The United States says it is “deeply concerned” about North Koreans’ vulnerability to a new coronavirus and says it backs international groups trying to help Pyongyang prevent a possible outbreak.“We strongly support and encourage the work of U.S. and international aid and health organizations to counter and contain the spread of coronavirus in the DPRK,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said late Thursday.“The United States is ready and prepared to expeditiously facilitate the approval of assistance from these organizations,” she added. The statement potentially paves the way for aid groups to deliver emergency medical supplies to North Korea, though the timeline is still uncertain because the groups must first obtain exemptions from the United Nations. North Korea has not yet reported a case of the virus. But if the disease, also known as Covid-19, does reach North Korea, experts warn of a humanitarian disaster.North Korea lacks proper medical supplies and infrastructure to deal with an outbreak. Many of its regions are poverty stricken.A technician works in a laboratory that manufactures testing kits for the new coronavirus at the medical laboratory company Da An Gene Co in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, Jan. 28, 2020.‘Must act now’The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies this week said North Korea urgently needs coronavirus testing kits and personal protective gear.The IFRC told VOA’s Korea Service it is seeking swift exemptions from U.N. sanctions, given the gravity of the coronavirus outbreak.“We must act now,” the group said.North Korea is under U.S. and United Nations sanctions because of its nuclear weapons program. The sanctions prohibit a wide range of cooperation with the North, meaning aid groups wanting to help must first obtain exemptions.The U.N. committee that handles those exemptions told VOA’s Korea Service earlier this week that it will consider those requests “as expeditiously as possible.” Delay possibleBut experts warn the aid may not begin flowing right away.Kee Park, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, says the exemptions process is cumbersome.“When facing a potential public health emergency, asking for permission to deliver medical supplies is absurd,” said Park, who frequently participates in medical exchange trips to North Korea.Instead, Park says the U.N. should proactively offer a special waiver that would allow aid groups to procure and send emergency supplies to North Korea as soon as possible. Daniel Wertz, a program manager at the Washington-based National Committee on North Korea, agrees that the exemptions process can be complex and time-consuming. But Wertz says he welcomes the State Department announcement.“It is also sensible for the U.S. not to rhetorically tie its support for a potential humanitarian response to expectations about getting back to the negotiating table. Supporting the lives and health of the North Korean people is a worthwhile objective in itself,” Wertz said. No North Korean requestSo far, North Korea is not believed to have formally invited aid groups to help combat the virus. Instead, North Korea has closed off virtually all links to the outside world, halting flights and train services with its neighbors and implementing a 30-day quarantine for all arriving foreigners. North Korean state media have called the virus prevention effort a matter of “national survival.” The lockdown could also hurt North Korea’s economy, which is heavily dependent on both formal and informal trade with China.
 
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Somalia is eligible for debt relief following economic and institutional reforms by authorities, the Executive Boards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank announced Thursday. The debt owed by Somalia to external creditors is estimated to be more than $5 billion. Somalia owes the single biggest debt, $1 billion, to the United States.  In a statement issued after board meetings Feb. 12 and 13, respectively, to consider Somalia’s eligibility, the two financial powers endorsed Somalia’s eligibility for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.IMF and World Bank consider #Somalia eligible for debt relief on initial assessment. This is an important milestone toward writing-off most of Somalia’s $5.3 billion debt. https://t.co/BU6M4zya0Gpic.twitter.com/I10cuTuH15— IMF (@IMFNews) February 13, 2020Countries that become eligible for this initiative have to commit to economic and financial reforms as well as poverty reduction. For several years now, Somalia has been under IMF-staff monitored programs that helped Somalia mobilize revenue and tracked financial records of the government. The monitoring encouraged the two biggest international financial institutions to come to the decision, Somali officials say. In the statement issued Thursday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the decision “marks a historic moment.”World Bank President David Malpass said, “Today was an important step towards Somalia resuming financing from international financial institutions, including IDA [International Development Association], our fund for the poorest countries.” Malpass said ongoing IMF-staff monitored programs would need to be “satisfactory” for Somalia to complete the journey. He said the World Bank plans to present the operation for clearing the arrears to the IDA by the end of this month.The Executive Boards of the #IMF & @WorldBank have today confirmed #Somalia’s eligibility for Debt Relief under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. Extremely pleased to achieve this historic milestone in record time! 1/2https://t.co/sJcSifAclN— SomaliPM (@SomaliPM) February 13, 2020The Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire welcomed the statement from IMF and World Bank.“Extremely pleased to achieve this historic milestone in record time,” Khaire wrote via Twitter. “Grateful to the Somali people for their perseverance as we instituted challenging reforms. Our partners, as well for their steadfast support in seeing this through with us.” Professor Hussein Warsame of Calgary University, Canada, says this move by IMF and World Bank paves the way for Somalia to get grants and loans in order to invest in education, health, roads and ports.“Since the Horn of Africa is integrating, and we are in a position to establish trading partnership with Ethiopia, it’s important we take advantage and build our ports and road networks to Ethiopia,” he told VOA Somali.  By connecting the roads, ports, education and health services, this reduces poverty, this will be the big benefit, Warsame said.
