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David Close, CNN

2022-02-21 19:36:27

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/sport/medina-spirit-kentucky-derby-win-disqualified/index.html

Medina Spirit's 2021 Kentucky Derby win has been nullified and horse trainer Bob Baffert is suspended - CNN

Medina Spirit died in December. The thoroughbred was finishing a workout when he collapsed near the finish line at the Santa Anita Park racetrack.

sport, Medina Spirit's 2021 Kentucky Derby win has been nullified and horse trainer Bob Baffert is suspended - CNN

Medina Spirit's 2021 Kentucky Derby win has been nullified and horse trainer Bob Baffert is suspended

(CNN)The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission announced Monday that Medina Spirit's victory at the 2021 Kentucky Derby has been disqualified.The horse failed a drug test after crossing the finish line first at the Derby.Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit to undergo necropsy following sudden deathMedina Spirit died in December. The thoroughbred was finishing a workout when he collapsed near the finish line at the Santa Anita Park racetrack.The KHRC also announced a 90-day suspension for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who trained Medina Spirit, and fined him $7,500. Baffert said he plans to appeal the decision."I am very disappointed in the ruling," Baffert said in a statement provided by his spokesperson to CNN. "It runs contrary to the scientifically proven facts in this case and the rules of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. We will be filing an immediate appeal."Read MoreBob Baffert spent a lifetime getting to the top of the field in horse racing. Controversy now stalks himThe commission said the winner's purse of $1.86 million must be returned.Churchill Downs, where the famed race takes place, said Mandaloun is now the winner of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby."Today Churchill Downs recognizes Mandaloun as the winner of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby and extends our congratulations to owner/breeder Juddmonte, trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux," Churchill Downs said in a statement Monday. "Winning the Kentucky Derby is one of the most exciting achievements in sports and we look forward to celebrating Mandaloun on a future date in a way that is fitting of this rare distinction."CNN's Nick Watt and Wayne Sterling contributed to this report.

CNN Sport staff

2021-12-02 14:01:55

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/sport/chris-caserta-jockey-spt-intl/index.html

Chris Caserta: Jockey presumed dead after being caught in rip current - CNN

Australian jockey Chris Caserta is presumed dead after being caught in a rip current during a late-night swim, Queensland Police said on Thursday.

sport, Chris Caserta: Jockey presumed dead after being caught in rip current - CNN

Jockey Chris Caserta presumed dead after being caught in rip current

(CNN)Australian jockey Chris Caserta is presumed dead after being caught in a rip current during a late-night swim, Queensland Police said on Thursday. Shortly after 10 p.m. on Wednesday, 26-year-old Caserta and a female companion entered the water at Surfers Paradise Beach in Queensland, police said. The woman, who has not been identified by police, was able to reach the shore, but a land, sea and air search for Caserta remains ongoing. "Unfortunately, I had the heartbreaking job of telling Chris' parents that this is not a search and rescue for Chris. We're searching for Chris' body as the time frame for survival has passed," Jay Notaro, senior sergeant of Queensland Police, told reporters. "It is an absolute tragedy at any time, but particularly just before Christmas. On behalf of the Queensland Police service, I'd like to pass on our sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues in the racing industry. Read More"We'll continue to search and our goal is to return Chris to his family."Caserta wins at Bairnsdale Racecourse in November 2020. Notaro added that bystanders alerted authorities and helped to calm the woman after she had recovered from the water. "They entered the water at a similar time and were quite close when they both got into trouble," he said. Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, videos and featuresRip currents -- fast-moving water that usually flows away from the beach -- are common at Surfers Paradise. The beach is patrolled between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., according to Notaro, as he warned people not to enter the water outside those times given the potential dangers. On Thursday, Racing Queensland CEO Brendan Parnell said: "Our thoughts are with Chris and his family at this time."Racing Queensland is working with the Gold Coast Turf Club (GCTC) to provide welfare and support to Caserta's family, friends and other members of the racing industry. "First and foremost, our heart goes out to Chris' family and the entire racing community as the search continues," said GCTC CEO Steve Lines. Caserta, who moved from Victoria to Queensland last year, recorded more than 150 wins over the course of his career, according to Racing.com.

Alaa Elassar, CNN

2021-06-05 22:58:14

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/05/sport/essential-quality-belmont-stakes-winner/index.html

2021 Belmont Stakes results: Essential Quality wins race - CNN

Essential Quality, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by jockey Luis Saez, won the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

sport, 2021 Belmont Stakes results: Essential Quality wins race - CNN

Essential Quality wins the Belmont Stakes

(CNN)Essential Quality, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by jockey Luis Saez, won the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.The horse was the early betting favorite to win the 1.5-mile race and finished ahead of Hot Rod Charlie and the 146th Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer, who finished in second and third place, respectively.Hot Rod Charlie was the early leader but Essential Quality passed him in the final turn and held on down the stretch to win. The win gave trainer Brad Cox his first Triple Crown victory.A limited crowd of 11,000 were allowed to attend the "Test of the Champion" with proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test required for entry.Jockey Luis Saez reacts after winning the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes atop Essential Quality on Saturday, June 5.This year's race did not include Medina Spirit, the Kentucky Derby winner, after the horse failed a post-Derby drug test. In May, the New York Racing Association temporarily suspended Medina Spirit's trainer Bob Baffert from entering any horses in races at the track that is host to the Belmont Stakes.Read MoreBaffert has been suspended from the home of the Kentucky Derby for two years after Medina Spirit's positive post-race drug was confirmed, the company that runs the Louisville racetrack said Wednesday.This Belmont Stakes was a return to normalcy after last year, when for the first time in history, the race was the first leg of the Triple Crown after the Covid-19 pandemic upended the schedule. The race is normally the third and final leg of the Triple Crown.CNN's Jacob Lev contributed to this report

Ben Church, CNN Video by Finn McSkimming, CNN

2021-11-12 09:44:08

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/sport/lor-sabourin-climbing-identity-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Lor Sabourin: How feeling 'vulnerable' helped climber explore their identity - CNN

The feeling of total vulnerability is something that would prevent most from trying rock climbing, but for Lor Sabourin, it's what they love most about the sport.

sport, Lor Sabourin: How feeling 'vulnerable' helped climber explore their identity - CNN

How feeling 'vulnerable' helped climber Lor Sabourin explore their identity

(CNN)The feeling of total vulnerability is something that would prevent most from trying rock climbing, but for Lor Sabourin, it's what they love most about the sport. Being so far out of their comfort zone, tackling a route that requires both mental and physical fortitude, provides Sabourin with an opportunity to reflect and work through the challenges in their life. In many ways, it's much more than just a sport for them -- it's a way of exploring identity which has helped them accept who they are. "I think it's really hard to hide from the stress of climbing. When you go out, you're really choosing to be vulnerable," Sabourin tells CNN Sport."You don't have to do that everywhere else in life.Read More"People are able to really find out how they do best when they're in stress and to learn better ways to respond to stress and to things like fear and insecurity." Sabourin has recently released a film with Patagonia that explores their life as a non-binary climber, following Sabourin as they take on one of the hardest routes of their life in the sandstone canyons of northern Arizona. It provided Sabourin with a chance to speak about their journey and address what it means for them to be a trans climber in 2021.In tackling some dark periods of their life -- including battles with eating disorders, self-harm and sexual assault -- the film "They/Them" shows how Sabourin has learned to thrive in the climbing community. "Making the film was hard in a lot of ways because, so often when we go through something hard and then come out on the other side, we want to just pretend that that didn't happen," they added."So I really had to go back to parts of my story that maybe I didn't talk about with people in my life very often. "And that was at first really challenging, but over time, it actually became really healing." READ: Climber receives apology after inappropriate images were aired during World ChampionshipsPatagonia's latest documentary, "They/Them," is a film about Lor Sabourin, an Arizona-based climber, guide and coach.'All consuming'Despite always loving the outdoor lifestyle, even when growing up in the urban area of Detroit, Sabourin was a self-confessed "super-scared kid." It may seem improbable now when you see photos of them hanging off the side of a rock face, but there was a time when they were too scared to use the three-meter slide at their local swimming pool. In truth, climbing wasn't something that came naturally, but sport always played a major role in their upbringing. They were a strong runner throughout their education but finally fell into climbing as a way of combining competition with their love of the outdoors. "[Climbing] is very all-consuming," Sabourin said. "Running, for example, it's like your mind can go anywhere and you can still run quite quickly."And that's one of my favorite things about running is having a place where I can just let my mind go, and climbing isn't really that way. "When you're climbing, you have to have 100% of your attention on what you're doing. And that's really therapeutic in its own way." READ: 'We should be less afraid to be afraid,' says Emily Harrington after historic El Capitan climbJUST WATCHED'Black Ice': The men and women making climbing more diverseReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'Black Ice': The men and women making climbing more diverse 03:34Dealing with hate The sport now plays a major role in their life and they balance it with their studies to become a therapist. However, as their profile within the sport becomes more well-known, Sabourin has had to deal with online hate and microaggressions from within the community, such as people reacting angrily about using different pronouns. In the film, they describe how they were subject to online abuse after an interview with climbing magazine "Rock and Ice" was published. There are also times in normal life where Sabourin feels less safe than their non-trans friends. "I guess that's really challenging, especially having a background of experiencing pretty extreme violence at a young age for my identity," they said. "With the film, it definitely brings up that fear. I am putting myself out there in a really public way, and so it's definitely opening up to the potential for more of that to happen."But [...] in all of those interactions, people didn't take the time to get to know me."What I feel is really powerful about the film [...] is you kind of have to stay with me long enough to learn that I'm a human just like anyone else and that being trans is one aspect. "Something that I really love about myself is my identity, but it actually is a fairly small aspect of my identity in the grand scheme of things." READ: Two world-class climbers scale the tallest chimney in EuropeSabourin wants to be a positive role model to others. Becoming a role model The process of making the film was an intimate affair, with Sabourin often being joined just by co-director and friend Blake McCord. They didn't want the film to make generalizations about the trans experience, but instead share their own unique story in a humanistic way. Sabourin is aware that they may become the face for the wider community as a result. At a time when trans people are facing scrutiny in both the sporting arena and in wider society, Sabourin says climbing has an opportunity to create a more inclusive framework that other sports can follow. "I think it could be simpler than people believe," they said. "They get so hung up in the political debates and the legislation."If we look at the value of sports to people, as humans, and the reasons that we participate and we strip it down back to that human aspect, it's a lot simpler than we think it is."Sabourin says the thought of being a role model feels similar to tackling climbing projects -- intimidating, but also inspiring -- and admits the thought of people looking up to them has made them become more honest in their personal life. The American has struggled with eating disorders since they were seven or eight years old and wants to trigger conversations about how it can affect both athletes and the trans community. Now in recovery, Sabourin has learned to adopt a healthier relationship with food and exercise and has realized the destructive ways in which they were using food to manage their transition. Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, videos and featuresThey say the topic still isn't spoken about enough. "I've tried my best to be a combination of holding myself really accountable and being really firm with myself about taking steps every day, but also give myself some levity around it and not always feel like I'm beating my head against the wall," Sabourin said. "I want people to have a role model that's someone who takes care of themselves, who lives a life that they think is meaningful. "I also personally want to be a person who has those things for myself."

Sana Noor Haq, CNN

2021-06-16 08:52:22

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/16/sport/nadhira-alharthy-profile-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Nadhira Alharthy: Omani climber wants to 'die empty' in her quest to share knowledge - CNN

It was a chance encounter that would change her life forever. In 2017, Nadhira Alharthy met the first Omani man to climb Everest.

sport, Nadhira Alharthy: Omani climber wants to 'die empty' in her quest to share knowledge - CNN

Nadhira Alharthy: Omani climber wants to 'die empty' in her quest to share knowledge

(CNN)It was a chance encounter that would change her life forever. In 2017, Nadhira Alharthy met the first Omani man to climb Everest.Khalid al-Siyabi had summited Everest seven years earlier. He was part of a group of pioneering Omanis who were telling their inspirational stories at an assembly hosted by the Ministry of Education, where Alharthy was working as the director of citizenship at the time. That evening she made a pledge to replicate al-Siyabi's achievement, using his mentorship as guidance."His story, it touched me," she tells CNN Sport. "I was inspired to do something for myself [...] to challenge myself."Building up her strengthRead MoreBefore training to climb the world's tallest mountain, Alharthy's workout routine extended to going to the gym a few times a week. She knew she had to dramatically change gears, beginning with strengthening her muscles and improving her resistance. With al-Siyabi's help, her training schedule developed into that of a fully-fledged endurance athlete, consisting of running, hiking, rock climbing, canyoning and caving. The physical preparation for Everest was challenging, but improving her mental stamina was even harder. "Training the mind [...] it's harder than training our bodies," she says. In the two years leading up to the climb, the only other person who knew about Alharthy's ambition was al-Siyabi. "We kept it as a secret for a long time," she says.She wasn't just building up her mental strength for Everest, but also working up the courage to tell her family: "I was scared to tell them because I just decided to go to Everest without any experience."The endurance athlete says she takes advantage of Oman's arid desert terrain. She recently visited Jabal Akhdar, part of the Al Hajar mountain range in Oman. 'I was very lucky'In 2019, two months before setting off for Nepal, Alharthy told her family about the expedition. "They were very surprised and shocked because I never discussed it before. They refused the idea from the beginning. My mom was very stressed and worried about my safety," she says.Despite their reaction, she was determined to fulfil her ambition. She arrived in Kathmandu flanked by an all-Arab, all-female team -- including Mona Shahab from Saudi Arabia, and Joyce Azzam and Nelly Attar from Lebanon.She was in constant contact with al-Siyabi until her arrival at base camp, when their line of communication started to dwindle. Her mentor had recently been admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke. "I started feeling worried about him. But I said, 'OK, he will make it, he's strong,'" she says.A week later Alharthy received the devastating news that al-Siyabi had passed away at the age of 46. She was in shock: "Losing him, it was the hardest time there when I was climbing."In January 2021, Alharthy became the first Arab woman to summit Ama Dablam, Nepal. His death gave the expedition a new sense of purpose. Alharthy wasn't just climbing to fulfill her own ambition, she wanted to honor al-Siyabi's memory as well. "He was the only person who stood with me, he helped me," she says. "I decided to do it not for myself and not only my country, he would also be part of [...] the climb."After two months of trekking across snow capped mountains, she found herself atop Everest on May 23, exactly nine years to the day since al-Siyabi's summit. She commemorated her mentor by planting a piece of paper inscribed with his name on the crest of the mountain. The poetry of their story isn't lost on her, acknowledging that "the first Omani man helped me to be the first Omani woman [to summit Everest]." She says completing her first summit alongside three other Arab women was what crowned her triumph: "I was very lucky to have them [...] it brought us all together."Two years later, Alharthy's face still lights up when she revisits her memories of climbing Everest. "It's not like when you buy something, when you try a new meal, when you go shopping," she says. "It was a different type of happiness."Ama DablamWhile participating in endurance sports, Alharthy has had the chance to connect with fellow mountaineers. In January, she became the first Arab woman to summit Ama Dablam (22,349 feet) -- a mountain south of Everest -- while climbing alongside Qatari mountaineer Fahad Badar. "I was not planning to go to Ama Dablam from the beginning. Then one of our friends, Fahad [...] he messaged me that he was going," says Alharthy."I told him, I'm not as afraid of climbing the mountain as I was afraid of the cold because it's winter season and that's very difficult." Long readsAustralia's first international cricketers won fame abroad. At home, they were betrayed'The Fight of the Century': A divided US nation 50 years onFootball club founded by Turkish immigrants creates stir in Germany Olympian pressured to 'perform better' and lose a few poundsHaving unsuccessfully attempted the same climb in 2018, Alharthy was "scared of failing again," but she knew that Badar's moral support, coupled with her training for Everest, would set her in good stead. "I felt that I was prepared."With an exposed ridge that requires vertical mixed climbing in rock, ice and snow, she acknowledges this was her most grueling trial yet. She says the technical know-how and full-body strength required to climb Ama Dablam surpassed Everest. "There is no way for mistakes on Ama Dablam because it's like you are climbing a big wall. We had to be attached on safety ropes all the time," she adds. "If we miss anything, it's very dangerous." Over the past year, Alharthy hasn't had a chance to plan ahead for expeditions due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions. In the meantime, she's been taking advantage of Oman's arid desert terrain -- most recently visiting the country's epic Al Hoota Cave, which is over two million years old and has a total length of almost 2.8 miles. "I want to use all the chances I have here in Oman to improve myself physically," she says.Her next goal is to climb one of the 14 mountain peaks across the world that stand taller than 8,000m, dubbed by NASA as the Eight Thousanders. Rock formations in the Al Hoota natural cave after it re-opened to the public for the first time in three years near the ancient city of Jizwa in Oman's northern Dakhiliya region on September 2016. Finding solidarity through faithCementing her status as a record-breaking mountaineer means that Alharthy has attracted waves of media attention over the past few years, but she was never searching for the spotlight. Even though she relishes the opportunity to develop her physicality and test her resilience, she says that the intense media scrutiny that comes with the job is emotionally draining. Her limits were tested after Everest. She was having trouble dealing with the emotional comedown of completing such a monumental feat and decided to stop training for a while. "I was feeling depressed," she says. "I felt this pressure on me, it was something I was not looking for." Alharthy has since found solidarity through her faith. Alharthy says she hopes her story will inspire young Omanis to participate in endurance sports. Ahead of her expedition to Ama Dablam, she earned messages of support from her Muslim fans on social media, where she has now amassed over 16,000 followers. She sees their prayers as a form of protection. "Our faith [...] it makes you stand up again. It gives you strength, it gives you power."Her increased visibility online means that her family is now more accepting of her endeavors. But like any parent, her mother continues to agonize over the safety of her daughter. "For them, it's something very exposed, it's something very unsafe. My mom, she's waiting for me to tell her that I will never climb again," she says. "They support me to do what I want, but they are worried."She continues to inspire confidence in other Muslim women, many of whom have been encouraged to participate in outdoor sports after reading about her story. "When I started training, many women were reluctant to do outdoor sports, especially those who wear the hijab, but it's now becoming quite common," she recently told the Times. Her 32 nieces also embolden her to share her journey and highlight the power of female participation in sport. "They are very strong, and they stand up for their rights," she says.Mount Ama Dablam, which peaks at 6,812 meters (22,349 feet), in the Everest region.'Believe in your dream'Alharthy says the main purpose of her journey is to practice author Todd Henry's mantra -- to figuratively "die empty" from sharing knowledge: "I think that's what Khalid was doing with many Omanis." "I think it's a great story," she goes on to tell CNN. "Even for the new generation, for the other girls and men, just to support each other, to help each other, not to hold knowledge for ourselves." She hopes that by teaching others about her experience through her newly appointed role as the general manager's assistant for the Girl Guides of Oman, she can lift up a new generation of young Omani people to take up endurance sports.Alharthy is also learning from her peers. She references one of her Everest teammates, Arthur Muir, who was initially unable to finish his trek in 2019. However, in May of this year, he became the oldest American to climb the world's highest peak at age 75. "He's very positive, [a] great personality, [an] inspiration for all of us," she says. "Believe in yourself, believe in your dream and work hard."Ultimately, she draws strength from staying committed to her faith and her Omani roots. "I always wake up in the morning and say, 'Alhumdullilah, thank God I'm here [...] I reached my goal," she says.

Ben Church, CNN Video produced by Stefania Dall'Armi, for CNN

2021-06-03 08:42:49

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/03/sport/janja-garnbret-climbing-olympics-tokyo-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Janja Garnbret: Olympic hopeful on her Tokyo dream and hopes for climbing in the future - CNN

Janja Garnbret can't remember a time when she wasn't climbing.

sport, Janja Garnbret: Olympic hopeful on her Tokyo dream and hopes for climbing in the future - CNN

'I was the only kid who stayed on the wall and didn't want to come off': The making of climbing superstar Janja Garnbret

(CNN)Janja Garnbret can't remember a time when she wasn't climbing. As a child growing up in Slovenia, she'd regularly be found racing up trees or scaling the door frames in her house, but it was on the climbing wall where she felt most at home and where her talent eventually shone through. Yet despite being one of the favorites to win gold at this year's Tokyo Olympics, Garnbret's career didn't get off to the start you might expect. She came last in her category in her first competition as a child but says she loved the sport too much to care at that stage. "People always ask me if I was ever comparing myself to other kids, I was actually not," Garnbret, who recently scaled Europe's tallest chimney, tells CNN Sport. Read More"I was just enjoying myself on the wall and I was just climbing, trying to push my limits. I never thought to myself that I am better than everyone else. I just enjoyed climbing." After a couple of years of practice and hard work, Garnbret quickly emerged as one of the best climbers in her country. Her world-class ability then became evident as she entered international competitions and started winning them consistently. She has gone on to win multiple World Cup events and has her eyes firmly on the postponed Tokyo Games which are set to finally go ahead this summer, which will see sport climbing make its Olympic debut. READ: Trailblazing climber Sasha DiGiulian was told 'little girls don't belong.' Slovenia's Janja Garnbret says she's looking forward to making her Olympic debut in Tokyo. 'I learned a lot about myself'The 22-year-old says the initial postponement gave her more time to work on her weaknesses but admitted the uncertainty around the pandemic was difficult to get her head around. She was fortunate enough to have a climbing wall at home, which she used to keep in good shape during her country's lockdown, but she was tested in ways she hadn't expected. "I could train, but for me, it was hard because I was always the motivated person. I always had small goals and, of course, big goals and I never had fluctuations in motivation," she says."I was always motivated but now it happened to me that I was motivated some days for training, some days not because every competition was postponed. I didn't know myself like that."It was just something different and I learned a lot about myself, but I got used to the situation quite quickly."Organizers remain insistent that the Games will go ahead this year, but there is still an element of doubt that the pandemic could scupper plans once again. Garnbret is trying to stay positive and is optimistic she'll make her Olympic debut in 2021, despite the situation seemingly changing every week."I think Covid last year was just, of course, something new for us and we didn't know what to expect, how to deal with it," she adds."But we came prepared into this year with all safety precautions and everything. It's still not a hundred percent, I completely understand that, but I will do my best and I will keep preparing for the Olympics."READ: The climbers aiming to boost diversity in the sport JUST WATCHEDClimbing Europe's tallest chimneyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHClimbing Europe's tallest chimney 02:59Driving four hours a dayShould sport climbing make its debut at this year's Olympics, the competition will be run across three disciplines, each with their own techniques and format.Bouldering involves navigating as many fixed routes as possible in four minutes on a four-meter high wall with no safety ropes. Lead climbing requires athletes to climb as high as possible on a 15-meter plus wall in six minutes using safety ropes, without reclimbs. Speed climbing has two climbers ascend a parallel route at the same time on a 15-meter wall set at 95 degrees -- sometimes doing so in under 8 seconds. Combined results will determine medalists.Garnbret says speed climbing is by far her weakest discipline but has a thorough training schedule in place to improve every aspect of her performance. She trains six days a week, splitting her time between gym work, speed climbing and her usual wall training. Due to a lack of centralized facilities in Slovenia, Garnbret often drives up to four hours a day to attend all her sessions. It's a regime that requires determination, passion and a tireless work ethic but winning a gold medal would make it all worthwhile. "I definitely know that every girl will take that extra year to their benefit," she says. "I know every girl has her eyes set on the gold.""I can't say that I will win the gold because I know everyone will be 100% prepared for that. "I will definitely keep training and I will be prepared as much as possible when the time comes and then we will see what will happen. But, definitely, I'm looking forward to it." READ: Emily Harrington on her historic El Capitan climbGarnbret says the global pandemic initally knocked her motivation. Promoting healthy climbing While other athletes will be backed by wealthy sponsors and a team of sport scientists at this year's Olympics, Garnbret knows climbing is not quite at that level.The Slovenian hopes the opportunity to compete in front of a global audience will go some way towards changing that. "I think it will be really beneficial to climbing because climbing is still a young sport. It's super young," she says. "So it's definitely a huge playground for everyone, for sponsors, for some non-endemic sponsors that are still yet to come into our sport. That's definitely something huge." Due to her success, Garnbret is already a role model to young climbers across the world, and she hopes she can drive the charge for better facilities in her own country. She also wants to boost a healthy image of the sport, which she says is more important than anything.Garnbret says the demands of climbing have led to youngsters, especially girls, trying to get lighter. This has, she says, sometimes led to people developing eating disorders in the bid for better results. She now wants to use her platform to show the next generation of climbers that maintaining a healthy lifestyle can translate into success."I just want to set a good example in that you don't need to lose extra weight to be successful," she says. "I definitely feel responsible for our sport. I just want to represent climbing as a fun sport, that it's always fun, you have to just climb up and enjoy yourself." She continues: "I remember I fell in love [...] the first time that I tried climbing because it felt so weightless, and it was just me and the wall. I remember that I was the only kid who stayed on the wall and didn't want to come off."

Will Edmonds, CNN

2022-01-03 09:20:34

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/03/sport/tom-stoltman-strongest-man-autism-spt-intl/index.html

Tom Stoltman harnesses 'superpower' of autism to become the World's Strongest Man - CNN

As Tom Stoltman crouched down to pick up the fifth and final Atlas Stone, a 210-kilogram (almost 463 pounds) spherical behemoth -- slightly heavier than an upright piano -- and lift it up to a platform at shoulder height, he knew it was the only thing standing between him and becoming the 'World's Strongest Man.'

sport, Tom Stoltman harnesses 'superpower' of autism to become the World's Strongest Man - CNN

Tom Stoltman harnesses 'superpower' of autism to become the World's Strongest Man

(CNN)As Tom Stoltman crouched down to pick up the fifth and final Atlas Stone, a 210-kilogram (almost 463 pounds) spherical behemoth -- slightly heavier than an upright piano -- and lift it up to a platform at shoulder height, he knew it was the only thing standing between him and becoming the 'World's Strongest Man.'It was the final lift, in the final event, in a week's worth of grueling challenges designed to test the upper limits of human strength, pitting giants from all over the world in trials ranging from pushing a 20-ton train for maximum speed, to squatting 320kg (about 705.5 pounds) for maximum reps, to tossing a 33-pound keg for maximum height and numerous other unimaginable feats of strength.In the end, the title came down to two men: 2020 runner-up Stoltman, who is from Scotland, and four-time former 'World's Strongest Man' Brian Shaw. A win for Stoltman over his American opponent in the Atlas Stones and the title was the Scot's. As Stoltman dropped the mammoth stone onto the platform, he turned to see his American opponent still negotiating his way through the colossal orbs. The Scot dropped to his knees in equal parts exhaustion, celebration and relief. The 27-year-old knew he had achieved what once seemed impossible; he was the 'World's Strongest Man.'The 'World's Strongest Man,' Tom Stoltman, back home at his gym in Scotland with the trophy.Read MoreThe giant Scot wasn't celebrating alone for long. He was immediately embraced on the floor by the man who finished seventh in the same competition -- his older brother, Luke. "We kinda dropped to our knees and said a few things. That was the most special moment ever," Stoltman recently told CNN Sport after his remarkable victory in Sacramento, California back in June -- a victory made even more remarkable when you consider his extraordinary and unlikely path to victory. Stoltman has autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties with social interaction and communication, often presented in restricted, repetitive patterns. "[Growing up] I didn't have a clue that I was doing anything wrong," Stoltman recalls. "All my behaviors and the stuff I was doing, like in the house, out of the house, to my parents, siblings, etc., I thought was normal."I thought the other kids, doing different things, were the ones that were in the wrong."As Stoltman became a teenager, his social issues intensified, until "something just clicked in my brain" and he decided to tell his closest friends at school."I stood up and took my seven or eight best mates into a room and said, 'Look, I have autism.'"And they said, "Look, there's no problem at all. We're still going to like you for who you are.'"And that day is when a weight lifted off my shoulders and I felt normal. Like a normal member of society. I felt just normal around people and they all just treated me the same as them. "That was the day that changed my life. When I was open about having autism."Tom and Luke Stoltman are the strongest brothers in the world. READ: Marathon running left him 'totally depleted.' Then he became a strongmanBulking upSoon, teenager Stoltman followed his older brother Luke, who was already competing in strongman competitions, to the local gym."I was a skinny boy, not much confidence, and Luke said, 'Come on to the gym.' So I went to my local gym and hated every single minute of it. I didn't like the people staring at me. But I kept going and kept on pushing myself and Luke kept on pushing me."I knew he was obviously the best in the country, so I was just always wanting to try to get close to him. He was a bigger brother. I was just trying to pip at him, bite at him at every session."Stoltman may have been skinny, but he wasn't small. And at six foot, eight inches, the young Scotsman had a prodigious appetite, which soon became key for his new found way of life given the need to 'bulk up.'"Even when I was a younger kid, I was taking four or five sandwiches to school for lunch. A lot of fruit, some sweets as well. And I would have two or three snacks on top of that." Tom Stoltman competes in the World's Ultimate Deadlift competition in Dubai, UAE in October 2019.A decade later, in order to prepare his body for the merciless rigors of training and competition, Stoltman typically eats upwards of 10,000 calories a day. And as he began honing his focus on his ever-increasing strength, Stoltman was finding his autism was proving to be a valuable asset. "Having autism and [going to] the gym goes hand-in-hand," reflects Stoltman. "When you're in the gym, you need a routine. And obviously, when I found 'Strongman,' it's all routine. "You're waking up every day. You're eating the same meals every day. You're doing the same things every day. And you're going to the gym at the same time every day."However, his relentless quest to improve his performance presented challenges."Sometimes, if I missed that lift, I'll think about it for 24 hours or not talk to my wife. I'll be in a really bad head space. So there are positives and negatives with it and I still struggle with the negative side of things."A lot of muscle needs a lot of food ... as much as 10,000 calories a day for Stoltman.READ: Powerlifter Karenjeet Kaur Bains 'found a love for being strong.' Now she wants to inspire more women to take up strength sports'Screaming from heaven'In 2016, Stoltman's mother Sheila succumbed to cancer. His biggest fan, Stoltman made a vow to her before her untimely death."I made a promise to my mom before she passed away that I would win 'World's Strongest Man' for her and also be [a] kind gentleman and a man outside of the sport as well."The nearly 400-pound giant smiles as he ponders how she would have reacted to his victory.READ: Sam Holness hopes to use autism 'superpower' at the IRONMAN World Championship"She'd have been screaming and she would have been going absolutely mental," he says. "She would have been screaming from heaven."Stoltman's rise to the top of the world of strongmen was part of a three-year strategy, a plan he's delivered upon with unerring accuracy.In 2019, he told the Strongman "Giants Live" tour: "I'll win it in two years' time. I want to get [on the] podium next year, then win it the year after."Despite the interpersonal, emotional and physical obstacles Stoltman has had to overcome to achieve his goals, his journey has left him with a positive outlook to pass on to other people with autism."I always say to young kids and parents of young kids to use it as a superpower. You know, we're different. But now we've got an advantage over people that aren't different. We've got a superpower, they don't."

George Ramsay, CNN

2021-12-21 08:53:35

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/21/sport/ryan-hall-marathon-running-weightlifting-spt-intl-cmd/index.html

His body 'totally depleted' by distance running, Ryan Hall turned to weightlifting and found a new lease of life - CNN

Ryan Hall may hold the fastest marathon and half marathon times for a US athlete, but these days he admits that running doesn't feel like it used to.

sport, His body 'totally depleted' by distance running, Ryan Hall turned to weightlifting and found a new lease of life - CNN

His body 'totally depleted' by distance running, Ryan Hall became reenergized after turning to weightlifting

(CNN)Ryan Hall may hold the fastest marathon and half marathon times for a US athlete, but these days he admits that running doesn't feel like it used to. "It just feels like you're wearing a weight vest the whole time," says Hall, which is hardly a surprise when you consider his physical transformation since retiring from the sport five years ago.As a professional runner racking up 120 to 140 miles a week, Hall would weigh in at a lithe 130 pounds; today, he's 190 pounds and far more likely to be found lifting weights than grinding out 20-mile long runs.And while he may not be able to get close to his half marathon record of 59:43, nor his best marathon time of 2:04:58, the 39-year-old Hall says that he feels all the better for it. "My body was just done -- I couldn't even finish an easy, 30-minute run at that point," he tells CNN Sport as he reflects on his retirement from professional running in January 2016. Read More"I'm five foot 10, I was 127 pounds and my body was just totally depleted and in really bad shape, and I needed to get back to my body. "Weightlifting became a new medium for me to express who I am, which is a guy who loves physical challenge. I love being active. I have to work out every day or else I'm grumpy and in a bad mood."Ryan Hall on course during the LA Marathon on March 15, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.His current workout routine involves daily weightlifting sessions of 60 to 90 minutes, squeezed in around his coaching (he trains his wife Sara and 10 other professional athletes) and parenting commitments.Among the benefits of lifting compared to his running schedule, Hall says, is an increase in his energy levels, which are "10 times better" than when he was running professionally and would rely on taking two-hour afternoon naps each day. He says that his testosterone levels were always "clinically low" as a runner, with natural remedies making no difference. Hall's workout involves weightlifting sessions of 60 to 90 minutes a day."It's just a really hard profession on my body," Hall adds. "Whereas weightlifting is totally the opposite of that: it's anabolic in nature, so I'm building muscle and building strength. "It is a great way for me to give back to my body after it had given so much to me over a 20-year period. Now I did finally give back to it and I feel amazing now, my testosterone is back into the normal level, my energy's better, my motivation's better. "I'm a better dad, a better coach and a better person as a result of it."JUST WATCHEDMarathon runner Sara Hall reflects on the greatest race of her careerReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMarathon runner Sara Hall reflects on the greatest race of her career 03:54Sheer thrill of runningAmid his transition from professional running to coaching, Hall's desire to push the physical limits of his body hasn't diminished. Rather than testing himself over the 26.2 miles of a marathon, he will take on unique challenges combining strength and endurance. Last month, for example, he took on a wood chop/water carry challenge. That involved splitting a cord of wood and running 6.3 miles to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, then 6.3 miles and 5,000 feet of elevation back up while carrying a 62-pound water jug in each hand. "It kind of reminded me of my pro running days being on the starting line of a marathon and trying to run 4:45 per mile for a marathon distance and just being like: How am I going to do this?" Hall says of the feat. "Even though you're trained, you're prepared, when you get in that moment it's a scary place."Hall plans to take on unique challenges combining strength and endurance.He's now mulling his next challenge. One goal is to try and complete a 500-pound deadlift and mile run in under five minutes (he got 5:28 for his first attempt), and another is something that involves "covering a good amount of distance with a heavy weight."However, he's hasn't entirely forgotten his love for racing marathons. Coaching his wife Sara, who has run the second-fastest marathon time ever by an American woman, serves as a reminder of that. "When I'm at Sara's races and she's super fit and she's warming up for marathons ... I just remember: Oh, how good it feels to be ripping it on the roads, feeling like a million bucks floating through it. There's no sensation like that," says Hall.He continues: "I can think back to a whole bunch of moments when it was just me out in the woods on single-track trail, no one else around, no other sounds besides the wind blowing through the trees and having that same exact sensation: being in full flight, feeling like I'm floating along."It's the sheer thrill of running that Hall tries to pass on to the runners he mentors, including his four daughters. "I try to remind my girls: Hey, it's not about the performance, it's not about what place you are. Can you just fall in love with just the sensation of your body being in flight?" says Hall. "Because if you can fall in love with that sensation, you're going to get everything out of running that you want to get out of running. "That's where the good stuff is at. It's not hitting a PR [personal record], it's not finishing a certain place or going to the Olympics or any of this stuff. It's in the beauty of the sensation of your body in full flight."JUST WATCHEDAbdi Nageeye's Olympic gestureReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAbdi Nageeye's Olympic gesture 01:11Coach as chefOn top of the 11 athletes he trains personally, Hall has also started Run Free Training, an online training platform of around 150 athletes. He is, he admits, "a much better coach than I am an athlete." While he was "super rigid" with his schedule during his running career, he's learned to appreciate the value of constantly making adjustments to an athlete's training routine. "I like to see myself as almost a chef," says Hall. "When I'm writing the training, I have a 'recipe,' right? But based on what I'm seeing, based on the feedback I'm getting, it's like I'm tasting it as I'm cooking and then I'm changing up the flavors, throwing this and that in there, taking this, that out, making it just right."He has a similar approach to his own training in the weight room, making tweaks to his workouts to challenge his body in new ways. "I've got to be throwing new stimulus at my body that it hasn't seen before, so I'm constantly finding new ways to do that," says Hall."I've studied a lot of training, I get inspiration from other people's training, but then I also get creative and I do stuff that sounds fun ... I try to be really intuitive with my training."Hall has also tweaked his diet over the past few years. As he did when he was a runner, he still eats a meal or a snack every three hours, but these days he's also upped his calorie intake."I'm eating a ton of protein and I'm still eating a ton of carbs," he says. "Basically, I'm eating a lot more calories than I used to eat ... I'm trying to eat 4,500 to 5000 calories a day, and if I'm not, no matter what I'm doing in the weight room, I'm not seeing strength gains."JUST WATCHEDThe Strongman Marathon: 26.2 grueling miles of various exercisesReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHThe Strongman Marathon: 26.2 grueling miles of various exercises 03:15Away from their life in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Halls have supported development projects in Africa, which has included fundraising to bring clean water to 90,000 people in Zambia and for a new health clinic to be built in Kenya. They have also founded the Hall Steps Foundation, a non-profit organization that protects vulnerable women and children living in extreme poverty in Ethiopia. In 2015, the couple adopted their four daughters from Ethiopia; Hall says the family plans to set up an initiative there in the future. "We want to do our part to help," he adds. "Our kids are so amazing; they blessed us way more than we blessed them."Until the family can return to Ethiopia, Hall's focus remains on coaching and imparting the lessons he learned throughout his running career; it makes the injuries and setbacks all the more valuable. "I'm passionate to share these things that I've learned the hard way," he says. "I love it because it redeems the failures that I've made along the way."

