RFE/RL condemns sentencing of former Belarus Service journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich – USAGM

RFE/RL condemns sentencing of former Belarus Service journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich

March 4, 2022

Washington, D.C. — RFE/RL strongly condemns the March 3 sentencing of its former Belarus Service journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich by a Minsk court to one and a half years in a maximum-security penal colony.

Said RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly, “We strongly condemn this illegitimate persecution of an innocent journalist. His only ‘crime’ was reporting the truth to Belarusians who are now denied that truth by their government. We call for Aleh’s immediate release.”

An award-winning journalist, Hruzdzilovich was arrested on December 23, 2021, and was tried on March 2 for taking part in mass protests against the 2020 presidential election. Hruzdzilovich has consistently rejected the charges, stating he was working as an RFE/RL correspondent with Foreign Ministry accreditation at an August 2020 protest, and covered two other protests in October 2020 on assignment for his employer, the local newspaper Narodnaya Volya. The 63-year old previously served a 10-day sentence in July 2021 and a 15-day sentence in November 2020 for reporting on the protests, which followed the August 2020 presidential election that controversially returned longtime incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka to office for a sixth term. In January, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service published some of Hruzdzilovich’s letters from prison.

Hruzdzilovich is one of three former RFE/RL journalists imprisoned in Belarus. All three have been recognized by the Belarusian Human Rights Centre “Viasna” as political prisoners.

Andrey Kuznechyk, a former web editor for the Belarus Service, was arrested on November 25, 2021, while on a bike ride near his home in Minsk, and has been in detention ever since. After serving two consecutive 10-day administrative sentences for “hooliganism,” Belarusian authorities opened a criminal case on unspecified charges against Kuznechyk on December 23, 2021. Fly has termed Kuznechyk’s situation a “state-sponsored kidnapping.”

Ihar Losik, a consultant for RFE/RL and prominent blogger, was arrested on June 25, 2020, and tried on charges including “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order” and “preparation for participation in riots.” The five-month, closed-door proceeding resulted, on December 14, 2021, in Losik’s conviction and sentencing to 15 years in prison; his five co-defendants also received harsh sentences of between 14 and 18 years, on charges widely considered to have been fabricated by Belarusian authorities. Fly condemned the trial as an “outrageous travesty of justice.”

In December 2021 Belarus’s Interior Ministry added RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, Radio Svaboda, to its registry of extremist organizations in a continued clampdown on independent media and civil society. The move means that Belarusians who subscribe to Radio Svaboda online could face up to six years in prison. The Belarus Service’s website has been blocked within Belarus since August 21, 2020, while the accreditations of all locally based journalists working for foreign media, including RFE/RL, were annulled by the Belarusian authorities in October 2020.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

RFE/RL condemns six year sentence for Ukrainian Service journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko – USAGM

RFE/RL condemns six year sentence for Ukrainian Service journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko

February 16, 2022

Washington, D.C. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) condemns today’s sentencing of RFE/RL freelance journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko to six years in prison by a Russian-controlled court in occupied Crimea.

Said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly, “This judgement against Vladyslav is a travesty. As a journalist doing nothing more than reporting the facts, he should never have been detained in the first place, much less put through the physical and mental torture that he has endured over the past eleven months. Vladyslav needs to be returned home to his wife and daughter immediately.”

Yesypenko, a dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen who contributes to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Simferopol on March 10, 2021, on suspicion of collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence. Yesypenko left Crimea for mainland Ukraine with his wife, Kateryna, following the 2014 Russian annexation, where she gave birth to their daughter, Stephania; he would later return to Crimea periodically to report for RFE/RL on the social and environmental situation on the peninsula.

Following his detention, Yesypenko was brutally tortured by Russian FSB officers, to force him to make a false ‘confession’ on Russian television. Yesypenko was formally charged with possession and transport of explosives on July 15, 2021. He pleaded not guilty, facing up to 18 years in prison if convicted. The indictment made no mention of espionage or work for Ukrainian intelligence, as stated previously by the FSB.