 
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The United States is trying to ease concerns about its decision to withdraw conventional troops from Africa and replace them with specialized military trainers.Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday the move will leave “roughly the same number of troops on the continent,” while giving U.S. commanders the capability to bolster partner forces.Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Esper said the move to swap out combat troops for trainers is based on observations by U.S. Africa Command Commander, General Stephen Townsend.“He [Townsend] thinks it’s a better fit than what we currently do,” Esper said. “The SFABs (Security Force Assistance Brigades) are specifically designed to do that train-and-assist mission, which we know partner countries there want.”The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it would start bringing home members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division in the coming weeks, the first of many moves expected to impact the 6,000 U.S. troops currently in Africa.”It frees up, collectively, to train, over 4,000 troops” for great power competition missions, per @EsperDoD to reporters on decision to pull combat troops from Africa & replace them w/military trainers— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 13, 2020Officials have yet to announce how many conventional forces will be leaving, but Esper said Thursday they will be replaced by roughly a couple of hundred forces from the Army’s 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade.The brigade has previous experience working with the Afghan military and building relationships there, something that defense officials hope will pay off as they begin their missions in Africa.”We have some spotlight countries, as we call them, where we either want to build or sustain important relationships,” Esper said.Still, there are questions about how successful the trainers can be, stemming in part from their experience in Afghanistan.”The U.S. Army continues to struggle with staffing these units with the required number of skilled personnel, and with keeping personnel assigned to these units long enough to create enduring partnerships with a foreign force,” the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a June 2019 report.The report also warned, “there still is not enough theater-specific training focused on the host nation’s security institutions, systems, processes and weapons.”Defense officials say they are aware of the criticisms but note that some of the concerns, like the turnover rate, apply equally to conventional forces like the ones currently in Africa. They also say the trainers will be better positioned to respond to the needs of individual partner nations.U.S. military officials also contend that American military training available through the Security Force Assistance Brigade will continue to be superior to anything offered by Russia or China, especially in the fight against terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State.”China and Russia do very little to help Africans combat the brutal terrorist networks plaguing them,” Africa Command’s General Stephen Townsend said in a statement Thursday, following talks in Kenya and Somalia.”U.S. training, equipment and advice directly support our African partners,” he added.  But despite what Townsend and others view as a growing terror threat, Esper on Thursday ruled out sending more U.S. forces, particularly to West Africa and the Sahel.”The Sahel is principally a CT [counterterror] mission,” Esper said. “I’m not looking to put more troops in that fight.”In West #Africa, “I’m not looking to put more troops in that fight. The French are” per @EsperDoD “They [#France] are asking the European partners to provide more help””What I’m looking to do to deal w/CT [counterterrorism] threats that threaten the [US] homeland” per Esper— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 13, 2020 #alShabaab? @CarlaBabbVOA: “Al Shabaab has been identified by AFRICOM officials as one that wants to attack the homeland…”@EsperDoD: “I’m not sure where you got that information… I’ve not seen a final assessment on that”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 13, 2020″The French are,” he said, adding that both France and the U.S. are urging European nations to do more.During a visit to the Pentagon last month, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that while she understood the U.S. need to reposition troops away from the region, some U.S. capabilities, such as intelligence and surveillance, were irreplaceable.Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. 
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Last month was the warmest January ever recorded, U.S. government forecasters say, with human-led climate change the leading cause.Global temperatures were 1.13 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th century average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday — the highest in at least 141 years.Record-high heat was felt in parts of Latin America, Asia, Scandinavia, and over parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.Parts of Russia were 5 degrees higher and sea ice around Antarctica was nearly 10% below average.The outlook for all of 2020 also points to a warming planet, with experts predicting the year will rank among the five hottest ever recorded.Global warming can cause floods and more powerful storms in some parts of the world while others will suffer droughts, eventually leading to what a United National panel says will be food shortages and a widespread refugee crisis.
 
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The Justice Department has added new criminal charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei and two of its U.S. subsidiaries, accusing the company in a plot to steal trade secrets from competitors in America, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.The company is also accused of installing surveillance equipment that enabled Iran to spy on protesters during 2009 anti-government demonstrations in Iran, and of doing business in North Korea despite U.S. sanctions there.The case comes as the Trump administration is raising national security concerns about Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, and is lobbying Western allies against including the company in wireless, high-speed networks.The new indictment brought by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn adds to the legal woes in the U.S. for Huawei, which already faced charges in that district of lying to banks about deals that violated economic sanctions against Iran as well as separate trade secrets theft case in federal court in Seattle.The latest allegations accuse Huawei of plotting to steal the trade secrets and intellectual property of rival companies in the U.S. In some cases, prosecutors said, Huawei directed and provided incentives its own employees to steal from competitors by offering bonuses to those who brought in the most valuable stolen information.The company also used proxies, including professors at research institutions, to steal intellectual property, prosecutors said.The new indictment in Brooklyn includes charges of racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets.A lawyer for Huawei did not immediately return an email and phone message seeking comment.National security allegationsTrump administration officials, including Cabinet secretaries, have recently leveled national security allegations against Huawei in an effort to encourage European nations to ban the gear from next-generation cellular networks.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper made the pitch to Western allies during a trip to Munich this week. Attorney General William Barr, in a speech last week, lamented what he said was China’s aspiration for economic dominance and proposed that the U.S. invest in Western competitors of Huawei.The administration’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, asserted this week that Huawei can secretly tap into communications through the networking equipment it sells globally. The company disputes that, saying it “has never and will never covertly access telecom networks, nor do we have the capability to do so.”