Ben Church, CNN Video by Stefania Dall'Armi, CNN

2021-06-25 10:55:56

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sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/25/sport/robbie-balenger-vegan-athlete-endurance-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Robbie Balenger: Vegan endurance athlete on his spiritual connection with running - CNN

It started with a two-and-a-half-mile run with his partner. Now it's a lifestyle for Robbie Balenger.

sport, Robbie Balenger: Vegan endurance athlete on his spiritual connection with running - CNN

Vegan endurance athlete Robbie Balenger on his spiritual connection with running

(CNN)It started with a two-and-a-half-mile run with his partner. Now it's a lifestyle for Robbie Balenger.He's pushed his body and mind to the very limits by taking on mammoth endurance challenges, notably running 3,175 miles across the US in just 75 days in 2019 in order to promote the benefits of a plant-based diet.More recently, Balenger broke the record for most laps around New York's Central Park in one day. His life now is in sharp contrast to when he was running successful restaurants. "I lived in Austin, Texas, and was very much a part of the food and bar scene. With that comes a lot of partying and late nights," he tells CNN.Read More"You work hard, then you blow off steam. I was still living that kind of lifestyle and quickly realized it wasn't going to add up."All that partying wasn't really going to make me a very good leader or someone that could fulfill the duties of my job every day in the way I wanted to." Then his now-fiancee invited him on a run. The short jog triggered something in Balenger, who quickly saw the advantages of exercising as a way of coping with the stresses of his job and coming up with new ideas for his restaurant. Balenger gradually took on longer and tougher challenges; a half-marathon; a full marathon; and then found himself lining up on the start line for a grueling ultra-marathon. "It definitely replaced that hard-partying lifestyle," he adds. "[It was] much healthier but there was still something in there that felt kind of similar. It's kind of a raw feeling."READ: 'We should be less afraid to be afraid,' says history making climberRobbie Balenger says he has a spiritual connection with running which has helped him forge a new identity.Run across the USBalenger eventually stepped away from the bar scene. He flirted with the idea of charity work or working in solar energy and he also liked the thought of being a wildland firefighter. But he always came back to running.Then, after a chance encounter with another man who had run across the US, Balenger started prepping for the biggest challenge of his life -- the transcontinental run. "I completed it in 75 days, so that averaged out to 43 miles a day. So I was putting in an ultra[-marathon] every day," he says, smiling. The main drive behind the project was raising awareness of better food choices. Balenger says his vegan diet was his "superpower" for the run and insists it was one of the reasons he was able to complete it. "Here in the US especially, we have a really bad obesity problem and people are just really unhealthy," he says."I think I hit it at a time where people were willing to acknowledge and accept that there was an issue, and therefore, they were open to conversations because they were seeing people all around them who are unhealthy and getting sick."My thought was, 'I'm just going to show that I can do this on a plant based diet,' and along the way, I quickly realized not only could I do it, it was the reason I was able to do it." READ: Trailblazing climber Sasha DiGiulian was told 'little girls don't belong.' She didn't listen.In March 2021, Balenger broke the Central Park Loop challenge record, running almost 100 miles in one day.Central Park record After finishing his epic run, the self-proclaimed "plant-based alternative endurance athlete" had the taste for more. In March 2021, he set a new record for The Central Park Loop Challenge, where he had to complete as many 6.1-mile laps of the park as he could within its opening hours. From 6:05 a.m. to 12:55 a.m. the next morning, Balenger ran 16 laps -- just under 100 miles -- smashing the previous record of 11 loops. "It was just super appealing to me coming out of the depths of Covid. It felt like it was a cool thing to do," he says."It was on the first day of spring and then it really resonated with me because that's where I finished my run across the United States, in Central Park."[I was] really excited to have accomplished it and then your legs seize up and you get really stiff and then you get really tired, and luckily, you can pass out right afterward." Balenger runs 10 miles every day in preparation for big challenges. Come rain or shine, he throws on his sneakers and goes outside. Consistency, he says, is key. While the thought of heading out for a run on a freezing morning might deter many, Balenger has always found a way to overcome the doubts in his mind.It's because running is more than just a physical challenge. It's his sanctuary. It's where he feels most at peace. "Running is the most spiritual aspect of my life," he says. "It's where I go to be with myself and to explore who I am and the energies around me and who I want to be."There's something that's very beautiful in the discomfort of it [...] feeling what some would call pain -- I guess it is like a dull low pain. "But what comes out of that, you feel very alive. You feel every ounce of your being. Every step you feel your feet, you feel your legs, you feel your toes and there's something that is beautiful in that."READ: Sam Holness hopes to use autism 'superpower' at Ironman World ChampionshipJUST WATCHEDUltra-runner breaks speed record after running 1,200 milesReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHUltra-runner breaks speed record after running 1,200 miles 03:10Spiritual connection Balenger's father died when he was very young, and although he enjoyed his childhood, he says he never had that male role model that so many take for granted. As he searched for a sense of himself, Balenger went chasing a party lifestyle. "I expressed it in a lot of ways and a lot were probably not very healthy. Like being a guy that went out and drank a lot," he says."Partying like that was kind of embodying what I thought it meant to be a man. It was living hard and that was kind of where this masculinity showed itself." He says running helped him redefine masculinity, especially after watching athletes compete in the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run -- one of the hardest runs in the US. "I was like: there's another version of a man that is just rough and tumble and got all of those qualities that I think I was trying to get from this bar scene," he says."This is a way that is the healthier version of that. And so after seeing that, I wanted to embody that. And so that started this exploration of it and it's something that's still ongoing. "I'm 36 years old, I'm still trying to understand what that is, and I do that through my running. It helps me to create an identity for myself that is healthy, and I think embodies a lot of what it means to be a man." Balenger is currently tackling another mammoth challenge, in what he has dubbed the "Colorado Crush."It involves running a marathon in June, a 50-mile run in July, and a 100-mile run in August. In between these, he will also bid to complete the Colorado trail -- which stretches for 500 miles -- and summit 58 peaks that are over 14,000 feet. During the challenge, he will be using neuroscience technology to see how it can optimize his sleep and help aid his recovery."I think the more we run, the more we move our body, we push ourselves, the clearer and higher our frequency becomes," he says."I think encouraging other people to do that will only better ourselves and better our communities and better the world. "I know I am the best version of myself when I have a goal, when I'm moving my body, when I'm taking care of myself and I'm eating healthy. I want that for everyone."You can follow Balenger's latest challenge on his Instagram account.

Noura Abou Zeinab, for CNN

2020-12-02 09:25:41

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sport

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/02/sport/rene-campbell-bodybuilding-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Bodybuilding: Rene Campbell wants to change perceptions of what women should look like - CNN

Counterpointed by a number of striking tattoos, it's a body defined by muscle. It's a body that embodies power and strength.

sport, Bodybuilding: Rene Campbell wants to change perceptions of what women should look like - CNN

Bodybuilder Rene Campbell wants to change the view of what women should look like

(CNN)Counterpointed by a number of striking tattoos, hers is a body defined by muscle. She is a mother of two who embodies power and strength.Rene Campbell has dedicated most of her life to sculpting her once diminutive frame into one that, she says, goes "completely against what society thinks a woman should look like."The bodybuilder's dedication has brought plenty of awards but building her dream body -- gaining over 85 pounds, going from a UK size 8 to 14 -- has had its challenges, too, both physically and mentally. "I was very insecure about my body image, very insecure about myself as a person," Campbell, 44, tells CNN Sport from her home in Cornwall, UK, as she reflects on her motivation to transform herself. "I was constantly feeling under pressure through the media that women needed to look a certain way.""My bodybuilding journey made me realize that I needed to do things for myself," says Rene Campbell.Read More'A woman with muscle'"For quite some time I struggled with eating disorders because I was constantly trying to keep my weight really low, to appear skinny, like these women are on magazine covers," she says.Then, she attended a women's bodybuilding show and became intrigued by the way these seemingly confident women held themselves.Though Campbell ​says she loves the way she now looks, ​she says she is sometimes treated with cruelty, like when she has been asked to leave women's toilets. "A lot of the time you are up against a lot of negativity. People set in an old mindset," Campbell adds. "I was up against -- and still am -- a lot of criticism from people who don't understand why women would want to be muscular. But it just gave me a sense of confidence and mental strength."I'm stuck in a situation where I have to prove that I'm a woman in order to use these toilets? It's quite offensive. I do try and explain to them quite nicely. I may look this way but, at the end of the day, I am a woman. I have every right to use these toilets.""There's a very close relationship between passion, dedication and obsession," says Campbell.Studying female bodybuilders For over a decade, sociologist Dr. Tanya Bunsell has been researching female bodybuilders."When I would tell people that I was studying female bodybuilders, the first reaction was, 'That's just not attractive,'" Dr. Bunsell, a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at Canterbury Christ Church University, tells CNN Sport."There's definitely a glass ceiling on muscularity, and that crossover boundary where the body becomes transgressive and interrogates people's notions of male and female."The troublesome and disturbing body of the hyper-muscular woman is deemed so outrageously deviant by society that it provokes harsh comments.""Even though there is a huge market encouraging women to build abs and tighten their figures, the ideal still stands for smaller waists, curvy hips and lean legs, the so-called hourglass figure," adds Dr. Bunsell.Campbell takes enormous pride in the way she has reshaped her body.'The body becomes an amazing machine'When she started her bodybuilding career, ​Campbell says eating copious amounts of food was, at first, a shock to the body and mind."My body temperature went up," she says, ​saying that putting on weight initially scared her."I was feeling hot all the time because you're constantly eating, but once you get over that stage the body becomes an amazing machine and it starts to take that fuel in.""There's a very close relationship between passion, dedication and obsession," says Campbell."You look at any athlete that has achieved great things, there has to be a certain level of obsession."A photograph of Campbell is currently featured in a six-month exhibition in west London called "Womanhood." Max Ellis, the photographer who took the portait of Campbell, describes his subject as a "work of art." "She's worked her whole life to try and achieve this," Ellis ​said. "If you're a woman and you're doing this [bodybuilding], you are swimming upstream. You're fighting every known convention." SteroidsBut bodybuilding has a dark side, a long association with steroid use to help build muscle. "Before she went to the world championships, Rene had to do a drug test and passed the drug test, but a lot of these girls didn't pass," Wanda Tierney, chairperson of IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness) Women's Committee, tells CNN Sport.Campbell says it would be naïve to think that the problem does not exist, but argues that steroids abuse happens in other sports and in society, too."The onus is on the athletes to adhere to the rules and regulations set by their federation," Campbell says. "My federation (The IFBB), is a signatory to the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) Code, and the IFBB anti-doping rules are in full compliance with the 2015 WADA code."And as she reflected on her body's evolution, Campbell was keen to stress how bodybuilding had been accompanied by a shift in her mental health."It was a very big shift for me mentally, because my bodybuilding journey made me realize that I needed to do things for myself."

Noura Abou Zeinab, for CNN

2020-10-06 09:02:31

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sport

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/sport/priscilla-frederick-loomis-olympics-spt-intl/index.html

Eating disorders: Olympic high jumper Priscilla Frederick-Loomis pressured to 'perform better' and lose a few pounds - CNN

The rejection was brutal. At the age of 16, Priscilla Frederick-Loomis attended a model agency casting session in New York City where she was told that she was "too heavy."

sport, Eating disorders: Olympic high jumper Priscilla Frederick-Loomis pressured to 'perform better' and lose a few pounds - CNN

Olympic high jumper pressured to 'perform better' and lose a few pounds

(CNN)The rejection was brutal. At the age of 16, Priscilla Frederick-Loomis attended a model agency casting session in New York City where she was told that she was "too heavy."Even now at the age of 31, those two words still play on the Olympic high jumper's mind. Raised by a single mother in New Jersey, Loomis also toyed with the idea of becoming an actor and that's a dream she hasn't given up on as she has pursued her athletics career."I'm going to use track and field as a way to make a name for myself," Loomis, who is a two-time Pan American Games silver medalist and competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, tells CNN Sport from her home in the US. She represented Antigua and Barbuda, where her father is from.Pursuing a career in track and field hasn't been easy."When you are trying to be an elite athlete, on top of trying to get signed on, on top of dealing with coaches, you also have, the pressures, one for me, of being an African-American female representing a Caribbean island. And you're adding on top of all that body shaming."Read MoreLoomis competes in the women's high jump final at the Pan American Games in August 2019 in Lima, Peru.READ: 'Oh you must be heavy boned.' Marilyn Okoro's fight for body acceptance'Don't eat ... jump better'If the modelling industry left Loomis scarred and dissatisfied with her shape, then perceptions of her weight have also impacted her sporting ambitions.Even though she never thought she had an eating disorder, Loomis remembers a conversation she had with her college nutritionist, asking: "'How can I be anorexic and be an athlete?'""When I said to my nutritionist that I want to be anorexic, never did I mean I want to have an eating disorder. The power of the word wasn't apparent to me."Now, I look back like and think, 'What the hell was wrong with me? I didn't even realize a lot of female athletes have eating disorders."But at that point in her career, that's what Loomis felt she had to do to be successful given she was 158 lbs and is 5 ft 10 tall, which she noted is six inches shorter and at least 20 pounds more than her rivals."In my head, it was common sense: don't eat a lot, look better, jump better," said Loomis, who remembers a time at college when her then coach Richard Fisher advised her to grab something to eat after a training session."I wanted an ice cream, a little ice cream," she says as she demonstrated how small the size was. Except another coach told Loomis to put the ice cream down."In my head, that stuck with me for so long because I was like, 'I'm making bad decisions. I'm fat,'" says Loomis.Loomis competes in the high jump final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.READ: Free diver discovers meaning to life exploring ocean depths 'One in a billion'According to US-based eating disorder expert Dr. Gayle Brooks our culture emphasizes and overvalues thinness as the health and beauty ideal."When this cultural value system is combined with the pressures of athletic competition, which places an emphasis on diet, appearance, size and weight to achieve peak performance, it places some athletes at high risk of developing disordered eating and possibly eating disorders," Dr. Brooks told CNN Sport.Dr. Brooks is the vice president and chief clinical officer for the Renfrew Center, a US-based clinic specializing in eating disorders treatments. Over Brooks' 30 year career, she has treated many patients who suffer from eating disorders and acted as the eating disorders specialist in the HBO film Thin.According to a US study -- Prevalence of Eating disorders among Blacks in the National Survey of American Life -- anorexia was the rarest eating disorder among African American adults and adolescents, while binge eating was the most prevalent eating disorder among adults and adolescents."We are really understanding more and more that eating disorders are not just a White, suburban women's disease, and that, you know, for a long time the belief was that women of color, particularly Black women, were protected culturally from developing eating disorders," said Dr. Brooks.As she trained for her first Olympic appearance in 2016, Loomis adhered to a strict diet."I would eat super healthy and super clean, be on it for a month. One time I was just like, 'I really would love a donut, or I really would love a cupcake' and I have a sweet tooth."However, according to then-coach Richard Fisher, Loomis wasn't eating enough."We started working together, she was eating maybe three meals a day tops. Everything was low and minimum."She would be so hungry, she would eat unhealthy things as anyone, and her lack of nutrition was hindering her from performing the correct way that she needed to."The track and field coach adds: "A lot of coaches look at, I would say the average high jumper who's professional and look at their height and their weight ratio."They use that as the standard for what they believe an athlete should be, which in reality is not true all the time. Yes, it might be the perfect standard of what you want. But a lot of these athletes, you have to realize, are one a billion."Priscilla always used to say to me, 'I'm the shortest, fattest high jumper out there.'"Once she's finished competing Loomis wants to pursue an acting career.READ: From world titles to the cover of Vogue Arabia'Loving myself'According to World Athletics, in a statement sent to CNN: "There is no one kind of body measurement requirement to qualify for the Olympics. That is not the case. There is no such requirement. The qualifying standards are all based around performance."Last year World Athletics released a Nutrition Consensus Statement providing the latest research and guidance around nutrition to athletes, coaches and administrators.In a statement sent to CNN Sport, the International Olympic Committee also said it "stands for non-discrimination as one of the founding pillars of the Olympic Movement, which is reflected in the Olympic Charter, Fundamental Principle 6."The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Olympic Charter shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."Furthermore, athletes' safety and wellbeing is a priority and a core value for the IOC, which is committed to leading and supporting the Olympic Movement in the implementation of safeguarding measures, in line with its mission stated in the Olympic Charter to promote safe sport and the protection of athletes from all forms of harassment and abuse."Even Loomis' teammates were all too quick to chime in with disparaging comments about her appearance.After Loomis' appearance at the 2015 Outdoor World Championships in Beijing, she says she was called "thick" and "heavy" by her teammates from Antigua and Barbuda. And that was after she had just competed on the track.The Antiguan and Barbuda Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to CNN Sport's request for comment.Three years later she placed fifth in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. She went to the bar to grab a beer to celebrate when a man, who recognized Loomis from her famous purple hair, came up to her and said, "Oh, I saw you on TV. If you would drop a few kilos, you would have performed better."As a result of those comments, Loomis says she would drink a pot of coffee to dehydrate herself to appear slim on screen.Loomis is currently working with a female coach, Lauren Biscardi, a former New York state champion in high jump, who the 31-year-old athlete says has "changed my professional career. She has helped me love training, love myself and has allowed me to feel."Loomis competed at Rio in 2016 and has ambitions to compete at the Tokyo Olympics and at Beijing 2022.READ: Triathlete praised for act of sportsmanshipCleaning businessGrowing up, the African American athlete says she did not see anyone she could relate to in the advertising industry. She says she wanted to be "light skinned," but as she has discovered the idea of self-love, Loomis realized that she does not want other women "to wish they had to be different to be pretty.""I do think that the color of my skin and my beautiful chocolate skin color are sometimes deemed as negative and not marketable," added Loomis."Viola Davis said it best, 'If you're darker than a paper bag, you're deemed not sexy.'Off the track, Loomis has had to be creative in finding ways to fund her sporting career."I make $12,000 a year," she says, referring to her sporting income. "When people hear that, they're like, 'There's no way,'" she says, "I'm like, 'Yes I have an Olympic solidarity with Antigua and it's $1,000 a month but that has to cover everything, which it doesn't."For her Olympic appearance in 2016, she had to move in with her coach Fisher and start her cleaning business.Now, she lives with her husband Kenneth Loomis, a high school teacher and coach, but she still oversees the cleaning business."It gets exhausting. It gets tiresome. I clean just about three to four times a week. All of my clients are about an hour to an hour and a half away. So, with that, I have to start by 8 a.m. I'll clean for four hours.""My pain is valid, my perception is valid, and my success is valid," says Loomis.READ: Pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis won't put a 'cap' on how high he can jumpShe trains two to three hours after she's done cleaning."As much as most people think that I'm making all this money, I'm just, you know, faking it till I make it," says Loomis, who is now training to take part at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.Her goal is to become a three-time Olympian and if she makes it to Beijing -- Loomis plans to compete in the monobob, the one-person bobsled event.Of those acting ambitions when she finally leaves track and field behind, Loomis says she wants to start attending acting classes, adding that Storm, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman are the three superheroes that she dreams of playing."I want to entertain people. I want to entertain large crowds. I want to make them feel things the same way that I feel from movies and get these emotions. "Right now, at 31, I look back and realize that my story is incredible. My pain is valid, my perception is valid, and my success is valid. I'm not just another strong Black woman, I'm a powerful voice that won't allow other opinions to weigh her down or belittle herself. That's what makes me a winning athlete."

Noura Abou Zeinab, CNN

2020-06-10 09:37:16

sport

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/sport/marilyn-okoro-body-image-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Women sport stars' fight for body acceptance - CNN

She was comfortable with her body, though others were not.

sport, Women sport stars' fight for body acceptance - CNN

'Oh you must be heavy boned.' Marilyn Okoro's fight for body acceptance

(CNN)She was comfortable with her body, though others were not.Track and field star Marilyn Okoro, whose right arm displays a "Saved by Grace" tattoo, ran with pride for Great Britain."I was told that I was too big to be an 800-meter runner, too short to be an 800m runner," Okoro, an Olympic bronze medalist and World Championships silver medalist, tells CNN Sport.GB was originally placed fifth at the 2008 Beijing Games but in 2016, third-placed Russia and fourth-placed Belarus were disqualified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to doping violations, raising Okoro and her team to third place. Okoro was awarded her 4x400m relay Olympic bronze medal at the Anniversary Games at the London Stadium in 2018.Read MoreOver the last decade, she's also competed in a variety of European and World Championships, collecting a total of three silvers and four more bronze.'I can see your veins'But as she looks back at her career, Okoro reflects perhaps bronze and silver were not quite good enough. Come to think of it, perhaps even a gold medal wouldn't have been good enough.She also wants to start a wider conversation about the issues surrounding women and body acceptance.Okoro says she started to feel that she wasn't just having to compete on the track. She was having to compete with people's expectations and demands as to what an athlete should look like.According to Okoro, that look was skinny, slender and tall. "Oh, I can see your veins, this must mean you're in good shape," Okoro recalls a conversation she had with coach Charles van Commenee, who worked with the British Athletics team for a number of years, during the prep camp leading into the 2010 European Championships. Okoro says that Van Commenee then asked her about her weight."Proudly, I was like '60 kilograms,'" replied Okoro, who considers that her personal ideal race weight.Okoro says that is 15kg heavier than the other athletes she raced against, placing her above traditional weight threshold norms in track and field.According to Okoro, Van Commenee then responded: "Oh, you must be heavy boned!"Van Commenee, who now works as a motivational speaker on "high performance culture," told CNN Sport: "Being too light or being too heavy can cause injuries and therefore the staff, led by the head coach, has a duty to address this issue."It would be unprofessional to turn a blind eye but obviously the right words and the right tone have to be used in addressing the issue," he added. Okoro competes in the 800 metres event of the Norwich Union 2006 International Athletics competition at the Alexander stadium, in Birmingham, 20 August 2006. Okoro came fourth with a time of 2.03.08 minutes.After the championships, Okoro says she began working with a nutritionist and was advised to go on a zero-carb diet."I just thought, 'Okay, you've just taken out all my carbs, so I'm going to have no energy' ... You start to doubt yourself."Speaking specifically about Okoro, Van Commenee said he doesn't want to have a public debate with the track and field athlete. He continued: "If she has a problem with anything I may or may not have said, I expect her to speak with me, which she has not done." However, Van Commenee recalled one conversation with his former athlete where he described Okoro "ranting about her non-selection for the 800m" at the 2012 London Olympics adding: "It was a very painful experience for her."Okoro remembers the conversation differently."In 2012, Charles and I had an exchange regarding selections, well, he was just shouting at me in the training facility which embarrassed me."The 35-year-old Okoro added: "It was two days before the British trials and the press got a hold of it as it potentially affected my (poor) performance at the championships and ran with the story."Okoro emphasized that it wasn't to do with her weight on this occasion."It was more to do with him having to have his way and throw his dominance around," she said.Britain's Lee Mcconnell, Christine Ohuruogu, Nicola Sanders and Okoro celebrate on the podium after the women's 4x400m relay final, 02 September 2007, at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships, in Osaka. USA won ahead of Jamaica and Britian.'Athletics is a complicated sport'In the same year, Okoro lost her British Athletics funding under the UK Lottery program.British Athletics told CNN that they wouldn't comment on any individual decisions, but that funding allocations are made for "performance reasons."The criteria that determines the performance and funding decisions are published each year by the organization. UK Athletics (UKA) 2020 World Class Programme Policy states: "We have to be realistic -- athletics is a complicated sport with many varied disciplines, so one size can't fit all." Another section highlights that athletes have to meet individual performance thresholds and demonstrate "ongoing global medal potential" to receive funding. UKA follows a 'What it Takes to Win' data and analysis framework to assess an athlete's medal winning capacity. The framework talks of "key physical and technical characteristics of medal winning athletes," which will be part of the athlete's review process taken in person with their coach.Charles Van Commenee, Marilyn Okoro and Greg Rutherford of Great Britain speak ahead of the European Athletics Indoor Championships at the Oval Lingotto on March 5, 2009 in Torino, Italy.READ: The death-defying jumps that caught Hollywood's attentionAccording to leading sports scientist Simon Brundish, these characteristics are created through historic performance data."There are real genetic advantages and genetic barriers to be an elite sprinter or an elite endurance runner," Brundish, who's been working in international sports for 22 years, tells CNN Sport. "Van Commenee was probably right in that Okoro was above the threshold markers, but the problem is that those markers were wrong." "'The data will be based against historic norms. BMI, maybe even skin folds. Which is fine for say tennis, in the 80s, where all women look the same. Then Serena appears. Suddenly the 'demands of the game' change."She introduces a power and speed element that didn't exist before. The price of said power is muscle. Muscle increases weight. A similar thing happened with 800m and into all middle-distance events over the last 10 years or so"The shape of women in particular has changed because the demands changed. Power and speed in the final 200m increased so the need for greater muscle mass increased."Okoro looks on after the Women's 800m on day one during the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games -- IAAF Diamond League 2013 at The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on July 26, 2013 in London. READ: Olympic hopeful skateboarder, 11, hospitalized after horror fall'No exit support' The loss of funding hit Okoro hard, she says."I was cut from funding very abruptly with no exit support or care for my welfare afterward, which is all too common for many athletes in the UK."This, as with so many international athletes, was the start of many psychological and physical hurdles I had to face," adds Okoro, who has self-funded her career ever since. It is not uncommon for women to be self-funded during their sports career. Tulshi Varsani, an accredited strength and conditioning coach, tells CNN Sport: "Women must pay to play." Okoro and Mariya Savinova of Russia compete in the Womens 800m Final during day three of the European Athletics Indoor Championships at the Oval Lingotto on March 8, 2009 in Torino, Italy. READ: Oscar-winning director on risking it all for the perfect shot "Physically, I look different ..." Okoro moved to the US before returning to the UK in 2017. Since then, she has been living in Wigan in the north of England, over 200 miles away from her hometown, London. Okoro is proud of her Nigerian heritage and looking back she says her family background helped her deal with what she saw was unnecessary attention over her body shape."Physically, I look different and a lot more robust and muscular than a lot of the girls that I raced. My Nigerian background... that was something I had to hold my ground on," she says passionately."It plays a huge part in my achievements and striving for success." If she feels strongly about recognizing her Nigerian heritage, Okoro is equally passionate about taking pride in her body shape."We're expressing ourselves; you know, muscles hold strong and sexy campaigns."According to Okoro, over the course of her career while working with different coaches, some believed she spent too much time at the gym, but the reality is she mostly trains outdoors. "I was different to what coaches in the UK perceived to be the image and shape for an 800m runner," Okoro said. "These assumptions were there long before Charles [Van Commenee]."Okoro says that her coaches focused on sprint training and not enough on endurance. It was only when she started to have injuries that Okoro began to question the way she was being coached."Does this coach really understand? And are they really in it for me?" she reflects. "I was exhausted mentally and physically."It's been a real struggle to prove myself as one of the best 800m runners we've had in this country and even in the world."Okoro, Jenny Meadows of England and Eunice Jepkoech Sum of Kenya compete in the Women's 800m semifinal at Hampden Park during day eight of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on July 31, 2014 in Glasgow. READ: From footballer to Netflix star -- How Jesus Mosquera became one of Spain's top actorsThe 'ideal' athlete These days all different shapes and sizes are celebrated in lifestyle magazines, red carpets, beauty advertisements and fashion brandsBut is that the case with sport?"They are women first, athletes second," Dr. Emily Matheson, a research fellow at the Centre for Appearance Research, told CNN Sport.Dr. Matheson says more attention is given to the shape of their bodies rather than their performances and that the 'ideal' athlete is a term to describe a sleek body with minimal body fat, which is inspired by a more general Westernized view that thinness equals beauty. "It's very common for body shaming to eventuate from gender stereotyping. More specifically, what it means to be feminine and masculine and how female athletes' bodies may defy this stereotype and in turn be ridiculed for it."She points out that there have been small shifts in society, such as the body positivity movement, which was originally founded by black women, who celebrated their body types and reclaimed traditionally negative terms such as "fat."Yet Dr. Matheson also argues that the body positivity movement has been "whitewashed, with many campaigns dismissing the origins of the movement." GB's women's 4x400m relay team celebrate receiving their reallocated bronze medals, from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games during Day One of the Muller Anniversary Games at the London Stadium on July 21, 2018 in London, England.Real models Okoro is hoping to round off her 20-year career with a gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics -- but just as importantly fight body image expectations. "You've got one body, and it was doing pretty great for me, so I needed to look after it," said Okoro, who has drawn inspiration from Serena Williams.As Brundish references, Williams has been a key point in the conversation surrounding body image. The 23-time grand-slam champion was criticized for her shape and size. Two years ago, Williams published a letter online addressed to her mother sharing the struggles she's faced with people's body image expectations. She wrote: "It has been said I don't belong in women's sports -- that I belong in men's -- because I look stronger than many other women do."No, I just work hard, and I was born with this badass body and proud of it."Williams says her daughter Olympia shares the same physique and, in the letter, she expresses, "I don't know how I would react if she [her daughter] has to go through what I've gone through since I was a 15-year-old and even to this day.""We don't all look the same. We are curvy, strong, muscular, tall, small, just to name a few, and all the same: we are women and proud!" Williams said.Okoro has also drawn inspiration from women athletes in rugby and football."They're not your stereotypical beauty queens but they are caring less about how they look and getting dirty and delivering some great performances."Okoro wants a new era of role models, or as she calls them "real models."

Amy Woodyatt, CNN

2022-01-29 09:59:36

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/29/sport/university-of-michigan-robert-anderson-victims-intl-spt/index.html

University of Michigan students say they were sexually abused by Robert Anderson. An ex-NFL player wants their stories to be heard. - CNN

Throughout the bitter winter, during rain and snow, Jon Vaughn has alternated between sleeping in a tent or a campervan outside former University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel's house.

sport, University of Michigan students say they were sexually abused by Robert Anderson. An ex-NFL player wants their stories to be heard. - CNN

More than 1,000 students were sexually abused at this university. An ex-NFL player wants their stories to be heard

(CNN)Throughout the bitter winter, during rain and snow, Jon Vaughn has alternated between sleeping in a tent or a campervan outside former University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel's house. A former University of Michigan and NFL football player, Vaughn is one of more than 1,000 people --- mostly men -- who says they were abused by athletics doctor Robert Anderson, who worked for the university from 1966 to 2003 treating students across sports including football, track, and wrestling. Anderson, who died in 2008, subjected students, 90% of whom were men, to "sexually abusive conduct" and invasive exams, including unnecessary genital and rectal examinations, according to a 2021 independent report commissioned by the university.  Many of Anderson's victims were Black -- and survivors say this has played a part in why the abuse was allowed to continue for decades. In his roles at the university, including director of its health service, team physician for the athletic department and a clinical instructor at the university's medical school, Anderson abused men and women from different racial backgrounds, undergraduate and graduate students, student athletes -- including a two-time Super Bowl champion and former world-class wrestler -- and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, the report found. The university missed numerous opportunities to stop him over his 37 year long career, it concluded. Read MoreThis month the university announced a $490 million settlement with over a thousand victims of Anderson's alleged sexual abuse, pending approval by the Michigan Board of Regents and the claimants. Dr. Robert E. Anderson worked for the University of Michigan from 1966 to 2003. He died in 2008. But despite the settlement, the University is still facing calls to take responsibility for its role in the abuse, which spanned more than three decades -- as well as the university's failures to address alleged present day sexual misconduct and abuse by and of students and university staff.Victims say that despite knowledge of Dr. Anderson's predatory behavior, U of M failed to take any action, and instead chose to continue enabling Dr. Anderson's abuse of vulnerable young men until his voluntary retirement in 2003. "They've shown that over the last half century... [they're] uninterested in student safety as a priority," Vaughn, who played for U of M from 1988 to 1990 said. "They've shown the inability to police themselves on a consistent basis, as pertains to sexual assault," he said. Schlissel -- who was fired this month from his position as President following an anonymous complaint suggesting that he "may have been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a University employee" -- has apologized for Anderson's "tragic misconduct," and said in a statement that the university is committed to resolving victims' claims. But Vaughn, 51, who was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer and has been protesting for more than 100 days says he will continue to sleep outside the university president's house until the University of Michigan addresses historic and alleged present day abuse, after realizing how "acute" issues of sexual assault, violence and rape are on campus. Vaughn is also one of many involved in hundreds of individual lawsuits and a class-action lawsuits filed against the University and the Board of Regents by survivors. Black men treated differently  The allegations against Anderson mirror those against disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar at Michigan State University and Richard Strauss at Ohio State University. They too were doctors who abused their trusted positions to sexually exploit college students and athletes.  With more than a thousand people -- mostly men -- coming forward to say they were abused by Anderson, attorneys representing the victims say it may be the largest case of sex abuse by a single person in the US. The scale of the alleged abuse surpasses that at Michigan State, Ohio State, and similar incidents at other US universities.  But the case has received nowhere near as much media coverage as that of the abuse of Nassar. A disproportionate number of the victims are African American, Vaughn told CNN. "I don't think the world right now is ready to complete that spectrum of the face of abuse and include African-American men," Vaughn told CNN.  Attorney Mike Cox, who is representing 174 victims in confidential federal court mediation with the University of Michigan told CNN that some 40% of the 1000 Anderson victims are African American men. "We have not done a formal analysis because all are victims and viewed equally in that sense. But clearly the amount of African American victim survivors is much, much higher than their numbers in American society," Cox told CNN over email. Black Americans represent just 13.4% of the American population. The percentage of African American survivors is also "dramatically higher" than their percentages as part of the UM student base, Cox said. The University of Michigan agreed to work toward a goal of 10% African American enrollment by 1973, but did not reach this goal: Black student enrollment had declined by 1987 to 5.3% of the student body from the high of 7.7% in 1976 and never reached the 10% goal targeted by administrators in the early '70's. From the 1980s until 1996, there was a 10% increase in African American student enrollment. However, efforts to increase African American enrollment to reflect the Michigan state's 14% Black population have been unsuccessful, according to the university. Vaughn said it took years for him to even recognize what had happened to him as abuse, and that in communities of color, "for men to even discuss their abuse is seen as a weakness. In those communities, you're forced to be tough and strong."  "We've been fighting to have a voice, just typically in this country, for over 400 years, we're constantly and have historically been marginalized, or dehumanized in so many ways. So I really think those two factors create this perfect storm," he said. Jon Vaughn says he will continue his protest at the university.Attorney Parker Stinar, who represents around 200 of the survivors, agreed, adding that Anderson's case has not received anywhere near as much media coverage or public recognition as other sex abuse cases because the vast majority of survivors are older, Black men.  "For Larry Nassar, you had prominently White, 30-year-old women, whereas for Dr. Anderson, the vast majority of the survivors are Black and in their 50s, 60s and 70s. This case is overlooked in part because of that," he told CNN. "I think our society looks down on men who are sexually abused, let alone big, strong, athletic, Black men who are sexually abused, compared to female survivors of abuse," Stinar added. "Because they have this societal influence that asks men: How can they allow themselves to be sexually abused?"Rebecca Wanzo, professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University, St. Louis, told CNN that race plays a significant part in whether or how violence and abuse is reported by the media. "If you don't have someone who's the face of something that they [the media] put forward, or seems like an ideal victim that people want to tell a story about, historically, that is something that can really affect the ability of a story to travel," she explained.  This, she said, is often an issue when it comes to reporting issues like sexual abuse and murder. "Systemic violence often tends to get less attention, which is why violence against people of color, systemic violence in general, in terms of class and other factors, isn't reported," she said. Racist stereotypes  "We don't have a language to talk about Black as rapeable in the US, because the racist stereotypes of Black men as the rapist and as violent stops us from looking at data that's been collected by the CDC for the last decade," Tommy Curry, professor of philosophy and personal Chair of Africana Philosophy and Black Male Studies at The University of Edinburgh told CNN. Nearly 1 in 5 (19.4%) non-Hispanic Black men have experienced contact sexual violence -- which includes rape, being made to penetrate someone else, sexual coercion, and unwanted sexual contact -- in their lifetime, according to the CDC's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2010-2012, which is the latest published data broken out by race or ethnicity. Social psychology data shows "Black men are always perceived as being taller, more aggressive, or violent, more prone to conflict, more athletic than they actually are," Curry said. "And it's those social perceptions that have been linked to forms of dehumanization -- likening them to apes, sorts of primal beasts and animals -- that fit into how we think of Black men, both as athletes and as kind of super predators, as superhuman."  Attendees add their signatures to a board in support of survivors of sexual abuse at a vigil outside the home of outgoing University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel October 13, 2021 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Former gymnast Trinea Gonczar, who testified against Larry Nassar, told CNN that in her work supporting victims of sexual abuse, she has learned "that most men, no matter what, if they've been assaulted, they won't report based on more shame." Nassar, the longtime doctor for the USA Gymnastics team and Michigan State University, is serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison on child pornography charges, and was also sentenced to a 40-to-175 year state prison sentence in Michigan after pleading guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct. Gonczar has been spending time with Vaughn in his protest to show solidarity with abuse survivors at the University of Michigan. "In my case, as a privileged woman, my perpetrator is in jail, we received a settlement. I'm White, and I come from an expensive, per se, sport: you have to have money to have to be in that sport," Gonczar said. Gonczar now works as director of development at the Avalon Healing Center, which provides support for victims of sexual abuse.  "I've had to learn that I am a privileged, White person, and all abuse is not the same," she said. There are several reasons why Black men choose not to report abuse, Curry told CNN. "We know from interviews with Black male victims that it's not only the pressures of not being believed -- but it's also being perceived as the aggressor," he explained. Curry said that his research had shown that in domestic violence cases, Black men would stay in situations of abuse, or they would not report victimization.  "They fear that the police or the criminal justice system or society is going to view them as the perpetrator and they'll be criminalized even harsher than the kinds of abuse and violence that they suffer," Curry said.  When Black men report that they have been victimized by others, "different stereotypes activate", Curry added. "A lot of racists would say, 'No, he was really the aggressor, he tried to rape me, I wouldn't rape a man. It wasn't me. This person was violent or aggressive, or he's a drug dealer, a thief.'  "All these racial stereotypes are utilized to undercut the credibility of Black men who are victims in ways that other groups don't have to deal with," he said. Conditions that enable abuse Attorney Stephen Estey told CNN that Anderson was easily able to take advantage of his victims. "Some of these men, they came from the inner city [which had] not the best healthcare in the back of the day," Estey, who represents some 80 survivors, said. "Some of them never had a physical [examination], and so they didn't know what a physical should have been. And Dr. Anderson would tell them, if you want to play football, it's part of the process," Estey told CNN. Wanzo said that a nationwide commitment to protecting athletic programs "particularly makes Black people vulnerable in the US because they are disproportionately often in some of these programs." Anderson first served as a University Health Services doctor and was moved to the Athletic Department in 1981 after "credible reports of misconduct" were relayed to the then Assistant Vice President of Student Services Thomas Easthope in late 1978 or 1979, according to the WilmerHale report.  "The fact that they switched him out of general care to the athletic program as if they [athletes] were sort of disposable people says a lot about how the institution thought about how to deal with the problem person: they value athletics as institution, but the people who participate in athletics and make some money are disposable." Vaughn told CNN that there are a "number of dynamics" aside from race that help perpetuate "this culture of abuse in sport." "I think it is the athlete's dedication to this specific sport, and the overwhelming trust that they tend to have in their coaches and trainers because of the focus that it takes to be successful in sport," Vaughn said. Coaches and medical staff are often the most powerful people in a child and student athlete's life, he added. If sports create the perfect conditions for abuse, then institutions are failing to regulate themselves, survivors say. "It's really the institutions that are protecting their brands, and the position that they hold within that sport, because they really want that sport to be a catalyst for their financial gain instead of taking concern about their sports doctors who are actually predators," Gonczar, a gymnast who was treated by Nassar for 15 years, and who estimates that she was molested some 856 times, said.  A number of the women said they had reported Nassar's abuse previously but that the systems of authority, including USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Michigan State University, did not take their concerns seriously."Absolutely not enough has changed," Gonczar said.  "In the US it's taking so long to just simply get these big institutions to be aware and to be willing to be accountable and transparent, and to have people in the leadership roles that are willing to facilitate that," Gonczar warned.  Campus abuse between students ongoing issue The University of Michigan finalized a new sexual and gender based misconduct policy in September, but critics say abuse and assault between students and by university staff still isn't being dealt with well enough. Vaughn said that since he has been protesting, he has been approached by students who have told him of their own experiences of sexual assault and abuse at the university. There were 157 allegations of sexual assault reported to the University's Office for Institutional Equity (OIE) from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, according to its yearly report. The University's Division of Public Safety and Security, which records incidents reported to the DPSS, law enforcement agencies and campus security authorities, described 18 on campus rapes and 31 reports of fondling not associated with Anderson in 2020. Some 106 reports of sexual assault were made to the University's Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) in 2020, down from 151 in 2019 and 168 in 2018. Vaughn says he has spoken to students who feel harrassment is still a problem at the university.There were 77 reported instances of sexual harassment and 57 reports of stalking, according to the University's Division of Public Safety and Security, which provided the data as "additional information regarding crime reports on campus." Campus enrollment in 2019 stood at 48,090 students, and 47,907 enrolled in 2020. "All the reporting agencies within the university have essentially failed all the students and all the student athletes, because they've done nothing to support in any consistent manner, or protect in any consistent manner," Vaughn said. "Professors have said if you support or even help report a student's standpoint, it's like a career suicide," he added. Some 42.4 percent of Michigan students said they had experienced at least one type of harassing behavior since entering school, and more than a quarter (26.9 percent) of undergraduate women reported nonconsensual sexual contact, according to a campus climate survey regarding sexual misconduct. Out of women who say they experienced harassment, 8.9 percent of Michigan undergraduates reported the person was a teacher, advisor, boss, supervisor, or co-worker compared to an average of 4.8 percent of undergraduates and across the 33 schools surveyed in the overall survey, which looked at responses from a total of 181,752 students from 33 colleges and universities. Some 31.8 percent of graduate or professional Michigan students reported their harasser to be a teacher, advisor, boss, supervisor, or co-worker, compared to an average 16.5 percent in the overall survey. Vaughn has slept in a tent and later, a trailer, to protest at the University over issues of sexual abuse and assault.Vaughn has been protesting through harsh conditions at the University of Michigan.The overall survey found that the 33 schools surveyed, more than half of undergraduate women (59.2%) and transgender, genderqueer, and non-binary students (65.1%) reported experiencing at least one harassing behavior. "I speak to a lot of students, many of them feel like with the assaults that have happened to them, that the university has not been able to deal with it properly," Charlie Kolean, chairman of Michigan Students Against Sexual Assault told CNN. "Typically, a case will not be criminally referred. And additionally, a lot of survivors from assault, they don't want to go through the university's process reporting the assault, because it is fairly arduous," he added. Emma Sandberg, a former student and founder of activism group Roe v. Rape told CNN: "Overall, it is very difficult to be a survivor at U of M. The sexual assault prevention center doesn't provide any real resources, university leadership has engaged in sexual misconduct themselves, and those who go through the all-consuming Title IX process are traumatized by it and rarely receive justice, support, or validation. "We need a supportive center for survivors, not just a preventative one, and we need more effective prevention methods at all levels," Sandberg, who graduated in in 2021, said. In addition to Anderson, at least five current and former university professors and officials have faced accusations of sexual harassment or abuse in the last few years.In a statement to CNN, Rick Fitzgerald, associate vice president of Public Affairs and Internal Communications at the University of Michigan said: "We encourage every incident of misconduct to be reported and we take action," pointing towards the university's annual report for further details.  "SAPAC has a 30-year history of supporting and advocating for survivors of sexual misconduct, through a range of supportive services, based on individual needs," he said, pointing towards the university's confidential resources for students and staff.He added: "The University of Michigan always has taken sexual misconduct seriously and we have been increasing our efforts steadily," and that a Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center has been on campus for almost 40 years. Fitzgerald added that any case that involves criminal behavior is "first turned over to police and the ECRT investigation is put on hold so that criminal activity can always be addressed first." Vaughn wants the university to overhaul its approach to misconduct. "You cannot only celebrate parts of your history, you must deal with your entire history in order to root it out and change that culture," he said. "Because the longer you ignore it, the more you perpetuate it and the more it empowers other predators, because they're watching the lack of discipline, or consequences for serial predators and rapists that then gives others the green light to make those decisions and prey on young men and young women." Co-lead class counsel attorney E. Powell Miller told CNN his team is seeking "class action relief for reforms, policies and procedures to prevent an Anderson problem from occurring again." Attorney Jonathan Selbin, co-lead class counsel in a class action suit against the University, told CNN: "While paying money to the victims is a critical first step, U of M must also commit to system-wide changes that bring all of the stakeholders together to reform the campus and institutional culture and prevent abuses like this from ever occurring again." Vaughn wants the university to create programs that empower students to report instances of sexual violence, and strengthen mechanisms to protect students. Last July, the university announced revisions to how it will address sexual misconduct, including the creation of a new office with "significant" new resources for support, education and prevention. The office was launched in August. "I knew that there was nothing that I could do in my protest to change what happened to me. But we could uncover the truth here at Michigan, and also make this place safer for now, and in the future, so that these atrocities don't continue to happen," Vaughn said. "We want to change the narrative, as well as the culture. So until that's done, I won't be leaving."

