Private space operations continue to expand. Plus, Europe’s space agency continues its quest for diversity, and a French astronaut makes good — sort of — on a promise to his crewmates. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
…
Month: July 2021
As part of a cyberespionage operation targeting Central Asian countries, Chinese hackers recently sought to breach the computer networks of Afghanistan’s National Security Council, researchers at cybersecurity firm Check Point reported.The alleged attack by the Chinese-speaking hacking group known to cybersecurity experts as IndigoZebra is the latest in an operation that goes back as far as 2014 and has targeted political entities in neighboring Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the researchers wrote in a FILE – An iPhone displays a Facebook page, Aug. 11, 2019. Facebook said March 24, 2021, that hackers in China had used fake accounts and impostor websites in a bid to break into the phones of Uyghur Muslims.This is the first major Chinese cyberespionage operation in Afghanistan to come to light, coming just weeks after An icon for the Pulse Secure smartphone app, right, and a computer desktop info page are seen in Burke, Va., June 14, 2021. Suspected Chinese hackers penetrated U.S. entities’ computers in what cybersecurity experts called a major espionage campaign.China conducts large-scale cyberespionage operations around the world, cybersecurity experts say. In its latest threat assessment to Congress, the U.S. intelligence community wrote in April that China “presents a prolific and effective cyberespionage threat, possesses substantial cyber-attack capabilities, and presents a growing influence threat.”The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.Check Point researchers said they investigated the cyberattack in Afghanistan after stumbling upon a suspicious email on a website that detects malware in email communications. The email had been apparently posted by one of its recipients on the Afghan National Security Council, according to Alexandra Gofman, the lead investigator on the Check Point team that probed the operation.Khalid Mafton of VOA’s Afghan Service contributed to this report.
…
Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry unveiled a statue to their late mother Princess Diana in a ceremony Thursday at London’s Kensington Palace, on what would have been her 60th birthday. It’s the first time the brothers have met each other since the funeral of their grandfather, Prince Philip, in April.Prince Harry flew to London last week from the United States, where he moved with his American wife, Meghan Markle, and their son Archie, after quitting royal duties last year. Meghan gave birth to a daughter, Lilibet Diana, last month.William, who is 39, and Harry, 36, unveiled the statue in a ceremony in the sunken gardens of Kensington Palace, Princess Diana’s London home. They were joined by a small group of guests, including Diana’s brother Charles Spencer and the sculptor, Ian Rank-Broadley.The two brothers did not speak publicly at the ceremony. In a statement they said, “Today, on what would have been our mother’s 60th birthday, we remember her love, strength and character — qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better.”“Every day, we wish she were still with us, and our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy.”A view of a statue commissioned by Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry of their mother Princess Diana, on what woud have been her 60th birthday, London, July 1, 2021.The statue depicts Diana surrounded by three children, which Kensington Palace said represented “the universality and generational impact” of her work.The location of the statue in the sunken gardens of Kensington Palace is poignant, says royal author Richard Fitzwilliams. “She found it a particularly peaceful spot, so this particular place has been chosen as one that she would have approved of.”Britain took Princess Diana into their hearts after her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981, says Penny Junor, a biographer of the royal family.“Diana was the fairy tale princess, you know, when she married Charles, the whole country bought into the fairy tale. She was this beautiful young girl marrying her prince and she was an extraordinary woman. She was vulnerable in a way that members of the royal family never had been vulnerable before. We hadn’t seen it. She touched people’s hearts,” Junor told Reuters.“She went about her royal work in a very different way. She would sit on a hospital bed and take people’s hands in hers, whereas the traditional way of visiting a hospital would be, you know, probably gloved hands and certainly not sitting down on a bed but standing and talking. She just brought a very personal touch and people loved that,” Junor added.The unconditional love and affection she showed for her sons broke royal traditions – but touched the hearts of millions around the world. She combined motherhood with glamour, traditional royal duties with a dedication to charity.“I do think it’s important that there be a proper tribute to Princess Diana,” royal author Fitzwilliams told VOA. “She had a truly extraordinary life, and indeed her reaching out to AIDS sufferers and also her campaign against landmines are titanic achievements. If you consider the way also that the British people took her so much to their hearts and the outpouring of grief when she tragically died.”