police officer who was among the passengers who survived, Salahuddin said, adding that there was no sign of a bomb explosion at least in the upper decks that they managed to inspect. 

The steel-hulled ferry could accommodate up to 430 people and was not overcrowded, said another coast guard official, Commodore Rejard Marfe. 

According to the manifest, it was carrying 205 passengers and a 35-member crew, Marfe said. In addition, it had a security contingent of four coast guard marshals, who all survived. Eight soldiers were traveling to Sulu. 

Threats posed by Muslim insurgents, including those aligned with the Islamic State group, remain a security issue in the southern Philippines, where cargo and passenger ships are provided extra security by the coast guard and other law enforcement agencies in vulnerable regions. 

Marfe said officials are investigating whether the 33-year-old ferry was seaworthy, if there were passengers not listed on the manifest, and whether the crew properly guided passengers to safety. 

Sea accidents are common in the Philippines because of frequent storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces. 

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster. 

Pope Francis baptized a baby and greeted children in Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Friday as he appeared to make a rapid recovery from a bout of bronchitis that caused him to be hospitalized earlier this week. 

Francis will return home on Saturday, the Vatican said, and is scheduled to take part in a Palm Sunday service the following day to mark the start of Easter Week celebrations. 

“After evaluating the results of the examinations carried out today and the favorable clinical progress, (the medical team) has confirmed the Holy Father’s discharge from the Gemelli Hospital tomorrow,” a Vatican statement said. 

The pope, 86, was taken to hospital two days ago after complaining of breathing difficulties. He was diagnosed with bronchitis and has responded well to an infusion of antibiotics, his medical team has said. 

Highlighting the pope’s improved health, the Vatican released a video showing him standing up and baptizing a baby who was in a hospital cot. In a separate photograph, Francis was shown handing an Easter egg to a young child.  

The Vatican said he stayed about 30 minutes in the children’s cancer and neurosurgery wards before returning to his own room. 

The dean of the college of cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, has said cardinals will help the pope during Easter celebrations this coming week and take care of altar duties.  

Holy Week, as it is known, includes a busy schedule of rituals and ceremonies that can be physically exhausting, including a Good Friday nighttime procession by Rome’s Colosseum. 

The pope was also forced to follow some of last Easter’s events seated, due to persistent knee pain, with cardinals celebrating some of the Masses in his place. 

Francis, who marked the 10th anniversary of his pontificate earlier this month, has suffered a number of ailments in recent years. He was last hospitalized in July 2021 when he had part of his colon removed in an operation aimed at addressing a painful bowel condition called diverticulitis. 

“When experienced with faith, the trials and difficulties of life serve to purify our hearts, making them humbler and thus more and more open to God,” the pope tweeted on Friday.  

When Finland becomes a NATO member, it adds a potent military to the alliance and a strategic puzzle piece that can better help defend the alliance’s vulnerable eastern flank from potential Russian attack, officials and analysts say. 

When President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine, part of Moscow’s justification was the claim that it needed to stop further NATO expansion in its backyard. 

But 13 months on, Finland’s choice to join means the U.S.-led alliance is now doubling its border with Russia in a move that changes the military calculus from the Baltic region to the Arctic. 

“Now Finland needs NATO, but NATO needs Finland as well in the face of an aggressive Russia,” said Jamie Shea, a former senior NATO official who is an associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank.  

“NATO will find collective defense against Russia easier now it has access to Finnish territory and the capabilities Finland brings to the table.”

Protecting the Baltics

Alliance military planners have fretted for years over how to protect its three Baltic members, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, from a possible attack by Russia.  

Concern focused on the Suwalki Gap, a 65-kilometer strip between the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, where a lightning strike could sever the Baltic allies from the rest of NATO. 

Now Finland’s membership could help NATO to dominate the Baltic Sea and, with Helsinki less than 70 kilometers across the water from Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, provide a new route for reinforcements. 

“Finland’s accession will strengthen NATO’s forward defense and contribute to deterrence by denial,” Estonia’s Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told AFP. 

But he warned “the significance of the Suwalki gap for NATO remains, since Belarus has de facto become Russia’s military district,” and insisted the alliance needs to push on with plans to reinforce the Baltics.     

To the north, having Finland onboard will help the alliance defend the thin strip of Norwegian territory linking to Russia where Moscow could have staged a “fait accompli” assault, said analyst Jan Kallberg.   

“Up to this point, NATO air forces have been dependent on a few Norwegian airfields that could be targeted early in a conflict, Finland adds more bases and air strips,” said Kallberg, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.  

And as jostling for control in the Artic region involving Russia, China and the West increases, stepping up NATO’s footprint on its doorstep will be a major boost. 

Prepared for war

Adding an extra 1,300 kilometers to the alliance’s land border with Russia will also bring vulnerabilities, and working out how to defend it will pose a challenge for NATO strategists.     

While its response to Finland’s membership has been more muted than many expected, the Kremlin has pledged to bolster its forces close to the frontier in the coming years.   

But with Russia’s military bogged down in Ukraine, analysts say it will likely take years for Moscow to rebuild its capacity.  

For the time being, Finland is expected to follow neighbor Norway’s example and opt not to have forces from NATO allies stationed permanently on its territory.  

The country has its own highly capable military. 

“Finland is one of the very few European countries that never stopped preparing for a potential war,” said Minna Alander, a research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. 

While other Western European militaries scaled back after the Cold War, Finland stuck to a conscription model fashioned from the bitter experience of the Soviet Union’s invasion in 1939.    

“That now gives Finland a wartime troop strength up to 280,000 and a total reserve of 870,000,” Alander said. 

“With 1,500 systems, Finland has one of the largest artilleries in Europe and has been and is continuously investing in air defense.”

A last gap

Military officials from its future NATO counterparts point to Finland’s winter warfare experience and planned upgrade to the latest U.S. aircraft as key assets. 

“On land, they are extremely capable, operating in the harshest of conditions and backed by considerable artillery,” a senior Western official told AFP. “In the air, Finland is buying the new F-35 fighter.” 

Finland’s membership does highlight one gap left for NATO — its neighbor Sweden. 

Stockholm’s application remains blocked by resistance from Turkey and Hungary, meaning that it still cannot be fully integrated into NATO’s defense plans.  

“The mere fact that Finland comes in will bolster Sweden because it will now be sandwiched between NATO members,” Shea said.   

“But the hope is still that they will be allowed in as soon as possible,” he said.   

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.

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.