US embassy in Kyiv shuts down over anticipated air attack

KYIV Ukraine

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv closed on Wednesday after receiving "specific information of a potential significant air attack," it said, as the Kremlin warned it would retaliate after the Biden administration reportedly permitted Ukraine to strike deeper within Russia.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the Embassy will be closed, and Embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place," the security alert said. "The U.S. Embassy recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced."

The alert was issued a day after Moscow said Ukraine had used U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems for the first time in the 1,000-day-old war.

The missiles, which targeted Russia's Bryansk region, were fired some 36 hours after U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly authorized Ukraine to use them to hit targets further in Russia.

Ukraine had for months sought to use ATACMS in the war, but the Biden administration had been reluctant to sign off due to fears of escalating the conflict.

On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin Russia approved changes to nuclear engagement rules, seemingly in response to Ukraine's use of the U.S.-supplied long-range missiles.

The Foundations of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence now permits nuclear weapons to be used if Russia is attack by a non-nuclear adversary that is backed by an ally possessing a nuclear arsenal.

That same day, Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggested to reporters in Rio de Janeiro for a G20 Summit that Ukraine's use of the ATACMS implies the United States is directly involved in the conflict.

"If longer-range missiles are used from Ukraine on Russian territory, it will also mean that they are operated by American military specialists. Let's perceive this as a qualitatively new phase of the West's war against Russia," he said.

"We will react accordingly."

Moscow warns the US over allowing Ukraine to hit Russian soil with longer-range weapons

By Illia Novikov, KYIV Ukraine

The Kremlin warned Monday that President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles adds “fuel to the fire” of the war and would escalate international tensions even higher.

Biden’s shift in policy added an uncertain, new factor to the conflict on the eve of the 1,000-day milestone since Russia began its full-scale invasion in 2022.

It also came as a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people and injuring 84 others. Another missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and injuring 43, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.

Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with its American-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Sunday, after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict and bringing about a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.

The Kremlin was swift in its condemnation.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps, and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia went further at a U.N. Security Council meeting marking 1,000 days of war, saying Moscow is “astounded” that the leaders of Britain and France “are eager to play into the hands of the exiting administration and are dragging not just their countries but the entire Europe into large-scale escalation with drastic consequences.”

The scope of the new firing guidelines isn’t clear. But the change came after the U.S., South Korea and NATO said North Korean troops are in Russia and apparently are being deployed to help Moscow drive Ukrainian troops from Russia’s Kursk border region.

Biden’s decision almost entirely was triggered by North Korea’s entry into the fight, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, and was made just before he left for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru.

Russia also is slowly pushing Ukraine’s outnumbered army backward in the eastern Donetsk region. It has also conducted a devastating aerial campaign against civilian areas in Ukraine.

Peskov referred journalists to a statement from President Vladimir Putin in September in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would significantly raise the stakes.

It would change “the very nature of the conflict dramatically,” Putin said at the time. “This will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia.”

Peskov claimed that Western countries supplying longer-range weapons also provide targeting services to Kyiv. “This fundamentally changes the modality of their involvement in the conflict,” he said.

Putin warned in June that Moscow could provide longer-range weapons to others to strike Western targets if NATO allowed Ukraine to use its allies’ arms to attack Russian territory. After signing a treaty with North Korea, Putin issued an explicit threat to provide weapons to Pyongyang, noting Moscow could mirror Western arguments that it’s up to Ukraine to decide how to use them.

“The Westerners supply weapons to Ukraine and say: ‘We do not control anything here anymore and it does not matter how they are used,’” Putin has said. “Well, we can also say: ‘We supplied something to someone — and then we do not control anything.’ And let them think about it.”

Putin has also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty.

Biden’s move will “mean the direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in military action against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has raised uncertainty about whether his administration would continue military support to Ukraine. He has also vowed to end the war quickly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a muted response Sunday to the approval that he and his government have request for over a year, adding: “The missiles will speak for themselves.”

“The longer Ukraine can strike, the shorter the war will be,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Monday before the U.N. Security Council meeting marking the 1,000th-day milestone.

Asked whether the United Kingdom would follow the United States in authorizing use of its longer-range missiles, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who chaired the meeting, declined to comment. He said doing so would risk “operational security and can only play into the hands of Putin.”

France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere, whose country has also given Ukraine longer-range missiles, told the Security Council without directly saying what his country will do that “The right of Ukraine to its legitimate defense includes the possibility of striking military targets involved in operations aimed at the territory.”