“I mean there was no question that she was someone who was deeply personally unhappy and a very complex individual but achieved so much in a very, very short life,” said Fitzwilliams.Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1996. She died in a Paris car crash a year later, which also killed her fiancé, Dodi Al Fayed.Britain’s Prince William, right, and Prince Harry speak with garden designer Pip Morrison during the unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, July 1, 2021.Britain, a nation once famed for its reserve and restraint, saw an outpouring of public emotion. At the funeral, William and Harry were made to walk behind the coffin in royal tradition – an experience that Harry says left deep mental scars, says Fitzwilliams.“I think it was devastating for both of them but there’s no doubt that Harry was affected — as he’s spoken so publicly to help others as well who suffered with their mental health — for some 20 years.”Speaking in May to U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey on the Apple TV+ series The Me You Can’t See, Prince Harry described the royal family’s unwillingness to talk about his mother’s death and how he had been willing to turn to alcohol and drugs to cope with the pain of losing her.Twenty-four years on from Diana’s death, the royal family is engulfed in a new crisis. William and Harry and their wives, Kate and Meghan, once dubbed the fab four and seen as the youthful future of the institution, have fallen out very publicly.In a separate interview with Winfrey, broadcast in March, Harry and Meghan — whose mother is Black — said a member of the royal family had questioned the color of their son’s skin. They spoke of their deep unhappiness in the royal household.There have been numerous claims that Meghan was accused of bullying her staff, which she has denied.Diana’s two sons now rarely speak to each other, said biographer Junor.“I think it’s incredibly sad that this statue was a joint project to celebrate the life of their mother that they both adored and they both miss and it’s turning instead into — the eyes of the world will be looking at those two boys to see what the state of their relationship is,” she told Reuters.Outside Kensington Palace Thursday, royal fans expressed their hopes for the family.“I’m so excited about seeing the statue,” said Anne Daley, a royal fan who had travelled from Wales. “And I do hope that William and Harry can put (aside) their differences … I squabble with my sister, but, you know, whatever you say, you’re still flesh and blood.”Royal analysts say William and Harry are now on very different paths.For a brief moment Thursday, in the grounds of their childhood home, they were able to reflect together on an upbringing filled with a mother’s love for her boys; childhoods transformed through tragedy, played out in the public eye.This report includes information from Reuters.
…
The South African pharmaceutical company Aspen has begun production of hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine for African countries. To speed up the process, the company is getting a large funding boost from the U.S. government.
Speaking during a virtual press briefing Thursday, Mark Marchick, a top executive for the U.S. International Development Financial Corporation, said Aspen would receive about $712 million to produce vaccine for people in Africa.
“Our consortium of development financing institutions would provide a direct loan to Aspen, among other things, to strengthen their balance sheet with long-term financing, support vaccine production and expand their operations with core operations based in South Africa. This loan will help them increase capacity to support Aspen’s effort to produce vaccines for the continent this year and next year,” Marchik said.
Gayle Smith, the U.S. State Department coordinator for the global COVID-19 response, said the investment will help Africa deal with long-term health issues.
“We see this investment as in the short-term a really viable response to the urgent need on the continent for vaccines for COVID and also, importantly, as a long-term investment in the capacity of the continent to increase its own production of this vital goods so there is a greater availability and resilience over time, so it’s a short-term investment with a long-term vision,” Smith said.
It is estimated that the world needs at least 11 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to at least help communities return to normal lives. So far, less than 2% of Africans have received a vaccine.
The need for vaccine has prompted criminals to exploit Africa’s weak regulatory systems to bring in phony and substandard drugs.
In November, officers from South Africa’s customs and crime unit seized 2,400 fake COVID-19 vaccine doses. Zambian and Chinese nationals were arrested.
In January of this year Nigeria’s food and drug administration advised the public to be aware of nefarious players pushing phony vaccines.
Adebayo Alonge, head of RxAll, an organization that fights counterfeit and substandard pharmaceuticals in Africa using artificial intelligence technology, said African governments need systems to efficiently distribute and keep track of the vaccine.
“They can have selected sites across the country where people can go and be vaccinated. People pre-book online or by SMS and make a record of those people who have come and taken the vaccine at those locations,” Alonge said.