Don Riddell, CNN

2021-06-28 09:25:09

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/sport/navid-afkari-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Navid Afkari: Executed Iranian wrestling star's voice is 'everywhere now' - CNN

It was the worst news that anybody could have woken up to; as Sardar Pashaei reached for his phone one morning in September, he knew immediately that something terrible had happened. 

sport, Navid Afkari: Executed Iranian wrestling star's voice is 'everywhere now' - CNN

Navid Afkari: Executed Iranian wrestling star's voice is 'everywhere now'

Wrestler Navid Afkari was executed by the Iranian government on September 12, 2020. The story of his life and the movement he has inspired is being republished by CNN International to mark the anniversary of his death. This article was first published on June 28, 2021. (CNN)It was the worst news that anybody could have woken up to; as Sardar Pashaei reached for his phone one morning in September, he knew immediately that something terrible had happened.  "When I woke at about six or seven o'clock in the morning," he told CNN Sport, "I see a lot of phone calls from Persian television. And when I listened to the voicemail of my journalist friend, I just cried. I couldn't control my tears." The Iranian Pashaei, who was the 1998 Junior 60-kilogram Greco-Roman World Wrestling champion, has been living in self-imposed exile in the US since 2009.On that fateful morning, he learned that another Iranian wrestler, Navid Afkari, had been executed, hanged for a crime that his family and friends say he didn't commit.  Pashaei, who was close to Afkari's coach in Iran, had been campaigning hard to save his life. It was a campaign that ended brutally with a hangman's noose, but in the months since Afkari was silenced, his voice seems only to have grown louder. Read MoreAn ancient sportWrestling is one of the oldest sports in Iran and it is one of the most popular. Ever since winning their first Olympic wrestling medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Iranian wrestlers have excelled at the Games, returning home with a total of 43 medals to date, more than double the haul in their next best sport -- weightlifting.  Pashaei says that there's a wrestling gym "in every corner of every city in Iran," and successful wrestlers there are treated differently, enjoying an elevated status in comparison to other athletes. They're on a pedestal.  Iranians wrestle during a workout session at the traditional Shir Afkan "zurkhaneh" (House of Strength) gymnasium in the capital Tehran in February 2018.The ancient sport is naturally aggressive and competitive, but experts say it's a combat sport borne out of a practice to promote inner strength through outer strength.When viewed through such a lens, wrestling might not seem too dissimilar to yoga. The spirit of wrestling is deeply engrained in Iranian culture, where it has transcended the arena of sport.Max Fisher wrote in The Atlantic in 2012 that "The ideal practitioner is meant to embody such moral traits as kindness and humility and to defend the community against sinfulness and external threats."  One could argue that it was these very qualities that got Afkari executed -- by his own government.  'He was the best one'Afkari was born on July 22, 1993, and raised in the city of Shiraz; located in the southwest region of Iran, it's one of the oldest cities in Ancient Persia and known to be a hotbed of poets, literature, flowers and wine.Legend has it that the famous Syrah grape, grown as far afield as the Rhône Valley in France and in the new world territories of Australia, New Zealand and California, first took root in Shiraz.  It was here that a young Afkari learned to find his way in the world. One of five children, he discovered wrestling at the age of nine and quickly dedicated his life to the sport.By the time he was 17, he was good enough to be included in a group of eight wrestlers in the 69-kg category that attended a national training camp. Six years later, Pashaei says Afkari was ranked second in his division and on track to fulfill his dream of one day becoming an Olympic champion.  Parents will usually try to avoid having a favorite child or revealing the truth if they do have a preference, but Afkari's three brothers and sister knew their place in the family. Sources close to them say that he was the apple of his mother's eye; Afkari was successful, but modest, and he was never a burden to them. A family member, speaking to CNN Sport only on the understanding that their identity would be protected, described Afkari as "the nicest member of the family," adding that his friends would agree: "He was the best one."  Navid Afkari (bottom left), sitting with his brother Vahid (top left), brother Saeid (bottom center), Habib (bottom right) father (top center) and mother (top right). Videos of him with his hands in the air, dancing and singing at home during Persian New Year, and somersaulting acrobatically into a swimming pool confirm the family's description of Afkari as "enthusiastic, full of energy and excitement." Such positivity would rub off on those closest to him, especially within his family.  They say that he wasn't particularly interested in politics, but he was keen to help out in the community, making donations and helping the poor, and he was troubled by the culture of discrimination in Iran, especially against women and those living in poverty.   That's why Afkari took part in the seismic demonstrations that swept through the country in 2018.Initially, these were protests against the government's economic policies, but they soon morphed into political opposition of the theocratic regime and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and were regarded as the most significant domestic challenge to the government in almost a decade.  Afkari was concerned about rising prices in Iran, so -- along with millions of others -- he took to the streets to protest. His family says he was frustrated by corruption and poverty and worried that daily life was no longer affordable to many of his compatriots.  It was a fateful decision that would end up costing him his life.  A forced confession / A lack of evidenceAccording to the official version of events, Afkari killed Hassan Torkman, a water company security employee, during a protest in Shiraz on August 2, 2018. Afkari and his brother, Vahid, were arrested a month and a half later, on September 17 according to the UN, and another brother, Habib, was rounded up later that year. Afkari was condemned to death; Vahid and Habib received prison sentences of more than 33 and 15 years respectively and all were to be punished with 74 lashes each, according to Amnesty International. Initially, Afkari confessed to the crime, but in court he retracted those words, arguing that he had been tortured during his interrogation by "men with hats, glasses and masks on," and that a false confession had been forced out of him. His supporters say that his trial was devoid of any compelling evidence, and in fact, the only video evidence available, from a closed-circuit television camera, would have been more likely to prove his innocence. Afkari's attorney, Hassan Younesi, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran that "There is no visual evidence of the moment of the crime, and the film presented in this case shows scenes an hour before the time of the murder." In this June 2018 photo, a group of protesters chant slogans at the main gate of the Old Grand Bazaar, in Tehran, Iran. The case of 27-year-old Navid Afkari has drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrays him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran's Shiite theocracy in 2018. An audio recording was made in the court and leaked by human rights activists; in it, an agitated Afkari, speaking in a high-pitched voice, can be heard pleading with the judge, who seems to have little interest in giving him a fair hearing. Such recordings of court proceedings are extremely rare in Iran and whoever made it and released it would have done so at great personal risk. The prosecution claimed to have video evidence of the crime committed at the specific time of 11:32 p.m., but according to the audio tape, it was never shown in court and the defendant was never able to see it for himself.Long readsAustralia's first international cricketers won fame abroad. At home, they were betrayed'The Fight of the Century': A divided US nation 50 years onFootball club founded by Turkish immigrants creates stir in Germany Olympian pressured to 'perform better' and lose a few pounds"Why are you afraid and will not show the film?" demands Afkari. "We are not afraid of anything," responds the judge. On the recording, Afkari demands that his witness, Shahin Nasseri, be heard, somebody who can testify to the abuse he experienced while being held in police detention for nearly 50 days.In a complaint filed with the judiciary in September 2019, Afkari described "the most severe and physical psychological torture," but according to Iran's state-run news agency, IRNA, the head of the Fars Province Judiciary rejected claims that Afkari had been beaten or tortured and, in court, he was dismissed out of hand."Not related. Not the time for it, sit down, don't talk anymore!" ordered the judge on the recording. "You do not have a defense."The Iranian government has said repeatedly that Afkari was not tortured and that his confession wasn't forced. CNN has asked the government if he received a fair trial, but we have not received a response.The executionAccording to the Afkari family, his final days were brutal, but there wasn't necessarily any reason to think that the end was near.The family says that he was kept in solitary confinement for a week and "beaten by 20 guards," before being told that he and his brothers were being moved from the prison in Shiraz to the capital, Tehran.That was a lie; instead, Afkari was executed on September 12th, at the age of 27. Much later, family members learned that Vahid and Habib were in a cell close to the gallows where they had heard their brother die.   His body was returned to his family in the middle of the night, and they say he was denied a proper burial. The authorities had already dug a hole in the dirt and that's where Navid was expected to be placed.In the months that have passed since, he has hardly been able to rest in peace. The family has tried to honor Afkari, by placing a stone to inscribe in remembrance and a wall to protect it, but they say it was broken down by the authorities with a bulldozer. As the Afkaris tried to prevent further damage, the father was arrested, and they were cautioned that the whole site could be completely destroyed.  Iranians in Canada on Mel Lastman Square demonstrate against the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari by the Iranian regime, in Toronto, Ontario in September 2020. The death sentence caused international uproar, yet the regime persisted. As such, Afkari's final resting place is now just a simple grave.  His death was a crippling blow to those who had loved him and also to those who had never even met him.So successful was the campaign to raise awareness of his plight that Dana White, the head of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) asked then US President Donald Trump to appeal to Iran for clemency. Unfortunately, though, their efforts were in vain.  Speaking shortly after Afkari's death in a press conference, White tried to make sense of it all but could only conclude that "he was fighting for what he believed in. And it cost him his life." One UFC fighter, Bobby Green, was so emotional that he could think of nothing else after beating Alan Patrick in Las Vegas.Green, who was a wrestler himself before turning to Mixed Martial Arts, cut short his post-fight interview by saying, "Somebody just lost their life for protesting; that just messed me up. I thought we were going to be able to save him. That is so sad, it broke my heart. I don't even want to talk right now."Inciting a culture of fearAfkari was one of at least 267 people who were executed in Iran in 2020.A report compiled by Iran Human Rights and advocacy group Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) concluded that Iran can boast of the highest number of confirmed executions in the world per capita, and that The Islamic Republic uses executions "as a tool to oppress political dissidents, including protesting citizens, ethnic minorities and journalists." IHR's director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam explained that the regime creates fear through the death penalty to maintain power, but that fear is now waning."Protests in recent years," he said in the report, "have shown that not only are people losing their sense of fear but they are also uniting in their anger against these executions." Navid's mother (left) stands by Navid's grave in March 2021 in Shiraz, Iran. While still grieving, Afkari's friends and family are dealing with further intimidation.His former coach, Mohammad Ali Chamiani, says he has been warned not to talk about him, and just in case there is any misunderstanding, he's been banned from teaching wrestling, sacked by his gym and stripped of his benefits and insurance. It's a humiliating end to Ali Chamiani's career; until recently, he was revered, considered on three separate occasions to be the top wrestling coach in the country. The family is now concerned for the safety of their other sons in prison but they say that Afkari has prepared them to be strong.Throughout the two years that he was imprisoned, family members say he was building them up, allaying their fears where possible and ensuring that they'd be able to continue his struggle when he was gone. He knew that he was going to be put to death, but in his last night alive, his family says he called them to say that he was doing OK, asking them not to worry. United for NavidAfkari may be gone, but his voice is now louder than ever. The recording of him defiantly challenging the judge can be found all over social media, so, too, an audio recording that he made while he was in jail.  "During all the years that I wrestled," he states calmly, "I never faced a cowardly opponent who played dirty because wrestling is an inherently honorable sport. But it's been two years that my family and I have had to face off against injustice and the most cowardly and dishonorable opponent." Upon realizing that his legal challenge was destined to fail, he concluded, "They are just looking for a neck to throw their noose around." One of his most prominent supporters is Masih Alinejad, an exiled Iranian journalist, author and political activist, who's now living in New York. She never met Afkari, but she later learned that he had reached out to her during the protests.  People protest against Iran's death penalty opposite Downing Street as a march to demand a people's vote against Brexit passes by on October 2018 in London, England. On February 12, 2018, Alinejad had posted an image on Instagram of an Iranian woman who'd been arrested for protesting the compulsory headscarf (Hijab) law. Among the list of 1,648 comments was one from Afkari, whose public courage and audacity would have been inconceivable to many in Iran.In Farsi, he posted a direct attack on the Supreme Leader, a line which translates to "I spit on your rotten soul." Alinejad's original post received over 71,000 likes and could have been seen by any of her five million followers.  Alinejad told CNN that it was Afkari's brief comment, quickly lost in the sea of social media, that has posthumously formed such an unbreakable bond between them. "I was shocked at how brave he was," she told CNN Sport. "He cursed the Supreme Leader of Iran, in public, under his own name. That is why I care so much about Navid. That actually breaks my heart. I did my best, but sometimes I feel miserable and frustrated that we couldn't save him. "We have so many Navids now fighting for freedom," Alinejad explained, "fighting for equality, fighting for justice, fighting for dignity, fighting to have a normal life, fighting to get rid of dictatorship."  Tokyo 2020'I felt my body was still capable': Meet the moms hoping to shine at the OlympicsOlympic silver medalist food for Uber Eats to fund Tokyo 2020 dreamTriple jumping rapper on why his music is his 'love language'How a married couple navigated the 'purgatory' of a postponed OlympicsAlinejad believes that the government viewed Afkari as a threat and moved quickly to silence him, using his execution as a deterrent to others, adding, "His only crime was just joining Iran protests and that scares the government. The government actually wanted to create fear within the society." But his execution might prove to have been a miscalculation; it may have backfired.  Alinejad is the campaign founder of United for Navid, an action group that is keeping his voice alive.Afkari's sacrifice has motivated many Iranian athletes to find the courage to step up and speak out; while some want politics to be separated from sport in their country, all agree on the need for even greater reforms.She understands the risks that many of them are taking. "Sometimes, when you keep silent, they can execute you. Sometimes, when you speak up, they can execute you. So that is why we have to do something beyond just talking about Navid, talking about his goal. He wanted to have greater freedom. He wanted to have a better country [in which] to live." Iranian-American supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) protest the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari by Iran, in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. in September 2020. The execution ended the life of Afkari, but it has failed to silence his voice. He continues speaking from beyond the grave: "If there's one thing I learned from stepping onto the wrestling mat," he was recorded saying in jail, "it's that I should never give into oppression and lies." That spirit seems to be alive in his family; despite enormous pressure to comply with the government and blacken Afkari's name, they are standing firm. "We care about the good thing that we have to do. We care about our goal, rather than think about the tortures and fear," said his relative, adding that Afkari's mother is torn between conflicting emotions. "She has two feelings right now. She's so sad for losing Navid. And secondly, she's so proud of Navid because she knows that Navid chose the right path."  Afkari has become larger in death than he ever was in life. Pashaei concludes that the campaign of which he is a spokesman is now an unstoppable force."They thought that by killing this guy, they can bury his name like his body. But it never happened. Now, we see that he's a champ. He's a hero for millions of young athletes. He's everywhere now."

Don Riddell, CNN

2021-07-01 08:16:46

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/01/sport/iranian-athletes-ioc-campaign-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Tokyo 2020: International Olympic Committee is coming under pressure over the alleged torture and arrest of Iranian athletes - CNN

Athletes are trained to be tough; they've learned to push through the pain barrier and find courage when all hope might seem to be lost.

sport, Tokyo 2020: International Olympic Committee is coming under pressure over the alleged torture and arrest of Iranian athletes - CNN

International Olympic Committee is coming under pressure over the alleged torture and arrest of Iranian athletes

(CNN)Athletes are trained to be tough; they've learned to push through the pain barrier and find courage when all hope might seem to be lost.But athletes in Iran have to be braver than most. For them, the battle isn't just on the field of play, it's also away from the arenas, where the consequences of their actions could be painful, even deadly."I am 100% fearful," judoka Vahid Sarlak tells CNN Sport. He knows fighting for his beliefs could end badly in a country where political activists and their families are routinely intimidated, arrested and can even be executed. "Every day, my mom asks me not to do this, she is worried daily. But I say, 'I was born once, and I'll die once.' I have sworn that I'll fight for my freedom for as long as I'm alive."When asked to detail the kind of threats that she is facing, the soccer player Shiva Amini tries to make light of it, telling CNN: "SMS messages, such as 'We will cut your head off and send a picture of it to your family.' Do you want just one example, or do you want to hear the rest?"Read MoreThey used to say that sport and politics shouldn't mix, but those days seem to be a distant memory. In many parts of the western world, athletes are now using their platforms to shape social and political discourse.In Iran, sport and politics have always mixed, but it's the theocratic government that makes the rules and enforces them through fear. The former junior world champion wrestler Sardar Pashaei knows exactly what can be at stake; he campaigned to try and save the life of wrestler Navid Afkari, who was executed in 2020. Afkari's death became a rallying cry for athletes in Iran to unite and push for change in a campaign called 'United for Navid.'"If we be silenced today, we don't have anything to tell our children tomorrow," Pashaei told CNN.All three are now living in self-imposed exile abroad, where it's a little safer to be outspoken; all are brave, but all have been traumatized by years of harassment and intimidation. When asked if he fears for his life, the former karate international champion Mahdi Jafargholizadeh scoffed at the suggestion: "I died 20 years ago. I lost everything when I was in Iran. If you kill me again, you just killed a dead person."In 2017, soccer player Shiva Amini was forced to apply for asylum in Switzerland because she was observed playing without the compulsory hijab while outside of Iran.An eternal blowSarlak might be a judoka, but he could easily have been a poet."Have you ever been in love?" he asked CNN Sport. "Sport is love," he opined. "When you meet a girl for the first time, fall in love and then lose her, would it mean that you will never fall in love again? I'm sure you will, 100% sure. The next love will come."At the age of 40, Sarlak is still madly in love with his sport. He says a life without sport would feel "the same as death." But he's had his heart broken more than once and in ways that most athletes couldn't even begin to imagine.At the age of 17, he says he was ordered to lose by his team at the World Junior Championships. Deliberately losing is an alien concept to any athlete but it's not for Iranian athletes in international competitions.When entering a tournament, they don't fear the prospect of running into a stronger opponent, their biggest concern is that an Israeli athlete lies ahead of them in the draw because their government's unwritten rule means that they're not going to be allowed to compete against them.Sarlak says that the first time he was told to lose in 1998, he didn't give it much thought -- he was still so young. But when it happened at the 2005 World Championships in Cairo, he was absolutely devastated."It was the most difficult moment of my life," he recalled. "I was just crying and asking why? Why should I lose? I remember my coach slapped me and told me: 'You know that you have to go and lose the match.'"Other stories by Don RiddellThe untold story of the Munich OlympicsHow boxing is changing the way society looks at women in GazaHow a nation of just 11 million people became world's top-ranked football teamBaseball star took a knee and then his life unraveled in Trump's AmericaSarlak was fighting in the 60kg repechage and on course for a bronze medal; he'd been drawn against an opponent from Azerbaijan, but Israel's Gal Yekutiel was up next.His coach delivered the news that no athlete would ever want to hear: "Your next opponent will be an Israeli, and we are not permitted to be in a match with Israelis."Nearly 16 years after the event, Sarlak is still traumatized by it and the details of that day have been seared into his memory.He says that the broadcast cameras were trained on him because they realized he'd thrown the match. His coach put a towel over his head and he was rushed back to the hotel, denying him the chance to watch the rest of the competition."I broke all the windows in my room," recalls Sarlak. "It was the worst day of my life. A hole opened inside of me and that hole is still open. The dream of having that medal has remained with me. I will never forgive them." To add insult to injury, Sarlak says he's still taunted about it."Even now, when I see my Azeri opponent, he tells me, 'Your medal is on display at my house. Your medal is on my neck now. You didn't want it and I won it.' This will never be erased from my mind."CNN has asked the Iranian government if it acknowledges that it has prevented athletes from competing against Israelis. We also asked if they will allow their athletes to compete against Israeli opponents at the Olympics this year. They have not responded to our inquiry.Iran's Vahid Sarlak duels with Spain's Javier Fernandez in the up to and including 60 kgs men's open category during the World Judo Championships in Cairo in September 2005. Sarlak says he was forced to default from the tournament after he'd been drawn against an opponent from Israel. 'I'm not going back'Jafargholizadeh had always wanted to be a karate champion. He says his father was the head coach of the national team, but he didn't believe in his son. "I remember one day I was wearing his national team jacket," Jafargholizadeh told CNN Sport. "He just slapped me in the face and said, 'Who the hell are you? You get it yourself.'" That was all the motivation that Mahdi needed. "OK, I said, I'll show you."He was barely a teenager when one of the top teams in the country took an interest in him, and in time, he was competing internationally -- a national champion picking up more than 20 medals all over the world. But Jafargholizadeh says it all came to a screeching halt when he was thrown in jail in 2004, arrested at the airport and accused of planning to be an Israeli spy. He says he was tortured and interrogated for five to six months and even threatened with the death penalty.Tokyo 2020'I felt my body was still capable': Meet the moms hoping to shine at the OlympicsOlympic silver medalist food for Uber Eats to fund Tokyo 2020 dreamTriple jumping rapper on why his music is his 'love language'How a married couple navigated the 'purgatory' of a postponed OlympicsHe relays the experience in a stream of consciousness and a smile that belies the suffering he endured."They break my nose, many different stuff that I don't even want to talk about."He says the accusations were so incredulous that he didn't take them seriously at first, but it reached a point where he couldn't take it anymore and he started goading his tormentors to go make good on their threats."I never forget that I had a shirt with buttons," he recalled, gesturing that he ripped it open and declared: "Take your gun and shoot me here now. Or you want to hang me later on? Do it now!"It's scarcely believable that Jafargholizadeh was eventually released from jail and able to resume his competitive career at the top level, fighting again at the 2005 and 2007 Asian championships and winning gold and silver medals with his team.But after another brush with authority in 2008, he realized that it was no longer safe for him to remain in the country. His opposition to the government in Iran wasn't much of a secret, and he was perhaps something of a marked man. According to Jafargholizadeh, the President of the Karate Federation, a man "who has been in the intelligence service for years and years," saw him with tattoos all over his body and declared it would be his last year with the national team. "I take my last chance; I'm not going back again. I didn't go back. I left the national team in Germany and became a refugee," said Jafargholizadeh.Forced to forfeitMany young Iranians dream of becoming professional athletes, but they can't imagine the pitfalls that will come with their exposure to the international community."Every Iranian has a passport," explains Sarlak. "On the first page, it is written that you can travel to any country you would like to go -- except 'the occupied Palestine.'"Sarlak says even speaking the name Israel just isn't done in Iran."We all know that, but the intensity of this problem is more obvious with athletes because we face situations with Israel. Ordinary people may not have to deal with it, [but] this problem is a flashpoint for athletes that will never go away."It's well known that athletes from Iran are prevented from competing against Israelis -- in any competition.In the main sports where they could have met at the Olympics -- boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling -- there has never once been a contest between athletes from either country. It almost happened at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, when a swimmer from each country was drawn to race in the fourth heat of the first round of the 100-meter breaststroke. But the Iranian swimmer, Mohammad Alirezaei, never showed up.In 2017, the wrestler Alireza Mohammad Karimimachiani was in a winning position against Russia's Alikhan Zhabrailov at the Under-23 World Championship in Poland, when his coach became animated on the sideline. He can be seen and heard on the broadcast highlights calling from the floor: "Lose Ali!" The clip, which can still be viewed at UWW.Org, reveals an increasingly desperate coach imploring his athlete to throw in the towel: "Alireza! Lose Alireza! Alireza! You must lose! Alireza, you must lose! Israel won. Israel has won."The Israeli Uri Kalashnikov had just beaten the American Samuel Brooks and was awaiting the winner in the next round. It was the second time in his career that Karimimachiani says he had been told to lose, later he told the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency that "my whole world seemed to come to an end."Iran's Saeid Mollaei (in white) fights against Belgium's Matthias Casse during the semifinal of the men's under 81kg category during the 2019 Judo World Championships at the Nippon Budokan, a venue for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Mollaei, who claimed he was ordered to deliberately lose a world championship fight, could compete under a refugee flag at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, officials said on September 1. A much clearer instruction can be heard in an audio recording made at the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, when Saeid Mollaei was ordered to lose his semifinal in order to steer clear of the Israeli world champion Sagi Muki. "Based on my stance, that of the regime and that of the minister, he has no right to compete," says the president of Iran's Judo Federation in the recording.The ambient noise of the competition is audible in the background as he concludes with a scarcely veiled threat: "The circumstances stipulate that one should never question this stance. Make him understand that he has no right to compete under no circumstances. He is responsible for his actions."Sarlak now lives in Germany; he breaks down in tears and leaves the interview when explaining that he hasn't been able to see his parents for 12 years. Jafargholizadeh resides in the mountains of Finland and the 1998 junior world Greco-Roman wrestling champion Pashaei is exiled in the US.He fled in 2008, when it became apparent that his Kurdish ethnicity and the connection to his politically active father was shutting down career opportunities.As a coach, he says he was barred from traveling out of the country with the national team.A year before he made the decision to flee the country, he witnessed one of his wrestlers being denied the chance to fight; he told CNN that he watched from a distance as Babak Ghorbani was given the news."He was sitting on the stage in the stadium and he couldn't believe it. He was crying and crying. He was telling me, 'You know how hard I worked! I don't deserve this!'"This is not just about losing one match, it affects your whole life. Your dignity has been taken away by other people, people who are usually members of the intelligence service who don't know the pain of being an athlete. This is sport, it has to be about peace and friendship, but they teach you to hate."An Israeli man of Iranian descent holds Iran's pre-revolution flag in support of Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei during the Tel Aviv Grand Slam 2021 on February 19, 2021.'Girls had no value'Many countries would be delighted to see their athletes and teams triumph on the world stage.In the purest sense, sporting success can be a boost to domestic morale, but it can also be used as a means of wielding soft power on the international stage. Sport is a good way to make friends and influence people -- and so they're willing to make heavy investments or even cheat to achieve those ends.Iranian athletes have come to realize, though, that the opposite is true for them. Iran seems to routinely sabotage its own sporting success and its female athletes are in no doubt about that. They often feel as though they have to compete with one hand tied behind their backs -- that's if they're allowed to compete at all.Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran hasn't sent a female athlete to compete at the Olympics in swimming, wrestling or gymnastics, none of which would be possible while wearing the compulsory hijab.Shiva Amini says her proudest achievement with the national women's soccer team was at the 2009 Indoor Asian Games in Vietnam, where her Futsal team beat Uzbekistan and Japan to win their group, before losing to Jordan in the semifinals."With all the difficulties of wearing a hijab, in the heat in Vietnam, we were able to win," she explained to CNN. "Despite all the difficulties, because of the love we have for football and sport, we could fight and be just like any other girls."Amini details the inconvenience of competing in a hijab, how it restricts the ability to move and how it becomes heavy with sweat: "We had a hard time even breathing." And if the scarf became loose or if the sleeves rolled up their arms, the referee would blow the whistle to stop the game and a scoring opportunity might have been lost.Amini, who was regarded as the most technically gifted player in the women's game in Iran, says that she and the female team were made to feel as if their status was little more than token.Long readsAustralia's first international cricketers won fame abroad. At home, they were betrayed'The Fight of the Century': A divided US nation 50 years onFootball club founded by Turkish immigrants creates stir in Germany Olympian pressured to 'perform better' and lose a few pounds"I started to realize that I am in a society that they fundamentally do not want a girl to advance," she said, outlining the experience of sharing a national training camp with the men's team and being told to remain on the sidelines."I asked the head of the federation why you aren't giving us the facilities and he responded by saying, 'The team only exists so that FIFA [football's world governing body] wouldn't eliminate the boys team according to their regulations.' I realized that us girls had no value. It was an insult and a humiliation."In 2017, Amini was playing football in Switzerland and she posted pictures of it on her social media accounts.Given that she wasn't on official business with the country of Iran, she didn't give it a second thought, until the pictures appeared everywhere back home and caused a storm of controversy: she wasn't wearing her hijab and she was playing with "anti-Islam" teams."For a few weeks, the entire internet was filled with stories about me," Amini told CNN. "It created a very bad situation for my family in Iran and myself in Switzerland."She hired lawyers in both countries, but soon came to realize that the situation was now beyond her control."They have fully politicized this event and put your name on a blacklist in Iran," she said she was told. "I was not prepared to deal with what was about to happen, my life was about to fully change in all aspects, I did not have a good mental condition."Amini has not been home since and says both she and her family are routinely harassed and intimidated.Navid Afkari: Executed Iranian wrestling star's voice is 'everywhere now'Campaigning for justiceIn September 2020, a dreadful event motivated these four athletes and many others to come together and tell their stories.The execution of wrestler Afkari -- capital punishment for a murder that his family and friends say that he did not commit -- galvanized the sports community and spurred it into action. Within the last few months, the United for Navid Campaign has been writing to Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee and the Executive Board at the IOC, calling for immediate action to be taken against the National Olympic Committee of Iran.In letters sent on March 5, March 25 and April 19, United for Navid has provided the names and case studies of 20 athletes who've been negatively impacted by political interference in Iran."We have a simple question," states the United for Navid campaign spokesman Pashaei: "Can IOC member states torture and arrest athletes and violate the [Olympic] charter? Are you doing anything to protect these athletes? Because their rights are being discriminated against every single day."IOC President Thomas Bach speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on November 16, 2020. Within the last few months, the United for Navid Campaign has been writing to Bach, calling for immediate action to be taken against the NOC of Iran. According to the charter's Fundamental Principles of Olympism, "the practice of sport is a human right" and "sports organizations within the Olympic Movement shall apply political neutrality." Access to sport should be enjoyed without "discrimination of any kind, such as race, color, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."The charter concludes: "Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter."In an impassioned plea, the emotion is clear in Pashaei's voice as he continues listing to CNN the many ways in which the integrity and safety of Iranian athletes is compromised by their own government."When they don't compete with Israeli athletes, they tell the IOC that this is their personal decision. It's a big lie. Every single trip, there are members of security intelligence watching the athletes 24/7 and if they do something wrong, they have been punished."I want to ask IOC, are you aware of this? You talk about gender equality and race equality. Are you aware that one of your members is violating the charter all the time? You have been silent about this; we're not going to be silenced." A picture taken on March 8, 2021 in Lausanne shows the Olympic rings next to the headquarters of the IOC.Of the 20 case studies that have been sent to the IOC so far, only 12 athletes have been identified. The names of eight others have been withheld to protect them, as they are still living in Iran. Amini says those athletes fully support the campaign. "They are very happy with this movement. They encourage us, they push us forward. And the one thing they all say is, 'All of our hopes are in you guys,'" Amini told CNN.There is an element of risk, also, for the athletes living outside of Iran -- many of them still have family at home."Once in a while they question our parents, brothers and sisters, they threaten them," says Pashaei. "But our families, all of them, believe that we're doing the right thing." So far, the IOC's only response has been a tacit acknowledgment that they have received the documentation from the campaign.In a March press conference, spokesman Mark Adams said: "I don't know to be honest, I think -- I believe -- we have. And as with all communications, it will be dealt with in due course, but it wasn't discussed at the Executive Board today. But trust us, it will be dealt with."Former junior world champion wrestler Sardar Pashaei says there's "an element of risk" for athletes outside the country to campaign against Iran's NOC.United for Navid is optimistic that the IOC will, ultimately, take action.Earlier this year, their pressure campaign led to the International Judo Federation banning the Iran team for four years, but they're hoping that the action can be urgent. In the letter dated March 25, Pashaei concludes with the line, "We look forward to your timely response. Every day that passes without action results in more athlete mistreatment." Pashaei says there is evidence to suggest that the current head of Iran's Olympic Committee used to be a top-ranking member of Iran's intelligence agency, as detailed in a 2018 report from VOA/Radio Farda: "He was involved in arresting and torturing people. He is going to the Olympic Games.""Even a little change will make a big difference," concludes Jafargholizadeh. He and the other campaigners are confident that action from arguably the biggest governing body in world sport would force Iran to take politics out of sport and treat the athletes better.But it might take an Olympic ban to do it. "A lot of people think we are against sport in Iran," he said, disputing that fact. "They have to know we have been athletes. We have been part of that national team for years and years. We just want to say, 'Stop torturing people and killing them.'""It's about our dignity," says Pashaei. "We're not going to give up. We're going to go to the end."