Ukraine’s Sybiha said a green light from the U.S. to use longer-range missiles against Russia “could be a game changer,” but others are less certain.

ATACMS, which have a range of about 300 kilometers (190 miles), can reach far behind the about 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line in Ukraine, but they have relatively short range compared with other types of ballistic and cruise missiles.

The policy change came “too late to have a major strategic effect,” said Patrick Bury, a senior associate professor in security at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.

“The ultimate kind of impact it will have is to probably slow down the tempo of the Russian offensives which are now happening,” he said, adding that Ukraine could strike targets in Kursk or logistics hubs or command headquarters.

Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, agreed the U.S. move would not alter the war’s course, noting Ukraine “would need large stockpiles of ATACMS, which it doesn’t have and won’t receive because the United States’ own supplies are limited.”

On a political level, the move “is a boost to the Ukrainians and it gives them a window of opportunity to try and show that they are still viable and worth supporting” as Trump prepares to take office, said Matthew Savill, director of Military Sciences at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The cue for the policy change was the arrival in Russia of North Korean troops, according to Glib Voloskyi, an analyst at the CBA Initiatives Center, a Kyiv-based think tank.

“This is a signal the Biden administration is sending to North Korea and Russia, indicating that the decision to involve North Korean units has crossed a red line,” he said.

Russian lawmakers and state media bashed the West for what they called an escalatory step, threatening a harsh response.

“Biden, apparently, decided to end his presidential term and go down in history as ‘Bloody Joe,’” lawmaker Leonid Slutsky told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, called it “a very big step toward the start of World War III” and an attempt to “reduce the degree of freedom for Trump.”

Russian newspapers offered similar predictions of doom. “The madmen who are drawing NATO into a direct conflict with our country may soon be in great pain,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta said.

Some NATO allies welcomed the move.

President Andrzej Duda of Poland, which borders Ukraine, praised the decision as a “very important, maybe even a breakthrough moment“ in the war.

“In the recent days, we have seen the decisive intensification of Russian attacks on Ukraine, above all, those missile attacks where civilian objects are attacked, where people are killed, ordinary Ukrainians,” Duda said.

Easing restrictions on Ukraine was “a good thing,” said Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna of Russian neighbor Estonia.

“We have been saying that from the beginning — that no restrictions must be put on the military support,” he told senior European Union diplomats in Brussels. “And we need to understand that situation is more serious (than) it was even maybe like a couple of months ago.”

But Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, known for his pro-Russian views, described Biden’s decision as “an unprecedented escalation” that would prolong the war.

The former president seeking to lead Ghana once more

ACCRA, Ghana

John Dramani Mahama has been Ghana's president once before - and now he is back for another punt at the top job.

The 65-year-old led Ghana from 2012 to 2017 and is one of the West African country's most experienced politicians. He has served at all levels of office, as an MP, deputy minister, minister, vice-president and president.

Long before it became a career, politics played a significant role in Mahama's childhood. When Mahama was just seven, his father, a government minister, was jailed during a military coup and later went into exile.

Personal trials like this appear in Mahama's acclaimed writing - he has been published by a number of international news outlets and his memoir, My First Coup D'etat, won praise from two African literary greats, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Chinua Achebe.

When penning his manifesto for this year's elections, Mahama told voters Ghana "is headed in the wrong direction and needs to be rescued".

But critics argue he may not be the right man for the job, given that his administration was hit by economic problems and a string of corruption scandals.

Mahama's journey began in 1958, when he was born in the northern town of Damongo. After a few years he moved to the capital, Accra, to live with his father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama.

In My First Coup d'Etat, Mahama Jr describes himself as "an observant child with an active imagination and an unbounded curiosity".

He was also relatively privileged. The family had another home in the town of Bole, which at the time was not on the national grid. Mahama's parents were able to invest in a diesel generator for their six-bedroom house, meaning theirs was the only house in the town with lights.

Local residents would gather outside the house when night fell, captivated by the curious orange glow.

The future president attended Achimota boarding school, a prestigious institution known for educating heads of state like Ghana's Jerry John Rawlings, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first prime minister after it gained independence from the UK.

It was at Achimota, in 1966, that Mahama heard there had been a coup. Military and police personnel had stormed Ghana's government buildings, seizing power from Nkrumah, who was away on a foreign trip.

As updates trickled in, Mahama became increasingly anxious - he had heard no word from his father. Seven-year-old Mahama feared his father had been killed because of his proximity to Nkrumah.

It turned out his father had been imprisoned - he would remain in jail for approximately a year.