Aspen, which is based in the city of Durban, is slated to produce 400 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Distribution will begin in the next few weeks.
…
The World Health Organization says the recent decline in the number of new coronavirus infections throughout Europe “has come to an end.”Hans Kluge, the director of the U.N. health agency’s Europe region, said Thursday during a news briefing in Copenhagen that the number of cases in the area’s 53 countries rose 10 percent last week. Kluge attributed the rise to “increased mixing, travel, gatherings, and easing of social restrictions,” which he said is taking place amid “a rapidly evolving situation” — the emergence of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, a situation aggravated by the regions slow rate of vaccinations. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease.With more than 60 percent of all people still waiting for at least their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine, and with the relaxed restrictions on travel and “social mixing,” Kluge warned the European region will be “Delta dominant” by August. “Delays in getting vaccinated cost lives and economies, and the slower we vaccinate, the more variants will emerge,” he told reporters.The warning from WHO Europe comes as Russia reported another record-setting 672 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, breaking the record of 659 deaths posted just the day before. Russia has posted 5.4 million cases since the start of the pandemic, including 132,973 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced Thursday that new emergency measures will go into effect on Saturday for the islands of Java and Bali to blunt the rise of new cases in the world’s fourth most-populous country. The measures, which include tighter restrictions on movement and air travel, a ban on restaurant dining and the closure of non-essential offices, will last through July 20, a period that includes the Muslim holiday of Eid. Indonesia has been dealing with the worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia, posting 24,836 new infections and 504 deaths on Thursday, both of them record-setting numbers. The country has recorded more than 2.1 million coronavirus infections, including 58,491 deaths.Johns Hopkins University is now reporting 182.2 million confirmed coronavirus infections, including 3.9 million deaths. The United States remains the global leader in both categories with 33.6 million overall cases and 604,718 deaths.
…
American comedian Bill Cosby issued his first statement Wednesday after being freed from prison by the state of Pennsylvania Supreme Court, saying he has never changed his story and has always maintained his innocence. On his Twitter account, Cosby went on to say, “Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law.” In 2018, Cosby received a sentence of three to 10 years based on testimony he gave in 2005 in a civil lawsuit brought against him by Andrea Constand, who accused him of sexual assault after he gave her a sedative without her knowledge, leaving her incapacitated. The state high court ruled Wednesday that the testimony he gave should have never been heard because a previous district attorney had promised he wouldn’t be charged if he gave it. The 83-year-old Cosby returned to his Philadelphia-area home Wednesday hours after the court threw out his conviction. Constand’s accusation was one of dozens leveled against the popular entertainer, many of them going back decades. His conviction was one of the first in the so-called “Me Too” era, which saw scores of women coming forward to accuse powerful men in entertainment, media and politics of sexual assault and related crimes. Constand and her lawyers issued a statement Wednesday calling the ruling disappointing, and expressed fear that it could discourage sexual assault victims from coming forward. The Associated Press news service and the Reuters news agency contributed to this report.