Aleks Klosok, CNN

2021-04-01 08:02:21

sport

football

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/01/football/trkgc-munich-football-turkey-germany-immigrant-far-right-cmd-spt-intl/index.html

Bundesliga: Targeted by far right group, Türkgücü Munich, founded by Turkish immigrants, looks to connect cultures - CNN

German football club Türkgücü Munich is two promotions away from the Bundesliga. It's making waves in Germany both on the sporting and political scene. Founded in 1975 by Turkish migrants in Munich, Türkgücü is Germany's first ever immigrant club to play at the fully professional level. But the club's recent rapid rise has seen it targeted by far-right supporters.

football, Bundesliga: Targeted by far right group, Türkgücü Munich, founded by Turkish immigrants, looks to connect cultures - CNN

Türkgücü Munich: Targeted by far right group, football club founded by Turkish immigrants looks to connect cultures

(CNN)Alban Zinsou says his is a "typical immigrant story." He came to Germany from Togo in 1995. Initially, he says, integration proved challenging -- "we didn't have a lot of interaction with people" -- but playing football provided a place where he could be himself. "It was the first time where I had a smile on my face," adds Zinsou. "You are working hard everywhere to be part of society, but on the pitch, was always the moment where the language didn't play any role." Zinsou is speaking to CNN Sport from his home in Munich. He talks proudly of doing well at school, being married to his German wife and father to two children. "Society ... gave me opportunities," he says. Football still plays an important part in Zinsou's life -- he's Youth Coordinator for German football club Türkgücü Munich. Read More"My mission in life is teaching football," says Zinsou as he reflects on his role of overseeing Türkgücü's various youth teams. He sees that mission as not just developing talented footballers, but also teaching them valuable life skills.Türkgücü Munich is making waves in Germany both on the sporting and political sceneREAD: Your Country Needs You! What nationality means to the modern-day footballerA club for all "Preserving traditions, connecting cultures," is Türkgücü's motto. The club's crest is a mix of the Turkish and Bavarian flags and is an ode to the club's founding fathers -- Turkish immigrants, for whom Bavaria was home, and who established Türkgücü in 1975. "I feel German, but I also love my Turkish roots," Ünal Tosun, one of Türkgücü's leading player, tells CNN Sport. The world's largest Turkish diaspora can be found in Germany and Tosun, who is the son of Turkish immigrants, is a physical embodiment of Türkgücü's past, present and future."We have over three million Turkish people in Germany ... and they can also identify with me. We are an idol club for many immigrant clubs," the sharply trimmed midfielder Tosun says. Beaming with pride as he describes playing for Türkgücü in his hometown of Munich, Tosun recounts receiving messages on Instagram from supporters in Turkey who he says "look up to us." "We're not the typical local club," adds Türkgücü CEO Max Kothny. "If I look in the stands, there's so many people from so many cultures that it perfectly shows how the German culture is."The club's logo is half-half of the Turkish and Bavarian flags'The higher you go, the harder it gets' Türkgücü's increased prominence -- both on and off the pitch -- owes itself, in part, to its rapid rise through the German football league structure. Once an amateur team, Türkgücü now plays in the 3. Liga -- Germany's third division, which like the country's top two leagues is fully professional.Remarkably Türkgücü now stands just two promotions away from Germany's elite league -- the Bundesliga. According to Der Spiegel in March 2020, the club's budget was $2 million. Türkgücü wouldn't confirm that figure, but did say it's "in the lower half in the table regarding the budgets in 3. Liga.""The higher you go, the harder it gets," Kothny says with a wry smile. Financial backing for the team has been largely provided by Hasan Kivran, a Turkish-born German, who previously played for the club, but is now a successful business entrepreneur and Türkgücü's president. Türkgücü wouldn't disclose how much Kivran has invested in the club."Being ambitious is not something bad -- it's something good," says Zinsou. "Following your goals is something good. Taking smart decisions to reach this goal is something good. Working with passion is something good." Kivran intimated he was going to step down in late 2020, but then had a rethink. "The main reasons that I changed my mind were those in charge of the company, a high level of fan support over the past two weeks and the prospect of a young talent center in southeast Munich," said Kivran in an interview with SPORT1 earlier this year. Croatian striker Petar Sliskovic is one of a number of new arrivals at the clubMunich's second team? Türkgücü is currently ninth in Germany's 3. Liga with 40 points, 18 behind leader Dynamo Dresden. Germany's third division contains a number of clubs -- such as 1. FC Kaiserslautern and TSV 1860 München --- that have previously played in the Bundesliga.That Türkgücü now plays against such clubs -- 1. FC Kaiserslautern is a four-time winner of the German top-flight league -- is testament to its rise through the German football ladder and its growing prominence. "We've been working here since the sixth division, which is absolutely incredible!" Kothny says speaking to CNN Sport from a 15 square meter wooden portacabin that acts as the club's offices. "This is a total start-up mentality," he adds. Kothny says plans are afoot to build the club's own academy and training facilities, but for now this football start-up is currently without a stadium to call home. 'Home' matches are divided between the Grünwalder and the iconic Munich Olympic Stadium, one of the venues for the 1972 Olympic Games. Playing at the Olympic Stadium -- Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich's former home before the club moved to the Allianz Arena -- Kothny and Tosun say they have to pinch themselves at times to remember the journey they've been on. "Now we're playing in an arena which has 60,000 seats -- it's brilliant!" Kothny exclaims. "There are so many good players who played there. They are so many important matches played there -- It's an honor," Tosun says. Türkgücü are playing some of their home matches this season at the iconic Olympic Stadium, venue of the 1972 Munich Olympics Remodel and rebuild Perhaps what's surprising is not just that Kothny is spearheading operations from relatively modest surroundings but that he's doing so at the age of 24. "I think the future is on the young guns so I'm using it as an advantage," smiles Kothny. "My way of thinking is a little bit different to the rest of this business, which is pretty much the same for the last like 20 years," adds Kothny, explaining how each season "we lose 80% of the roster" to ensure Türkgücü is competitive, given each promotion means the club will play against better teams. Tosun joined the club in 2018, yet he's its longest-serving player and one of the few Turkish-German players left in the squad."We need to keep that factor in the history, in the portfolio of the club," says Zinsou. "I mean, if there were somewhere a Togolese team playing in a high level, I would be very interested in joining them as well,' Zinsou says jokingly. "Bavarian nowadays doesn't only mean that you have a German name [...] because the culture in Munich is mixed and it is rich. "Our main focus is clearly on the quality of the players with the target to bring them to the first team," added Zinsou. Over the last few years there has been a huge turnover of players with the aim of achieving direct promotion to 3. Liga, which signals thet scale of Türkgücü's ambition. "That brought a lot of criticism also on us but this is how it worked. And I think the success proves that that this was the right way," says Kothny.Turkish-born German Ünal Tosun is Türkgücü's longest-serving playerFighting fear through football Nonetheless Türkgücü's ascent and the club's strong Turkish associations have drawn plenty of attention. Inspiring and imaginative to some; divisive and disruptive to others, the club has become a target of some far-right groups in Germany. The extreme-right Der III. Weg -- The Third Way -- party, has been vocal about Türkgücü. According to the German Interior Ministry, the "ideological statements of the party "The III. Way" are shaped from historical National Socialism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia."The far-right group's website in October showed a photo of two men, one holding The Third Way flag, displaying a "Türkgücü is not welcome" banner outside Zwickau's stadium.Underneath the photo was the statement, "Whether in Zwickau, Magdeburg or anywhere else: a Turkish team has no place in German football. The message is clear in Magdeburg and among fans of the FCM: Türkgücü is not welcome." "We were unfortunately already prepared as far as we knew that things like that might happen," Kothny says. "Sometimes it is a burden to have the Turkish flag in your logo. "A lot of [users on] social media are saying go back to Turkey or play in the Super Lig, but they are not realizing the background," adds Kothny, referring to the Turkish top-flight soccer division.He also recounts how small groups of far-right supporters gathered ahead of the away game against FSV Zwickau in October in Saxony. And when Türkgücü played 1. FC Kaiserslautern in January, racist and xenophobic stickers and flyers were put up in the vicinity of the Fritz Walter Stadium. The club's recent rapid rise has seen it targeted by far-right supportersBoth FSV Zwickau and 1. FC Kaiserslautern took to social media to stand in solidarity with Türkgücü. And Rainer Keßler, chairman of the supervisory board of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, said in a statement: "It is intolerable that right-wing groups try to misuse 1. FC Kaiserslautern's name, history, values and the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in the defense of inhuman slogans and ideologies. The FCK family stands for a multicultural society and expressly distances itself from nationalist ideas." Meanwhile, in another game against SV Waldhof Mannheim in April 2020, Türkgücü player Yi-Young Park reportedly told the referee that he had been repeatedly racially insulted from the spectator area.Mannheim was subsequently fined $2,900 by the German Football Association (DFB) for the behavior of its fans.Kothny admits that messages at those games are "not the most brutal thing that I've read on a banner. We get letters from people all around Germany here to our post box. We get emails which are brutal, which is really like far right things against the club." Despite the wider political landscape, Kothny says he is adamant that the club has to maintain its neutrality. "We try not to give those people a platform [...] because then they get exactly what they want and this is awareness. "We try to always give the answer on the pitch because this is what counts in sports. As soon as we move in one political direction, this will not turn out well for us." Integration The philosophy of Türkgücü's youth setup -- the club has five youth teams, which Zinsou oversees, emphasizes the teaching of life as much as soccer skills."This is a package for life, it's not only for football," says Zinsou, as he talks about Türkgücü's various youth teams. "When you talk about integration, it's always on both parts. I need to go one step further and people will do a step in my direction so that we meet somewhere in the middle." That message is one shared by Claudemir Jeronimo Barreto, known as Cacau, the Brazil-born former Germany international who played for Türkgücu, and was integration officer for the DFB until January.While working for the DFB, Cacau was active in supporting the organization's work with refugees. According to the DFB, a scheme the association set up enabled 60,000 refugees to play football competitively in German.In the summer of 2019, Cacau also traveled to Ostritz at the invitation of the local football club and worked alongside Michael Kretschmer -- Minister-President of the Free State of Saxony -- against a right-wing extremist rallyTosun is hoping that he too can deliver a lasting legacy for generations to come. "I want to be a role model with my mentality. I want to be a role model for younger players and want to help [them] achieve the same goal that I achieve," as he reflected on his career and the example he wants to set.John Sinnott contributed to this report

Story by Reuters

2022-03-14 14:58:36

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/africa/civilians-burned-alive-ethiopia-intl/index.html

Ethiopia pledges action after video shows uniformed men burning civilians alive - CNN

Ethiopia's government said on Saturday it would act against the perpetrators after a video appeared on social media showing armed men, some in military uniforms, burning civilians to death in the country's west.

africa, Ethiopia pledges action after video shows uniformed men burning civilians alive - CNN

Ethiopia pledges action after video shows uniformed men burning civilians alive

Nairobi (Reuters)Ethiopia's government said on Saturday it would act against the perpetrators after a video appeared on social media showing armed men, some in military uniforms, burning civilians to death in the country's west.The Ethiopia Government Communication Service said in a statement on its Facebook page that the incident occurred in the Ayisid Kebele of Metekel Zone in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, a site of frequent ethnic violence for more than a year in which hundreds of civilians have died."A horrific and inhumane act was recently committed... In a series of horrific images circulated on social media, innocent civilians were burned to death," the statement read.It did not say when the events took place or who was responsible. Tigrayan forces summarily executed dozens of civilians in Ethiopia's Amhara region, HRW says"Regardless of their origin or identity, the government will take legal action against those responsible for this gross and inhumane act."Read MoreReuters was not able to verify the time and location where the video was filmed or the actions it showed.In the video, some of the men in the crowd are wearing Ethiopian military uniforms as well as uniforms from other regional security forces.Military spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane and government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The violence in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, which is home to several ethnic groups, is separate from the war in the northern Tigray region that erupted in November 2020 between Ethiopian federal forces and rebellious forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Thomas Page, CNN

2022-03-09 09:01:37

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/africa/amazon-prime-video-nollywood-anthill-inkblot-spc-intl/index.html

Amazon's going to Nollywood -- and its deals with studios could shake up one of the world's most prolific filmmaking hubs - CNN

Amazon Prime Video has secured deals with Nigerian studios Inkblot Productions and Anthill Studios, which could shake up the local film industry.

africa, Amazon's going to Nollywood -- and its deals with studios could shake up one of the world's most prolific filmmaking hubs - CNN

Amazon's going to Nollywood -- and its deals with studios could shake up one of the world's most prolific filmmaking hubs

(CNN)In its hunt for content, Amazon Prime Video has turned to Nigeria, where it has secured key deals with studios that could shake up business in Africa's most prolific filmmaking hub.In recent months, the US giant has signed exclusive streaming agreements with Inkblot Productions and Anthill Studios -- which say the deals will fundamentally change the way they operate. Chinaza Onuzo, co-founder of Inkblot Productions, the studio behind domestic hits "The Wedding Party" and "Up North," told CNN Business the company has signed a three-year licensing deal running through to 2024. The deal will see Inkblot's upcoming releases move onto Amazon's platform after showing in cinemas. "This allows us to plan long-term," Onuzo says. Instead of film-by-film commissioning, the company is looking at possible intellectual property deals and franchise potential in Inkblot's existing titles. "It has given us the opportunity to broaden the genres that we explore (and) given us the opportunity to work with a with a wider mix of filmmakers and talents," he adds.Anthill Studios produces original features and animation, releasing titles including "Prophetess" and "Day of Destiny" (the latter a co-production with Inkblot). Its films will also appear on Prime Video after a theatrical window, in a multi-year agreement.Read More"We jumped at the deal," says founder and creative director Niyi Akinmolayan. "We've practically doubled the size of our budgets ... we've become a lot more ambitious with the kind of stories we want to tell."What the deals will do for studios and cinemasNigeria's film industry, nicknamed "Nollywood," produces thousands of movies every year and the country's entertainment and media market is projected to have double-digit growth between 2021 and 2025, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.Amazon's deal with Inkblot in December 2021 was the first of its kind to be struck between the streaming giant, which has 200 million subscribers, and an African studio. The Anthill deal followed a month later.Niyi Akinmolayan, founder of Anthill Studios, has directed some of Nollywood's highest-grossing films.Anthill's Akinmolayan, also a film director, says Amazon has been hands off so far. "They're not telling you the kind of films to make," he says. "They have zero input on creativity -- that's very appealing to any filmmaker."This is intentional, Amazon suggests. "We believe that if Nollywood filmmakers focus on telling compelling, authentic, hyper-local and universally accessible stories -- that are grounded in the rich history, lived experiences and culture of Nigeria -- those stories will travel and will engage audiences around the world," said Ayanna Lonian, director of content acquisition and head of worldwide major studio licensing strategy at Amazon Prime Video, in an email to CNN.Lonian says the aim is to both diversify Prime Video's offering to its global audience and make the platform a more appealing product for Nigerian audiences.Netflix first original series from Nigeria drops highly anticipated trailerAmazon does not share subscriber figures for individual countries. Akinmolayan believes the Nigerian diaspora will be the primary beneficiary of the new content, explaining that awareness of the subscription service in Nigeria was not high. "Very few people know that they can actually download the Amazon app and pay for it here," he says, "that's because Amazon hasn't fully unleashed a plan for (the service)."In the meantime, the deals could have an impact on domestic cinemas.Anthill's deal involves separate licenses for each film, the value of which is determined in part by the film's theatrical box office. This is an incentive to "build cinema culture," Akinmolayan argues."Even though it feels to a lot of people that (streaming) platforms are coming to kill cinemas, in this case they will probably do the reverse and actually encourage people to make more for cinema," he says.Nancy Isime in Inkblot Productions' 2021 film "Superstar."Onuzo says the share of box office for Nigerian films in domestic cinemas has risen in recent years, but foreign-made blockbusters still dominate receipts. He describes Inkblot's audience as "both discerning and forgiving," given the huge budget disparities between homegrown titles and foreign movies."You have to deliver entertainment that is on a commensurate scale to what Hollywood films are doing," he explains. "You can't meet the spectacle, but you can meet the truth: what it means to be a Nigerian; what it means for people to see themselves on screen ... That is something that, no matter what their budget is, (no) Hollywood title can compete (with)." That said, "when you're a Nigerian film and you're competing with a Marvel film, you can only pray," jokes Akinmolayan.The next chapterThe next stage of Prime Video's move into the African market is already underway. Lonian said discussions on developing and commissioning Amazon Originals -- series or films produced or co-produced by Amazon -- were taking place with producers and talent. "We attended the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in November to start really meaningful engagement with the production industry in Africa," she added. "Our message is that we're very much open for business."Akinmolayan behind the camera on a recent production.For Anthill and Inkblot, their immediate focus is on their upcoming slates. Onuzo says Inkblot has seven films in various stages from production, while Akinmolayan names crime drama "The Man for the Job," a romantic comedy, and an "X-Men"-style superhero movie among Anthill's future titles."We are very excited, because we feel that there's a significant opportunity for Nigerian and African filmmakers to fully engage with the world over the next three to five years," says Onuzo. "It's a good time to be an African content creator."

Opinion by Moky Makura

2022-03-03 16:39:39

news

opinions

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/opinions/racist-media-coverage-ukraine-africa-makura-lgs-intl/index.html

Opinion: Media coverage of Ukraine shows it's time to rethink what we know about Africa - CNN

As a Black, African woman without the benefit of blue eyes or blonde hair, it's been equally emotional to see the number of racist and ignorant comments in the coverage on Ukraine that have passed unchallenged by the interviewers and media platforms that have aired them.

opinions, Opinion: Media coverage of Ukraine shows it's time to rethink what we know about Africa - CNN

Media coverage of Ukraine shows it's time to rethink what we know about Africa

Moky Makura is the executive director of Africa No Filter a group working to shift stereotypical and harmful narratives within and about Africa through storytelling and community building. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN)"It's very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed." These were the words of Ukraine's Deputy Chief Prosecutor, David Sakvarelidze, during a recent BBC interview about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.It wasn't so much what he said, it was more what was implied; that not all lives have equal value. And that idea -- the belief that some races are superior to others -- is a fundamental principle of racism. It's alarming to me that Sakvarelidze was left unchallenged during his interview. As a Black, African woman without the benefit of blue eyes or blonde hair, it's been equally emotional to see the number of racist and ignorant comments in the coverage on Ukraine that have passed unchallenged by the interviewers and media platforms that have aired them. CBS, Aljazeera, France's BFM TV and ITV have all reported the invasion in ways that illustrate deep bias, informed by a belief system that screams of an old-world, White-led, order. ITV News correspondent Lucy Watson on ITV reporting back to the studio summed up the collective hypocrisy and underlying narrative that the Ukrainian war has exposed when she said: "The unthinkable has happened...this is not a developing, third-world nation; this is Europe!"We can't ignore the darker sides of global unity on war in UkraineAccording to the narrative she believes, "unthinkable things" happen only in "third world nations" (now an outdated and derogatory term, someone should tell her), and that narrative is perpetuated by the type of stories she and many like her, have heard about the continent. Read MoreIn Africa, it's the stories of conflict in Ethiopia, insurgency in Mozambique, election violence in Uganda, and the recent coups in Mali, Chad, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau. But it's clear that far too many are not paying attention to them because the people in these stories are not rich or from the Global North. It's the reason why the 'unthinkable things' that happen in places like Africa are typically reported in terms of issues, numbers and trends -- rather than the people, the emotions and the lives destroyed. In Africa our stories tend to offer simplistic analysis that lacks context and nuance, and prioritizes headline-grabbing proclamations, like this one from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about an "an epidemic of coup d'états" in response to the six coups in five out of 54 African countries over an 18-month period. These examples have shown us that global media is complicit in perpetuating racist narratives, by not encouraging diversity in its newsrooms and giving an unrestricted platform to reporters and influential spokespeople with implicit biases that are left unchallenged. But rather than dwelling on this, I want to share some of the facts that should make us all rethink the traditional and stereotypical ways we dismiss non-White, non-rich countries and their people. The traditional world order is undergoing a dramatic shift, driven by Covid-19, China, Russia, and movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter. The new world order is providing an opportunity for the world to rethink the little they know about the rest of the world. By 2050, Nigeria will overtake the United States as the world's third-most-populous country with a population of 400 million people. That's one reason enough to pay attention. Africa's population is growing rapidly and experts predict it will account for half the world's people growth in the next two decades. This means that more than a quarter of the world's population will be on just one continent -- Africa. The thought that the world will be overrun by Africans (no blue eyes or blonde hair here) will be an uncomfortable idea for some people, especially if they are unaware of the roughly 125,000 millionaires, 6,200 multimillionaires, 275 centimillionaires, and 22 billionaires that exist on the continent today. As the granddaughter and daughter of Jews who escaped Kyiv, I cannot remain silent nowIndeed, a report by the University of Southern California in 2019, highlighted how poorly Africa is depicted in the US. It also revealed that Americans seldom see mentions of Africa or Africans on TV entertainment shows or in the news. When they do, the portrayals are often negative and stereotyped. According to the report, most mentions of Africa (43%) appeared on national or local news and tended to be 'hard' news stories which often fed the stereotype. After politics (32%), crime received the most mentions (16%), while business and the economy accounted for just 8% of news coverage. Over 60 research papers, reports, books, academic journals that we analyzed from the year 2000 written on Africa in the media told us that poverty, conflict, corruption, disease and poor leadership were the five frames through which most stories are told about Africa. This persistent portrayal of a single story is the reason why over the years, Africans have fought back with hashtags like #TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou and #SomeoneTellCNN over a 2015 CNN report describing Kenya as a "hotbed of terror," for which it later amended. And organizations like Africa No Filter, which set out to shift stereotypical narratives about Africa, were created. It's the reason why the Twittersphere erupted recently when journalist Alan Macleod put together his greatest hits of racist coverage of the Ukraine invasion -- thank you, Alan! Contrary to what negative media portrayals might have you believe, Africa actually has some of the world's fastest-growing economies. For example, to most of the world, Rwanda is synonymous with its 1994 genocide. But with an average GDP growth predicted of 6.7 between 2021-2025, it is in the top five of the fastest-growing economies alongside India. Rwanda has been able to attract foreign direct investment and is one of the easiest places to do business in Africa (after Mauritius) according to a World Bank index. This means Rwanda and countries like Seychelles, Mauritius, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya are worth considering as potential destinations for investment, not just development dollars. 'He has decided to destroy the whole world': Six global voices on Putin's invasion of UkraineDon't ignore the data that shows that there are more than 400 companies that earn annual revenues of $1 billion or more in Africa, or that the second fastest-growing tourism market in the world is right here in Africa. It's also unlikely that many in the Global North will know any of this because it doesn't fit the narrative both have been fed about non-white, 'third world countries.'The fastest-growing developer community and tech start-up ecosystem in the world is in Africa. Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania are ranked in the top 20 Global Crypto Adoption Index. This means they have some of the highest grass-roots adoptions of cryptocurrencies in the world. In fact, Kenya has been ranked first in the world when it comes to peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions. Given all this digital activity, it is hardly surprising that Africa is one of the fastest-growing markets in terms of venture capital activities and financial technology. Africa is also regarded as the world's second-fastest-growing and profitable payments and banking market after Latin America, according to this McKinsey study.The reality is that much of what is happening in Africa today is unexpected. For example, six countries; Namibia, Cape Verde, Ghana, South Africa, Burkina Faso, and Botswana have a higher Press Freedom Index rating than the USA, according to Reporters Without Borders.But that doesn't fit the persistent image of a broken continent where nothing works, and where its sad, dependent people lack agency to make a change. The truth is there is new dynamic energy and entrepreneurial spirit on the continent which is a story that is largely untold, and its evidenced by the low esteem with which those in the Global North hold us. Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's newsletter.Join us on Twitter and FacebookIt's a story that is hidden because its heroes are neither White, nor do they hail from 'up there.' But from the way the world is evolving, that's not going to matter much anymore. Everyone, including the media covering the Ukraine invasion, should pay attention.

Zayn Nabbi, CNN

2022-03-03 08:44:21

sport

football

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/football/amilcar-djau-codjovi-ukraine-russia-spt-intl/index.html

Amilcar Djau Codjovi: Rising soccer star's harrowing escape from Ukraine - CNN

With sirens blaring and explosions in the distance, it suddenly dawned on a fearful 20-year-old soccer player that he was in the middle of a warzone.

football, Amilcar Djau Codjovi: Rising soccer star's harrowing escape from Ukraine - CNN

Amilcar Djau Codjovi: Rising soccer star's harrowing escape from Ukraine

(CNN)With sirens blaring and explosions in the distance, it suddenly dawned on a fearful 20-year-old soccer player that he was in the middle of a warzone.What Amilcar Djau Codjovi, who plays for Ukrainian soccer club Vorskla Poltava, didn't know was that he would spend the next two days frantically traveling the length and breadth of the country trying to find an escape route from Ukraine.In the end, his safe passage into Hungary was only secured after a call from the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković."February 22 was my birthday, and the very next night I heard gunshots," Djau Codjovi, who recently rounded out his teens, told CNN Sport."I told my team 'oh yeah those are fireworks' and then I went to sleep that night (February 23)," at the club's accommodation.Read MoreHis slumber was abruptly broken in the early hours of the following morning after the alarm sounded around the city of Poltava, central Ukraine. He checked his phone and saw five missed calls from his parents as the invasion became a reality.Oleksandr Usyk: 'My soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honor to my country,' says heavyweight champion after joining Ukrainian defense battalion"That's when I start panicking," said Djau Codjovi, who was born in Spain to parents from the Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau."I was like 'oh my days.' I opened my suitcase and put everything inside," he said."And then I went outside to see what's going on and all my teammates were saying they invaded Ukraine, it is actually happening."Earlier in February during a training camp in Turkey, Djau Codjovi said his parents, Amadeo and Sika Marie, as well as agent Soriebah Kajue, had pleaded with him not to go back to Ukraine with the drums of war beating louder.Djau Codjovi says Vorskla played down the threat or war -- describing them as Russian "propaganda" -- and assured the players that they had backup plans should they need to evacuate them at short notice. At the time, much of the world wasn't sure of Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions, even as he massed troops at the border.As a young player with hopes of breaking into the first team ahead of the Ukrainian Premier League's resumption on February 25, Djau Codjovi opted to return in pursuit of his soccer dream.That dream quickly turned into a nightmare.Amilcar Djau Codjovi had been playing for Vorskla Poltava in Ukraine prior to the Russian invasion. READ: Ukraine and Benfica star tears up after receiving standing ovation'Everyone for themselves'When the Russians started attacking Kharkiv, which is 160 kilometers away from Vorskla, Djau Codjovi says he was told by his coach Iurii Maksymov that he should wait at the club's accommodation while the player's travel plans were being arranged.But Djau Codjovi soon realized that he was on his own after he said some of his teammates, who were already plotting their way out, told him it was a case of "everyone for themselves."CNN has contacted Vorskla and Maksymov for comment on Djau Codjovi's version of events but did not get a response at the time of publishing.Loaded with water, chips and chocolate for the 1,500 kilometer journey, a group of 10 players and their families, including a toddler, hit the road unsure of what would await them.After initially deciding to drive to the Polish border, they were informed of long lines of traffic and waiting times, so the traveling party headed towards the Hungarian border.Petrol was scarce, the roads were full of potholes, and travel at night was challenging as explosions and gunfire could be heard.Then disaster struck when one of the cars had a flat tire.JUST WATCHEDUkrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina speaks out against Russian invasionReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHUkrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina speaks out against Russian invasion 03:21"We had to stop," Djau Codjovi said. "And then you could see the big tanks going past and I was scared, because I thought it was Russian troops.""It was like 5 a.m. and nobody was going to stop and help."In fact the tanks rolling by were the Ukrainian army, according to Djau Codjovi, but that did little to reassure him as he was concerned that Russian troops could open fire on them and his party would be caught in the crossfire.After a delay of several hours and finally organizing a spare wheel, they were back on the road, before a short pitstop to sleep and get their energy back.On day two of their journey, they boarded a minivan, optimistically heading to the Hungarian border where they would be dropped off.Freedom in sight"After driving 10 hours to the border, we get there. We are obviously happy that we are finally here, but we got there and they say, 'no, you can't go through walking, you need a vehicle," said Djau Codjovi, with frustration etched across his face."We were literally stranded outside in the cold, it was freezing. It's like a 20-second ride ... some people were actually bringing cars there and empty minivans but charging people ... $1,600 per person. At that point I just gave up."READ: Ukraine to send full delegation to 2022 Winter ParalympicsDjau-Codjovi managed to safely escape Ukraine via Hungary. When it seemed as if all hope was lost, help came from an unlikely source -- the Croatian Prime Minister Plenković."My Croatian teammate Ivan Pešić was calling his embassy, while we sat down and were just giving up," said Djau Codjovi."Then he called out to us -- 'come quick, come quick' -- so all the group we were together .... and the Prime Minister of Croatia, he called the embassy in Kyiv and they contacted the border and then they let us through."CNN has contacted the Croatian government and messaged Pešic on Instagram and on his email for further comment but didn't receive a reply at the time of publishing.Once in Hungary, Djau Codjovi contacted his family to let them know he was safe and enjoyed his first hot meal in days while in Budapest."It was just the best McDonalds I've ever had in my life. It tasted so nice," he said.Tennis star Elina Svitolina says all prize money she wins at Monterrey Open will go to Ukrainian armyHowever, that meal didn't compare to his mom's home cooking on his arrival in Manchester, England, when she made him his favorite Ivorian food four long days after he embarked on his great escape."I just felt good, but more for my family because I know my parents were not sleeping," he added.Djau Codjovi has since vowed he won't return to Ukraine."Even when the war finishes, I don't think football will be the same. To recover from a war doesn't take a couple of years, it takes a lot of time," he said.Djau Codjovi's hopes of playing in European competition for Vorskla Poltava might be over, but he's keen to restart his career in Spain or England -- given the opportunity.He was born in Spain and lived there for 15 years before his family relocated to England. He had trials with Premier League teams Liverpool and Aston Villa, before eventually joining Morecambe where he made the first-team bench several times as a 16-year-old, though he ultimately failed to earn a pro deal there.He joined Vorskla Poltava in the summer of 2020 but sustained a knee injury which meant he had to return to the UK for treatment. However, this season saw him break into the first team, making seven appearances before the winter break and scoring a memorable goal against Lviv.If his dream of being a top soccer player is deferred for now, the 20-year-old has plenty of time on his side. More importantly, he's alive.

Tom Page, CNN

2022-03-01 09:43:50

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/africa/opibus-kenya-electric-mobility-bus-motorcycle-car-spc-intl/index.html

Opibus: The mobility startup converting Kenya to electric vehicles - CNN

The Swedish-Kenyan company creating electric motorbikes, buses and 4x4s has attracted millions in investment from Africa to Silicon Valley, and attention from Uber.

africa, Opibus: The mobility startup converting Kenya to electric vehicles - CNN

Opibus: The mobility startup converting Kenya to electric vehicles

(CNN)A university research project that turns into a startup, which within a few short years partners with Uber and attracts millions of dollars of investment from around the world, including Silicon Valley. It's the stuff of entrepreneurial dreams, and yet that's what's happened to Opibus, a Swedish-Kenyan electric mobility company.Based in Nairobi, Opibus gives new life to old vehicles by converting them to run on electric motors. Beginning with 4x4s, the company's reach has since expanded into public transport with bus conversions. Meanwhile, its electric motorbikes, designed and manufactured in Kenya, have attracted the attention of the world's most famous ride-hailing app.This Nigerian tech startup is fighting baby jaundice with solar-powered cribs Opibus has roots as research by Linköping University students Filip Gardler, Mikael Gånge and Filip Lövström, whose project involved identifying places where electric mobility could have the largest possible impact. They pinpointed Kenya and established Opibus in 2017, starting their business by converting safari touring vehicles."We've always known the commercial potential (of electric conversion)," CEO Lövström says, adding it was easy to convince safari tour operators of the benefits of silent 4x4s that are driven on circular routes and return to the same recharging point.Read MoreSince then, Opibus has converted 4x4s for use in mining and other utility roles. The process is not cheap: prices start at just under $40,000 to convert a Toyota Land Cruiser and Land Rover, a 10-to-14-day process involving parts sourced from all over the world, says Lövström. But, he argues, the benefits outweigh the expense, and that much of the cost -- along with the carbon footprint of the conversion -- are recouped in the running of the electric vehicle (EV).Opibus say it has motorcycle pilots underway in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.Why Kenya is primed for electric vehiclesKenya, East Africa's largest economy and a country where over 90% of domestically-produced electricity comes from renewable sources, presents a strong platform for clean electric mobility. Internet blimps are coming to Zanzibar. But can a UK company succeed where Google failed? Fransua Vytautas Razvadauskas, mobility and cities senior consultant at market research company Euromonitor International, cites high prices as a barrier to entry, but so too infrastructure. "For the EV rollout to be successful (in Kenya), a large supply of charging units -- both public and private -- are needed to prevent range anxiety. This will, in turn, demand large investments in the upgrade of electricity distribution units, at homes and businesses," he explains.Using electric vehicles for public transport overcomes range anxiety and charging infrastructure issues to a degree. A bus operator knows how many miles it will travel in a day, what route and where it will stop, and charging units can be planned accordingly. Opibus began a pilot for its 51-seater electric bus in January. The company installed off-grid solar powered charging points to top up the bus' batteries.In January, Opibus began an electric bus pilot in Nairobi, installing off-grid solar power stations to charge its batteries (the company sells a range of off-grid solar modules and batteries -- a clean energy source but also indicative of Kenya's history of blackouts). The 51-passenger vehicle hasn't been tested commercially yet, but the company plans to do so later this year.Lövström believes that with a fast-growing population in sub-Saharan Africa and rapidly expanding cities, buses will be a vital part of the region's infrastructure. "We really think that electric buses are a huge part of how to create this transition to electric vehicles, and how to reduce emissions on both a city and global level," he says.Opibus plans to manufacture the bus for a Pan-African market in 2023. It also has competition. Another Kenya-based startup, BasiGo, has announced it plans to start its own electric bus pilot program in March.A revolution on two wheels?Opibus' motorcycle has a range of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) and a top speed of 90 kilometers per hour (56 miles per hour).Razvadauskas identifies the "largest opportunity" for EVs in East Africa as two- and three-wheeled vehicles, because they are cheaper and more popular than cars."In 2021, Kenya was home to 1.8 million motorcycles and mopeds compared with 1.2 million passenger cars -- a tendency that is analogous in other regional countries such as Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda," Razvadauskas says.Why Africa is sending more satellites into spaceOpibus is looking to corner the market through its Kenya-made electric motorbike.The company decided to design its model from scratch because no existing motorcycles matched local users' needs, says Lövström. "We need something that is very strong, very versatile, very robust, easy to repair and cheap at the same time," he explains."Almost 90% of the motorcycles are built and designed locally," says Lucy Mugala, a research and development engineer who helped create the motorbike. "(Electric vehicle manufacturing) is quite new in this county, so we are sort of pioneers." She says the motorcycle has evolved from having a single onboard battery to two removable batteries, which use a portable charger that can plug into any socket. In the near future, Mugala says docking stations packed with charged batteries could be a feature in cities, like today's petrol stations.The bike comes with a detachable battery (either single or dual) meaning fully-charged batteries can be swapped in in a matter of minutes.Prices start at $1,400 for the motorcycle, which has a range of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) and a top speed of 90 kilometers per hour (56 miles per hour). It enters a competitive market dominated by petrol motorcycles from Indian and Chinese manufacturers including Bajaj Auto and Haojun. Lövström concedes that Opibus' electric motorcycle is currently "a few hundred dollars more" than conventional motorcycles. In December, Opibus announced a strategic partnership with Uber as part of the ride-hailing company's aim to be fully electric by 2040. Opibus will supply 3,000 motorcycles this year and is working with a financing partner for Uber drivers to own the electric motorcycles for commercial use.The company has sold 150 units to date and plans to produce 12,000 motorcycles in 2023. Outside Kenya, Opibus has motorcycle trials with different partners in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. "Expanding to other markets is definitely going to be a plus for us," Mugala says, "but more so (is) bringing the cost of our electric motorbikes down as low as possible." Plans for expansionThe Swedish-Kenyan company received a $7.5 million round of investment in November 2021. CEO and co-founder Filip Lövström told CNN investment has come from all over the world, including Silicon Valley and the African continent.Opibus received significant backing in the form of a $7.5 million round of investment in November 2021. "This has really accelerated our mission to scale up production," Mugala says, with the company intending to expand its 100-strong staff and its manufacturing space to meet its growing output.Opibus has ambitions to establish regional hubs, but Kenya will continue as its base of operation -- a country where senior staff from Sweden have been living for around five years already. "We always knew that there were massive opportunities," says Lövström. "That is very hard to understand when you're not there. You need to be on the ground.""(Globally, there are) 150 to 200 million new vehicle sales per year, but we have 1.2 billion vehicles in the world already," he says of the opportunity electric retrofitting represents. "We need to do something if we are to reach our targets of having green electric fleets across the world."

Nimi Princewill, CNN

2022-02-22 15:49:03

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/africa/uganda-fines-anti-vaxxers-intl/index.html

Uganda's anti-vaxxers told to accept Covid shots or expect fines, jail time in proposed law - CNN

Uganda has proposed steep penalties for anti-vaxxers in a new bill being studied by parliament, as the country doubles down on its Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

africa, Uganda's anti-vaxxers told to accept Covid shots or expect fines, jail time in proposed law - CNN

Uganda's proposed new law will see anti-vaxxers face fines or six months in jail

(CNN)Uganda has proposed steep penalties for anti-vaxxers in a new bill being studied by parliament, as the country doubles down on its Covid-19 vaccine mandate.A parliamentary health committee said Tuesday it was considering proposed legislation to fine or imprison unvaccinated people in the East African country of around 45 million people."Parliament's Committee on Health has started the consideration of the Public Health (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that among other things seeks to ensure mandatory COVID-19 vaccination," the parliament said in a statement on its website."According to the proposal, those who do not get vaccinated against Covid-19 will be fined Shs 4 million (around $1,137) or a jail term of six months."Uganda has administered around 16 million Covid vaccines since it began inoculation against the virus in March last year. But the country has grappled with a series of lockdowns to manage the pandemic amid misinformation and hesitancy towards Covid vaccines by anti-vaxxers.Read MoreUganda reopened for business last month after two years of severe containment measures which had seen schools and trading activities shut down. Uganda reopens schools after world's longest Covid-19 shutdownMore than 15 million Ugandan students had their education disrupted by the two-year lockdowns, which the United Nations described as the longest disruption of educational institutions globally due to the Covid pandemic.Speaking to members of parliament on Monday, health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said the proposed fine of 4 million Ugandan shillings was an amendment to the current fine of 2,000 shillings ($0.57). Aceng added that the bill seeks to "protect the vulnerable" and "create mass immunity.""When we introduce new vaccines, we need to get a mass of people so we create mass immunity. It is important that whoever is supposed to be vaccinated, is vaccinated," Aceng was quoted in the parliament's statement.Uganda has recorded more than 163,000 cases of coronavirus and 3,500 deaths, according to government figures.The parliament said its health committee "has commenced interacting with different stakeholders to enrich the bill," but no timeline was given for its endorsement of the legislation.CNN has made attempts to reach the health committee and ministry spokesperson for comment.

Story by Reuters and CNN

2022-02-22 11:02:23

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/africa/blast-kills-60-burkina-faso-intl/index.html

Burkina Faso: About 60 killed in blast at informal gold mine - CNN

About 60 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Monday in an explosion at an informal gold mining site in southwest Burkina Faso, state television reported, citing local officials.

africa, Burkina Faso: About 60 killed in blast at informal gold mine - CNN

At least 60 people killed in blast at gold mine in Burkina Faso, state TV reports

About 60 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Monday in an explosion at an informal gold mining site in southwest Burkina Faso, state television reported, citing local officials.The cause of the explosion in Poni province was not yet known, Poni's high commissioner Antoine Douamba told state television.Images showed a large blast site of felled trees and destroyed tin houses. Bodies lay on the ground, covered in mats.It was not clear exactly what kind of gold mining went on at the site. Burkina Faso is home to some major gold mines run by international companies, but also to hundreds of smaller, informal sites that operate without oversight or regulation.Children frequently work in these so-called artisanal mines; accidents are common.How children were used in a 48-hour deadly rampage for goldRead MoreBurkina Faso, one of the world's least developed countries, is under attack from Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State who seek control of mining sites as a means to fund their violent attacks.An estimated 200 people were killed in attacks by a local militia in a deadly two-day rampage for gold in Solhan, in the country's northern Yagha province in June last year. A CNN investigation found that the killings were perpetrated by children -- some as young as 12. Monday's blast was hundreds of miles from where these groups usually operate and there was no sign that Islamist militants were involved.Burkina Faso loses up to 20 tons of gold, worth around $1 billion on the open market annually through informal mining and exports, officials told CNN.