In 1981, after a second military coup, Mahama's father fled the country for Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Mahama spent his twenties and thirties studying - he got a Communication Studies degree from the University of Ghana before studying at Moscow's Institute of Social Sciences.

Mahama noted that his stay in Russia, then part of the Soviet Union, alerted him to "the imperfections of the socialist system".

After returning to Ghana in 1996, Mahama followed his father's footsteps into politics.

He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party and from there, scaled the political ranks. He zeroed in on the NDC's messaging, taking up roles as the parliamentary spokesperson and minister for communication.

In 13 years, Mahama worked his way up to become vice-president, second-in-command under President John Atta Mills.

But after just three years in office, Mills died unexpectedly at the age of 68.

Just hours after this tragedy, a 58-year-old Mahama was sworn in as president. In his speech, Mahama described the day as the "saddest" in Ghana's history.

General elections were held later that year and voters chose to keep Mahama in office.

So what kind of leader is Mahama? Franklin Cudjoe, a Ghanaian political commentator and head of the Imani Centre for Policy and Education, told the BBC the former president was an "excellent communicator".

While political scientist Dr Clement Sefa-Nyarko described Mahama as a "pragmatist".

Mahama has the it-factor but only in a climate where "politics is driven by reality and intelligent communication", said Dr Sefa-Nyarko, who lectures on African leadership at King's College London.

But in contemporary Ghana, many voters are captivated by overambitious pledges, according to Dr Clement Sefa-Nyarko, which means pragmatic Mahama is "not able to charm the populace much".

When campaigning to stay in power ahead of the 2016 elections, Mahama highlighted various infrastructure projects completed under his administration, such as those in the transportation, health, and education sectors.

But under his watch, Ghanaians also experienced an ailing economy and widespread power cuts. Mahama was nicknamed "Mr Dumsor" in reference to the blackouts - "dum" means off and "sor" means on in the local Twi language.

His term was also blighted by corruption scandals. For instance, a UK court found that aviation giant Airbus had used bribes to secure contracts with Ghana for military planes between 2009 and 2015 - but Ghana's Office of the Special Prosecutor concluded there was no evidence that Mahama was involved in any corrupt activities himself.

'Kiir’s family clandestinely accumulated expansive corporate kingdom' - report

WASHINGTON, United States

The Sentry on Monday published a massive trove of data exposing the control by the family of South Sudan President Salva Kiir over a secret business empire.

“Kiirdom: The Sprawling Corporate Kingdom of South Sudan’s First Family,” provides a deep dive into the first family’s private capture of assets across South Sudan’s major national economic sectors including petroleum, mining, banking, trade, aviation, logistics, and private security.

The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy.

According to a press statement extended to Radio Tamazuj on Monday evening, the exposé published on The Sentry’s new interactive Atlas platform, “Kiirdom” combines extensive documentation from the South Sudan Ministry of Justice with the findings from numerous original investigations by The Sentry.

John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, said that since independence, rather than work toward a secure and prosperous future, the Kiir regime has orchestrated destabilization, repression, violent conflict, and mass starvation while consolidating a lucrative corporate empire.

“The first family has deployed an array of circumvention techniques to veil from the public their businesses and assets,” he stated.

“Kiirdom” provides the full scope of collected data plus expert analysis in a freely available and interactive format.

“The Sentry’s new open-data platform, Atlas, illuminates the business empires, facilitators, and financing mechanisms of global networks of kleptocrats, conflict financiers, and war profiteers. Atlas functions as a deep dive into the nuts and bolts of a kleptocracy, aiming to facilitate public scrutiny, transparency, and accountability for these elites and their enablers. Said Michelle Kendler-Kretsch, Investigations Manager for The Sentry. “By providing an interactive visualization tool, easy-to-use search, expert analysis, and detailed profiles of individuals and entities, Atlas empowers journalists, policymakers, financial institutions, and the public to hold those responsible for large-scale violence and grand corruption accountable. Atlas projects are designed to be dynamic, enabling us to nimbly combat corruption through regular updates.”

Based on the 126 companies mapped by The Sentry, the corporate network of Kiir’s family includes high-profile businesspeople and politicians from around the region, as well as members of the military and National Security Service, both of which have engaged in gross human rights violations.

“Several companies that included Kiir family members in their lists of shareholders received public contracts or letters of credit, which are essentially guarantees from a bank to a seller that they’ll be paid by the buyer,” the statement reads in part. “The Sentry, in examining these companies, identified a number of red flags for trade-based money laundering.”