Speaking at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington on October 21, 2021, Yesypenko’s wife read out an appeal from her husband. In the letter dictated from his jail cell, Yesypenko called on U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. lawmakers to do more to free the more than 100 political prisoners detained by the FSB over their activities in Crimea.

Sixteen Ukrainian human rights NGOs, Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova, and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv have denounced the verdict in online statements, as has Reporters Without Borders. In December 2021 Amnesty International launched an online petition demanding Yesypenko’s immediate release. Press-freedom advocates, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, along with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the U.S. State Department, are among those who have called for the same in the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

Uber driver discovered that they were unfaithful to her during service

A woman on TikTok, identified as Jen, decided to share a curious experience she had while working as an Uber driver: she discovered that her boyfriend was unfaithful to her after taking a race in which he got into the vehicle with another person.

As Jen pointed out through a video that has gone viral on the social network, they had been dating for a few weeks; coincidentally the day she realized the deception, he told her that they couldn’t see each other because he was attending a sporting event.

Far from imagining that the man was actually on a date with another woman, Jen decided to work that night on the Uber platform to save a few bucks for her next outing with her boyfriend.

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Soon after, he received a request from a young woman to move her to an ice hockey arena. Jen took the service and upon reaching the starting point, the user got into her car in the company of a man who seemed familiar to her.

According to Jen, initially she did not recognize him because they were both wearing masks, but soon she realized that it was her girlfriend and “a friend” who had introduced her on a birthday. “I look in the rearview mirror, we make eye contact and that’s when we both know. I knew it was him. He knew it was me. We were wearing our masks, so that’s why it was hard to tell at first,” she said.

Man’s reaction after being discovered by his partner in an Uber

During all the way the silence reigned in the vehicle. Dropping them off at the stadium, the man phoned Jen, apologized. and assured that it was only a very good friend.

“I knew it was you, I should have said something, even though I didn’t. I was in shock,” the man reportedly told the Uber driver.

Shortly after the story went viral on Tiktok, a bar worker confirmed that she knew the woman and the two had a meeting there. She “she confirmed to me that she was in a relationship with him; So I texted him and warned him, ‘I have a funny story and we need to talk about this,’” she recounted.

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House OKs Bill Easing Budget Strains on Postal Service

WASHINGTON — 

Congress would lift onerous budget requirements that have helped push the Postal Service deeply into debt and would require it to continue delivering mail six days per week under bipartisan legislation the House approved Tuesday.

The election-year bill, coming at a time of widespread complaints about slower mail service, would also require the Postal Service to display online how efficiently it delivers mail to communities.

The Postal Service is supposed to sustain itself with postage sales and other services but has suffered 14 straight years of losses. The reasons include growing worker compensation and benefit costs plus steady declines in mail volume, even as it delivers to 1 million additional locations every year.

Postal Service officials have said that without congressional action, it would run out of cash by 2024, a frequent warning from the service. It has estimated it will lose $160 billion over the coming decade.

Those pressures have brought the two parties together for a measure aimed at helping the Postal Service, its employees, businesses that use it and disgruntled voters who rely on it for delivery of prescription drugs, checks and other packages. Tuesday’s vote was 342-92, a rare show of partisan agreement, with all Democrats and most Republicans backing it.

FILE – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 7, 2021.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said the Postal Service “provides service to every American, no matter where they live, binding us together in a way no other organization does.”

Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, that committee’s top Republican, said “the days of letters alone driving Postal Service revenue are not coming back.” The bill, he said, will “help it succeed into the 21st century.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he’s planning a vote before a recess that starts after next week. The bill has 14 GOP sponsors and, with strong Democratic support expected, seems on track to gain the 60 votes most bills need for Senate passage.

Over the years, some lawmakers have wanted to impose tougher requirements for faster service by the Postal Service, while others have favored privatizing some services. The compromise omits controversial proposals.