Rebecca Cairns, CNN

2022-02-22 02:20:27

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/africa/nigeria-neonatal-jaundice-solar-power-crib-intl-hnk-spc/index.html

This Nigerian tech startup is fighting baby jaundice with solar-powered cribs - CNN

Virtue Oboro experienced every mother's worst nightmare when her newborn son was rushed into hospital for emergency treatment. He was diagnosed with severe jaundice -- and now, Oboro is on a mission to save babies and stop other families suffering.

africa, This Nigerian tech startup is fighting baby jaundice with solar-powered cribs - CNN

This Nigerian tech startup is fighting baby jaundice with solar-powered cribs

(CNN)In 2015, Virtue Oboro experienced every mother's worst nightmare: at just 48 hours old, her newborn son was rushed into hospital for emergency treatment.Her son, Tombra, was diagnosed with jaundice, a common condition affecting more than 60% of newborns worldwide. Many cases are mild and resolve on their own, but more serious cases require phototherapy, where babies are placed under blue light. It's a simple, effective treatment -- but in some places, including Oboro's home country of Nigeria, access to the necessary equipment isn't always possible. Not getting treatment can lead to irreversible health problems including hearing loss, vision impairment, brain damage and cerebral palsy. In rare cases, it can lead to death. Tombra's case was severe, but there were no phototherapy units available and the family waited four hours while his condition deteriorated. Eventually, he was given an emergency blood transfusion -- a risky surgery that bought valuable time until a phototherapy unit became available. Oboro says she had to buy the bulb herself, and power outages meant the unit was off for several hours during Tombra's seven-day treatment.Virtue Oboro, pictured, co-founded Tiny Hearts with her husband after their own traumatizing experience with neonatal jaundice.Read MoreDespite the many obstacles, her son, now six, made a full recovery. But Oboro says the experience was traumatizing -- and it inspired her to change careers. Driven by a new mission to save babies from jaundice, she created the Crib A'Glow: a portable, affordable, solar-powered phototherapy unit, which treats jaundice using blue LED lights. "I felt like some of the things (I experienced) could have been avoided, or the stress level could be reduced," she says. "I thought, is there something I could do to make the pain less for the babies and the mothers?"Power cuts and broken bulbsJaundice is caused by a build-up in the blood of bilirubin -- a yellow compound produced when red blood cells break down. Bilirubin is usually removed by the liver, but newborns' livers are often not developed enough to do this effectively. The blue light helps to make the bilirubin easier for the liver to break down. "One can find large numbers of obsolete or dysfunctional systems being applied at some of these centers (in Nigeria)."Hippolite Amadi, neonatal specialist Oboro's experience with power outages and broken equipment isn't uncommon in Nigeria, says Hippolite Amadi, a professor of bioengineering at Imperial College, London, who specializes in neonatal medicine and has worked with neonatal centers in Nigeria for over 20 years.Parents often have to travel long distances to get to a hospital, not all of which have phototherapy units and neonatal specialists, says Amadi. "One can find large numbers of obsolete or dysfunctional systems being applied at some of these centers," he says, adding that by his estimates, "less than 5% of all Nigerian facilities has sufficient functional phototherapy devices" to serve needy patients. Crib A'Glow is powered with solar energy and folds flat so it's easy to move.This increases the likelihood of a negative outcome: it has been reported that in low and middle income countries, infants are 27 times more likely to suffer from brain damage caused by jaundice, and 119 times more likely to die compared to high income nations. An affordable cureOboro founded her company Tiny Hearts in 2016, shortly after Tombra's recovery, and began developing the phototherapy cribs. As a visual designer, Oboro says she struggled with the medical technicalities. However, her husband had experience working with solar energy and was on hand to help. Oboro also worked with a pediatrician to make sure the device was safe and in line with current phototherapy guidelines. "I felt like some of the things (I experienced) could have been avoided, or the stress level could be reduced. I thought, is there something I could do to make the pain less for the babies and the mothers?"Virtue Oboro, founder, Tiny Hearts According to Amadi, one of the most effective phototherapy units currently used in Nigeria costs around $2,000, a steep sum for hospitals on a budget. But Crib A'Glow -- produced in Nigeria using local materials -- is able to save on added fees like import tax, and retails for $360 per unit. Additionally, because it's portable and solar powered, the device can be used at home by parents living in remote areas with limited or inconsistent access to electricity.Oboro and her team, including pediatricians and healthcare workers, are now developing protective eyewear for babies to use in the phototherapy units."Seeing devices coming out that will solve that problem is very exciting," says Amadi, adding that he would be interested in testing the technology in the practices he oversees. He says innovations like Crib A'Glow could be used in tandem with conventional phototherapy machines, allowing babies to begin jaundice treatment in a hospital and to finish at home. "Such technology needs to be supported and production scaled up to tackle neonatal conditions in Nigeria," he adds.An award-winning designThe Crib A'Glow innovation has received award grants including $50,000 from Johnson and Johnson's Africa Innovation Award. Most recently, the device was selected as a finalist for the Royal Academy of Engineering's Africa Prize 2022. Tiny Hearts isn't the only company trying to improve the treatment of neonatal jaundice. In the US, Little Sparrows Technologies has created the portable "BiliHut" which also uses high-intensity LEDs and allows for at-home treatment, while in India, D-Rev and Phoenix Medical Systems came up with a low-cost phototherapy light stand for emerging markets. "It was not an easy thing to get them to test the unit, because the perception was if it was made in Nigeria, it probably would not work well."Virtue Oboro, founder, Tiny Hearts While the Crib A'Glow might seem like an ingenious solution, Oboro says she has faced resistance from hospitals and medical professionals in Nigeria. "It was not an easy thing to get them to test the unit, because the perception was if it was made in Nigeria, it probably would not work well," she says. Despite these barriers, the cribs are already being used by more than 500 hospitals across Nigeria and Ghana, treating over 300,000 babies, says Oboro, and the company is hoping to expand into other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. She says a further 200,000 babies have been helped through their collaborations with rural health workers and education programs, teaching mothers about the symptoms of jaundice -- most commonly yellowing of the skin, whites of the eyes and mouth. Demand for the cribs has soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, says Oboro, as many parents wanted to avoid hospitals and look after their newborns at home. The team is working on protective eye wear, to blindfold babies safely during phototherapy. Oboro says she feels "lucky and grateful" that Tombra survived -- and now it's her mission to fight neonatal jaundice, and "save a hundred and one more babies."

Story by Reuters

2022-02-21 11:15:20

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/africa/airstrike-kills-children-niger-intl/index.html

Niger: Seven children killed in airstrike by Nigerian forces, official says - CNN

The Nigerian military has killed and wounded children in an airstrike in neighboring Niger, a local governor in Niger, state television and an aid agency said on Sunday, although Nigeria's armed forces said they were still investigating.

africa, Niger: Seven children killed in airstrike by Nigerian forces, official says - CNN

Seven children killed in airstrike by Nigerian forces in Niger, official says

Niamey, Niger (Reuters)The Nigerian military has killed and wounded children in an airstrike in neighboring Niger, a local governor in Niger, state television and an aid agency said on Sunday, although Nigeria's armed forces said they were still investigating.The attack took place in the village of Nachadé in the region of Maradi, Niger, on Friday, a few kilometers from the border with Nigeria, said Chaibou Aboubacar, the governor of Maradi. He said seven children were killed and five wounded.He did not say how he knew that Nigerian forces carried out the attack. Niger's state television also said it was carried out by Nigerian forces, without providing evidence.School fire kills at least 25 children in Niger"As a matter of policy, the Nigerian Air Force does not make any incursions into areas outside Nigeria's territorial boundaries. That's our policy," Major General Jimmy Akpor, Nigeria's Director of Defence Information, said. He said an investigation was underway.Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, which cared for some of the wounded, confirmed the strike. It said that 12 people died, including four children. Local inhabitants told MSF that Nigerian forces were pursuing targets who had fled a border town.Read MoreThe specific reason for the strike was not clear. It occurred in a region where banditry is common and where both governments fear that Islamist insurgents linked to Islamic State are gaining ground.

Nimi Princewill, CNN

2022-03-05 15:11:09

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/05/business/ukraine-war-hits-africa-lgs-cmd-intl/index.html

Higher food prices, slumping trade: How the war in Ukraine could hit Africa - CNN

As Russian troops tear through Ukraine, swathes of Africa are gearing up to bear the brunt of a potentially drawn-out conflict between the ex-Soviet republics — two of some of the continent's most cherished trading partners.

business, Higher food prices, slumping trade: How the war in Ukraine could hit Africa - CNN

Higher food prices and slumping trade. How the war in Ukraine could hit Africa

Abuja, Nigeria (CNN Business)As Russian troops tear through Ukraine, swathes of Africa are gearing up to bear the brunt of a potentially drawn-out conflict between the ex-Soviet republics — two of some of the continent's most cherished trading partners.African economists sound the alarm over a looming and likely catastrophic lowering of trade volumes between the continent and its warring partners if Russia's widely condemned incursion into Ukraine isn't short-lived.Russia and Ukraine are key players in the global agricultural trade, with both nations accounting for a quarter of the world's wheat exports, including at least 14 percent of corn exports in 2020, and a joint 58 percent of global sunflower oil exports in the same year, analysis show.Trade between African countries and the former Soviet neighbors, especially Russia, has flourished in recent years with Russian exports to the continent valued at $14 billion annually, and imports from Africa pegged at around $5 billion per year.Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) gestures as Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (L) and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (R) pose for a family photo with African countries leaders attending 2019 Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum in Sochi on October 24, 2019.But these gains are on the verge of eroding quickly, analysts worry, signaling a severe disruption in Africa's food conditions if Russia's military operation in Ukraine persists.Read More'Three months away from hunger'Parts of Africa could be plunged into hunger in as fast as three months if Russia's invasion of Ukraine lingers, says Wandile Sihlobo, the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa."In the short term, between now and three months, the conflict will affect food supply primarily from a pricing perspective," Sihlobo told CNN."As net importers of products like wheat, which influences bread and cereals, sunflower oil and maize, African countries are fairly exposed on some of these supplies that are coming out of Russia and Ukraine. There will be challenges if the war continues for more than three months — because ordinarily, countries usually keep stock of supplies for three to five months."Sihlobo explains that the Ukraine war also comes at a bad time for Africa given the current experience of a severe drought in its eastern subregion, which has taken a hit on food prices."Food prices are already high now. If the war stretches, there will be millions of Africans that will be in hunger. We are already expecting millions of people to be in hunger in the areas affected by the drought, so the ongoing conflict will worsen that," he said.Battle moves into Kyiv as Ukrainians fight to keep control of their capitalAfrica's biggest economies such as Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, and Kenya are major importers of Russia's agricultural exports, putting them at risk of further spikes in food prices if trade is disrupted.Sihlobo adds that sanctions targeted at Russia could also complicate Africa's exports."Africa exports fruits and vegetables to Russia and Ukraine. Seven percent of South Arica's citrus goes to Russia, 14 percent of South Africa's apples and pears goes to Russia. Egypt and Tunisia also export fruits and vegetables to Russia. The challenge with all of these countries is that with all of the sanctions that are placed on Russia by the US and European countries, it influences the financial services sector... even if the logistics will not be immediately affected, it will disrupt the payment system to all of the exporting countries to Russia," he told CNN.Development economist Ndumiso Hadebe agrees that "Africa is likely to see disturbances in the supply chains that pertain to goods and services that are exported and imported between Russia and Africa" as Russia is slammed with a barrage of sanctions by critics of its Ukraine invasion.Taking sides on the conflictHadebe tells CNN that Africa's largely muted response towards the Russia - Ukraine conflict may cave in for a more direct stance on parties involved in the war if fighting intensifies.Only a handful of governments on the continent have spoken out in the aftermath of the attacks, with the African Union urging Russia's respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."There will be significant pressure from a multilateral relations point of view as African countries may be forced to take a position on the conflict that is happening between Russia and Ukraine, and that may either adversely or positively affect the relationship between Africa and Russia going forward," Hadebe says.For Russian academic, Irina Filatova, taking sides won't benefit Africa."It won't be in Africa's benefit to take sides. I think that Africa can try to remain neutral," said Filatova, who specializes in Russian and African history.Beyond agriculture, Russia is expanding its influence in African states troubled with insurgency by providing alternative military solutions from those offered by its Western counterparts, which are often determined by human rights considerations.Russia has signed up to 20 military cooperation agreements in Africa, including deals with Nigeria and Ethiopia, two of Africa's most populous countries.Russian mercenaries have continually come under allegations of human rights infractions in the Central African Republic and other parts of Africa where they were contracted by regional governments to combat local rebels.'It was our children they killed'However, Russia has denied links to private military contractors such as the Wagner Group, which is accused of the abuses.Hadebe told CNN that arms trade is "one of the key features that have defined the trade relationship between Russia and Africa.""Russia is the largest exporter of weapons to sub-Saharan Africa in particular."Africa accounted for 18 percent of Russian arms exports between 2016 and 2020, according to data by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.According to Filatova, Russia's prospects of doubling down on its interests in Africa may be higher in the aftermath of the Ukraine war."Russia will be much more interested in maintaining relations with African countries than it was until now... It has already started to develop these relations but in the situation of the global isolation by the western world, it will definitely try to maintain relations with Africa," she told CNN.

Stephanie Busari and Shama Nasinde, CNN

2022-03-04 00:03:33

news

europe

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/europe/international-students-trapped-sumy-ukraine-lgs-intl/index.html

'Help us, we're stranded': International students say they're trapped in northeast Ukraine - CNN

Hundreds of international students trapped in the Ukrainian city of Sumy by Russia's invasion have appealed to the world: "Help us, we are stranded."

europe, 'Help us, we're stranded': International students say they're trapped in northeast Ukraine - CNN

'Help us, we're stranded': International students say they're trapped in northeast Ukraine

(CNN)Hundreds of international students trapped in the Ukrainian city of Sumy by Russia's invasion have appealed to the world: "Help us, we are stranded."Vivian Udenze, 21, a Nigerian medical student at Sumy State University told CNN: "This is the 8th day since the crisis began. A lot of places have been evacuated. There are more than 600 of us who are foreigners and students."She said most of the group are medical students, and they are from Nigeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Congo and India, among other countries.Sumy lies in the northeast of Ukraine, only around 30 miles from the border with Russia.As fierce battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces rage across the country, Udenze told CNN via phone that she woke up to two loud explosions around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, and heard gunshots on Thursday. "I am so scared and time is running out. "We don't want the Russians to enter the city and meet us here. We need a humanitarian corridor so we can get out," she said.Read MoreForeign students fleeing Ukraine say they face segregation, racism at borderAs the second round of talks between a delegation from Russia and Ukraine in Belarus ended Thursday, the head of Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky told Russian media the two sides have agreed on humanitarian corridors for civilians. Udenze later told CNN that more explosions were heard on Thursday evening at around 6 30 p.m local time. The students no longer have electricity or water following the blast, she said. Complicating the students' escape is the fact that there's no public transportation available in Sumy, which has come over heavy fire in recent days, leaving roads and bridges destroyed.'No one is talking about Sumy'Fifth-year medical student and Indian national, Shivangi Shibu shared a similar story Thursday. "We just heard some sirens. The situation is going to get worse very soon over here. We don't have any other options so we just have to run to bunkers," she told CNN over the phone."No one is talking about Sumy. I hope we will be evacuated soon because we don't want to be a casualty of this war. We don't deserve this," Shibu added."This is our second home but we still need our family. We need to see them. We don't want to be involved with this politics ... The [only] solution is ... to allow us to go via the Russian border because we cannot travel to any other destination." Later Thursday evening, Shibu shared video from her university hostel window of what she said was an air strike over Sumy. It shows a flash of stark light in the distance. "Electricity is gone," she wrote in the video's caption.Electricity is gone and A view from window of my hostel right now video captured at 6:30. Hope we evacuate before some big casualty #airstrike #sumyevacuationviaRussiaBorder #sumy @PMOIndia @DrSJaishankar @opganga @MEAIndia @chitraaum @BBCWorld @timesofindia pic.twitter.com/8XopSYdMpi— Shivangi shibu (@IndShivangi) March 3, 2022 Excel Ugochukwu is a first-year Business Management student. The student, who is from Nigeria, told CNN: "There were planes flying overhead and a loud explosion. We just lost electricity."He said the university has "asked everyone to stay put and in the shelters for now," but described a constant threat of danger that makes day-to-day life tense in the city."There is a curfew [from] 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. During curfew hours there are total blackouts. Street lights and lights inside the house are turned off," he told CNN."There are air strike warnings periodically and everyone moves to the bomb shelter," he added, before running to a nearby bomb shelter.In a video sent to CNN, another Nigerian student at the university, Nnamdi Chukwuemeka pleaded: "We are trying to bring the attention of the world to the plight of students here in Sumy. "Sumy is bordered by Russia, and as such, there is no way for us to escape. We want the international community to help provide a safe corridor for us to move out of Sumy. Things are getting serious," Chukwuemeka said.Udenze said she has not been able to reach any representatives of the Nigerian embassy.She told CNN: "People have tried to contact them ... I personally sent a message to someone there [but] I didn't get a reply."When contacted by CNN, Nigeria's foreign minister Geoffrey Onyeama said: "We are aware and are making arrangements."One million refugees flee Ukraine as Russia escalates bombardment of key citiesThe Indian embassy in Moscow said in a statement to CNN that it is "extremely concerned about the safety and security of Indian citizens stuck in (the) Kharkiv and Sumy regions" during the ongoing conflict. "We have requested both sides to ensure that the civilian areas where our students are located are kept safe," it continued. The embassy added that it is working closely with Russian authorities to see if those citizens could be brought back to India via Russia, and had sent teams to the Russian side of the border to prepare for their possible evacuation.

Stephanie Busari, Nimi Princewill, Shama Nasinde and Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN

2022-03-01 03:19:56

news

europe

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/europe/students-allege-racism-ukraine-cmd-intl/index.html

Indian and African students fleeing Ukraine say they face racism at border - CNN

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, foreign students attempting to leave the country say they are experiencing racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials.

europe, Indian and African students fleeing Ukraine say they face racism at border - CNN

Foreign students fleeing Ukraine say they face segregation, racism at border

(CNN)As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, foreign students attempting to leave the country say they are experiencing racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials. One African medical student told CNN that she and other foreigners were ordered off the public transit bus at a checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland border. They were told to stand aside as the bus drove off with only Ukrainian nationals on board, she says.Rachel Onyegbule, a Nigerian first-year medical student in Lviv was left stranded at the border town of Shehyni, some 400 miles from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.JUST WATCHEDShock and disbelief brings odd silence as women and children seek refuge in PolandReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHShock and disbelief brings odd silence as women and children seek refuge in Poland 03:01She told CNN: "More than 10 buses came and we were watching everyone leave. We thought after they took all the Ukrainians they would take us, but they told us we had to walk, that there were no more buses and told us to walk."Read More"My body was numb from the cold and we haven't slept in about 4 days now. Ukrainians have been prioritized over Africans -- men and women -- at every point. There's no need for us to ask why. We know why. I just want to get home," Onyegbule told CNN in a telephone call Sunday as she waited in line at the border to cross into Poland.Onyegbule says she eventually got her exit document stamped on Monday morning around 4.30 a.m. local time.University students, including many from Nigeria, fleeing from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, stow their luggage as they get on their transport bus near the Hungarian-Ukrainian border in the village of Tarpa in Hungary on February 28, 2022. Allegations of violenceSaakshi Ijantkar, a fourth-year medical student from India, also shared her ordeal with CNN Monday via a phone call from Lviv, western Ukraine."There are three checkposts we need to go through to get to the border. A lot of people are stranded there. They don't allow Indians to go through.CNN has been unable to confirm the identities or affiliations of the people who operated the checkpoints, but Ijantkar said they were all wearing uniforms.African nations condemn reports of racism against students at Ukrainian borderThey allow 30 Indians only after 500 Ukrainians get in. To get to this border you need to walk 4 to 5 kilometers from the first checkpoint to the second one. Ukrainians are given taxis and buses to travel, all other nationalities have to walk. They were very racist to Indians and other nationalities,'" the 22-year-old from Mumbai told CNN.She added that she witnessed violence from the guards to the students waiting at the Ukrainian side of the Shehyni-Medyka border.Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 are no longer allowed to leave the country, but that decree does not extend to men who are foreign nationals.JUST WATCHEDMom gave birth the day before Russia attacked. Now, she's stuck at the borderReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMom gave birth the day before Russia attacked. Now, she's stuck at the border 03:58Ijantkar says she saw Indian men were left in queues for long hours along with other non-Ukrainian nationalities."They were very cruel. The second checkpoint was the worst. When they opened the gate for you to cross to the Ukrainian border, you stay between the Ukraine and Poland, the Ukrainian army don't allow Indian men and boys to cross when you get there. They only allowed the Indian girls to get in. We had to literally cry and beg at their feet. After the Indian girls got in, the boys were beaten up. There was no reason for them to beat us with this cruelty," Ijantkar said."I saw an Egyptian man standing at the front with his hands on the rails, and because of that one guard pushed him with so much force and the man hit the fence, which is covered in spikes, and he lost consciousness," she said."We took him outside to give him CPR. They just didn't care and they were beating the students, they didn't give two hoots about us, only the Ukrainians," she added.CNN contacted the Ukrainian army in light of the allegations of violence, but did not immediately hear back. Freezing conditionsIjantkar said many of the students waited for at least a day, but she eventually turned back to Lviv because she was terrified, waiting in freezing temperatures with no food, water, or blankets."I saw people shaking so terribly in the cold, they were collapsing because of hypothermia. Some have frostbite and blisters. We couldn't get any help and (were) just standing for hours," she said.Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the Border Guard Service of Ukraine told CNN Monday that allegations of segregation at the borders are untrue and that the guards are working under enormous pressure at the borders -- but are working within the law."From the day when (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made an attack on Ukraine, the influx of people trying to leave Ukraine and the war zone has increased tremendously. If earlier, people trying to cross the border into the European Union and back amounted up to 50,000 (people) a day, now the amount doubled and continues to increase. There is huge pressure on checkpoints, on border guards.Kyiv hit with rockets targeting Holocaust memorial and TV tower hours after Russia threatened 'high-precision' strikes"In order to speed up the process and allow larger amounts of people to cross, the government has simplified the procedure of the border crossing as much as possible. Due to the increase in the volume of the individuals crossing, people have to stay in long queues. However, I can state that everything happens according to the law. There is absolutely no division by nation, citizenship, or class at the border," Demchenko said.Ukraine attracts many foreign students wanting to study medicine because it has a strong reputation for medical courses and tuition -- and other expenses are much lower than in programs in other Western nations.Another stranded student told CNN on Sunday that border staff on the Ukrainian side of the border were showing prejudice against foreign students."They are depriving the foreigners. They are being very racist with us at the border. They tell us that Ukrainian citizens have to pass first while telling foreigners to stay back," said Nneka Abigail, a 23-year-old medical student from Nigeria."It's very difficult at the moment for Nigerians and other foreigners to cross. The Ukrainian officials are allowing more Ukrainians to cross into Poland. For instance, around 200 to 300 Ukrainians can cross, and then only 10 foreigners or 5 will be allowed to cross... and the duration of time is too long. It's really hard.. they push us, kick us, insult us," Abigail said.Africans have been sharing their experiences online using the hashtag #AfricansinUkraine. Their stories have prompted an outcry and a number of crowdfunding appeals have been launched to try help those stranded in the country.People fleeing the violence in Ukraine are seen at the Medyka pedestrian border crossing in eastern Poland on February 27, 2022. One of those who shared their story online is Korrine Sky, a medical student from Zimbabwe who had been studying in Ukraine since September.She fled the country on Friday but, with the aid of two London-based friends, managed to raise more than £20,000 ($26,800) to help stranded Afro-Caribbean students."This situation we're in is a life-or-death situation. We need to make sure that all the African students cross the border successfully and safely," she said, speaking on Instagram Live from the Romanian side of the border on Sunday.Around 500,000 refugees from Ukraine have so far crossed to neighboring European countries, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said on Monday.Are home countries doing enough to help their citizens?Some of those CNN spoke to said they did not blame the Ukrainian authorities for prioritizing their citizens but rather their own governments for not making arrangements to assist them out of the country.The "Nigerian government is being their usual nonchalant self," Onyegbule said."There are many of us in Ukraine. They can't just leave us like this. It's so sad but we are used to the bad governance in Nigeria. It's very sad."Onyegbule acknowledged that there were Nigerian officials waiting to meet her and others once she crossed over into Poland."It would have been so helpful in Ukraine, we were looking for someone to speak on our behalf there."Nigeria's foreign affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama said on Twitter that Ukrainian authorities had assured him that there were no restrictions on foreigners wanting to leave Ukraine."Problem is the result of chaos on the border and checkpoints leading to them," he stated, adding that he is "personally coordinating with our missions in Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Romania and Hungary to ensure we get our citizens out of Ukraine and bring back to Nigeria those ready to return while supporting those who are remaining in Ukraine."Smoke billows over the town of Vasylkiv just outside Kyiv on February 27, 2022, after overnight Russian strikes hit an oil depot.CNN has contacted Onyeama for comment on allegations that the Nigerian government hasn't done enough to help its citizens leave Ukraine.A spokesperson for President Buhari, Garba Shehu, has urged that: "All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under UN convention and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference."Shehu added that there are some four thousand students in Ukraine from Nigeria mostly studying medicine.African nations on the UN Security Council Monday condemned discrimination against African citizens at the Ukrainian border during a UNSC meeting at the UN HQ in New York City."We strongly condemn this racism and believe that it is damaging to the spirit of solidarity that is so urgently needed today. The mistreatment of African peoples on Europe's borders needs to cease immediately, whether to the Africans fleeing Ukraine or to those crossing the Mediterranean," Kenyan Ambassador to the UN Martin Kimani said Monday.Onyegbule, the first-year medical student, said she was attracted to study in Ukraine because she was looking for a "safe and cheap option outside Nigeria.""Generally living in Ukraine has been peaceful, it's a beautiful country. Sometimes in the trams, people don't want to sit beside you and they stare at you but generally, the Ukrainians are nice people," she said.CNN's Mohamed Tawfeeq reported from Lviv in Ukraine

Laura Ly and Nimi Princewill, CNN

2022-03-01 14:55:10

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/africa/africa-condemns-racism-ukraine-intl/index.html

African nations on UN Security Council condemn racism at Ukrainian border - CNN

Representatives from the three African nations on the UN Security Council -- Kenya, Ghana, and Gabon -- all condemned reports of discrimination against African citizens at the Ukrainian border during a meeting at the UN HQ in New York City Monday.

africa, African nations on UN Security Council condemn racism at Ukrainian border - CNN

African nations condemn reports of racism against students at Ukrainian border

(CNN)Representatives from the three African nations on the UN Security Council -- Kenya, Ghana, and Gabon -- all condemned reports of discrimination against African citizens at the Ukrainian border during a meeting at the UN HQ in New York City Monday.There have been widespread reports from African students fleeing the country that they faced segregation, racism and abuse. "In the unfolding emergency, there have been disturbing reports about the racist treatment of Africans and people of African descent seeking to flee Ukraine to safety. The media is covering these appalling incidents and several states have confirmed that their citizens are suffering such treatment. We strongly condemn this racism and believe that it is damaging to the spirit of solidarity that is so urgently needed today. "The mistreatment of African peoples on Europe's borders needs to cease immediately, whether to the Africans fleeing Ukraine or to those crossing the Mediterranean," Kenyan Ambassador to the UN Martin Kimani said Monday.The African Union has said it is "disturbed" by the reports of segregation against Africans in Ukraine, which it described as "shockingly racist."Foreign students fleeing Ukraine say they face segregation, racism at border"Reports that Africans are singled out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be shockingly racist and in breach international law," a statement by the AU said Monday.The 54 member bloc urged countries to "show the same empathy and support to all people fleeing war notwithstanding their racial identity."Kimani added that the Security Council needs "to be able to understand that there are actors who want to magnify this story for cynical reasons that have nothing to do with the wellbeing and safety of Africans." He also thanked Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia for allowing Kenyan citizens fleeing Ukraine visa-free entry into their countries.  Ghanaian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Carolyn Oppong-Ntiri echoed the sentiment in her remarks, calling for the facilitation of persons fleeing Ukraine "without discrimination" and to provide them with humanitarian assistance, "including medical care in line with the principles of humanity, neutrality, and impartiality."Read MoreThe UN Ambassador from Gabon called reports of racism "unacceptable.""We ask for the respect of the dignity and for equitable treatment of all people in dire circumstances. It is an opportunity for my country to recall the African Union appeal for respect of international law that requires equal treatment for all people who cross international borders in conflict areas," Ambassador Michel Xavier Biang said Monday.Foreign students attempting to flee Ukraine after Russia invaded the country, told CNN that they experienced racial discrimination at the Ukrainian border.The fleeing students, comprising mainly Indian and African nationals, accused Ukrainian security forces and border officials of showing various forms of prejudice against foreign students. Ukrainian border authorities have denied these allegations.CNN's Pooja Salhotra contributed to this report.

Amy Woodyatt, CNN

2022-02-23 15:43:55

news

europe

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/23/europe/kenya-ukraine-russia-colonialism-intl/index.html

Kenya's UN ambassador slams Russia and compares Ukraine crisis to Africa's colonial past - CNN

Russia's recognition of two pro-Russian breakaway regions in Ukraine as "independent states" has been condemned by Kenya's ambassador to the UN, who used Africa's past to warn that clinging to the legacies of colonialism risked "new forms of domination and oppression."

europe, Kenya's UN ambassador slams Russia and compares Ukraine crisis to Africa's colonial past - CNN

Kenya's UN ambassador slams Russia and compares Ukraine crisis to Africa's colonial past