 
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(Warning: This story includes content of a sexual nature and descriptions that some may find disturbing.) Cynthia, who for privacy does not wish to use her real name, was 12 years old when a senior female teacher announced that girls at her school — more than 100 — would undergo genital stretching. Under pressure from the girls’ parents, the school arranged for older women to instruct the girls on how to stretch their labia and to use traditional herbs to make it permanent. “It was painful,” Cynthia said. “It wasn’t really something pleasant for me as a person. Because at that time, you’re something like 12 years, 11 years — you’re not sexually active. So why are you doing this thing? Honestly, why are you doing this so-called ‘pulling,’ whatever people call it?  I didn’t know why, but because we were many, some days they would say, ‘Get a partner. Get a partner, you do it to each other.’ ” Bantu traditionLabia stretching is a pre-marriage tradition in southeastern Africa among Bantu-speaking tribes, who believe it gives greater sexual pleasure to both men and women. But Peace Mutuuzo, Uganda’s minister for culture and gender, sparked controversy this month by calling labia stretching a type of female genital mutilation. She said that while FGM that involves cutting, or circumcision, does much greater physical damage, labia stretching should not be forced on girls. “Children between 8 to 12 are being sensitized, initiated, and the practice takes effect from that time,” she said. “These are basically babies, who we’ve taken to schools for empowerment — for purposes of full growth, to actualize their potential.” For the last 20 years, Hamida Namatovu has been showing girls and women how to stretch their labia. She defends the cultural practice, claiming that unlike FGM, labia stretching has no negative effects, only positive ones. “Once you do it, and you have a marriage partner, that’s the only thing that will show him that you are ready,” she said.  Not true, doctors sayBut doctors dismiss the claims. Dr. Vincent Karuhanga said that just like FGM, labia stretching is more about pleasing men than women. “Much as it’s claimed that pulling can ease birth pain or even make a woman warmer, there’s no scientific evidence in this,” he said. “But what is true is that pulling can actually make the men involved sexually with the women happier with their sexual act.” Nonetheless, labia stretching practitioners are demanding that Mutuuzo apologize for undermining their tradition. But she dismisses their call, saying she will continue to speak for the voiceless and discourage the practice until girls reach the age of consent.  
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Protesters in Malawi have shut down offices of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) in 10 districts in an attempt to force all commissioners to resign.The move comes 10 days after the Constitutional Court nullified last May’s presidential elections because of “widespread” irregularities and ordered new elections. But commissioners have appealed the ruling and are refusing to step down.In Blantyre, protesters used steel-iron chains and huge locks to seal the gate of the main entrance to MEC headquarters.  Protestsers carry a chain to be used to shutter the Malawi Electoral Commission office in Blantyre, Malawi. (Lameck Masina/VOA)”What we are trying to mean here is that no one should get here as long as they are not resigning. All we need is [for MEC chairperson] Jane Ansah to resign and now we have included all the commissioners of the MEC because they have proven to be incompetent. We need people to have the competence,” said Masauko Thawe, the southern region coordinator for the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), which organized the protests.The Constitutional Court said the irregularities showed the MEC’s incompetence in handling the presidential elections and ordered new elections in 150 days.This week, members of parliament questioned the election commissioners at a public hearing to determine if they are capable of running a new poll.The commissioners, including chairperson Ansah, dismissed accusations of incompetency.The main gate of the Malawi Electoral Commission office in Blantyre is seen shuttered with a chain, in Blantyre, Malawi. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Some said they will resign only if the Supreme Court of Appeal faults them, while others said they will not resign at all.But HRDC’s Thawe says mechanisms are in place to safeguard the shutdown.”We are going to monitor each and every day. You come, you check, you will see people here monitoring. And we are not stopping here.  It’s a continuous demonstration until we see these commissioners including the CEO [Chief Elections Officer] resign,” Thawe said.Mustapha Hussein, who teaches political science at the Chancellor College of the University of Malawi, told VOA shutting down the MEC offices is ill-timed.”Because the case of MEC is in the courts and we heard about the judgment which shows that there are solutions being put forward to what is happening. So, in that sense I would say that the act of shutting down the offices might be going too far and might not auger well with the laws of Malawi,” he said.Hussein also said the shutdown would affect MEC preparations for the new elections expected to be held in June.Ansah told parliament Wednesday that the electoral commission is currently working on the budget for the new elections. 
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