…
Amid rising caseloads of coronavirus infections as it emerges from a strict COVID lockdown, Cambodia is pinning its hopes on a vaccination rollout that will help the nation reach herd immunity, even as the nation confronts unique challenges that could hamper that effort.Daily case numbers reached a record high of 1,130 Wednesday, far more than reported in April, when severe lockdowns, bans on alcohol sales and travel between provinces were imposed.Cambodia, though, like most developing countries, faces a range of problems not typically associated with wealthier countries in the West, particularly overcrowding in the capital, Phnom Penh, where several people often rent one room, in some cases one bed, to find a few hours’ sleep, away from the grind outside.Bradley Murg, a senior adviser to the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, told VOA people here simply don’t have the space, security, or access to health services and supermarkets as those in the leafy suburbs of Western cities in countries such as the United States or Australia.“In a highly densely populated city like Phnom Penh, it’s incredibly difficult to implement a lockdown effectively even with a whole-of-government approach,” he said.“There are naturally going to be challenges in light of the level of development, in light of the daily needs of the population et cetera,” he added.“Ultimately a permanent lockdown or long-term lockdown is simply not a feasible strategy in Cambodia or in Phnom Penh specifically.”The closure of markets resulted in food shortages and price gouging, with authorities struggling to enforce lockdowns after dividing the capital into yellow, orange and red zones, depending on case numbers and transmissions – with red areas containing the greatest risks.Restrictions have eased, but schools, bars, gyms and many other businesses remain closed, while restaurant hours have been curtailed with strict social distancing and other health measures in place.Hang Sokunthea, an academic and author of I Am a Daughter, a book about female empowerment in Cambodia, said life during the pandemic has been harsh on the poor.“A lot of the poor families live very close to each other, which is where a lot of the red zones was located, where they live together and then they spread the COVID infection even faster,” she told VOA.Moreover, she said, “without the market, without having the living income, they just cannot really make much of a living,” she said.The situation resulted in a cat-and-mouse game between the police and vendors, Hang Sokunthea said, adding, “they were just selling anything on the streets even with the police chasing them.”Keo Savady is a small business operator, selling clothes online, and, like many from Cambodia’s burgeoning middle classes, she too is feeling the pinch after losing her job at the Hard Rock Cafe in Phnom Penh.“The bad thing is I just start my new online business, a small online business, and it doesn’t work because of the situation, COVID-19 is not so good,” she said, adding, “me and my family, some of them lost their job, so we had to find a smaller room.”Cambodia had emerged relatively unscathed from the pandemic during its first year but that changed on Feb. 20 when, authorities say, two Chinese women bribed their way out of quarantine, went out dancing and spread the disease.Since then, the number of confirmed cases has climbed from less than 500 to more than 50,000 with more than 44,143 recoveries and 602 deaths.However, Cambodia is ranked second, after Singapore, in its vaccination rollout among the 10 Association of South East Asian Nations countries after securing about 11 million doses of Sinopharm and Sinovac from China.It says a total of 20 million doses will be secured by August, while funding from Australia and the United States has enabled access to the COVAX-facility and AstraZenica vaccinations.“When one places Singapore in comparison to Cambodia in terms of level of development, level of infrastructure etcetera – it’s truly remarkable that Cambodia’s had this level of success in its all-of-government campaign to rollout vaccinations as quickly as possible,” Murg said.“The kingdom is well on track towards meeting its goals and it’s a story that has not received nearly the attention it deserves,” he added.Almost 18% of Cambodia’s population of 16.5 million people have been fully vaccinated with two doses, while a quarter of its population have received a single dose.Cambodia hopes to reach herd immunity with 10 million people vaccinated by the end of the year and it wants to reopen its tourism industry in the fourth quarter to fully vaccinated tourists.
…
The Golden Globes, American film awards at the heart of a lively controversy in recent months over their representativeness, announced Wednesday that they would change their rules to allow foreign language films to compete in the generalist categories and films of animation. These criticisms prompted the NBC broadcaster to cancel the ceremony scheduled for next year, to allow time for the Golden Globes to improve its ethnic and cultural diversity as well as its transparency. Many had particularly criticized this year the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA in English) which awards these trophies for having relegated “Minari,” an American film featuring South Korean immigrants settling in the Arkansas and mainly filmed in Korean, in the category of best foreign language film. While it was featured in many Oscar flagship categories, “Minari” was unable to appear at the Golden Globes for Best Comedy or Best Drama. “Parasite,” the Oscar-winning film the previous year, had suffered the same fate for the same reasons. “As we review our rules this year” to take into account criticism from the entertainment industry, “we decided to take new approaches to upcoming ceremonies and to make sure these films benefit from the the attention they deserve, “HFPA President Ali Sar said in a statement to AFP. “The language will no longer be a barrier to be recognized as the best,” he assures us. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 journalists working for various media, has been facing charges of discrimination, sexism and corruption for several years. Last month, the organization passed a series of reforms to improve its representativeness and try to appease critics, but those assurances failed to convince the entertainment industry and criticism continued to rain. Stars like Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise have judged these reforms far too slow and vague while two members of the HFPA have resigned from this group which they described as “toxic.” Heavyweights like Netflix and Warner Bros have made it known that they will no longer work with the association until significant changes are implemented. On Wednesday, the HFPA said the majority of its members have completed diversity and inclusion awareness sessions. New rules prohibiting, for example, the acceptance of gifts and providing for the hiring of diversity advisers are also planned.