(CNN)Russia's recognition of two pro-Russian breakaway regions in Ukraine as "independent states" has been condemned by Kenya's ambassador to the UN, who used Africa's past to warn that clinging to the legacies of colonialism risked "new forms of domination and oppression."Russia sharply escalated its military campaign against Ukraine on Monday night, recognizing the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region before ordering troops into the territories."This situation echoes our history. Kenya and almost every African country was birthed by the ending of empire," Kenyan UN Ambassador Martin Kimani said in a speech at the UN Security Council on Monday. "Our borders were not of our own drawing. They were drawn in the distant colonial metropoles of London, Paris and Lisbon, with no regard for the ancient nations that they cleaved apart."The sanctions that could really hurt Russia Kenya, which had been under British rule since 1895, was named an official colony in 1920 and remained that way until it won independence in 1963."At independence, had we chosen to pursue states on the basis of ethnic, racial or religious homogeneity, we would still be waging bloody wars these many decades later," he said.Read More"Instead, we agreed that we would settle for the borders that we inherited, but we would still pursue continental political, economic and legal integration. Rather than form nations that looked ever backward into history with a dangerous nostalgia, we chose to look forward to a greatness none of our many nations and peoples had ever known."Kimani drew the comparisons in an address to the U.N. Security Council.He continued: "We believe that all states formed from empires that have collapsed or retreated have many peoples in them yearning for integration with peoples in neighboring states. This is normal and understandable. After all, who does not want to be joined to their brethren and to make common purpose with them?"However, Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression," he said. Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn aerial view of the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv on Monday, March 21 after a Russian shelling.Hide Caption 1 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian servicemen search through rubble inside the Retroville shopping mall in northwest Kyiv on March 21 after a Russian attack.Hide Caption 2 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople share dinner and sing "Happy Birthday" during a celebration at an artists' co-living studio space in Kyiv on March 20. The space has turned into a bomb shelter for approximately 25 artists from around Ukraine who are now volunteering to help the war effort. Hide Caption 3 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFormer Ukrainian Parliament member Tetiana Chornovol, now a service member and operator of an anti-tank guided missile system, on March 20 examines the Russian tank she destroyed in a recent battle on the front line in the Kyiv region.Hide Caption 4 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople gather in a basement used as a bomb shelter during an air raid in Lviv on March 19.Hide Caption 5 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian serviceman stands among debris after shelling in a residential area in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18. Hide Caption 6 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUS President Joe Biden holds a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in this photo that was released by the White House on March 18. Biden sought to use the 110-minute call to dissuade Xi from assisting Russia in its war on Ukraine.Hide Caption 7 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineStaff members attend to a child at the Zaporizhzhia Regional Children's Clinical Hospital on March 18. Children who have sustained severe injuries during the Russian invasion are treated at the hospital. Hide Caption 8 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian President Vladimir Putin attends a rally at a stadium in Moscow on March 18. Speaking from a stage in front of a banner that read "for a world without Nazism," Putin said Russia "will definitely implement all our plans" in Ukraine. He insisted that national unity was the strongest in a long time, even as many people flee Russia or protest against war in the streets. State workers were told by authorities to attend the celebration, which commemorated the eighth year of Russia's annexation of Crimea.Hide Caption 9 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineOn March 17, a woman reacts while speaking outside a destroyed apartment block in the southern port city of Mariupol. Hide Caption 10 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky receives a standing ovation as he virtually addresses the US Congress on Wednesday, March 16. The historic speech occurred as the United States is under pressure to provide more military assistance to the embattled country.Hide Caption 11 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn elderly woman is helped by policemen after she was rescued from an apartment that was hit by shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 15.Hide Caption 12 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFirefighters work to extinguish flames at an apartment building in Kyiv on March 15.Hide Caption 13 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMilitary cadets attend a funeral ceremony at a church in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 15. The funeral was for four of the Ukrainian servicemen who were killed during an airstrike on the Yavoriv military base near the Polish border. Local authorities say 35 people were killed.Hide Caption 14 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman walks past a damaged window to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial for victims of the recent shelling in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, on March 15.Hide Caption 15 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFirefighters search a building for survivors after an attack in Kharkiv on Monday, March 14. At least one dead body was pulled from the rubble after hours of digging.Hide Caption 16 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers take cover from incoming artillery fire in Irpin, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 13.Hide Caption 17 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier surveys a destroyed government building in Kharkiv on March 13.Hide Caption 18 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA mother and son rest in Lviv, Ukraine, while waiting to board a train to Poland on March 12.Hide Caption 19 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn explosion is seen at an apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 11. The city in southeastern Ukraine has been besieged by Russian forces.Hide Caption 20 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMariana Vishegirskaya's husband, Yuri, holds their newborn daughter, Veronika, at a hospital in Mariupol on March 11. Vishegirskaya survived the maternity hospital bombing in the city earlier in the week.Hide Caption 21 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople pay their respects during a funeral service for three Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv on March 11. Senior Soldier Andrii Stefanyshyn, 39; Senior Lt. Taras Didukh, 25; and Sgt. Dmytro Kabakov, 58, were laid to rest at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church. Even in this sacred space, the sounds of war intruded: an air raid siren audible under the sound of prayer and weeping. Yet no one stirred. Residents are now inured to the near-daily warnings of an air attack.Hide Caption 22 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gives a news conference after meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya, Turkey, on March 10. Two weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lavrov falsely claimed that his country "did not attack" its neighbor.Hide Caption 23 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA resident takes shelter in a basement in Irpin on March 10. Due to heavy fighting, Irpin has been without heat, water or electricity for several days.Hide Caption 24 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineEmergency workers carry an injured pregnant woman outside of a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9. The woman and her baby later died, a surgeon who was treating her confirmed. The attack came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in hostilities to allow refugees to evacuate.Hide Caption 25 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian servicemen work inside the damaged maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9. "The destruction is enormous," the city council said. "The building of the medical facility where the children were treated recently is completely destroyed."Hide Caption 26 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineDead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol on March 9. With overflowing morgues and repeated shelling, the city has been unable to hold proper burials.Hide Caption 27 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineCars drive past a destroyed Russian tank as civilians leave Irpin on March 9. A Ukrainian official said lines of vehicles stretched for miles as people tried to escape fighting in districts to the north and northwest of Kyiv.Hide Caption 28 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA displaced Ukrainian mother embraces her child while waiting at the Przemysl railway station in Poland on March 8.Hide Caption 29 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian serviceman walks past the remains of a Russian aircraft lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv on March 8.Hide Caption 30 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is displayed on a screen as he addresses British lawmakers via video on March 8. "We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost," he said in his comments translated by an interpreter. The House of Commons gave Zelensky a standing ovation at the end of his address.Hide Caption 31 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA firefighter works to extinguish flames after a chemical warehouse was reportedly hit by Russian shelling near Kalynivka, Ukraine, on March 8.Hide Caption 32 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAlexandra, 12, holds her 6-year-old sister, Esyea, who cries as she waves at her mother, Irina, on March 7. The children were leaving Odesa, Ukraine.Hide Caption 33 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMembers of the Red Cross help people fleeing the Kyiv suburb of Irpin on March 7.Hide Caption 34 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe dead bodies of civilians killed while trying to flee are covered by sheets in Irpin on March 6. CNN determined they were killed in a Russian military strike.Hide Caption 35 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineCivilians seek protection in a basement bomb shelter in Kyiv on March 6.Hide Caption 36 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineLocal residents help clear the rubble of a home that was destroyed by a suspected Russian airstrike in Markhalivka, Ukraine, on March 5.Hide Caption 37 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineGeorge Keburia says goodbye to his wife and children as they board a train in Odesa on March 5. They were heading to Lviv.Hide Caption 38 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA statue is covered in Lviv on March 5. Residents wrapped statues in protective sheets to try to safeguard historic monuments across the city.Hide Caption 39 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee across the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 5.Hide Caption 40 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMarina Yatsko runs behind her boyfriend, Fedor, as they arrive at the hospital with her 18-month-old son, Kirill, who was wounded by shelling in Mariupol on March 4. Medical workers frantically tried to save the boy's life, but he didn't survive.Hide Caption 41 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople remove personal belongings from a burning house after shelling in Irpin on March 4.Hide Caption 42 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineOksana and her son Dmytro stand over the open casket of her husband, Volodymyr Nezhenets, during his funeral in Kyiv on March 4. According to the Washington Post, he was a member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, which is comprised mostly of volunteers.Hide Caption 43 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople crowd on a platform as they try to board a westbound train in Kyiv on March 4.Hide Caption 44 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA bullet-ridden bus is seen after an ambush in Kyiv on March 4.Hide Caption 45 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople take shelter on the floor of a hospital during shelling in Mariupol on March 4.Hide Caption 46 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of the Ukrainian military gives instructions to civilians in Irpin on March 4. They were about to board an evacuation train headed to Kyiv.Hide Caption 47 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSurveillance camera footage shows a flare landing at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, during shelling on March 4. Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces have "occupied" the power plant.Hide Caption 48 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian child rests on a bed at a temporary refugee center in Záhony, Hungary, on March 4.Hide Caption 49 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA residential building destroyed by shelling is seen in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on March 3. Russian forces have shown a "willingness to hit civilian infrastructure on purpose," a senior US defense official told reporters.Hide Caption 50 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineLeos Leonid recovers at a hospital in Kyiv on March 3. The 64-year-old survived being crushed when an armored vehicle drove over his car. Video of the incident was widely shared on social media.Hide Caption 51 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier carries a baby across a destroyed bridge on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 52 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineResidents react in front of a burning building after shelling in Kharkiv on March 3.Hide Caption 53 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier who says he was shot three times in the opening days of the invasion sits on a hospital bed in Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 54 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople form a human chain to transfer supplies into Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 55 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA cemetery worker digs graves for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 56 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA mother cares for her two infant sons in the underground shelter of a maternity hospital in Kyiv on March 3. She gave birth a day earlier, and she and her husband haven't yet decided on names for the twins.Hide Caption 57 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces sits with a weapon in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 58 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineParamedics treat an elderly woman wounded by shelling before transferring her to a hospital in Mariupol on March 2.Hide Caption 59 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineResidents of Zhytomyr, Ukraine, work in the remains of a residential building on March 2. The building was destroyed by shelling.Hide Caption 60 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman reads a story to children while they take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 61 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces inspects damage in the backyard of a house in Gorenka on March 2.Hide Caption 62 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian woman takes her children over the border in Siret, Romania, on March 2. Many Ukrainians are fleeing the country at a pace that could turn into "Europe's largest refugee crisis this century," the United Nations Refugee Agency said.Hide Caption 63 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMilitia members set up anti-tank barricades in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 64 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait at a train station in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 65 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 66 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky poses for a picture in a Kyiv bunker after an exclusive interview with CNN and Reuters on March 1. Zelensky said that as long as Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian cities continued, little progress could be made in talks between the two nations. "It's important to stop bombing people, and then we can move on and sit at the negotiation table," he said.Hide Caption 67 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn explosion is seen at a TV tower in Kyiv on March 1. Russian forces fired rockets near the tower and struck a Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv hours after warning of "high-precision" strikes on other facilities linked to Ukrainian security agencies.Hide Caption 68 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers attend Mass at an Orthodox monastery in Kyiv on March 1.Hide Caption 69 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMedical workers show a mother her newborn after she gave birth at a maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 1. The hospital is now also used as a medical ward and bomb shelter.Hide Caption 70 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn administrative building is seen in Kharkiv after Russian shelling on March 1. Russian forces have scaled up their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.Hide Caption 71 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian emergency workers carry a body of a victim following shelling that hit the City Hall building in Kharkiv on March 1.Hide Caption 72 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman named Helen comforts her 8-year-old daughter, Polina, in the bomb shelter of a Kyiv children's hospital on March 1. The girl was at the hospital being treated for encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.Hide Caption 73 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian refugees try to stay warm at the Medyka border crossing in Poland on March 1.Hide Caption 74 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineVolunteers in Kyiv sign up to join Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces on February 28.Hide Caption 75 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of the Territorial Defense Forces loads rifle magazines in Kyiv on February 28.Hide Caption 76 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineDelegations from Russia and Ukraine hold talks in Belarus on February 28. Both sides discussed a potential "ceasefire and the end of combat actions on the territory of Ukraine," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak told reporters. Without going into detail, Podolyak said that both sides would return to their capitals for consultations over whether to implement a number of "decisions."Hide Caption 77 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian forces order a man to the ground on February 28 as they increased security measures amid Russian attacks in Kyiv.Hide Caption 78 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA displaced Ukrainian cradles her child at a temporary shelter set up inside a gymnasium in Beregsurány, Hungary, on February 28.Hide Caption 79 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian infantry mobility vehicles are destroyed after fighting in Kharkiv on February 28. A residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was hit by a rocket attack, according to Ukrainian officials and multiple social media videos geolocated by CNN. A civilian was killed and 31 people were wounded, the city's council said. Hide Caption 80 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe lifeless body of a 6-year-old girl, who according to the Associated Press was killed by Russian shelling in a residential area, lies on a medical cart at a hospital in Mariupol on February 27. The girl, whose name was not immediately known, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.Hide Caption 81 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke billows over the Ukrainian city of Vasylkiv, just outside Kyiv on February 27. A fire at an oil storage area was seen raging at the Vasylkiv Air Base.Hide Caption 82 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait on a platform inside the railway station in Lviv on February 27. Thousands of people at Lviv's main train station attempted to board trains that would take them out of Ukraine.Hide Caption 83 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Russian armored vehicle burns after fighting in Kharkiv on February 27. Street fighting broke out as Russian troops entered Ukraine's second-largest city, and residents were urged to stay in shelters and not travel.Hide Caption 84 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineLocal residents prepare Molotov cocktails in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, on February 27.Hide Caption 85 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineCars line up on the road outside Mostyska, Ukraine, as people attempt to flee to Poland on February 27.Hide Caption 86 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian troops in Kyiv escort a prisoner February 27 who they suspected of being a Russian agent.Hide Caption 87 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian forces patrol mostly empty streets in Kyiv on February 27. Mayor Vitali Klitschko extended a citywide curfew.Hide Caption 88 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members take position at the Vasylkiv Air Base near Kyiv on February 27.Hide Caption 89 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman sleeps on chairs February 27 in the underground parking lot of a Kyiv hotel that has been turned into a bomb shelter.Hide Caption 90 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA damaged residential building is seen in Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 91 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv run for cover during shelling on February 26. Hide Caption 92 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn apartment building in Kyiv is seen after it was damaged by shelling on February 26. The outer walls of several apartment units appeared to be blown out entirely, with the interiors blackened and debris hanging loose. Hide Caption 93 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv take cover as an air-raid siren sounds February 26 near an apartment building that was damaged by shelling.Hide Caption 94 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA police vehicle patrols the streets of Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 95 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian troops inspect a site following a Russian airstrike in Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 96 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFollowing a national directive to help complicate the invading Russian Army's attempts to navigate, a road worker removes signs near Pisarivka, Ukraine, on February 26.Hide Caption 97 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA man kneels in front of a Russian tank in Bakhmach, Ukraine, on February 26 as Ukrainian citizens attempted to stop the tank from moving forward. The dramatic scene was captured on video, and CNN confirmed its authenticity. The moment drew comparisons to the iconic "Tank Man" of Tiananmen Square.Hide Caption 98 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv board a train heading to the west of the country on February 26. Kelly Clements, the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, told CNN that more than 120,000 people had left Ukraine while 850,000 were internally displaced.Hide Caption 99 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members look for and collect unexploded shells after fighting in Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 100 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke and flames are seen near Kyiv on February 26. Explosions were seen and heard in parts of the capital as Ukrainians battled to hold back advancing Russian troops.Hide Caption 101 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe body of a Russian soldier lies next to a Russian vehicle outside Kharkiv on February 25.Hide Caption 102 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman weeps in her car after crossing the border from Ukraine into Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania, on February 25.Hide Caption 103 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier sits injured from crossfire inside Kyiv on February 25.Hide Caption 104 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA child from Ukraine sleeps in a tent at a humanitarian center in Palanca, Moldova, on February 25.Hide Caption 105 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA firefighter walks between the ruins of a downed aircraft in Kyiv on February 25. Hide Caption 106 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineNewly married couple Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin pose for photo in Kyiv on February 25 after they joined the Territorial Defense Forces.Hide Caption 107 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMembers of the Ukrainian National Guard take positions in central Kyiv on February 25.Hide Caption 108 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople walk past a residential building in Kyiv that was hit in an alleged Russian airstrike on February 25.Hide Caption 109 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe body of a school employee, who according to locals was killed in recent shelling, lies in the separatist-controlled town of Horlivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 25.Hide Caption 110 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineKyiv residents take shelter in an underground parking garage on February 25.Hide Caption 111 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineIn this handout photo from the Ukrainian government, firefighters respond to the scene of a residential building on fire in Kyiv on February 25. Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said the city had been hit by "cruise or ballistic missiles."Hide Caption 112 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA wounded woman stands outside a hospital after an attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv, outside of Kharkiv, on February 24.Hide Caption 113 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe body of a rocket remains in an apartment after shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv on February 24.Hide Caption 114 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA boy plays with his tablet in a public basement used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 115 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA man mourns after an airstrike reportedly hit an apartment complex in Chuhuiv on February 24.Hide Caption 116 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSviatoslav Fursin, left, and Yaryna Arieva kneel during their wedding ceremony at the St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv on February 24. They had planned on getting married in May, but they rushed to tie the knot due to the attacks by Russian forces. "We maybe can die, and we just wanted to be together before all of that," Arieva said.Hide Caption 117 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members sit atop armored vehicles driving in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 24.Hide Caption 118 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv try to board a bus to travel west toward Poland on February 24.Hide Caption 119 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUS President Joe Biden arrives in the East Room of the White House to address the Russian invasion on February 24. "Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences," Biden said, laying out a set of measures that will "impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time."Hide Caption 120 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke rises from a military airport in Chuhuiv on February 24. Airports were also hit in Boryspil, Kharkiv, Ozerne, Kulbakino, Kramatorsk and Chornobaivka.Hide Caption 121 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople seek shelter inside a subway station in Kharkiv on February 24.Hide Caption 122 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian military vehicles are seen at the Chernobyl power plant near Pripyat, Ukraine, on February 24. Russian forces have seized control of the the plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, according to the agency that manages the area.Hide Caption 123 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait after boarding a bus to leave Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 124 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Zelensky holds an emergency meeting in Kyiv on February 24. In a video address, Zelensky announced that he was introducing martial law. He urged people to remain calm.Hide Caption 125 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePolice officers inspect the remains of a missile that landed in Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 126 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA staff member of a Kyiv hotel talks on the phone on February 24.Hide Caption 127 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke rises from an air defense base after an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol on February 24. A CNN team in Mariupol reported hearing a barrage of artillery.Hide Caption 128 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait in line to buy train tickets at the central station in Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 129 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA long line of cars is seen exiting Kyiv on February 24. Heavy traffic appeared to be heading west, away from where explosions were heard early in the morning.Hide Caption 130 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA photo provided by the Ukrainian President's office appears to show an explosion in Kyiv early on February 24.Hide Caption 131 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Moscow watch a televised address by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he announces a military operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on February 24. "Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history," he said.Hide Caption 132 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is held in New York to discuss the crisis on February 23. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop "attacking Ukraine" and to give peace a chance.Hide Caption 133 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA convoy of Russian military vehicles is seen February 23 in the Rostov region of Russia, which runs along Ukraine's eastern border.Hide Caption 134 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers talk in a shelter at the front line near Svitlodarsk, Ukraine, on February 23.Hide Caption 135 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke rises from a damaged power plant in Shchastya that Ukrainian authorities say was hit by shelling on February 22.Hide Caption 136 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA damaged house is worked on after shelling near the Ukrainian front-line city of Novoluhanske on February 22.Hide Caption 137 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMourners gather at a church in Kyiv on February 22 for the funeral of Ukrainian Army Capt. Anton Sydorov. The Ukrainian military said he was killed by a shrapnel wound on February 19 after several rounds of artillery fire were directed at Ukrainian positions near Myronivske.Hide Caption 138 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers pay their respects during Sydorov's funeral in Kyiv on February 22.Hide Caption 139 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA sign displays conversion rates at a currency exchange kiosk in Kyiv on February 22. Global markets tumbled the day after Putin ordered troops into parts of eastern Ukraine.Hide Caption 140 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian howitzers are loaded onto train cars near Taganrog, Russia, on February 22.Hide Caption 141 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople who left a separatist-held region in eastern Ukraine watch an address by Putin from their hotel room in Taganrog, Russia, on February 21. Putin blasted Kyiv's growing security ties with the West, and in lengthy remarks about the history of the USSR and the formation of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, he appeared to cast doubt on Ukraine's right to self-determination.Hide Caption 142 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePutin signs decrees recognizing the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic in a ceremony in Moscow on February 21. Earlier in the day, the heads of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics requested the Kremlin leader recognize their independence and sovereignty. Members of Putin's Security Council supported the initiative in a meeting earlier in the day.Hide Caption 143 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineProtesters demanding economic sanctions against Russia stand outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv on February 21. Only a small number of protesters showed up to demonstrate.Hide Caption 144 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineActivists hold a performance in front of the Russian embassy in Kyiv on February 21 in support of prisoners who were arrested in Crimea. They say the red doors are a symbol of the doors that were kicked in to search and arrest Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic minority.Hide Caption 145 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian servicemen shop in the front-line town of Avdiivka, Ukraine, on February 21.Hide Caption 146 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople lay flowers at the Motherland Monument in Kyiv on February 21.Hide Caption 147 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA local resident shows the depth of a crater from shelling in a field behind his house in the village of Tamarchuk, Ukraine, on February 20.Hide Caption 148 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members are seen along the front line outside of Popasna, Ukraine, on February 20. Hide Caption 149 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople evacuated from the pro-Russian separatist regions of Ukraine are seen at a temporary shelter in Taganrog, Russia, on February 20.Hide Caption 150 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAnastasia Manha lulls her 2-month-old son Mykyta after alleged shelling by separatists forces in Novohnativka, Ukraine, on February 20. Hide Caption 151 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier stays on position on the front line near Novohnativka on February 20. Hide Caption 152 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA couple arrives at the city council to get married in Odesa on February 20. As Ukrainian authorities reported further ceasefire violations and top Western officials warned about an impending conflict, life went on in other parts of the country.Hide Caption 153 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy, left, visits soldiers at a front-line position in Novoluhanske on February 19. Minutes after he left, the position came under fire. No one was injured.Hide Caption 154 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman rests in a car near a border checkpoint in Avilo-Uspenka, Russia, on February 19.Hide Caption 155 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian service member walks by a building on February 19 that was hit by mortar fire in the front-line village of Krymske, Ukraine.Hide Caption 156 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFighter jets fly over Belarus during a joint military exercise the country held with Russia on February 19.Hide Caption 157 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers stand guard at a military command center in Novoluhanske on February 19.Hide Caption 158 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople sit on a bus in Donetsk on February 18 after they were ordered to evacuate to Russia by pro-Russian separatists.Hide Caption 159 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe remains of a military vehicle are seen in a parking lot outside a government building following an explosion in Donetsk on February 18. Ukrainian and US officials said the vehicle explosion was a staged attack designed to stoke tensions in eastern Ukraine.Hide Caption 160 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA memorial service and candlelight vigil is held at the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv on February 18. They honored those who died in 2014 while protesting against the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader who later fled the country.Hide Caption 161 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA kindergarten that officials say was damaged by shelling is seen in Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukraine, on February 17. No lives were lost, but it was a stark reminder of the stakes for people living near the front lines that separate Ukrainian government forces from Russian-backed separatists.Hide Caption 162 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineChildren play on old Soviet tanks in front of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv on February 16.Hide Caption 163 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAmbassadors of European countries lay roses at the Wall of Remembrance in Kyiv on February 16. The wall contains the names and photographs of military members who have died since the conflict with Russian-backed separatists began in 2014.Hide Caption 164 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUS troops walk on the tarmac at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland on February 16. US paratroopers landed in Poland as part of a deployment of several thousand sent to bolster NATO's eastern flank in response to tensions with Russia.Hide Caption 165 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA 200-meter-long Ukrainian flag is unfolded at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on February 16 to mark a "Day of Unity," an impromptu celebration declared by President Volodymyr Zelensky.Hide Caption 166 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineTravelers wait in line to check in to their departing flights February 15 at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv. US President Joe Biden urged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country, warning that "things could go crazy quickly" in the region.Hide Caption 167 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA location of Oschadbank, a state-owned bank, is seen in Kyiv on February 15. The websites of Oschadbank and PrivatBank, the country's two largest banks, were hit by cyberattacks that day, as were the websites of Ukraine's defense ministry and army, according to Ukrainian government agencies.Hide Caption 168 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman and child walk underneath a military monument in Senkivka, Ukraine, on February 14. It's on the outskirts of the Three Sisters border crossing between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.Hide Caption 169 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members talk at a front-line position in eastern Ukraine on February 14. Hide Caption 170 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMembers of Ukraine's National Guard look out a window as they ride a bus through the capital of Kyiv on February 14.Hide Caption 171 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSatellite images taken on February 13 by Maxar Technologies revealed that dozens of helicopters had appeared at a previously vacant airbase in Russian-occupied Crimea.Hide Caption 172 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePro-Russian separatists observe the movement of Ukrainian troops from trenches in Ukraine's Donbas area on February 11.Hide Caption 173 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members unpack Javelin anti-tank missiles that were delivered to Kyiv on February 10 as part of a US military support package for Ukraine.Hide Caption 174 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members walk on an armored fighting vehicle during a training exercise in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 10.Hide Caption 175 of 175The Kremlin's decree recognizing the DPR and LPR, followed by the decision to deploy what it calls "peacekeeping" troops in the area, represents a sharp escalation in a long-running conflict.For almost eight years the breakaway enclaves have been the site of a low-intensity war between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces which has left more than 14,000 people dead.But Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to send forces into the separatist-held areas has raised fears of a broader war in Ukraine, and triggered a tranche of sanctions from Western governments.Moscow had long maintained that it had no soldiers on the ground in eastern Ukraine.Tamara Qiblawi, Nathan Hodge, Tim Lister, Ivana Kottasová and Cai Pigliucci contributed reporting.

Hamilton Wende and Niamh Kennedy, CNN

2021-12-22 20:36:20

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/22/africa/south-africa-omicron-peak-intl/index.html

South Africa has passed its Omicron outbreak peak, says top scientific researcher - CNN

South Africa has passed the peak of its Omicron outbreak, according to one of the country's top scientific researchers.

africa, South Africa has passed its Omicron outbreak peak, says top scientific researcher - CNN

South Africa has passed its Omicron outbreak peak, top researcher says

(CNN)South Africa has passed the peak of its Omicron outbreak, according to one of the country's top scientific researchers. The country has "surpassed the peak of the Omicron wave now, driven by the significant decline in the populous province and epicenter: Gauteng," Ridhwaan Suliman, senior researcher at the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), told CNN on Wednesday.This was echoed by one of the country's top scientists, Michelle Groome of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), who told a media briefing earlier Wednesday that all indications show "that we've surpassed the peak of infections in Gauteng." There was a 20.8% decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases detected in South Africa as of December 18, according to the NICD's epidemiology brief published Wednesday. Most other provinces in the country have also passed their peaks, Suliman said.Read MoreNICD data shows a 23% decrease in recorded cases in North West Province over the past week (now at 40.3 cases per 100,000 people). In Limpopo Province there was a 14% decrease in recorded cases over the last week, and in Mpumalanga Province, a 6% decrease, according to the NICD data.The news comes as the Omicron variant continues to take a grip of many countries around the world, including in the United States, where the variant has now been detected in every state. Meanwhile, countries across Europe are reintroducing Covid restrictions to battle this latest wave, driven by the new variant.Dr. Angelique Coetzee, national chair of the South African Medical Association and one of the first doctors to treat patients with Omicron, told CNN's New Day program on Monday that South Africa was "over the curve," highlighting that Gauteng province's numbers were "much lower."Suliman characterized the country's fourth wave as a "steeper wave," that was "significantly shorter" than those prior, saying in a tweet that it took "about half the number of days to reach the peak compared with previous waves in South Africa."Has Omicron canceled the holidays?According to Suliman, although test positivity remains "still high at 29.8%," the fact the figure is decreasing confirms "the decline in infections is real and not a testing artifact."And although there may be a "slight increase in deaths," the figure will be "substantially lower" than that experienced with the Delta variant, South African vaccinologist Shabir Mahdi also told CNN on Wednesday.Hospitalizations and deaths from this wave have proven to be "significantly lower relative to that experienced in previous waves," Suliman said.South African scientists were the first to identify the Omicron variant last month, helping to raise the alarm to the rest of the world.Correction: This story incorrectly stated when South African scientists first identified Omicron. It has been updated.

Analysis by Remi Adekoya, for CNN

2021-09-12 12:14:45

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/12/africa/africa-coups-resurgence-intl-cmd/index.html

Why are coups making a comeback in Africa? - CNN

In just over a year, Africa has experienced three successful coups (two in Mali and one more recently in Guinea), one unsuccessful coup attempt in Niger, and an arbitrary military transfer of power in Chad following the assassination of its president.

africa, Why are coups making a comeback in Africa? - CNN

Why are coups making a comeback in Africa?

Remi Adekoya is a political analyst and Associate Lecturer at York University. (CNN)In just over a year, Africa has experienced three successful coups (two in Mali and one more recently in Guinea), one unsuccessful coup attempt in Niger, and an arbitrary military transfer of power in Chad following the assassination of its president. These power grabs threaten a reversal of the democratization process Africa has undergone in the past two decades and a return to the era of coups as the norm. According to one study, sub-Saharan Africa experienced 80 successful coups and 108 failed coup attempts between 1956 and 2001, an average of four a year. This figure halved in the period from then till 2019 as most African nations turned to democracy, only for it to once again be on the ascendance. Why?Different decade, same problemsIn the early postcolonial decades when coups were rampant, Africa's coup leaders virtually always offered the same reasons for toppling governments: corruption, mismanagement, poverty. Read MoreThe leader of Guinea's recent coup, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, echoed these justifications, citing "poverty and endemic corruption" as reasons for overthrowing 83 year old president Alpha Conde. The soldiers who led a coup in neighbouring Mali last year claimed "theft" and "bad governance" prompted their actions. Likewise, the Sudanese and Zimbabwean generals who toppled Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and Robert Mugabe in 2017 respectively, deployed similar arguments. Guinean military officer says President Alpha Conde arrested, as apparent coup unfoldsWhile well-worn, these justifications still resonate with many Africans today for the simple reason they continue to accurately depict the reality of their countries. Furthermore, in many countries, people feel these problems are worsening. The research network Afrobarometer conducted surveys across 19 African countries which showed 6 in 10 respondents saying corruption is increasing in their country (the figure was 63% in Guinea) while 2 in 3 say their governments are doing a poor job fighting it. Furthermore, 72% believe ordinary citizens "risk retaliation or other negative consequences" if they report corruption to authorities, a sign Africans believe their public institutions are not just partakers in, but active defenders of, corrupt systems. When it comes to poverty, an already tragic situation has been worsened by the battering Africa's fragile economies took from the coronavirus pandemic. One in three people are now unemployed in Nigeria, West Africa's largest economy. The same goes for South Africa, the most industrialized African nation. It is now estimated the number of extremely poor people in sub-Saharan Africa has crossed the 500 million mark, half the population. This in the youngest continent in the world with a median age of 20 and a faster-growing population than anywhere else, further intensifying an already fierce competition for resources. These conditions create fertile conditions for coups and for increasingly desperate young Africans who have lost patience with their corrupt leaders to welcome coupists promising radical change, as was witnessed on the streets of Guinea following the takeover, with some elated Guineans even kissing the soldiers. But as with the coups of the 1970s these scenes of joy will likely be shortlived, says Joseph Sany, Vice President of the Africa Center at the United States Institute of Peace. "The initial reaction of what you see on the streets will be of joy, but very soon, people will be demanding action... and I'm not sure the military will be able to deliver on the expectations, basic service delivery, more freedoms," he says.Threat to democratic gains What is clear is that these coups pose a serious threat to the democratic gains African countries have made in recent decades. Worryingly, research shows that many Africans are increasingly ceasing to believe elections can deliver the leaders they want. Surveys conducted across 19 African countries in 2019/20 showed just 4 in 10 respondents (42%) now believe elections work well to ensure "MPs reflect voters' views" and to "enable voters remove non-performing leaders." In other words, less than half believe elections guarantee representativeness and accountability, key ingredients of functional democracies. Across 11 countries polled regularly since 2008, the belief elections enable voters remove non-performing leaders has dropped by 11% points among citizens, according to the survey. It is not that Africans no longer want to choose their leaders via elections, it is simply that many now believe their political systems are gamed. Leaders like the deposed Conde are part of the problem. The only reason he was still in power until the coup was because he engineered constitutional changes in 2020 to enable himself serve a third-term as president, a common practise by several leaders on the continent, from Uganda's Yoweri Museveni to Alassane Ouattara in Côte d'Ivoire. Mali's President resigns after he was arrested in a military coupThe African Union is rightly condemning Guinea's coup, but its response to such constitutional abuses has been muted. These double standards and perceived elite conspiracies create the perfect environment for young swashbuckling officers like the 41-year-old Doumbouya to step in and promise to save the day. "If the people are crushed by their elites, it is up to the army to give the people their freedom," said Guinea's new leader, quoting the former Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings who himself led two coupsIt is perhaps no coincidence Doumbouya quoted the feisty Rawlings, who was very effective at expressing the anger Ghanaians felt towards their political elites when he led military juntas in the 1980s. Desperate citizens living in political systems they often rightly believe are fixed can easily be seduced by anti-elite, anti-corruption rhetoric coupled with the promise of the new. We should, unfortunately, prepare ourselves for the eventuality of more coups in Africa in the coming years. They are not to be expected in richer countries with strong institutions such as South Africa, Ghana or Botswana but in the poorer more fragile states. As are Mali, Niger, Chad and now Guinea where coups and coup attempts have recently occurred. Fifteen of the twenty countries topping the 2021 Fragile States Index are in Africa, including countries like Cameroon, Central African Republic, Somalia and South Sudan as well as larger nations like Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia (which has been experiencing violent internal conflict for close to a year now) and Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.Men are marched out of prison camps. Then corpses float down the riverThis increasing probability of coups will make Africa in general less predictable and stable, a negative for investors that could end up worsening the economic situation. Can this undesirable trend be reversed? Yes, but while the international condemnations of coups in Guinea and elsewhere are crucial as deterrents to other would-be power grabbers, the only actors who truly have the power to reverse this worrying trend are African leaders themselves. They are the ones in charge on the ground and it is their response to these recent events that will be the deciding factor. They need to reignite the belief democracy can deliver for Africans. But if the problems still being cited to justify coups continue to worsen in today's African democracies, then the temptation to try something else will continue to be dangerously seductive, both for coupists and citizens alike.

Saskya Vandoorne, Adama Koné, Nick Paton Walsh, Dalal Mawad and Jo Shelley, CNN

2021-12-21 06:02:31

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/21/africa/solhan-burkina-faso-massacre-intl-cmd/index.html

Solhan, Burkina Faso: How children were used in a 48-hour deadly rampage for gold - CNN

The men were shot as they slept outside, having spent their days underground, choking in the Sahel dust, digging and panning for gold.

africa, Solhan, Burkina Faso: How children were used in a 48-hour deadly rampage for gold - CNN

How children were used in a 48-hour deadly rampage for gold

(CNN)The men were shot as they slept outside, having spent their days underground, choking in the Sahel dust, digging and panning for gold. They were killed by children -- some apparently as young as 12 -- and men who had arrived on dozens of motorbikes and were egged on in their murderous spree by women who knew the village well, according to witnesses. The local militia had left. The army came to the rescue for a matter of hours in the morning but then left before dusk, letting the attackers return the following night to burn the village down and most likely steal what gold it had. In the end, somewhere between 170 and 200 people died, according to estimates by a local police source and other officials, and it still remains unclear who the killers were. The massacre in Solhan, northern Burkina Faso, took place over two nights of extraordinary brutality in June 2021. The killings soon faded from international headlines, absorbed into the rhythms of persistent violence in the Sahel region, an arid stretch of land sandwiched by the Sahara Desert and the African savannah, and wracked by the climate emergency. In the lawless and remote communities of the Sahel, jihadists increasingly hold sway. Yet one likely culprit in this incident, al Qaeda's local affiliate JNIM, condemned the attack's brutality. And the other main suspect, ISIS, chose to blame it on al Qaeda, according to an ISIS-affiliated newspaper. Read MoreDozens of interviews by CNN with survivors, local witnesses and Burkina Faso officials paint the most complete and disturbing narrative yet of a rampage perpetrated over 48 hours, partially by children, that the US-backed and trained Burkina Faso military was powerless to stop. Yet few officials or witnesses agree on a coherent and consistent motive for the attack. Were the child attackers sent for Solhan's gold, as currency for their Islamist masters? Was it a punishment killing ordered by jihadists against villagers loyal to the government? The story of Solhan is a notable mark in the patina of brutality spreading across the Sahel. The intervention -- and now ongoing drawdown -- of the French military, the arrival of European Union forces, and the Pentagon's sustained support mean billions have been spent in attempts to bolster the local security forces. Yet violence has spiraled instead, particularly in Burkina Faso over recent years. The crisis in some of sub-Saharan Africa's poorest states presents an imminent threat to Europe's security, and by extension the United States, analysts say, in providing a secure and spacious breeding ground for terror networks. US officials have described the "wildfire of terrorism" in the Sahel, with al Qaeda and ISIS "on the march" in West Africa, aiming to "carve out a new caliphate."Illicit gold has emerged as a key source of funding for jihadist groups, who have been seizing so-called "informal mines" -- small-scale mining sites which rely largely on physical labor and basic technology to extract precious metals and minerals -- in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger since 2016, according to a Crisis Group report from 2019. In this file photo taken in February 2020, miners work at a gold mine in Bouda, Burkina Faso. A growing number of small-scale gold miners are out of work in Burkina Faso as jihadists try to seize control of the country's most lucrative industry.Bachir Ismael Ouédraogo, Burkina Faso's minister of energy and mines, told CNN the country lost 20 tons of gold through informal mining and exports every year, worth roughly $1 billion on the open market. Ouédraogo describes it as a "war economy," a system that uses well-coordinated routes across the African continent. "The gold you end up buying is financing terrorism, and affecting our families here," he added.The first night: MassacreTrapped in the arid plains around 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of the capital Ouagadougou, Solhan's gold is the village's only asset, and its curse. Satellite images of the village show the damage that informal mining has done to the terracotta soil -- the charred grey tailings and spoil from the intense activity of men who spend so many hours digging underground that they must sleep outdoors to recover. A satelite view of the site of the attack on Solhan in Burkina Faso.A local government-backed militia called the VDP (a French acronym meaning Volunteers for the Defense of the Country) provides some security. Yet on the night of June 4, Solhan was left mostly defenseless.More than 100 jihadists, on dozens of tricycles and motorbikes, had been spotted 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Solhan that afternoon, according to Boureima Ly, the emir of the local region of Yagha. The army was warned of a possible attack, but it was unclear if it would target Solhan or nearby Sebba -- according to Aly Bokoum, an activist with the Sahel Regional Youth Council in Burkina Faso -- so the local unit chose to stay in Sebba, where it is based. The VDP in Solhan also contacted the army about the threat but were told to leave the village, according to Bokoum. There were women who came and instructed the children on who to kill.A police sourceCNN has made multiple attempts to contact Burkina Faso's army for comment.Gold appeared to set the attackers' priorities. Mines at Mousiga, a tiny settlement to Solhan's east, were hit first, according to a mining official and a miner who were present. Many of the survivors, witnesses and officials requested anonymity for their safety."Their faces were hidden with scarves," the miner said of the assailants. "There were many of them on bikes and they started shooting. I started running for my life -- for 30 kilometers, all night, to safety." This miner said he did not see children among this group and two other officials denied the involvement of children at the Mousiga mines. The distant gunfire from Mousiga was misinterpreted by the Solhan miners, who "thought it was the army coming" on a routine patrol and so "stayed next to their wells," said the mining official. The attackers then hit a VDP base on the road into the village, before moving on to their main target.On entering Solhan, the convoy of children, women and likely some men split. One group turned left towards the mines. Another drove calmly into the center of the village. A local shop in Solhan was completely destroyed in the attack. The first shots in Solhan, heard by witnesses at 2:08 a.m., were at the mines, the police source said. "The gold-diggers were first ... ambushed ... killed at random," he said, while describing the typical night-time scene. "Most of the [miners] sleep outside, on site. They can't sleep indoors, and they don't go home either. Usually only a few of them get into the well late at night, and most come out because of the heat."One miner said some victims were shot dead as they slept outside and others were slaughtered as they worked, trapped underground. "All [the attackers] found outside were people sleeping," he said. "That's what made it possible for them to massacre them like that." Another miner said: "People started coming out of the pits and running ... running for our lives." He added that others hid inside the 30-foot-deep wells.We saw the light from the bullets all over the place. It was only God who saved us, otherwise they were going to exterminate us all.A survivor of the attackThe mining official described how a large gun was positioned beneath a nearby tree for use in the attack. "Many ran away, but when you run, you're going to be seen and they shoot," he said, adding that some miners survived by hiding in the pits until 8 a.m. "The first person who went down to the site [the following day] called me, and said the bodies were lying like fish," the official said. Several witnesses and officials told CNN that the attackers had in-depth knowledge of Solhan's layout. "These are people who take the time to study their target," confirmed the police source, who said witnesses mentioned distinctly hearing women's voices among the attackers. "They indicated to 'go to into this guy's house, do this and that,' and told children to 'go here and there,' that they couldn't let one person leave," the source said.Local activist Abdou Hoeffi, from the human rights group Burkina Faso Movement for Human and People's Rights (MBDHP), said the women played a cheerleading role with the child assailants, with shouts of: "You are a good shooter! You go!"One witness, who said his parents were killed in the attack, told CNN in Solhan: "They came with women and little children holding guns. Francois, a shopkeeper, he was taken away, my friend. If it was a man, they killed him -- a boy, they kidnapped him. A little one like that," he said, gesturing the embrace of an infant in his arms, "who was breastfeeding [was taken away]. His mother lost her mind."The road leading into Solhan. The attackers arrived on motorbikes, according to eyewitnesses.One Solhan woman, her bright blue dress glistening as she sifted grains through a sieve, described surviving the night: "They destroyed everything ... I fled into my house with my child on my back ... I couldn't sleep all night. We saw the light from the bullets all over the place ... It was only God who saved us, otherwise they were going to exterminate us all."Another witness said he and his wife were in bed with their 5-day-old baby when they heard the gunfire. "Three terrorists passed by my house, in front of me, talking. They did not stop. I could see the bullets raining down everywhere in the night." The witness, a former security guard for the local cellphone antenna, said the attackers disabled the phone mast that night and removed its battery, cutting the village off from the outside world and a chance of help.The attackers left at dawn, and the same witness said that the villagers started to venture outside again by 5 a.m. "I couldn't count the number of corpses that were on the side of the road," he recalled. "Everywhere you go, there are bodies lying around."The mine was also an apocalyptic scene. "We found that everyone died at the well. I made up to eight trips with a motorcycle cab to carry corpses," said another survivor." The mining official added that "everyone was loaded on and off the motorbikes like bags of grain."The area around the mine at Solhan was left damaged.Then the army finally arrived. One miner told CNN the attackers depended on the military's slow reaction when launching their assault. "This is Burkina Faso. There is no fast response," the miner said. "If they knew that in 30 or 40 minutes the army would come, they wouldn't [attack]. But they took all their time." When the military did arrive, there was little to do but bury the dead, he said. "They dug a big hole. There was no other solution." The ex-phone antenna guard said the security forces asked villagers "to go back home and lock the door, and to not hide any terrorists."Six bodies were found at this location after the attack on Solhan in June 2021.Two officials said the militants' convoy did not really leave at first light but instead relocated to a hideout in the brush, and waited. The mining official specified a remote border area where he believed they had hidden. The police source said it was not clear if they met leaders there for further instructions, or just waited for the cover of night.Some of the villagers who remained in Solhan tried to flee, said the police source. "They didn't know if it was over or not," he said. The hospital in the nearest city, Dori, was "overwhelmed," he said. But it was unclear if the attackers were finished with Solhan. At dusk, the answer came.The second night: Destruction"I heard the sound of their motorcycles and said, 'Ah, they are [here] again,'" one witness said. "I went back to my yard, turned off the lights in my house, took my mat, took my blanket." He said he left for another village -- traveling on foot with a group of Solhan's children, elderly residents and pregnant women. But the convoy's focus was different this time: They wanted to eradicate or loot all that remained. "They started to burn. They entered the houses," said one survivor. "At the stores, they took clothes, drinks, money, put them in their vehicles.""They came back, they found four motorcycles at our place," another survivor said. "They burned everything. They burned all our houses, until even the sheet metal was gone. They took rice, sugar, oil and boxes of other things."Showing a cameraman around what remained of his home, the survivor gestured to the devastation -- the walls black with soot, apart from a patch where the TV was fixed before it too was looted. "The grenade went through the wall and went to the other side," he said, pointing at a missing patch of plaster. "The whole roof is gone."The mining official said 80 sheep were also slaughtered in the violence. Young men who survived the onslaught sought medication for the psychological trauma in nearby Dori, he added. "They were given pills or injections, because they say they couldn't close their eyes, because they could still see the dead bodies."Video filmed in July shows the charred village clinic -- the hospital beds and consultation room beyond use. Shops and homes were incinerated, and rows of buildings left collapsed or with only their metal gates remaining. Motorcycles were torched. Even the mining machinery used to break rocks was half-smashed, yet in the video some of it still hummed around the mines that remained functioning. Shell casings still lay on the ground. The scale of destruction -- fueled, it seemed, by something more nihilistic than just looting -- surprised some officials. Shell casings were found at the site of the attack in Solhan.Since June, officials, experts and survivors have been seeking to understand more about the massacre. The government, facing protests in Dori over its inaction and security failings, blamed jihadists. Government spokesperson Ousseni Tamboura told Radio France Internationale that two suspects had been detained before the attack and the arrests had led officials to link it to a little-known group called Mujahed al Qaeda, which is connected to the al Qaeda affiliate JNIM. Tamboura said gold was also a motivating factor. In the immediate aftermath, the government fired some security personnel and declared three days of national mourning.Tamboura told CNN in November the government believes al Qaeda affiliate JNIM was behind the massacre. He put the death toll at 132, which includes attackers killed in the incident, and fatalities from a neighboring attack. Tamboura declined to comment on the army's absence in Solhan that night, and said that the Burkina Faso military followed all protocols set between them and the US as a condition for aid. The spokesman added that the jihadi groups were fueled by hunger to control resources, not by ideology.A French military intelligence official, who didn't want to be named discussing sensitive information, agreed that jihadists were likely responsible, saying the massacre was likely committed by a group "in the process of being formed," linked to JNIM. The official said attacks against the general population, as indiscriminate as those on Solhan, were more the hallmark of ISIS, however.Display of violenceBeds inside the local health clinic were burnt. The display of violence has once again highlighted the rapid deterioration of social structures and security in the Sahel region. A US intelligence official said: "There is absolutely a continued need for Western involvement and engagement to address the expansion of the al Qaeda- and ISIS-based groups in the area and not give them complete freedom of movement -- as well as to build [the] capability [and] capacity of African partners."The US official added that the crisis seemed to be fueled by local partnerships between jihadists and not an influx of ISIS fighters from the collapse of the former ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria. They said that they have not noticed a broad trend of ISIS fighters moving from the Middle East to the Sahel area, with the exception of one or two persons of interest. The official said the main concern was how ISIS affiliates across Africa were able to share tactics and build each other's capabilities. "Whether it's physical facilitation capabilities from a group like ISIS Somalia with more skilled fighters [or] better media coordination from other groups, and being able to rapidly disseminate those capabilities more widely ... it is hugely concerning," they explained. "You could take a group that is probably not very effective and make them very effective quickly, if they're able to leverage some of that skill set."In Burkina Faso and its Sahel neighbors Mali and Niger, armed Islamist groups have killed more than 800 civilians in attacks during 2021 alone, according to Human Rights Watch. Three days of mourning was declared in Burkina Faso after an August attack in the village of Gorgadji, about 50 kilometers west of Dori, where militants killed 80 people, reported Agence France-Presse. Fourteen soldiers were reportedly ambushed and killed in October near Yirgou, also in the north, the site of a similar attack that killed 15 police in June, according to Reuters. Gunmen killed dozens of people in another massacre in Yirgou in 2019, according to Amnesty International.People protest on June 22, 2019 in front of the Ouagadougou courthouse to demand "truth and justice" for the victims of a terrorist attack in Yirgou that left 49 dead.This rise in violence has occurred despite the US's enduring, low-profile military mission in Burkina Faso, which pumped in tens of millions of dollars in aid during 2018-19.Dozens of advisers are reported to mentor elements of the country's military, while a US embassy factsheet said the US has trained and equipped 3,000 soldiers and gendarmes. Yet significant swathes of Burkina Faso's volatile north remain outside of the government's control. Long-running accusations of abuses by the military have also complicated its relationship with its key military backers, specifically France and the US.Human rights organizations also face difficulties in Burkina Faso. The government suspended the operations of the Norwegian Refugee Council in September after the humanitarian group noted the country's speed at registering displaced people. For the police source, however, the massacre at Solhan was particularly methodical and unparalleled in its brutality. "These are people who take the time to study their target," he said. "It is painful to see a woman instructing a child to kill such and such. Painful."And for the survivors, the initial absence of the army, as well as its departure as night fell, are indications of the dark place they live in. "If the [army] are not with the people, how is that possible?," one survivor said. "As soon as the army left, [the attackers] came again. This is a strange country. It's a strange country."

Kevin Dotson, CNN

2022-02-06 22:40:58

sport

football

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/06/football/senegal-africa-cup-of-nations-egypt/index.html

AFCON: Senegal beats Egypt to win Africa Cup of Nations trophy - CNN

Senegal defeated Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations championship match on Sunday, winning the continental championship for the first time on penalty kicks at Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

football, AFCON: Senegal beats Egypt to win Africa Cup of Nations trophy - CNN

Senegal beats Egypt to win Africa Cup of Nations trophy

(CNN)Senegal defeated Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations championship match on Sunday, winning the continental championship for the first time on penalty kicks at Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Neither Senegal nor Egypt -- which had previously won the Africa Cup of Nations seven times, the most in the tournament's history -- were able to breakthrough in the first 90 minutes, with Senegal looking in control for most of the game before Egypt gained strength late in the second half. Egypt's Marwan Hamdi, top, jumps for the ball with Senegal's Abdou Diallo during the African Cup of Nations 2022 final soccer match on Sunday, February 6, 2022.The game's best opportunity at a goal in regulation time came in the early minutes of the match for Senegal. After an Egyptian foul in the penalty box, Liverpool star Sadio Mané's penalty kick was saved in spectacular fashion by goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal, also known as Gabaski, in the seventh minute. But after 30 scoreless minutes of extra time, which featured a pair of stellar saves from Gabaski and Senegalese keeper Edouard Mendy, the game went to penalty kicks.Another clutch save from Mendy set Mané up with a chance at redemption. Mané buried a rocket in the back of the net to give Senegal the championship.Read MoreThe tournament was completed in the shadow of the deadly stadium crush where at least eight people were killed and 38 injured during the game between Cameroon and Comoros on January 24 outside Olembe Stadium.