“The children and grandchildren of Kiir and his brother-in-law, Gregory Vasili, served as founding shareholders for a number of companies when they were still minors.”

The Sentry identified 70 companies with foreign shareholders in which members of the Kiir family also held shares. Foreigners can own businesses in South Sudan, but the 2012 Companies Act mandates that South Sudanese nationals hold at least 31 percent of the shares.

While these requirements can support local South Sudanese economic interests, they can also create an advantage for companies with connections to the political elite.

“The ‘Kiirdom’ project is designed to enable the South Sudanese people to know what kind of Business Empire Kiir has built for himself and his family,” The Sentry statement said. “It is also intended to support public scrutiny and compliance processes meant to mitigate against corruption risks, thereby ensuring that Kiir-connected companies and family members face enhanced due diligence commensurate with their risk profiles.”

South Sudan’s constitution prohibits high-ranking officials and other constitutional officeholders from being involved in commercial business or receiving renumeration from any source other than the national government.

However, this constitutional provision is often circumvented by having family members of officials listed as the shareholders of companies.

Despite the provision also requiring that these officeholders make a declaration of their assets and liabilities, including those of their spouses and children, such declarations—when they actually occur—often remain confidential and are not subject to public scrutiny.

The Sentry’s Atlas includes a visual interface to explore and learn about the companies, banks, and individuals linked to the first family’s business empire. The “Network Insights” sections explain the various means and methods that the Kiir family used in building their business empire, including specific transactions, industries, companies, facilitators, and associates.

Kiir’s family could not immediately be reached for comment on the new report.

Uganda’s Besigye in military jail after kidnap in Nairobi, wife says

KAMPALA, Uganda

The executive director of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Winnie Byanyima on Wednesday asked Uganda’s military to release her husband, Dr Kizza Besigye from military detention in Kampala where he’s reportedly being held after he went missing in Nairobi Kenya where he had gone to attend a book launch by Kenya’s former Minister for Justice, Martha Karua.

Uganda Opposition veteran and wife Winnie in a past event

The four time presidential contender is said to have gone missing in Kenyan on Saturday.

“I request the government of Uganda to release my husband Dr Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately.  He was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in Nairobi for Hon Martha Karua’s book launch. I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala.  We his family and his lawyers demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?” Ms Byanyima posted on her X handle in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. 

The veteran Opposition leader was last seen on Saturday evening at an apartment complex on Riverside Drive in the Westlands area of the Kenyan capital.

Besigye had been booked to stay at the Waridi Paradise Hotel and Suites in Hurlingham neighbourhood, about 15 minutes by car from the Riverside Drive apartment.

An official at the hotel told our reporter on Tuesday night that Besigye had not returned to the hotel since he left on Saturday. 

The Minister for ICT and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi said he could not confirm or deny Besigye's detention.

"I'm currently in Soroti as part of President Museveni's entourage. I'm not aware that he is being held by the government.  I'm still cross-checking with our security agencies. In any case, why would he be arrested? The government is not in the habit of arresting citizens and keeping them incommunicado forever. If he's arrested then he will be arraigned in court and charged accordingly. We are also cross checking with our colleagues in Kenya because we were told he had travelled there for a book launch," Dr Baryomunsi said.

Besigye's disappearance follows the July 23 arrest of 36 Ugandan activists associated with him in Kisumu, the lakeside city in Kenya close to the border.

The political activists were abducted and ferried back to Uganda where they were charged with treason and remanded to Kitalya Prison. 

The activists, who were recently released on bail, pleaded not guilty to the charges and said they were attending a workshop when they were arrested.

The 36 activists claim to have been tortured during their detention.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 20/11/2024

Trump hush money update: Prosecutors oppose dismissal; sentencing still pending

By Graham Kates,  NEW YORK United States 

The US President-elect Donald Trump's six-year New York criminal odyssey might need to continue for at least another four, prosecutors said Tuesday. 

Lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote in a letter to Justice Juan Merchan that Trump should not be sentenced for his crimes until after he completes his second term in office. 

That would be the year 2029, more than a decade after the investigation into Trump's coverup of a "hush money" payment began.

"Consideration must be given to various non-dismissal options that may address any concerns raised by the pendency of a post-trial criminal proceeding during the presidency, such as deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of defendant's upcoming presidential term," the filing said.

Merchan had been slated to rule on Nov. 12 on whether presidential immunity should have prevented jurors from seeing certain evidence at Trump's trial this spring, but he postponed his decision. 