There has been talk over the years of reducing deliveries to five days per week, which could save more than $1 billion annually, according to the Government Accountability Office, the accounting agency of Congress. That idea has proven politically toxic and has not been pursued.

The bill would also require the Postal Service to set up an online dashboard that would be searchable by ZIP code to show how long it takes to deliver letters and packages.

The measure is supported by President Joe Biden, the Postal Service, postal worker unions, industries that use the service and others.

FILE – United States Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy speaks on Capitol Hill, Feb. 24, 2021.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the bill would help “provide the American people with the delivery service they expect and deserve.” Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, called the bill “outstanding” in an interview.

One of the bill’s few critics was Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who said its changes fell short.

“It has failed to make a profit, it has failed the American people, and everyone who has a mailbox knows it,” he said.

The bill would end a requirement that the Postal Service finance, in advance, health care benefits for current and retired workers for the next 75 years. That obligation, which private companies and federal agencies do not face, was imposed in 2006. That ended up being the year that the Postal Service’s mail volume peaked and its financial fortunes steadily worsened.

The Postal Service hasn’t made those payments since 2012. Overall it faces unpaid obligations of $63 billion, according to its most recent annual report. The bill forgives much of that debt.

Instead of those obligations, the Postal Service would pay current retirees’ actual health care costs that aren’t covered by Medicare, the federal health insurance program for older people.

The legislation would also require future Postal Service retirees to enroll in Medicare, which about 3 in 4 do now. The shift would save the Postal Service money by having Medicare cover much of its costs.

Proponents say the changes would save tens of billions of dollars over the next decade.

The Postal Service had a successful 2021 holiday season, delivering 97% of shipments on time during two weeks in December, according to ShipMatrix, which analyzes shipping package data. In 2020 more than a third of first-class mail was late by Christmas Day.

Since the Postal Service has its own finance system, it is not counted as part of the federal budget. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the bill would save the government $1 billion over the next 10 years.

That is largely because retirees’ prescription drug expenses under Medicare would be covered by required discounts from pharmaceutical makers.

Erosion threatens the drinking water service in Salamina, Magdalena - Other Cities - Colombia

The Magdalena River is just 400 meters from causing the collapse of the entire drinking water collection and treatment system that feeds the municipality of Salamina.

Despite the grave fallout that would leave the population with a possible damage to the aqueduct, the resources with which the megaproject established in the master plan to stop the erosion that threatens this area of ​​the department have not yet been disbursed.

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While they wait for the management and procedures of the National Government for the start of works, the inhabitants remain in complete anxiety because the Magdalena River is getting closer to the urban sector.

The region could be damaged
irreversible by the current of the river

The erosion began between kilometers 2.0 and 2.4 of the Piñón road; however, over time it has aggressively approached Salamina, and the danger and possible effects increase

The municipal official, Carlos Mario de la Cruz reported that after the current of the river destroyed the land where the ferry port worked, and affected river transport, the next service that is at risk of collapsing is that of drinking water.

“The erosion began between kilometers 2.0 and 2.4 of the Piñón road; however, over time it has aggressively approached Salamina, and the danger and the possible effects increase,” de la Cruz said.

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The representative of the entity of the Public Ministry, warned that in a period of no more than three months the water collection plant, considered the most stable and with the best coverage of the Magdalena, could suffer irreversible damage due to the current of the River.

“If the municipal aqueduct collapses due to this natural phenomenon, the more than 11 inhabitants of Salamina will stop receiving the precious liquid in their homes, which will mean a serious emergency for the town,” said the personero.
He added that “the first thing that would end up in the water would be the elevated tank and then the whole plant.”

This is a very serious situation and those who have dismissed it have had to see their words taken away by Rio itself and the erosive phenomenon.

Carlos Mario de la Cruz, lamented that this problem continues not to be given the relevance it requires, despite the fact that since it began to appear to date, the effects have been quite visible.

“This is a very serious situation and those who have dismissed it have had to see their words taken away by Rio itself and the erosive phenomenon,” said de la Cruz.