Glen Levy and Amanda Davies, CNN

2022-01-29 11:56:00

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/29/sport/joel-embiid-cameroon-afcon-football-76ers-spt-intl/index.html

AFCON: NBA superstar Joel Embiid discusses his love of Cameroon - CNN

At approximately 11am on Saturday, January 29th, in the Philadelphia area of the United States, a 27-year-old man is intending to ease his seven-foot frame into a chair -- or perhaps remain standing -- and turn on the device of his choosing, to spend 90 minutes consumed by the events unfolding on a soccer field in his birthplace of Yaoundé, Cameroon.

sport, AFCON: NBA superstar Joel Embiid discusses his love of Cameroon - CNN

'We've got a chance to win it all!': NBA superstar Joel Embiid discusses his love of Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations

(CNN)At approximately 11am on Saturday, January 29th, in the Philadelphia area of the United States, a 27-year-old man is intending to ease his seven-foot frame into a chair -- or perhaps remain standing -- and turn on the device of his choosing, to spend 90 minutes consumed by the events unfolding on a soccer field in his birthplace of Yaoundé, Cameroon.Warning: People in the vicinity may hear cheering -- loud, loud cheering. The fact that said sounds could be emanating from one of the best basketball players on the planet merely adds to the intrigue.When he's not playing Most Valuable Player-caliber ball for the Philadelphia 76ers -- and his definition of "a bad night" was a near triple-double of 26 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in a 105-87 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday -- five-time NBA All-Star Joel Embiid is rooting for his nation of Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which his homeland happens to be hosting. Saturday's quarterfinal pits the Indomitable Lions against The Gambia in a match Embiid's team is expected to win. Victory would mean Cameroon is two games away from lifting a sixth AFCON title, with the most recent coming in 2017, the center's rookie year for the 76ers.Embiid was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month just three days before Cameroon defeated Egypt 2-1 in the 2017 final; a match-up which, if all things fall into place, could happen again on Sunday, February 6th.Read More"The excitement level has always been huge," Embiid tells CNN Sport's Amanda Davies about his love of the Cameroon national team dating back to childhood. "The crazy thing is that when Cameroon would always play, anytime they would score, everybody would just scream. You could hear the whole country just scream."Joel Embiid is playing at an MVP level this season.The love of the LionsWhile his remarkable journey brought Embiid to America at the age of 16 -- first via high school and college in Florida and Kansas, and subsequently selected 3rd overall in the 2014 NBA Draft by Philadelphia -- he was born a few years after Cameroon's fairytale run to the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.The first African nation to advance to the last eight, a mere seven minutes away from reaching the final four, Cameroon eventually succumbed to England in extra-time. Along the way, the Indomitable Lions wowed the world, starting with the upset of reigning champion Argentina in the opening match. "Obviously, Roger Milla kind of put us on the map," recalls Embiid about the then 38-year-old striker Milla scoring four times at Italia '90, gaining further fame for his trademark goal celebration of dancing by the corner flag."Going back through history and watching the games, and learning through the history before I was born, and obviously the celebration was a huge part of that history ... we have a lot of history coming from Cameroon, and any time I get the chance to kind of be part of it, I always enjoy."READ: Iranian women allowed to watch landmark moment as Iran qualifies for World CupEmbiid has watched all of Cameroon's matches at AFCON.Embiid believes that the class of 2022 can reign supreme at Africa's showpiece tournament. "We're playing at home so any time you've got the support from your home fans that usually adds a lot to your motivation to go on and win every single game," he observes."Playing at home is a huge advantage for us, and I think we've got a chance to win it all ... I'm excited to keep watching and keep supporting."Cameroon's success at AFCON notwithstanding, the fortunes of a football team pale in comparison to the deaths which occurred at the Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé last Monday due to a stadium crush. At least eight people were killed and 38 injured during the Round of 16 game between Cameroon and Comoros.A somber Embiid says: "I'm a man of God, so I pray for those families to find peace and also for their loved ones to find peace and be at peace. It is tragic that it happened and I'm extremely sorry for it." Given the horrific events, what would it mean to Embiid and Cameroon if the team does go on to lift the trophy?"As a country, we've been through a lot," he reveals. "We haven't had any competition [held] over there for a long time, so to be able to finally get it and to be able to win, I think is going to be huge for us."Embiid tells CNN he's set his sights on winning the MVP award this season.AFCON getting more creditIn the build up to AFCON 2022, there was discussion in some quarters that stars such as Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mané (Senegal), Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Paris Saint-Germain's Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) and Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal) temporarily leaving their club sides behind was such a bitter pill for their club sides and supporters to swallow, it overshadowed the prestige which comes from representing one's country, to say nothing of elevating the tournament to the levels attained across other continents. Embiid follows European football closely, so does he concur that AFCON fails to get the credit it deserves on the global stage?Substitute keeper Abo Gabal the shootout hero as Egypt advance"It's messed up," Embiid quickly concludes. "When it always comes to Africa, I feel like there's always kind of double standards. I never hear any complaints when it comes to the European Cup or any other cups."[AFCON]'s a little different because obviously it's going on during the season over there, and some of the best players, when you talk about someone like Mo Salah or Sadio [Mané] they're supposed to be playing for their clubs. But I also appreciate them wanting to just go back and represent their country, which is good."I think we're still earning our respect ... when you look at the success that Africa has in general, we have a lot of talent. Not just in football but in basketball or other sports too. Over time, we're going to overcome that but it's getting there slowly."As for the big man himself, when asked what would mean more to him -- Cameroon triumphing at AFCON or Embiid winning MVP -- he smiles. "That's tough! I want both -- both would be great!"It would have been a better question if you were to ask me between Cameroon winning or me winning a championship!" Asked then which he would prefer, Embiid said, "Both would be great, like I said, I'm a competitor -- I want to win."Embiid will be tuning in to watch Cameroon's quarterfinal against The Gambia.After detailing the hard work Cameroon made of their previous opponents Comoros, as the continental minnows played much of the match with 10 men and the entire game with an outfield player in goal, Embiid gives a message to the team of his heart ahead of the challenges which await."Go out there and keep doing whatever they've been doing. At the end, they've been doing great. They have our full support to continue to do so and I really hope that they're able to keep that cup in our home territory, so I'm gonna keep supporting them. Like I said, I'm going to be watching the rest of the games."Will we see another iconic celebration like Embiid's Twitter video of Max Verstappen's maiden Formula One title if the Indomitable Lions pull off their sixth AFCON crown? "I hope the excitement of when we get to the final is the same thing [as the F1 finale]. We might get one!"

Harmeet Kaur, CNN

2021-12-09 22:44:34

health

health

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/health/black-fetus-medical-illustration-diversity-wellness-cec/index.html

A viral image of a Black fetus is highlighting the need for diversity in medical illustrations - CNN

The image, created by Nigerian medical student and illustrator Chidiebere Ibe, struck a chord with countless people on social media, many of whom said that they had never seen a Black fetus depicted before. It also brought attention to a larger issue at hand: A lack of diversity in medical illustrations.

health, A viral image of a Black fetus is highlighting the need for diversity in medical illustrations - CNN

A viral image of a Black fetus is highlighting the need for diversity in medical illustrations

(CNN)At first glance, the image looks like a standard drawing that could easily be found in the pages of a medical textbook or on the walls of a doctor's office.But what sets apart the illustration of a fetus in the womb that recently captured the attention of the internet is a simple, yet crucial, detail: its darker skin tone.The image, created by Nigerian medical student and illustrator Chidiebere Ibe, struck a chord with countless people on social media, many of whom said that they had never seen a Black fetus or a Black pregnant woman depicted before. It also brought attention to a larger issue at hand: A lack of diversity in medical illustrations.(While most fetuses are red in color -- newborns come out dark pink or red and only gradually develop the skin tone they will have for life -- the medical illustration is intended to represent patients who aren't used to seeing their skin tones in such images.)Ibe said in an interview with HuffPost UK that he didn't expect to receive such an overwhelming response -- his fetus illustration was one of many such images he's created as a medical illustrator, most of which depict Black skin tones. But it underscored the importance of a mission he's long been committed to.Read More"The whole purpose was to keep talking about what I'm passionate about -- equity in healthcare -- and also to show the beauty of Black people," he told the publication. "We don't only need more representation like this -- we need more people willing to create representation like this."CNN reached out to Ibe for comment, but he did not expand on the topic further.Ni-Ka Ford, diversity committee chair for the Association of Medical Illustrators, said that the organization was grateful for Ibe's illustration."Along with the importance of representation of Black and Brown bodies in medical illustration, his illustration also serves to combat another major flaw in the medical system, that being the staggering disproportionate maternal mortality rate of Black women in this country," she wrote in an email to CNN.What medical illustration isMedical illustrations have been used for thousands of years to record and communicate procedures, pathologies and other facets of medical knowledge, from the ancient Egyptians to Leonardo da Vinci. Science and art are combined to translate complex information into visuals that can communicate concepts to students, practitioners and the public. These images are used not just in textbooks and scientific journals, but also films, presentations and other mediums.There are fewer than 2,000 trained medical illustrators in the world, according to the Association of Medical Illustrators. With only a handful of accredited medical illustration programs in North America, which tend to be expensive and admit few students, the field has historically been dominated by people who are White and male -- which, in turn, means the bodies depicted have usually been so, too.Black or 'Other'? Doctors may be relying on race to make decisions about your health"Historically [medical illustrations] have always featured white able bodied male figures and still do in the present day," Ford said. "Bias towards one body type in medical illustration marginalizes everyone else."Studies have backed up this lack of diversity. Researchers at the University of Wollogong in Australia found in a 2014 study that out of more than 6,000 images with an identifiable sex across 17 anatomy textbooks published between 2008 and 2013, just 36% of the depicted bodies were female. A vast majority were White. About 3% of the images analyzed showed disabled bodies, while just 2% featured elderly people.Why diversity in the field mattersDiversity in the field of medical illustrations (or lack thereof) matters because these images can have implications for medical trainees, practitioners and patients. "Without equitable representation and the perpetual use of only white able bodied patients depicted in medical textbooks, medical professionals are limited in their ability to accurately diagnose and treat people who don't fit that mold," Ford said. "Medical professionals can then tend to rely on racial stereotypes and generalizations because of this knowledge gap on how symptoms present differently on darker skin tones, leading to poorer care."A study by the same University of Wollogong researchers published in 2018 found that gender-biased images from anatomy textbooks increased medical students' scores on implicit bias tests. Another study published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery -- Global Open in 2019 found that White patients were overrepresented in the images of plastic surgery journals, which the authors suggested could potentially influence the care non-White patients received. Black adults report bias in health care at higher rates than White and Latino people, study finds"For decades, peer-reviewed academic publications have used photographs and images that inadequately portray the diversity in demographics of patients affected by particular diseases," the researchers wrote. "This is particularly striking in the lack of diversity in medical illustration. These inequities in medical reporting can have lasting downstream effects on the accessibility and provision of healthcare."Ford said that those who aren't often depicted in medical illustrations "can feel left out and unacknowledged in a healthcare setting, leading to feelings of distrust and isolation when receiving care." She also said that medical professionals might feel less empathy for groups who aren't represented -- people who are Black, brown, women, transgender or nonbinary -- which can lessen the quality of care they receive. Inequities in health care have been well-documented, with studies showing that Black patients are more likely to experience bias and be misdiagnosed for certain conditions. Research has also shown that a substantial share of White medical students and residents hold false notions about biological differences between Black and White people, which can lead to racial bias in the ways their pain is perceived and treated.Despite the persistent need for medical illustrations to depict the full scope of human diversity, the field is beginning to see changes, medical illustrator Hillary Wilson told CNN.Wilson, whose illustrations depict Black people in infographics about eczema, sun damage, alopecia and other conditions, said both patients and practitioners could benefit from seeing diversity represented in medical illustrations. And through her work, she's attempting to humanize people of color and other marginalized groups by doing just that. "The reality is that there are so many different types of people that exist," she said. "To me, a resource isn't complete if I didn't at least consider that and try my best to account for the fact that there are so many different types of people."While Ibe's image of the Black fetus seemed to mark a departure from the norm, Wilson said she hopes that in the future, seeing Black skin tones in medical illustrations will become routine."Eventually, I hope it can just become one of the things that's expected," she added.

Cai Pigliucci, CNN

2021-11-18 16:15:45

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/africa/ghana-green-bonds-sustainability-business-mpa-spc-intl/index.html

Ghana: How these companies going green could pay off for the country and the planet - CNN

Across Ghana, the creation of green bonds may help pay for environmental priorities and could pave the road towards sustainability.

africa, Ghana: How these companies going green could pay off for the country and the planet - CNN

How these companies going green in Ghana could pay off for the country and the planet

(CNN)Across Ghana's industries, from energy to agriculture, companies are using tech to go green. Earlier this year, the country's government pledged to create up to $2 billion in green bonds, which it says will help pay for environmental priorities and pave the road to sustainability.Meanwhile, companies such as Trashy Bags Africa have already been focused on an eco-friendly business model.In Kenya, your next coffee could be a 'camel-ccino'In a country that generates 1.1 million metric tons of plastic waste each year, the Accra-based company has turned over 40 million plastic sachets (small bags filled with drinking water) into products such as laptop covers, pencil cases and grocery bags since 2007."We are creating employment, and also saving our environment," said Bright Biney, Trashy Bags country manager. "If it's good for the planet, then it's good for business."For more on Ghana's growing shift toward eco-business, including challenges faced along the way, check out the video at the top of this page.

Words by Rebecca Cairns, video by Hazel Pfeifer, CNN

2021-09-23 08:15:42

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/23/africa/coldhubs-nigeria-food-supply-chain-hnk-spc-intl/index.html

ColdHubs: How solar-powered cold storage is keeping food fresh in Nigeria - CNN

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu's startup ColdHubs provides solar-powered food storage units designed to keep food fresh at markets and farms.

africa, ColdHubs: How solar-powered cold storage is keeping food fresh in Nigeria - CNN

ColdHubs: How solar-powered cold storage is reducing food waste in Nigeria

Call to Earth is a CNN initiative in partnership with Rolex. Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is a Rolex Awards Laureate. (CNN)In the bustling Ogere Market in Ogun State, Nigeria, the race is on to sell fresh produce early in the day. By noon, the sun is at its peak, and with temperatures soaring, food spoils fast. As the day wears on, food can sell at less than half of its original value, slashing profits for retailers and farmers. That's why Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu decided to take a fresh approach to food waste. He's the founder of ColdHubs, which provides solar-powered food storage units designed for markets and farms. The 39-year-old has won countless awards for the initiative and has just been announced as the joint winner of the $1.5 million AYuTe Africa Challenge, for promising young innovators who are using technology to reimagine food production on the continent. Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteWith over 2 billion metric tons of waste produced annually, there's an urgent need to change the way we handle our trash. Luckily, startups are coming up with countless innovations, from smart bins to fly larvae that eat food waste. Look through the gallery to see some cutting-edge waste management solutions.Hide Caption 1 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteColdHubs are 10-foot-square solar-powered cold storage units that have been installed at markets and farms in Nigeria. They can keep produce fresh for up to 21 days, preventing food from spoiling.Hide Caption 2 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteSingapore-based Insectta uses black soldier fly larvae to convert food waste into fertilizer and animal feed (pictured). Now, the startup is developing a method to extract high-value biomaterials like chitosan and melanin from the black soldier flies. Hide Caption 3 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteRecycling Technologies also uses circular waste management solutions to tackle plastic waste. The UK-based company uses "chemical recycling" that breaks down plastics using high temperatures into an oil-like liquid called Plaxx. This is then used to manufacture more plastic, increasing the sustainability of the production process.Hide Caption 4 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteThis smart-bin from Bin-e has sensors and uses artificial intelligence to recognize and sort objects. It automatically opens when approached with trash, compresses waste, and notifies the waste disposal company when the bin is full -- automating waste management. Hide Caption 5 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteSome companies are trying a different approach: to minimize the waste produced in the first place. Apeel uses plant-based materials to create a tasteless, biodegradable exterior "peel" for fruits and vegetables to extend their shelf-life. In May, it announced an imaging technology that would allow monitoring of ripeness, nutritional content and other indicators of the quality of the produce. Hide Caption 6 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteLoop is reducing single-use packaging by partnering with a range of brands including Häagen-Dazs, Pantene and The Body Shop, to sell their products in containers which buyers can return after use, to be cleaned and reused. Initially available only online, Loop is now available in retail stores around the world. Hide Caption 7 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteShareWaste connects those who want to get rid of food scraps sustainably with composting operations, helping users find eco-conscious solutions for organic waste in their area. Compost enriches soil quality and helps it stay moist -- even a small amount of compost in the upper layer of soil helps retain up to 27,000 gallons of water per acre. Hide Caption 8 of 9 Photos: These startups are revolutionizing how we manage wasteToo Good to Go connects consumers with bakeries, restaurants and supermarkets. The vendors offer customers "surprise bags" containing surplus food at the end of the business day. Launched in 2016, the company says that its venture, involving over 42 million users, has helped save over 88 million meals to date.Hide Caption 9 of 9Officially launched in 2015, ColdHubs now has 54 units in 22 states across Nigeria. More than 5,250 smallholder farmers, retailers, and wholesalers use its cold rooms and in 2020, the company stored 40,000 tons of food, reducing waste and increasing farmers' profits. "This is food meant for human consumption that we typically lose along the supply chain, either during harvesting, transportation, or distribution," says Ikegwuonu. "The mission really is to reduce food spoilage due to lack of cold food storage at key points along the food supply chain." Read MoreTackling a food waste crisisNigeria is ranked 100 out of 113 countries on the Global Food Security Index. Over 88 million people in the country face food insecurity and 12% are undernourished. The problem isn't a lack of food, though: it's an excess of waste. An alarming 40% of the food Nigeria produces every year is lost before it even reaches consumers. That's equal to 31% of its total land use, according to the World Bank, and accounts for 5% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. How floating islands can make urban waterways green and clean Ikegwuonu's ColdHubs are 10-foot-square cold storage units which keep produce fresh for up to 21 days. Conventional cold storage units of this size would be powered by diesel generators and require 20 to 30 liters of diesel every day, says Ikegwuonu -- but by using solar panels instead, he says that across all its units, the company prevents over 1 million kilograms of CO2 entering the atmosphere each year, while powering the units 24/7. According to the UN, food waste accounts for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, so finding solutions to reduce waste could be vital in the fight against climate change. Storing a crate of produce in the ColdHub costs around 25 cents per day, and has helped farmers and retailers double their monthly earnings, says Ikegwuonu: "This has been achieved by selling produce that was previously thrown away, sold off at the right price." ColdHubs are now available at farms and markets in 22 Nigerian states.Scaling upLooking to the future, Ikegwuonu says ColdHubs is also developing technology to freeze produce, for fishing communities in the Niger Delta. "Most of the coastal communities don't have access to energy at all," he says, adding that these freezer storage units would also have the capacity to produce ice blocks. Ikegwuonu also wants to extend his social impact by creating gender parity and jobs in a country where around 35% of all employment is in agriculture, and 90% of rural livelihoods depend on it."We have been able to create about 66 new jobs for women," he says. "Many of these women have become empowered and change agents in their households and communities."Ikegwuonu says his current focus is on expanding the business further in Nigeria -- but in the next decade, he has his sights set on other countries struggling with similar food waste problems. "The big dream for us is to solve the problem of food spoilage in Nigeria, and expand our technology and service to other African countries that have these challenges," he says.

Earl Nurse and Arit Okpo, CNN

2021-12-15 08:51:11

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/15/sport/masai-ujiri-nba-african-president-only-one-spc-intl/index.html

Masai Ujiri: 'It's fine being the first; I have a problem with being the only one' - CNN

Masai Ujiri, president and vice-chairman of the NBA's Toronto Raptors, opens up about being the league's only African team president and how he hopes to make an impact.

sport, Masai Ujiri: 'It's fine being the first; I have a problem with being the only one' - CNN

Masai Ujiri, NBA's only African team president: 'It's fine being the first; I have a problem being the only one'

(CNN)Masai Ujiri is a man of several firsts. In 2010, the Nigerian executive became the first African general manager in US professional sports when he joined the NBA's Denver Nuggets. When he became the president of the Toronto Raptors in 2013, that was another milestone.And in 2019 he led the Canadian basketball team to become the first outside of the US to win an NBA championship. Yet during the on-court celebration, Ujiri had an altercation with a sheriff's deputy that he believes happened because he is Black.Ujiri, who signed a contract extension with the Raptors in August to make him both vice-chairman and president, says the incident has motivated him to lean in more to his humanitarian work -- particularly through his Giants of Africa organization.Masai Ujiri speaking in Kenya with his Giants of Africa organization.Through the nonprofit, he hopes to draw more Africans to the sport, hosting basketball camps for more than 5,000 boys and girls in 16 African countries since 2003 -- and he is currently on a mission to build 100 basketball courts across the continent. CNN's Arit Okpo spoke to Ujiri in Kenya while he was unveiling some of the first courts this past September. Read MoreThe following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.Arit Okpo: You're the first Black, non-American team president in North American sports. What does that mean to you?Masai Ujiri: I struggle with it a little bit because you have the pride in you to say you are leading the way and that's where it ends. Because if there are not other people that follow after me, that means I didn't do a good job. I'm the only one, and I actually hate it. I want there to be more Blacks. I want there to be more Africans.It's very prideful for me to bring young African coaches, young African women to come and speak to these kids because they see that if me and you can do it, they can do it too. So yeah, I don't want to be the only one. I hate that. It's fine, being the first -- I have a problem with being the only one. JUST WATCHEDWatch the full episode of African Voices featuring Masai UjiriReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWatch the full episode of African Voices featuring Masai Ujiri 23:01Okpo: So are there ways that you are taking this and maybe changing the way certain things are done?Ujiri: Yes, plenty of ways. First of all, we have to give more Black people opportunity in our own institutions and organizations. We have to continue to figure out a way to be decision-makers, be in these boardrooms. It's not only hire an intern or hire a diversity and inclusion officer -- we have to be in positions where decisions are being made in the best way. For me personally, there are a couple of projects that we are working on that I cannot speak too much about now that I am 100% excited about. Uche Eke becomes first gymnast to compete for Nigeria at the OlympicsOkpo: Your duties with the Toronto Raptors have expanded to vice-chairman. In addition to president, what does that mean in terms of the work that you're going to be doing?Ujiri: We are the only (NBA) team that's outside the United States so that brings a unique opportunity. And some people don't really understand it. When I spoke to ownership, I thought, you know what? We need to see it bigger. We need to be the team of the world. I have to help more people. I have to use my platform to be a voice.It would be a failure if there are not more (people like) me in this position. So my voice had to be bigger, and put us in environments where we can be even bigger decision makers. And those are the things that I want to do.

Aisha Salaudeen and Yvonne Kasera, CNN

2021-11-03 08:34:57

sport

sport

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/03/sport/chess-grandmasters-africa-spc-intl/index.html

Chess coaches in Africa are building the next generation of grandmasters - CNN

Nigeria's Tunde Onakoya and Kenya's James Kangaru are helping kids dream big on the chess board.

sport, Chess coaches in Africa are building the next generation of grandmasters - CNN

Chess coaches in Africa are building the next generation of grandmasters

(CNN)More than a dozen children gather under a canopy in Makoko, the floating slum in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center. Aged 8 to 18, they are focused on the chess boards before them, calculating moves that will allow them to win the game.Chess master Tunde Onakoya is supervising the tournament. Each week, he and the rest of the team at Chess in Slums Africa teach children in low-income communities to play chess.Founded by Onakoya in 2018, he says the non-profit is focused on kids in poor communities, who are least likely to have access to education. He hopes that playing chess will open up opportunities for them beyond their lives in the slum. The 26-year-old's posts about the living conditions and talents of the kids often go viral on social media, gaining the attention of donors, well-wishers, and recently, the governor of Lagos state. Students are using chess to earn scholarships with the help of non-profits such as Chess in Slums Africa."I realized that every time I shared the stories of one of our kids on Facebook or Twitter, people were willing to donate money to fund their education," Onakoya says. "So, through that medium about 12 children got scholarships."Read MoreChess in Slums Africa has also partnered with tech-focused organizations like Venture Garden Foundations, allowing them to secure even more scholarships home and abroad for some of their best chess players. Chess movesOnakoya and his team aren't the only ones that have been making chess moves on the continent.There are 46 countries in Africa with strong chess communities, according to the African Chess Federation. Since 2014, the continent has produced six new grandmasters -- the highest possible title in the game -- in Algeria, South Africa, and Egypt. In Uganda, Phiona Mutesi discovered the gift of chess at the age of 9 after enrolling in a chess club in her slum neighborhood of Katwe back in 2005. Tani Adewumi: How chess changed the fortunes of 11-year-old prodigy and his familyShe eventually became Uganda's national champion, representing the East African country at international tournaments. Mutesi, the subject of a 2012 book and a 2016 Disney film called "Queen of Katwe," told CNN in a 2012 interview that "chess gave me hope." That hopeful spirit is what chess coach James Kangaru wants to inspire in communities and schools in Kenya. Kangaru, 28, started playing chess in high school and became a coach after university. In 2015, he founded a community outreach program called Epitome School of Chess to teach young children how to play the game. "I started my programs in Ruai, an outskirt of Nairobi and also in Mavoko. When those two programs started it was all about having a new sport for the kids ... I believed a board game would work best for them," Kangaru says. JUST WATCHEDWatch the full show: African chess players are making moves for their communitiesReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWatch the full show: African chess players are making moves for their communities 23:00One of his top students, two-time national champion Joy Njeri, 12, says traveling for tournaments has given her more exposure. "It is fun visiting new places," she says, because "you get to meet a lot of amazing people and learn from them as they teach you better moves and show you more about chess."In 2018, Kangaru was recognized as one of the best chess coaches by the International Chess Federation, the game's global governing body -- becoming Africa's youngest FIDE instructor, he says, which is one of the top coaching levels recognized by the world federation.Meet the Nigerian board game creator trying to change an industryKangaru says countries like China, the US, and India are making an impact through the game by producing world champions. Teaching the game to as many children as possible is "the same thing I'm trying to do in my own capacity here."With instructors like Kangaru and Onakoya, the game of chess continues to grow across the continent, offering opportunities for kids along the way."My greatest desire for the Chess in Slums project is to create a future where children from impoverished communities aren't just defined by their community," says Onakoya, adding that his goal is to "help them discover their truest potential."

Daryl Brown, CNN

2022-02-15 06:28:20

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/15/africa/amapiano-south-africa-music-genre-origins-spc-intl/index.html

Amapiano: How this South African sound has become one of the hottest new music genres - CNN

DJs such as Vigro Deep and DBN Gogo are bringing the deep house, log-drum driven basslines and soulful piano melodies of "Amapiano" to the world.

africa, Amapiano: How this South African sound has become one of the hottest new music genres - CNN

How 'Amapiano', South Africa's soulful sound, has become one of the hottest new music genres

(CNN)A distinct sound is currently vibing on social feeds around the world: the deep house, log-drum driven basslines and soulful piano melodies of "Amapiano." While Amapiano dance challenges are currently sweeping TikTok, the streets of South Africa have been thrumming with its sound for years.Seeping out of car windows and overflowing from clubs, Amapiano is more than a genre of music -- it is influencing style and dance and making an impact on South Africa's music industry. Believed to have started in 2012, this underground trend exploded in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, and has been on the rise ever since."We noticed a lot of our youths at the end of 2019 starting to use Amapiano music to create their food videos, their dance videos, their fashion videos, memes. And we really saw people embracing the genre and wanting to engage with it," says Yuvir Pillay, music operations manager at TikTok South Africa.While Amapiano has recently been on the rise around the world, clubs, car stereos and social media feeds in South Africa have been thrumming with its sound for years.He says Amapiano is the country's biggest musical genre on TikTok "We haven't seen a local music genre take over a platform in this kind of huge escalation in a very long time," he adds.Now the sound is spreading beyond borders. In 2021, videos using the hashtag #Amapiano flexed their muscles on the popular app with more than 1.6 billion global views -- while the "Amapiano Grooves" playlist on Spotify had more than 50 million streams worldwide.Read MoreUncertain originsWhile its popularity is unquestioned, the birth of Amapiano -- which means "the pianos" in South Africa's Zulu language -- is often the subject of debate. The genre's roots are disputed says AshMopedi, host of the Amapiano-dedicated YouTube channel Groove Cartel. "Perhaps it comes from the Gauteng region [northeastern province that includes Johannesburg and Pretoria], where its origins can be traced, but as to who is that one person that created Amapiano, it's a difficult thing," he says. "Whoever it is, please come out and let us know."JUST WATCHEDWatch the full episode: Amapiano, the new sound of South AfricaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWatch the full episode: Amapiano, the new sound of South Africa 22:56Some argue the infectious sound is rooted in Kwaito, a style of music which blended house beats with hip hop in the 1990s. Music producer, record label owner, and Kwaito pioneer Oscar Sibonginkosi Mdlongwa, known as Oskido, says Kwaito emerged following a period of political change, that saw the release of Nelson Mandela and the decline of apartheid."The younger generation at that time, we started creating our own music, which we called Kwaito. We used to take house music, slow it down and from there, we reprogrammed the music," he says.Read more: The 'anonymous' South African artist turning dreams into reality through photography and ARFast forward two decades and Amapiano emerges. It features the same slowed-down house beats as Kwaito, but also incorporates jazz, synths and percussive basslines.DJ Vigro Deep, 20, was born in Pretoria, South Africa.DJs have since played a key role in popularizing the genre. Vigro Deep, a 20 year old Pretoria-born DJ, has taken the Amapiano scene by storm. His keen ear for music has helped catapult him to international success."I started producing by the age of 16, (when) Amapiano was something that was trending," Vigro Deep says. He says he takes pride in sharing the sound of the townships with the world -- one that is innovative, collaborative and disruptive in the way it's transforming an industry.In the Dark" -- Vigro Deep ft. DJ BucksPerformed by Vigro Deep and DJ BucksSource: Vigro Deep"I think people are now happy that we have our own genre," he adds. "We started something from scratch. It makes us who we are. It's a sound where we can say, 'this is us; this is South Africa, this is Africa.'" A more inclusive soundAlthough Amapiano started out as a genre dominated by male artists, more women are now stepping onto the scene -- from DJ'ing and dancing to singing and even fashion design. Part of the draw is what dancer Bontle Modiselle describes as an "inviting" style. According to dancer Bontle Modiselle, dance moves like "legwork," the "pouncing cat," and the "Zekethe" that are associated with Amapiano are simple and easy. "When I think about Amapiano, I think about it being the perfect representation of what the Black South African youth today looks like and the fashion, what they feel like, what they sound like in their sounds, how they move in their dance moves," she says.Modiselle has amassed large followings on TikTok and Instagram, where she showcases Amapiano dances that pay homage to the past.'Dance is a purpose': After losing his leg, South Africa's Musa Motha is inspiring with every move"The visual representation of Amapiano is such that it breeds from a ground of familiarity," she says. "You'll see a lot of Kwaito-esque movements that are reimagined in the look of Amapiano today."At the same time, that inviting style makes it accessible. "It just allows a culture where anyone, from anywhere, of any age can get together and do the same moves and feel like they're a part of the same story," she adds.Yet success for women in Amapiano hasn't come easily. Mandisa Radebe, who goes by the stage name DBN Gogo, is one of the first female DJs to thrive in the genre. "(Initially) you didn't see a lot of women DJs in the scene," she says, adding that she found herself in the right place at the right time.Mandisa Radebe, who performs under the stage name DBD Gogo, has been a trailblazer for female Amapiano DJs."Now you're seeing a girl trend every single day and seeing this population of women in the industry grow by leaps and bounds," she adds.In 2021, Radebe's hit song "Khuza Gogo" reached platinum status for exceeding 2.5 million streams, according to independent music distributors Electromode Ingrooves -- cementing her reputation as a trailblazer for women in the genre."Khuza Gogo" -- DBN Gogo feat. Mpura, AmaAvenge, M.J and MasterBlaqPerformed by DBD Gogo feat. Mpura, AmaAvenge, M.J and MasterBlaqSource: DBN GogoA genre for the futureWhether Amapiano is here to stay or it evolves into yet another new sound, one thing is certain -- the genre's success has impacted the music industry in South Africa."(Amapiano) has changed the way the record business works," says Oskido. "You don't need all these big companies; social media these days has become virtual radio stations." Genevieve Nnaji joins cast of musical on Afrobeat star Fela Kuti premiering on ClubhouseThose platforms such as Spotify, YouTube and TikTok -- which saw a boost in users during the pandemic -- also push the supply of music to listeners regardless of where they live. In 2021, Spotify's flagship Amapiano playlist saw a streaming increase of 622% in South Africa alone, while the UK and US ranked second and third respectively with the most streams of that same playlist."In 20 years' time, when we all look back at this period in time when we speak about the pandemic, Amapiano is going to be one of those things that comes up in conversation." says YouTube host AshMopedi. "I feel that it's one of those genres that just a mainstay, it's not going to go anywhere."The genre is a "lifestyle," adds Radebe, and though Amapiano is going global, it's important to remember where it came from."It's a culture. It's a saving grace. It is a lifeline," she says. "I think it's really important that we don't change the narrative, twist the narrative of the fact that this is a South African sound -- that this is nurtured, it is built, it is grown here."

Aisha Salaudeen, CNN

2021-09-22 09:33:40

news

africa

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/22/africa/nigeria-ogbuagu-board-game-creator-spc-intl/index.html

Kenechukwu Cornelius Ogbuagu is creating a made-in-Nigeria board game industry - CNN

Through his company, NIBCARD Games, Kenechukwu Cornelius Ogbuagu is trying to change Nigeria's board game culture.

africa, Kenechukwu Cornelius Ogbuagu is creating a made-in-Nigeria board game industry - CNN

Meet the Nigerian board game creator trying to change an industry

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Kenechukwu Cornelius Ogbuagu has been obsessed with playing and building games his entire life.As a child, he played board and card games including Snakes and Ladders, Whot, and Ludo with the kids in his neighborhood in Enugu, southeastern Nigeria, where he was born and raised.Yet in a country that loves games such as chess and Scrabble -- even fielding a world champion Scrabble team -- Ogbuagu noticed a lack of Nigerian-made games. In 2013, he decided to create his own game while studying at the University of Calabar in southern Nigeria."There was a nationwide strike at government-owned universities in the country at the time, so nobody was going to class," Ogbuagu, now 29, says. With nothing to do, "eventually, we started playing tabletop games." At the time, he was not sure how to create games, so he used cardboard, stones, and dice from an old Ludo game to make a dice rolling and card drafting game for him and his friends.Read MoreMany of Ogbuagu's friends in school enjoyed playing the game, inspiring him to turn his passion into a profession. Created in 2017, "Homia" is a memory and recognition game card game where players race to build their Nigerian home to win. Creating made-in-Nigeria gamesIn 2016, a few years after making his first game, Ogbuagu founded a game production publishing company called NIBCARD, which focuses on tabletop games such as board and card games."I eventually learned to make games on YouTube," he says. "I learned how to make boards. I learned about direct imaging printers. I also found stores where I could get material to make the games I wanted."That same year, he started an annual convention in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, called the Africa Boardgame Convention, or "AbCon" -- a gathering of tabletop game lovers from across the country, which Ogbuagu says is the first of its kind in West Africa. "Wan wan touch" is a football-based board game. It was created in 2018. "Many Nigerians hold stereotypes about board games. They say, 'oh, it is a woman's game.' The convention exists to cancel those types of stereotypes," Ogbuagu explains. Roughly 500 people attend the convention every year, he adds. But his big break came in 2017 when charity organization Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) hired NIBCARD to create 2,300 copies of a game called "Luku Luku" for an education project it was running in the country.Read more: African artists are banking on a record-breaking art marketOgbuagu had been working with VSO as a volunteer when the group found out he was into games. "I met British colleagues who liked to play card games. I became inspired by their games and wanted to make something like that in Nigeria," he says. Since making Luku Luku for VSO, Ogbuagu says NIBCARD has created at least two dozen tabletop games for sale across the country and received grants from organizations including the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM)."With the (IOM) grant, we were supposed to, in an artistic way, create an activity that will create awareness on migration," Ogbuagu says. To achieve this, he created a tile-placement game called "My World Trip.""Gbosi," debuting in 2018, is a tile placement war game."The game has maps of different countries and the names and continent of the countries," he explains. "As players are jumping from country to country trying to win the game, they are forced to learn new countries that they probably have never heard of."Nigeria's tabletop gaming industry According to a report in Dicebreaker, a publication focused on tabletop games, the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown period renewed interest in games and increased the sales of board games in places like the US and UK. In the same year, tabletop games successfully raised $236.6 million on Kickstarter, accounting for nearly a third of all the money made on the crowd-sourcing platform in 2020.This 9-year-old has built more than 30 mobile gamesBut in Nigeria, there is hardly any data about the tabletop game industry. While games like chess, Ludo, and Scrabble are popular, the local sector is still largely untapped.Ogbuagu says one of the reasons the industry is struggling is because there aren't a lot of board and card games designed and produced in the country."Many Nigerians don't have access to information about where to get games made in the country. There is also no access to tabletop games cafes and other value chains surrounding these games," he explains.Read more: Disney announces 'first-of-its-kind' collaboration with African entertainment companyIt is difficult for the average Nigerian to find information about games, he adds: "People will most likely know where to find Scrabble or chess than where to find their local, made-in-Nigeria games."A home-grown movementIn 2019, as a way of increasing that awareness, Ogbuagu opened a cafe in Abuja."The cafe is just a space filled with games. People can come there to play," he says, with 60 Nigerian-made board games and another 300 non-Nigerian games. "Not all the games there are made by NIBCARD," he adds. "We stock games from other people too.""Hut Alive," created by Ogbuagu in 2017, is an elimination card game for up to six players.In the next couple of years, another goal is to get more people to appreciate and access locally made games, which starts with visibility.He says he is currently in talks with filmmakers from the country, encouraging them to swap games such as chess in their movies for Nigerian games like the ones NIBCARD produces.He's also trying to reach the next generation of tabletop gamers, with "volunteers that take our games to different schools across the country," Ogbuagu says. "They teach children to play these games so that as they are growing up, they know that we have our own Nigerian games."