Merchan said he wanted to hear from prosecutors about how to proceed with the case, which entered uncharted terrain when Trump was reelected president.

Prosecutors said in their filings that they intend to oppose any effort by Trump to dismiss his case outright. Trump's lawyers said in a previous letter that they would do so, claiming his election meant the case might cause "unconstitutional impediments to President Trump's ability to govern."

.Prosecutors said in the short term, they are also unopposed to delaying Trump's sentencing, currently on the schedule for Nov. 26, while his attorneys awaiting and responding to his motion to dismiss.

Trump is the first person in American history to win the presidency after being convicted of crimes. He was also the first former president to face trial for crimes.

Trump promised minutes after a unanimous jury found him guilty of felonies in May to fight his conviction. Weeks later, the Supreme Court ruled former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts and that evidence related to Trump's work as president could not be used at trial.

Trump's lawyers argued the Supreme Court's ruling meant the conviction should be set aside, and his sentencing canceled. 

They said jurors heard testimony from former White House staff that should have been out of bounds during the trial. The legal team was led by Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who Trump has said he will appoint next year to senior posts in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bragg's office has argued that the material protested by Trump's team was "a sliver of the mountains" of evidence the jury considered – so small it shouldn't mean tossing aside the jury's decision.

The jury found that Trump committed 34 felonies, largely by authorizing a plan to conceal reimbursements to Michael Cohen, his former attorney and fixer. 

Cohen paid $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, days before the 2016 presidential election, in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. 

The payment has often been referred to as a "hush money" payment. 

Trump insists he is not guilty of falsifying business records — the charge he was convicted on — and has vehemently denied Daniels' story.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, then led by Cyrus Vance Jr., began investigating the "hush money" deal in 2018. 

It soon widened into an expansive probe into Trump's finances. Trump assailed the investigation during his first presidency, fighting a subpoena to the Supreme Court, which in a landmark 2020 decision allowed the office to get Trump's tax returns.

When Bragg took office in 2022, he pared down the investigation, refocusing it on the "hush money" deal. A grand jury indicted Trump on March 31, 2023 and his trial began in April of this year.

The seven-week trial ended with his conviction. The jury deliberated for less than two days.

After hearing guilty 34 times, Trump turned around, clasped his son Eric's hand for a moment, and walked out of the courtroom.

Prosecutors were still packing their briefcases as Trump's voice could be heard from just beyond the doors.

He was decrying the case, and campaigning for a return to the White House.

TODAY IN HISTORY: President Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address

PENNSYLVANIA, United States

On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In fewer than 275 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public why the Union had to fight, and win, the Civil War.

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought some four months earlier, was one of the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Over the course of three days, more than 45,000 men were killed, injured, captured or went missing.

The battle also proved to be the turning point of the war: General Robert E. Lee’s defeat and retreat from Gettysburg marked the last Confederate invasion of Northern territory and the beginning of the Southern army’s ultimate decline.

Charged by Pennsylvania’s governor, Andrew Curtin, to care for the Gettysburg dead, an attorney named David Wills bought 17 acres of pasture to turn into a cemetery for the more than 7,500 who fell in battle.

Wills invited Edward Everett, one of the most famous orators of the day, to deliver a speech at the cemetery’s dedication. Almost as an afterthought, Wills also sent a letter to Lincoln—just two weeks before the ceremony—requesting “a few appropriate remarks” to consecrate the grounds.

At the dedication, the crowd listened for two hours to Everett before Lincoln spoke. Lincoln’s address lasted just two or three minutes.

The speech reflected his redefined belief that the Civil War was not just a fight to save the Union, but a struggle for freedom and equality for all, an idea Lincoln had not championed in the years leading up to the war.

This was his stirring conclusion: “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Kenya Catholic Bishops return $21.6 thousand donation from President

NAIROBI, Kenya

The Archdiocese of Nairobi has reaffirmed its commitment to the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops' (KCCB) policy on political donations to the Church.

The KCCB, in a statement delivered on November 14, 2024, and read in all churches within the Archdiocese on Sunday, November 17, 2024, emphasised the importance of preserving the Church's independence and sanctity, as well as the ethical concerns surrounding political contributions.

Archbishop Philip A. Anyolo, speaking on behalf of the archdiocese, emphasised the Church's strong opposition to using its platforms for political gain.

On November 17, 2024, the Archdiocese announced the rejection of several donations made at Soweto Catholic Church, in accordance with KCCB directives and the Public Fundraising Appeals Bill 2024.