…
A judge has shot down Britney Spears’ request to have her father removed from her conservatorship — at least for now.New court documents that were filed by the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday show that the judge has denied the request by Spears’ attorney, Samuel Ingham III, to remove her father, Jamie Spears, as her sole conservator. These documents are not in direct response to last week’s hearing, where Spears gave an explosive testimony; though Spears delivered a powerful 24-minute statement, the judge cannot make any ruling based on what she said, as she still has yet to file a petition to terminate her conservatorship.”The conservator’s request to suspend James P. Spears immediately upon the appointment of Bessemer Trust Company of California as sole conservator of estate is denied without prejudice,” the court documents filed on Wednesday stated.FILE – People protest in support of pop star Britney Spears on the day of a conservatorship case hearing at Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles, Calif., June 23, 2021.The new court filings are another legal setback for the singer, but the judge’s denial is nothing new. Samuel Ingham III had filed the request to remove Spears’ father back in November 2020, stating that his client was “afraid of her father” and would refuse to perform again, if her father continued to be in charge of her career.At that time, Judge Brenda Penny declined to suspend her father from the conservatorship, though she did not rule out future petitions for his removal or suspension. Also, at that time, the judge appointed financial company Bessemer Trust as a co-conservator.Today’s paperwork was solely intended for the judge to approve Bessemer Trust as the co-conservator, but also reiterates the judge’s decision to not remove the elder Spears from the pop star’s conservatorship.However, it’s significant that the document was signed by Judge Penny on June 30 — after the singer’s explosive testimony where she told the judge that her conservatorship was “abusive.”Last week, Spears gave her 24-minute testimony, marking the first time she had publicly addressed the court in her 13-year conservatorship. While speaking to the judge, Spears said that her dad enjoys controlling her life, and stated that she believes her conservators, including her father, should be in jail, and that she wants to sue her family.Spears’ case has garnered an enormous amount of global attention, with pressure mounting to support the pop star and remove her father from the conservatorship.Wednesday’s court filing states that the court found Spears to be “substantially unable to manage his or her financial resources or to resist fraud or undue influence.”Spears’ father has been her co-conservator since 2008, when the singer suffered a very public breakdown. He became sole conservator in 2019 after attorney Andrew Wallet resigned from co-conservatorship.In September 2019, he temporarily relinquished his powers and Jodi Montgomery became the conservator of her person, meaning she is responsible for Spears’ medical and personal well-being. Spears’ father remains the sole conservator of her estate, managing all of her finances — while making a hefty sum of of her annual multi-million dollar earnings, given that Spears has continued to record music and perform regularly at her residence in Las Vegas, while under her restrictive conservatorship.Earlier today, Variety reported that Spears’ father attorney filed paperwork on his behalf, pointing the finger at Montgomery with the father’s perspective being that he loves his daughter, is very concerned and has done nothing wrong.”Mr. Spears is concerned about the management and care of his daughter,” his attorney said in the docs. “Based on her statements to the court, Mr. Spears is concerned that the petition to appoint Jodi Montgomery filed by Ms. Spears’ court-appointed counsel Samuel D. Ingham III does not reflect her wishes. Ms. Spears told the court on June 23 that she is opposed to being under a conservatorship and revealed her ongoing disputes with Ms. Montgomery about her medical treatment and other personal care issues.”Montgomery strongly denied the elder Spears’ stance with her attorney fighting back, releasing a statement that she is a “tireless advocate for Britney and for her well-being.”Meanwhile, despite her father’s perspective and the judge’s ruling, the pop star has made her stance clear: she wants her father out, and wants to end her conservatorship altogether without further evaluation.”I cried on the phone for an hour and he loved every minute of it,” Spears told the judge, referring to her father. “The control he had over someone as powerful as me — he loved the control to hurt his own daughter 100,000%. He loved it.”Spears pleaded to the judge: “I just want my life back. And it’s been 13 years. And it’s enough. It’s been a long time since I’ve owned my money. And it’s my wish and my dream for all of this to end without being tested.”
…