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Attorney General asks the Nation to appropriate resources

The Attorney General’s Office asked the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit to appropriate the budget for more than $95,000 million so that the stabilization and protection works of the right bank of the Magdalena River, contemplated in the Master plan, can be executed.

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The Public Ministry warned about “the imperative need to execute the proposed works given the current and imminent threat to the life, property and integrity of the citizens of Salamina and El Piñón.”

For this reason, the control entity required to allocate more quickly the resources requested by the Ministry of Transportation so that the works can be carried out without trauma as soon as possible, taking advantage of the current dry season.

By Roger Urieles
For THE WEATHER Santa Marta
@rogeruv

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RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi marks two decades of service – USAGM

RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi marks two decades of service

January 31, 2022

Washington, D.C./Prague — Twenty years ago, on January 30, 2002, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Radio Azadi relaunched broadcasting to Afghanistan in the Dari and Pashto languages. RFE/RL’s broadcasts resumed less than five months after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. and nearly a decade after the Dari and Pashto services were closed down in 1993 as part of an overall restructuring of RFE/RL operations following the end of the Cold War. Despite last year’s withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and return of the Taliban to power, Radio Azadi continues to serve the Afghan people as a trusted and reliable source of news, analysis, and responsible discussion – on radio and, especially, on digital platforms.

Radio Azadi’s reporting on politics, extremism, corruption, culture, and minority issues under-reported by other media, as well as its programs aimed at women and the country’s near-majority youth population, have consistently made it one of the country’s most popular and trusted media outlets. According to a December 2019 USAGM survey, 47 percent of adults in Afghanistan listen to Radio Azadi every week. Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Azadi has focused on how radically life has changed for ordinary Afghans, particularly women and ethnic and religious minorities. Radio Azadi’s call-in shows and roundtables also continue to give a platform for ordinary Afghans to talk about their experiences under Taliban rule.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly congratulated Radio Azadi on the milestone. “Since its relaunch, Radio Azadi has been a trusted friend and partner to the Afghan people, in good times and bad. Today, when so many of the achievements of the past twenty years are at risk, RFE/RL is committed to maintaining Radio Azadi as the place where Afghanistan’s voiceless can be heard, and the country’s new rulers can be held accountable for their actions.”

Radio Azadi marked its anniversary by posting a special video report looking back at its twenty years of operation, a photo gallery of its journalists on assignment over the years and a video of colleagues sharing their experiences and memories of working at Radio Azadi. It also hosted a call-in show during which many listeners expressed their gratitude to Radio Azadi and spoke about the impact of Azadi on their lives. A second call-in show on January 31 focused on the impact of Radio Azadi on Afghan women’s lives. RFE/RL has also released brief interviews with Radio Azadi journalists, including Qadir Habib, Mustafa Sarwar, and Malali Bashir.

Throughout Radio Azadi’s twenty years in Afghanistan, its journalists have endured death threats and other forms of harassment from Taliban and Islamic State forces – trends that intensified prior to the Taliban takeover. The service has lost four colleagues in the past four years – Maharram Durrani, Abadullah Hananzai, and Sabawoon Kakar, who were killed along with at least 22 others on April 30, 2018 in a coordinated bomb attack in Kabul, and respected Helmand correspondent Mohammad Ilyas Dayee, who died in a targeted car bombing that also injured his younger brother.

The changing reality of producing journalism in Afghanistan forced RFE/RL to take dramatic steps to protect its staff, including the closure of its Kabul bureau, and evacuation of threatened local journalists from the country. Many former Radio Azadi staff remain in Afghanistan, ineligible for refugee status under U.S. government or international resettlement programs. Their situation remains highly tenuous.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

California Hotels Use Robots to Do Service Jobs

The current difficulty in filling many service jobs in the U.S. is leaving hotels scrambling to provide room service. But with a bit of ingenuity and a little high-tech help some American hotels are finding a way. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.