The Governor of Nairobi donated $1,547.99 to the Parish Choir and Parish Missionary Council (PMC), while the President donated Ksh. 600,000 to the same organisations.

 President Ruto also contributed $4,643.96 to the Fathers' House construction.

The bishops also rejected a $2,3219.81 pledge for additional construction and a parish bus donation.

The Archdiocese confirmed that any funds previously received in violation of these directives would be returned to donors.

He urged politicians not to use the pulpit for rhetoric, claiming that such actions jeopardise the sanctity of religious spaces.

The Church emphasised its role as a neutral institution free of external influence, as well as its obligation to reject any contributions that jeopardise its integrity or perpetuate unethical behaviour.

The Church urged political leaders to focus on critical national issues such as political squabbles, corruption, human rights violations, broken promises, overtaxation, and misplaced priorities.

Leaders were also urged to demonstrate ethical leadership by prioritising Kenyans' needs over selfish political goals.

While inviting politicians to attend church for spiritual nourishment, Archbishop Anyolo emphasised that they should do so as ordinary Christians rather than using their positions for personal or political gain.

He emphasised that the church should remain a place of worship and community guidance, free of political interference or influence.

G20 leaders flag global conflicts, cooperation at Rio summit

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil

Leaders from the Group of 20 major economies on Monday (Nov 19) issued a joint statement highlighting the suffering caused by conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, while calling for co-operation on climate change, poverty reduction and tax policy.

G20 leaders meeting at Rio de Janeiro's Modern Art Museum for a two-day summit tackled an agenda that reflected a shifting global order, trying to shore up multilateral consensus before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to power in January.

Their discussions of trade, climate change and international security will run up against the sharp US policy changes that Trump vows upon taking office, from tariffs to the promise of a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine.

Still, leaders at the summit were able to reach a narrow consensus on the escalating Ukraine war, focused succinctly on "human suffering" and the economic fallout of the conflict.

The leaders' statement also expressed "deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," and called urgently for more aid and protection for civilians along with a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

After a massive Russian air strike in Ukraine on Sunday, European diplomats had pushed to revisit the previously agreed language on global conflicts, but they ultimately relented.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the summit, and Moscow was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

It took marathon negotiations over the weekend for diplomats to finalize the joint statement, with debate over climate policy stretching into the dawn hours of Sunday, according to people involved in the talks.

In their statement, leaders agreed the world needs to reach a deal by the end of the United Nations COP29 climate change summit in Azerbaijan on a new financial goal for how much money rich nations must provide to poorer developing nations.

COP29 officials had called on the G20 leaders for a strong signal to help breach the impasse on climate finance. While the joint statement said nations need to resolve the issue, they did not indicate what should be the solution at the UN summit set to end on Friday.

As host of this year's G20 meetings, Brazil expanded the group's focus on extreme poverty and hunger, while introducing debate on co-operation to fairly tax the world's wealthiest - topics also highlighted in the leaders' joint statement.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva opened the summit on Monday with the launch of a global alliance to combat poverty and hunger, with backing from more than 80 countries, along with multilateral banks and major philanthropies.

"Hunger and poverty are not the result of scarcity or natural phenomena ... they are the product of political decisions," said Lula, who was born into poverty and entered politics organising a metalworker’s union.

"In a world that produces almost six billion tons of food per year, this is unacceptable," he said.

Brazilian officials recognised the rest of their agenda for the G20 - including sustainable development and taxing the super-rich - could lose steam when Trump starts dictating global priorities from the White House.

Still, world leaders acknowledged that Brazil's agenda as chair, embraced by 2025 host South Africa, had pushed debate beyond the traditional comfort zone of Western powers.

"We are experiencing a major, major change in global structures," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the sidelines of the summit, noting the growing weight of major developing economies. "These are countries that want to have their say. And they will no longer accept that everything will continue to be the way it has been for decades."

Chinese President Xi Jinping took the occasion to announce a raft of measures designed to support the developing economies of the "Global South," from scientific co-operation with Brazil and African nations to lowering trade barriers for least developed countries.

While Xi played a central role at the summit, US President Joe Biden arrived as a lame duck with just two months left in the White House as he juggles escalating conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

As the world awaits signals from Trump's incoming government, Xi has been touting China's economic ascendancy, including its vaunted Belt & Road initiative that inaugurated a massive deep-water port in Peru last week.

Brazil has so far declined to join the global infrastructure initiative, but hopes are high for other industrial partnerships when Xi wraps up his stay in the country with a state visit in Brasilia on Wednesday.