Amarachi Orie, CNN

2022-01-13 08:47:04

health

health

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/13/health/chidiebere-ibe-medical-illustrations-published-nigeria-spc-intl/index.html

The creator of the viral Black fetus image will have his illustrations published in a book - CNN

Chidiebere Ibe is a Nigerian medical student who wants his drawings to promote diversity in medical illustrations.

health, The creator of the viral Black fetus image will have his illustrations published in a book - CNN

The creator of the viral Black fetus image will have his illustrations published in a book

(CNN)An illustration of a Black fetus in the womb went viral last December with many people commenting on social media that it was the first time they had seen a depiction of a dark-skinned fetus or pregnant woman.The attention came as a surprise to Chidiebere Ibe, the Nigerian first-year medical student who created the image, and describes it as "just one of my drawings to advocate for diversity in medical illustrations." The image started a discussion about a lack of representation in these illustrations -- images that are mostly found in textbooks and scientific journals to show medical pathologies and procedures.JUST WATCHEDArtist behind viral image of Black fetus speaks outReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHArtist behind viral image of Black fetus speaks out 02:24Ibe, 25, who is creative director at the Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, has now been invited to have some of his illustrations published in the second edition of a handbook designed to show how a range of conditions appear on dark skin."Mind the Gap: A clinical handbook of signs and symptoms in Black and Brown Skin," was first published in 2020. Co-author Malone Mukwende, a medical student in London, wrote over email that "Chidiebere's work ... unearths some of the biases that exist in medicine in plain sight that we may not be aware of. Representation in healthcare is imperative to ensure that we do not allow implicit biases to cultivate in our heads."Read MoreIbe, who earned a chemistry degree in Nigeria and is now studying medicine in Ukraine, only began his medical illustrations in 2020. He has already created images depicting anatomy and a range of conditions, such as the skin disorder vitiligo, cold sores, a chest infection and spinal injuries, all in Black people. Medical student and illustrator Chidiebere Ibe.Ibe says that a lack of illustrations of skin conditions in Black skin makes it hard for medical students to diagnose them. Mukwende hopes that together they can create "the blueprint for the world" in terms of what diverse medical textbooks should look like and that "Mind the Gap" will be known as "the go-to textbook for representation of a variety of skin tones." A "big gap" in representationDr. Jenna Lester, an assistant professor in the department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, describes Ibe's illustrations as "incredible."Lester is director of the university's Skin of Color program, which provides a space for Black, Asian, Latinx and indigenous people to understand conditions that affect them and become more comfortable seeking care. She says she realized that there was a "big gap" in representation in dermatology back when she was a student, and a lecturer told the class a certain condition would look different in dark skin, but not how the condition would appear. Lester says that she is "grateful" that now "people are actually responding and recognizing it as a big problem and making changes to address it." Chidiebere Ibe started creating medical illustrations in 2020, and depicts a range of conditions and anatomy, all in Black people."I think it's important to increase representation across the board because ... who knows what young mind this inspires when they see themselves represented in this way, who might be inspired to go into science or become a physician or nurse or something like that, by seeing themselves depicted in these illustrations?" she adds.Studies have shown this lack of diversity. A 2014 study by researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia examined gender bias in anatomy textbooks and found that of more than 6,000 images with an identifiable sex published between 2008 and 2013 in 17 textbooks, the vast majority were White and just over a third were female. About 3% showed disabled bodies and 2% featured elderly people.Covid-19 has exposed healthcare disparities In some Western countries, people of color have been disproportionately affected by the Covid pandemic. Research by the CDC found that racial and ethnic minority groups have had higher rates of hospitalization and emergency care for Covid-19 than White people in the US. Lester says that "Covid-19 has highlighted a lot of issues of disparities, and that has led us to think about disparities and all the ways that they show up, including in dermatology."The vast majority of images in anatomy textbooks are of White people. Ibe is working on a textbook on birth defects in children, which he says will be illustrated with Black skin images.Lester co-authored a research letter published in the British Journal of Dermatology in May 2020 which found that scientific articles describing the skin manifestations of Covid-19 "almost exclusively show(ed) clinical images from patients with lighter skin," with no published photos of the manifestations in dark skin. It noted that this may make it more difficult for dermatologists and the public to identify the virus.This is compounded by the issue of some medical equipment not working as effectively on people with darker skin tones. Pulse oximeters, which measure a patient's oxygen level by using light and a sensor to detect the color of the blood, and which have been increasingly used during the pandemic, have been found to provide less accurate readings on darker skin. If they are not calibrated for darker skin tones, the pigmentation could affect how the light is absorbed."It's not just about the skin conditions," says Ibe. "It's just about giving everybody the value that they deserve. Black, White, Asian -- let's all have equal healthcare that we deserve."A network of African medical illustratorsDespite making up an eighth of the world's population, Africa accounted for less than 1% of global research output between 2012 and 2016. Even in Nigeria, White skin images dominate the medical literature, says Ibe. His goal is to help remedy that by setting up a network of African medical illustrators.Ibe plans to become a pediatric neurosurgeon and is also working on a textbook on birth defects in children, which will be illustrated with Black skin images."I want it to be a norm that whenever a person searches online for a particular skin condition, a particular health challenge, that the first pop-ups are Black illustrations or are illustrations of people of color," he says.

Hanna Ziady, CNN Business

2021-11-03 08:32:09

business

business

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/03/business/nigeria-clean-energy-transition/index.html

Nigeria is oil rich and energy poor. It can't wait around for cheaper batteries - CNN

Africa's biggest economy has 206 million people, endemic poverty and vast energy reserves that could be harnessed to fuel development. But it's coming under huge pressure from developed countries to abandon fossil fuels and shift to renewables in order to help save the climate.

business, Nigeria is oil rich and energy poor. It can't wait around for cheaper batteries - CNN

Nigeria is oil rich and energy poor. It can't wait around for cheaper batteries

London (CNN Business)Should Nigeria's natural riches remain in the ground?Africa's biggest economy has 206 million people, endemic poverty and vast energy reserves that could be harnessed to fuel development. But it's coming under huge pressure from developed countries to abandon fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy in order to help save the climate.Nigeria is not the only country confronting this dilemma. At the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, developing economies across Africa, Asia and Latin America are facing increasing pressure to cut carbon emissions at the very moment they are industrializing, a process that powered the advance of the West and lifted billions of people out of poverty.At the same time, many poor countries that have so far contributed very little to global CO2 emissions are particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures and increased droughts, fires and floods linked to climate change, which threaten food security and exacerbate water scarcity. Nigeria's largest city Lagos, for example, may become uninhabitable by the end of this century if sea levels continue rising, according to scientific projections. It is already grappling with an eroding coastline that makes the city vulnerable to flooding. Read MoreYet the average person in Nigeria emits less than 0.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to the World Bank. That compares with the European Union's 6.4 metric tons per capita and North America's 15.3 metric tons. "The biggest justice issue is that the countries that are the least developed are also the most vulnerable and have the least ability to adapt to climate impacts," said Amal-Lee Amin, climate change director at CDC Group, Britain's development finance institution.If poor countries are asked to give up fossil fuel production, experts say their wealthy counterparts need to spend trillions of dollars to develop solutions that both spur economic development and protect the planet. If that doesn't happen, the global poor may be left behind in the energy transition.Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2060 on Tuesday, joining other large energy exporters including Saudi Arabia. But he also told COP26 attendees that Nigeria needs "adequate and sustained technical and financial support" to meet its goal.Lagos on May 13 2020, shortly after the government eased coronavirus lockdown measures.Untapped resourcesMillions of Nigerians don't have access to electricity. But the country's government and economy depend on energy.Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, with fossil fuels accounting for 60% of government revenue and 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The Petroleum Industry Act, which Buhari signed into law in August, envisions an even greater role for oil and gas in Nigeria's economy."The intent [of the Act] is to really transform the industry for us to be able to attract the required investment into oil and gas," explained Adewale Ajayi, a partner at KPMG in Lagos. That entails ramping up oil production to 4 million barrels per day, from 1.6 million barrels currently, and drawing on the country's roughly 200 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves to provide much needed electricity. "We have enormous reserves of gas in Nigeria and we need to be able to tap into those resources to develop the Nigerian economy," Ajayi told CNN Business, adding that alongside power generation, gas will also be crucial to developing industries such as petrochemicals and fertilizers.The law also lays the groundwork for developing oil refining capacity, which would allow Nigeria to stop importing virtually all of its fuel at an enormous cost.Change can't come quickly enough in a country where some 90 million people, or more than 40% of the population, don't have access to electricity and more than 80 million live on less than $1 a day. "Nigeria will soon, certainly before 2050, have a larger population than the United States, but it has less than 1% of America's electricity generation capacity," said Todd Moss, executive director of the Energy for Growth Hub, a nonprofit focused on energy for development based in Washington D.C. Nigeria's installed power generation capacity is about 13 gigawatts, but only about 4 or 5 gigawatts reaches end users due to breakdowns in transmission and distribution. By comparison, the United States has over 1,000 gigawatts of utliity-scale electricity generating capacity."Nigeria just needs a lot more energy," added Moss. Can't afford to waitNigeria's energy ambitions are coming up against a global drive by banks, pension funds and development finance institutions to limit or altogether halt investments into fossil fuels in line with net-zero emissions goals."They're prioritizing global emissions over Africa's development needs," said Moss. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, natural gas projects are "increasingly imperiled by a lack of development finance," according to Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo."Efforts to restrict fossil fuel investments in Africa are even harder to stomach because many of the wealthy countries behind them — including Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — include natural gas in their own multidecade plans to transition to clean energy," Osinbajo wrote recently in Foreign Affairs.The world plans to produce far more fossil fuel than it should to stay under dangerous climate limits, UN saysThe European Investment Bank will end financing for fossil fuel energy projects from the end of this year, with some exceptions for gas-fired power plants, while the World Bank, the biggest provider of climate finance to developing countries, is moving towards restricting its fossil fuel investments, according to Reuters.CDC Group will no longer invest in most parts of the coal, oil and gas industries, according to its recent fossil fuel policy. CDC will consider investments into gas power where there are "large unmet energy needs" and if these are consistent with a pathway to net zero, according to Amin.Moves by such institutions to restrict fossil fuel funding come despite the fact that the United Kingdom relies on gas for around two thirds of its electricity, while the European Union currently has €87 billion ($102 billion) worth of gas projects in the pipeline, according to a report by the Global Energy Monitor. In the United States, natural gas makes up 40% of utility-scale electricity generation, with coal, nuclear and renewables contributing about 20% each, according to the US Energy Information Administration.Solar panels on the rooftop of a street boutique in Lagos, Nigeria.Like the United States, Europe and Britain, Nigeria sees a prominent role for renewable energy, notwithstanding its investments into gas power. The government is targeting 32 gigawatts of on-grid power generation capacity by 2030, with renewables expected to contribute 43% and gas making up 41%. When off-grid capacity is included, gas and renewables will contribute roughly 30% each to planned power generation capacity of 45 gigawatts. "In Nigeria, clean energy is central to our government's plan to transition to net-zero emissions," Osinbajo, the vice president, continued. "But our citizens cannot be forced to wait for battery prices to fall or new technologies to be created in order to have reliable energy and live modern, dignified lives."Sub-Saharan Africa is home to three quarters of the 760 million people globally without access to electricity, according to the World Bank, which expects that number to rise as a result of the pandemic. Less than half of the population has access to electricity in their homes.In Nigeria, energy poverty is itself a major driver of emissions, according to Olu Verheijen, the founder of Lagos-based energy advisory business Latimer Energy. Given how scarce and unreliable existing supply is, many households and businesses rely on diesel generators for backup energy supply, while the lack of access to modern cooking technologies is a major driver of deforestation."If you're siting on massive reserves of gas that have already been commercialized, it makes sense to extend that existing infrastructure to satisfy energy needs, diversify the economy and lift citizens out of poverty," Verheijen said.Young men work on generators at a workshop in Maiduguri in Nigeria's northeast.Africa's renewables potentialThe Nigerian government's Solar Power Naija initiative — which aims to deploy 5 million new solar-based connections by 2023 — highlights how difficult it is to scale renewable solutions quickly. The program will expand energy access to 25 million individuals, delivering power to just 28% of Nigerians who don't currently have access. And while a step in the right direction, solar panels on roofs are not necessarily adequate to power large industrial businesses, which require a great deal more electricity than what's needed to switch on a light bulb or charge a cellphone.Still, renewable technology is developing at lightning speed and this can only benefit Africa. Mark Carrato, who coordinates the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Power Africa program, sees vast potential to deliver electricity to Africa in a climate smart way. Since its launch in 2013, Power Africa has delivered electricity to over 118 million people on the continent, connecting 25 million homes and businesses to on and off-grid energy solutions. More than three quarters of the transactions it has closed are based on renewable technologies."In almost every case, project by project you see a renewables solution that is cheaper," he told CNN Business.Carrato argues that fossil fuels might provide short-term solutions to energy needs, but could end up taxing poorer countries in the long run through increased funding costs and the problem of "stranded assets," in which infrastructure becomes obsolete as it is replaced by cleaner and cheaper renewable technologies."The cost of capital to do fossil fuels is only going to increase," Carrato said.Could this startup end Nigeria's reliance on generators? On the other hand, the cost of renewable technologies is rapidly declining. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the cost of large, utility-scale solar projects decreased 82% between 2010 and 2019, while the cost of onshore wind fell by 40%. The cost of electricity storage technologies — which will be crucial to facilitating "deep decarbonization" including in sectors such as transport and construction — are also expected to fall considerably by 2030.Africa is well positioned to benefit. The continent's estimated potential to generate renewable energy from existing technologies is 1,000 times larger than its projected demand for electricity in 2040, according to IRENA."Renewable energy — including green hydrogen — could replace African exports of coal, oil and gas," it said in a recent report with German development banks KfW and GIZ.But to leverage the potential for renewables, average annual investments in Africa's energy system must double by 2030 to approximately $65 billion.While there's good reason to be bullish on Africa's potential to leapfrog fossil fuel technologies in favor of cleaner energy sources, the kind of renewable technology that can rapidly drive industrial development — to power factories, fuel transport and logistics networks and enable the digital economy to thrive — is not yet commercially available at scale. In the meantime, some analysts argue that Africa needs reliable and affordable energy. "It's absolutely untenable to hold the position that African countries and African people should wait until [battery] storage costs come down. That seems immoral and kind of outrageous," said Moss of the Energy for Growth Hub.The under-construction Dangote Industries oil refinery and fertilizer plant site outside of Lagos, Nigeria.Existing electricity grids in Africa are also fundamentally different to more advanced developed markets, which can absorb significant intermittent power. This means that in some cases, certainly for Nigeria, gas has an important role to play in providing power."Off-grid solar is fine but it's not enough for industry, for big cities and it's definitely not going to drive the job creation that Nigeria also needs," added Moss. "When we talk about energy poverty in Africa we're talking about getting poor people a lightbulb in their house," he continued. "That is the first step on the energy ladder, that is not modern energy. Energy for growth is energy needed in the wider economy used outside the home that can drive higher incomes but especially job creation."A just transitionTo put the world on track to reach net zero emissions by the middle of the century, the International Energy Agency estimates that annual clean energy investment into emerging and developing economies needs to increase more than sevenfold to $1 trillion annually by 2030.As it stands, these economies currently account for just one fifth of global investment into clean energy and pay interest rates to borrow money that are up to seven times higher than in the United States or Europe. Developed countries also remained $20 billion short of meeting a pledge to channel $100 billion per year by 2020 towards helping poor countries tackle climate change. Peak oil is coming. That won't save the world"In many emerging and developing economies, emissions are heading upwards while clean energy investments are faltering, creating a dangerous fault line in global efforts to reach climate and sustainable energy goals," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a recent report."Countries are not starting on this journey from the same place — many do not have access to the funds they need to rapidly transition to a healthier and more prosperous energy future, and the damaging effects of the Covid-19 crisis are lasting longer in many parts of the developing world," he added.In the race to solve the climate crisis, there's a clear risk that the development needs of poor countries are sacrificed in pursuit of global emissions goals. Nigeria could be a testing ground.

Jennifer Hansler, CNN

2022-03-20 20:42:55

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/20/politics/biden-administration-myanmar-military-genocide/index.html

Genocide in Myanmar: Biden administration formally determines military committed genocide against the Rohingya - CNNPolitics

The Biden administration has formally determined that Myanmar's military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, a US official told CNN on Sunday.

politics, Genocide in Myanmar: Biden administration formally determines military committed genocide against the Rohingya - CNNPolitics

Biden administration formally determines Myanmar's military committed genocide

(CNN)The Biden administration has formally determined that Myanmar's military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, a US official told CNN on Sunday.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will publicly announce the determination, which human rights groups have been advocating for years, at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, on Monday.Reuters first reported on the administration's recognition of genocide.Until now, the US had stopped short of declaring the atrocities -- including mass killings and rape -- committed in 2017 against the Muslim minority Rohingya population a genocide. The violence forced nearly a million people to flee, and the United Nations recommended that top military officials face genocide charges."I applaud the Biden administration for finally recognizing the atrocities committed against the Rohingya as genocide. While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account," Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Sunday. Read MoreAmerica, the Oregon Democrat said, "must lead the world to make it clear that atrocities like these will never be allowed to be buried unnoticed, no matter where they occur." A US State Department report released quietly in 2018 found that violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State was "extreme, large-scale, widespread, and seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the population and driving out the Rohingya residents."The State Department has sanctioned a number of Myanmar military officials, including commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, for their role in committing those human rights abuses.This story has been updated with comments from Sen. Jeff Merkley.

Sarah Lazarus and Jon Jensen, CNN

2020-01-15 09:43:30

news

asia

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/15/asia/anjali-watson-saving-sri-lanka-leopards-scn-c2e-intl-hnk/index.html

Sri Lanka's leopards are under threat, but this woman is determined to save them - CNN

With as few as 750 leopards left on the island, Anjali Watson is on a mission to save Sri Lanka's top predator.

asia, Sri Lanka's leopards are under threat, but this woman is determined to save them - CNN

Sri Lanka's leopards are under threat, but this woman is determined to save them

(CNN)Having endured a bloody civil war from 1983 until 2009, Sri Lanka is now at peace and developing rapidly. That's good news for the country as a whole, but the island nation's leopards are under threat. Sri Lankan conservationist Anjali Watson says that as forests where leopards live are cleared to plant crops and build homes, the big cats are being squeezed into pockets of wilderness that don't connect with each other. "We've lost a lot of leopards," says Watson. Nobody knows how many prowled the land before the war, but about 70% of the animals' habitat has been destroyed, and only 750 to 1,000 adult leopards remain, she says.Find out more about Call to Earth and the extraordinary people working for a more sustainable futureWhat's more, leopards are at risk of getting caught in snares. The wire traps are usually set for bushmeat species, including wild boar and deer, but they are indiscriminate in what they catch. Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeSri Lanka is one of the world's 34 "biodiversity hotspots," and the country is heavily dependent on its biodiversity for tourism. Pictured, a male peacock puts on a show in the country's Yala National Park. Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeThere are up to 5,000 elephants left in Sri Lanka.Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeElephants enjoying a stroll and a leafy snack.Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeSri Lankan temple monkeys taking a well deserved rest.Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeSri Lankan leopards each have a unique pattern of spots.Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeSri Lankan spotted deer are important prey for leopards. Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeBlue whales -- the largest animals on Earth -- swim in Sri Lankan waters.Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeWild boars in Yala National Park.Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeHikkaduwa is one of the top diving spots on the island thanks to its impressive coral reefs and ship wrecks.Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: Sri Lanka's incredible wildlifeTea plantations cloak Sri Lanka's hill country. They occupy much of what was once prime leopard habitat.Hide Caption 10 of 10Read MoreAs Sri Lanka's top predator, and its only big cat, the leopard "plays a key role" in Sri Lanka's ecosystem, says Watson. "We call it an umbrella species," she says, because taking steps to save leopards protects all the other species that share their forest home. A passion for wildlife Watson grew up in the city of Colombo, but "I loved being out in wild spaces ... I have a strong affinity with animals" she says. (Video courtesy of Chitral Jayatilake) In 1994 she moved to Ontario, Canada, to study at McMaster University, and met her future husband, Andrew Kittle.A few years later the couple, who share a passion for wildlife, had settled in Sri Lanka. In 2000 they launched a pilot project to study leopards in Yala National Park in the island's southeast. At the time, very little was known about the elusive animals, says Watson. To protect them, it was vital to understand their lives -- and to count them. Watson and Kittle, who went on to establish the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT) in 2004, currently work in four locations around Sri Lanka. They are investigating the size of the leopard population using remote cameras that take photos when they detect movement. Leopards that are caught on camera can be identified because each one has a unique pattern of spots -- and famously, their spots never change. Read: Google-backed project is collecting millions of wildlife camera-trap imagesInstalling the cameras is often grueling work, says Watson. It can involve long drives on spine-rattling, rocky tracks, clambering up hillsides, bushwhacking through jungle, and occasional encounters with elephants, bears and snakes, as well as leeches and ticks.Anjali Watson attaches a motion-detecting camera to a tree.Out in the field, the team collects leopard scat to find out which animals they are hunting -- leopards are not picky eaters and their diet includes deer, monkeys, wild boar, porcupines and hares. Watson hopes that WWCT's data will help to shape development plans that make space for leopards. If corridors between forest patches and buffer zones around protected areas are safeguarded, both humans and animals could thrive. Watson is dedicated to ensuring that these "beautiful, fabulous creatures" survive.

Amy Woodyatt

2020-01-07 17:38:23

news

asia

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/asia/fukushima-wildlife-intl-scli-scn/index.html

Wildlife flourishing in uninhabited areas around Fukushima - CNN

Nearly a decade after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, researchers have discovered that wildlife is thriving in the areas evacuated by humans, despite radiological contamination.

asia, Wildlife flourishing in uninhabited areas around Fukushima - CNN

Wildlife flourishing in uninhabited areas around Fukushima

(CNN)Nearly a decade after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, researchers have discovered that wildlife is thriving in the areas evacuated by humans, despite radiological contamination. On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan. More than 20,000 people died or went missing in the quake and tsunami, while hundreds of thousands more lost their homes. Three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant melted down, releasing radioactive materials into the air and more than 100,000 people were evacuated from the area. A Japanese serow explores the area. Scientists have now discovered that wildlife is abundant in areas that humans no longer live.Using remote cameras, researchers from the University of Georgia recovered more than 267,000 photos of more than 20 species -- including racoon dogs, wild boars, macaques, pheasants, foxes and Japanese hares in the areas surrounding the power plant.Read More"Our results represent the first evidence that numerous species of wildlife are now abundant throughout the Fukushima Evacuation Zone, despite the presence of radiological contamination," James Beasley, associate professor at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said in a statement.Chernobyl control room now open to visitors -- but only wearing a hazmat suitPhotographic data was collected from 106 camera sites from three zones: Areas where humans were excluded due to the highest level of contamination; areas where humans were restricted due to an intermediate level of contamination; and areas where people were allowed to remain.Over 120 days, cameras captured 46,000 photographs of wild boar, with more than 26,000 images taken in the areas which were uninhabited. In contrast, about 13,000 images were taken in zones where humans were restricted due to contamination and 7,000 taken in zones inhabited by people. Researchers captured images of more than 20 species, including macaque monkeys, in the areas surrounding the plant. Researchers also saw higher numbers of racoons, Japanese marten, a weasel-like animal, and Japanese macaque or monkeys in uninhabited or restricted zones. Species considered to be "in conflict" with humans, such as wild boar, were predominantly photographed in areas and zones evacuated by humans, Beasley said.Inside Slavutych, the city created by the Chernobyl explosionWhile the research monitors the radiological impact on wildlife populations as a whole, it does not give an assessment on the health of individual animals, scientists noted. The study was published Monday in the Journal of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, was produced in addition to the team's research on Chernobyl, where wildlife has also thrived in the wake of the disaster.

Michelle Toh, CNN Business

2020-12-03 05:47:52

business

tech

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/03/tech/autox-robotaxi-china-intl-hnk/index.html

Self-driving robotaxis are taking off in China - CNN

The world has been inching toward fully autonomous cars for years. In China, one company just got even closer to making it a reality.

tech, Self-driving robotaxis are taking off in China - CNN

Self-driving robotaxis are taking off in China

Hong Kong (CNN Business)The world has been inching toward fully autonomous cars for years. In China, one company just got even closer to making it a reality.On Thursday, AutoX, an Alibaba (BABA)-backed startup, announced it had rolled out fully driverless robotaxis on public roads in Shenzhen. The company said it had become the first player in China to do so, notching an important industry milestone.Previously, companies operating autonomous shuttles on public roads in the country were constrained by strict caveats, which required them to have a safety driver inside. This program is different. In Shenzhen, AutoX has completely removed the backup driver or any remote operators for its local fleet of 25 cars, it said. The government isn't restricting where in the city AutoX operates, though the company said they are focusing on the downtown area.The company released a video of its minivan — the Fiat Chrysler Pacifica — navigating on its own through the city's downtown area, showing passengers getting in, loading a package into the backseat and letting a dog hop in for a spin. Read MoreIt also depicts the car navigating around loading trucks, veering past pedestrians, and performing a U-turn. AutoX demonstrating its driverless robotaxis on the roads in Shenzhen. Credit: AutoX "It's a dream," AutoX CEO Jianxiong Xiao said in an interview. "After working so hard for so many years, we've finally reached the point that the technology is mature enough, that we feel confident by ourselves, to really remove the safety driver."Xiao said the company won over regulators after working to improve both its software and hardware. "We have over 100 vehicles driving every day on the road [in China] to capture data," he said. "The AI software is better [now.]""From a technical point of view, the car is ready," Xiao said. "It's very crucial to have this car, otherwise we cannot go driverless."AutoX was founded in 2016 by Xiao, a former assistant lecturer at Princeton who still likes to be called "Professor X." The Shenzhen-based firm focuses on making the technology that goes into self-driving cars, and partners with major automakers, such as Fiat Chrysler, to develop and put out its robotaxis.The new initiative is still in trial mode and not currently open to the public. That likely won't change anytime soon, according to Xiao, who said that he hoped to obtain permission to expand the program to regular passengers in the next two or three years.Race of the robotaxiWhile AutoX has claimed an edge in China, it's not the first time fully driverless shuttles have hit public roads. This summer, the company obtained approval to carry out completely autonomous tests on public roads in parts of San Jose, California, clearing another hurdle in one of its most important markets.In October, Alphabet's Waymo went a step further, saying that it would start opening up its unmanned transportation service to members of the public in Phoenix, Arizona. (It now offers rides to passengers in the area through an app.)Domestic competition is also heating up. Recently, Chinese companies have started to let more ordinary people experience what it's like to ride in a self-driving car.'I'm not drunk, it's my car:' Tesla's 'full self-driving' gets mixed reviewsThis year, the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated the need for contactless services, which encouraged the government to move faster with autonomous technology, said Xiao.In June, Didi, China's biggest ride-hailing firm, began offering free rides in its autonomous vehicles within a designated area of Shanghai.Recently, Chinese tech giant Baidu (BIDU) also announced that anyone could try its robotaxi service in certain districts of Beijing. Both of those programs require dedicated safety drivers.AutoX already has more than 100 robotaxis deployed in five Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Wuhan. Over the next year, it aims to double its reach to more than 10 local cities. Whether the company can pull humans from behind the wheel in other markets depends on local regulators, Xiao said.In Shanghai, its vehicles are available to public users, who can hail them through Alibaba's Autonavi app, a Chinese mapping app. Michigan plans to redesign a stretch of road for self-driving carsThe startup's latest approval from local authorities in Shenzhen came after six months of trials it had already conducted there.Some of the company's lessons so far include how to better adapt to traffic conditions in each place, according to Xiao. In Shenzhen, for instance, motorists often have to watch out for delivery workers on bikes and scooters, and drivers are known to drive more aggressively than in the United States, he said."The traffic scenarios are much more challenging," he added. "For our AI, we had to do a lot of work to adapt to the local Chinese way of driving."China, home to the world's biggest auto sector, could someday become the top global market for automated vehicles, according to a report from consulting firm McKinsey. It projects the country could generate as much as $1.1 trillion in revenue from autonomous mobility services by 2040.The industry, however, still faces a long road ahead. Xiao estimates it could take another five years for unmanned taxis to become the norm across China."The bar is incredibly high," he said. "It's extremely challenging, but we're very happy."

Hilary Whiteman, CNN

2022-03-15 04:51:18

news

asia

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/asia/australia-climate-court-appeal-intl-hnk/index.html

Australian court overturns teenagers' landmark climate ruling - CNN

The Australian government has successfully appealed a court ruling that ordered the federal environment minister to consider the impact of carbon emissions on children when approving new coal mining projects.

asia, Australian court overturns teenagers' landmark climate ruling - CNN

Australian court overturns teenagers' landmark climate ruling

Brisbane, Australia (CNN)The Australian government has successfully appealed a court ruling that ordered the federal environment minister to consider the impact of carbon emissions on children when approving new coal mining projects. The full bench of the Federal Court handed down its unanimous ruling Tuesday, saying the duty of care should not be imposed on Environment Minister Sussan Ley, with the three judges offering multiple reasons for their decision. Chief Justice James Allsop said liability should not be imposed, partly because the minister's lack of control over the harm caused by climate change by her decisions greatly exceeded the "tiny contribution to the overall risk of damage from climate change" from those decisions."The lack of proportionality between the tiny increase in risk and lack of control, and the liability for all damaged by heatwaves, bushfires and rising sea levels to all Australians under the age of 18 ongoing into the future, mean that the duty in tort should not be imposed," Allsop said.Rescue volunteers patrol around the flooded houses in the Sydney suburb of Windsor, March 9.In a statement, Ley welcomed the decision and said the government would closely review the judgment. "The Morrison Government remains committed to protecting our environment for current and future generations," the statement added.Read MoreTuesday's ruling followed a landmark Federal Court ruling in May 2021 that said the federal environment minister had a duty of care to consider young people before approving an extension of the Whitehaven Vickery coal mine in New South Wales.The case was brought by eight Australians under 18 years old, including Melbourne teenager Anjali Sharma, and Sister Marie Brigid Arthur, who acted as their legal guardian.In July 2021, the judgment was extended to apply to all children, not just the applicants, further increasing pressure on the government to consider risks to future Australians when it approved new coal projects.Outside the Federal Court in Sydney Tuesday, Sharma, the lead litigant in the case, said she was "devastated by the decision and so, so angry."Ava Princi, 18, Luca Saunders, 16, and Anjali Sharma, 17, console each other after Tuesday's ruling. "The Federal Court today may have accepted the minister's legal arguments over ours. But that does not change the minister's moral obligation to take action on climate change and to protect young people from the harms that it will bring. It does not change the science," the 17-year-old told reporters. "It does not put out the fires or drain the flood waters.""Our lawyers will be reviewing the judgment, and we will have more to say on possible next steps for the coming weeks, but what I can say today is that we will not stop in our fight for climate justice."Amanda McKenzie, the chief executive of the Climate Council said the ruling was disappointing but the children succeeded in drawing more attention to an important issue."You need a drumbeat, if you like, of information and people saying, 'this is not okay.' And I feel like the young people that pushed this case, they really created a moment to focus people's attention on what climate change means for young Australians. And I think that was really valuable," she said.JUST WATCHEDRecord-breaking floods hit eastern AustraliaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHRecord-breaking floods hit eastern Australia 01:20The children's initial legal victory didn't stop the government from approving the Whitehaven Vickery coal mine extension. The project was approved in September and will see an open-cut coal mine developed in northwestern New South Wales.The majority of the coal mined will be metallurgical coal for steel-making, along with thermal coal for export markets, according to the Whitehaven website.The appeal was heard by Allsop, Justice Jonathan Beach and Justice Michael Wheelahan.In the ruling delivered by Allsop, Beach found the environment minister shouldn't be held responsible, partly because there wasn't "sufficient closeness and directness between the minister's exercise of statutory power and the likely risk of harm to the respondents and the class that they represent."Wheelahan said providing duty of a care "did not fit" with the minister's role under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.The Australian government is considered a laggard on climate action. In October, days before the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Prime Minister Scott Morrison finally announced the country would join the other developed nations by aiming to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.In recent weeks, record-breaking floods down the country's eastern coast prompted a national emergency declaration as homes and businesses were swamped after a period of heavy rain. It comes two years after fires devastated a large swathe of Australia's most populous states. Both disasters were attributed to climate change.

Jessie Yeung and Yong Xiong, CNN

2022-03-19 00:30:58

news

asia

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/18/asia/wang-jixian-chinese-vlogger-ukraine-intl-hnk/index.html

A Chinese vlogger shared videos of war-torn Ukraine. He's been labeled a national traitor - CNN

Wang Jixian didn't set out to become the Chinese voice of resistance in Ukraine. The 36-year-old resident of Odesa, a key target in Russia's invasion of the country, simply wanted to show his parents he was fine.

asia, A Chinese vlogger shared videos of war-torn Ukraine. He's been labeled a national traitor - CNN

A Chinese vlogger shared videos of war-torn Ukraine. He's been labeled a national traitor

(CNN)Wang Jixian didn't set out to become the Chinese voice of resistance in Ukraine. The 36-year-old resident of Odesa, a key target in Russia's invasion of the country, simply wanted to show his parents he was fine."I'm coming back from buying groceries," he said in a video posted to Douyin, China's version of TikTok, on February 24, the first day of the invasion. Wang, a programmer originally from Beijing, described buying meat and fruit in the video, remarking that some food stores were still open. But his mood darkened as the days passed and the Russian assault escalated. When he logged onto Douyin, he said he would see Chinese videos praising Russian troops or supporting the invasion."I was very angry, then I thought I would record videos for them, and I'll tell them what the real battlefield is," he told CNN. His daily videos, posted across various platforms including YouTube and the Chinese messaging app WeChat, quickly gained traction as a rare voice offering Chinese audiences a glimpse into war-torn Ukraine -- a stark contrast from Chinese state media, which has promoted Russian disinformation such as unfounded claims Ukrainian soldiers are using "Nazi" tactics.Wang Jixian holding his Chinese passport in a video posted to Douyin, China's version of TikTok.Read MoreIn one widely-watched video, Wang held up his Chinese passport and said, "These Ukrainian guards are not Nazis, they are IT programmers, common people, barbers -- these are the people."But in doing so, he had waded into the middle of a messy controversy, with China facing international pressure as it refuses to condemn Russia's invasion, and an outpouring of pro-Russia sentiment on China's highly restricted and censored social media -- something Wang is hoping to change.Backlash of criticsWang had studied art in college, and enjoyed dance, music and painting -- so when he moved to Odesa four years ago for work, the city's "artistic atmosphere" immediately appealed to him. One video on his Douyin account last year showed a man playing piano in a colorful room filled with books and paintings.His videos look very different now. Several are filmed late at night, with the sound of explosions and air raid sirens in the background. Other clips show snapshots of daily life -- quiet streets, Ukrainian flags hung outside buildings and painted onto walls. Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn aerial view of the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv on Monday, March 21 after a Russian shelling.Hide Caption 1 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian servicemen search through rubble inside the Retroville shopping mall in northwest Kyiv on March 21 after a Russian attack.Hide Caption 2 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople share dinner and sing "Happy Birthday" during a celebration at an artists' co-living studio space in Kyiv on March 20. The space has turned into a bomb shelter for approximately 25 artists from around Ukraine who are now volunteering to help the war effort. Hide Caption 3 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFormer Ukrainian Parliament member Tetiana Chornovol, now a service member and operator of an anti-tank guided missile system, on March 20 examines the Russian tank she destroyed in a recent battle on the front line in the Kyiv region.Hide Caption 4 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople gather in a basement used as a bomb shelter during an air raid in Lviv on March 19.Hide Caption 5 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian serviceman stands among debris after shelling in a residential area in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18. Hide Caption 6 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUS President Joe Biden holds a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in this photo that was released by the White House on March 18. Biden sought to use the 110-minute call to dissuade Xi from assisting Russia in its war on Ukraine.Hide Caption 7 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineStaff members attend to a child at the Zaporizhzhia Regional Children's Clinical Hospital on March 18. Children who have sustained severe injuries during the Russian invasion are treated at the hospital. Hide Caption 8 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian President Vladimir Putin attends a rally at a stadium in Moscow on March 18. Speaking from a stage in front of a banner that read "for a world without Nazism," Putin said Russia "will definitely implement all our plans" in Ukraine. He insisted that national unity was the strongest in a long time, even as many people flee Russia or protest against war in the streets. State workers were told by authorities to attend the celebration, which commemorated the eighth year of Russia's annexation of Crimea.Hide Caption 9 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineOn March 17, a woman reacts while speaking outside a destroyed apartment block in the southern port city of Mariupol. Hide Caption 10 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky receives a standing ovation as he virtually addresses the US Congress on Wednesday, March 16. The historic speech occurred as the United States is under pressure to provide more military assistance to the embattled country.Hide Caption 11 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn elderly woman is helped by policemen after she was rescued from an apartment that was hit by shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 15.Hide Caption 12 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFirefighters work to extinguish flames at an apartment building in Kyiv on March 15.Hide Caption 13 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMilitary cadets attend a funeral ceremony at a church in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 15. The funeral was for four of the Ukrainian servicemen who were killed during an airstrike on the Yavoriv military base near the Polish border. Local authorities say 35 people were killed.Hide Caption 14 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman walks past a damaged window to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial for victims of the recent shelling in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, on March 15.Hide Caption 15 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFirefighters search a building for survivors after an attack in Kharkiv on Monday, March 14. At least one dead body was pulled from the rubble after hours of digging.Hide Caption 16 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers take cover from incoming artillery fire in Irpin, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 13.Hide Caption 17 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier surveys a destroyed government building in Kharkiv on March 13.Hide Caption 18 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA mother and son rest in Lviv, Ukraine, while waiting to board a train to Poland on March 12.Hide Caption 19 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn explosion is seen at an apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 11. The city in southeastern Ukraine has been besieged by Russian forces.Hide Caption 20 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMariana Vishegirskaya's husband, Yuri, holds their newborn daughter, Veronika, at a hospital in Mariupol on March 11. Vishegirskaya survived the maternity hospital bombing in the city earlier in the week.Hide Caption 21 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople pay their respects during a funeral service for three Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv on March 11. Senior Soldier Andrii Stefanyshyn, 39; Senior Lt. Taras Didukh, 25; and Sgt. Dmytro Kabakov, 58, were laid to rest at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church. Even in this sacred space, the sounds of war intruded: an air raid siren audible under the sound of prayer and weeping. Yet no one stirred. Residents are now inured to the near-daily warnings of an air attack.Hide Caption 22 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gives a news conference after meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya, Turkey, on March 10. Two weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lavrov falsely claimed that his country "did not attack" its neighbor.Hide Caption 23 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA resident takes shelter in a basement in Irpin on March 10. Due to heavy fighting, Irpin has been without heat, water or electricity for several days.Hide Caption 24 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineEmergency workers carry an injured pregnant woman outside of a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9. The woman and her baby later died, a surgeon who was treating her confirmed. The attack came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in hostilities to allow refugees to evacuate.Hide Caption 25 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian servicemen work inside the damaged maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9. "The destruction is enormous," the city council said. "The building of the medical facility where the children were treated recently is completely destroyed."Hide Caption 26 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineDead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol on March 9. With overflowing morgues and repeated shelling, the city has been unable to hold proper burials.Hide Caption 27 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineCars drive past a destroyed Russian tank as civilians leave Irpin on March 9. A Ukrainian official said lines of vehicles stretched for miles as people tried to escape fighting in districts to the north and northwest of Kyiv.Hide Caption 28 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA displaced Ukrainian mother embraces her child while waiting at the Przemysl railway station in Poland on March 8.Hide Caption 29 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian serviceman walks past the remains of a Russian aircraft lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv on March 8.Hide Caption 30 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is displayed on a screen as he addresses British lawmakers via video on March 8. "We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost," he said in his comments translated by an interpreter. The House of Commons gave Zelensky a standing ovation at the end of his address.Hide Caption 31 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA firefighter works to extinguish flames after a chemical warehouse was reportedly hit by Russian shelling near Kalynivka, Ukraine, on March 8.Hide Caption 32 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAlexandra, 12, holds her 6-year-old sister, Esyea, who cries as she waves at her mother, Irina, on March 7. The children were leaving Odesa, Ukraine.Hide Caption 33 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMembers of the Red Cross help people fleeing the Kyiv suburb of Irpin on March 7.Hide Caption 34 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe dead bodies of civilians killed while trying to flee are covered by sheets in Irpin on March 6. CNN determined they were killed in a Russian military strike.Hide Caption 35 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineCivilians seek protection in a basement bomb shelter in Kyiv on March 6.Hide Caption 36 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineLocal residents help clear the rubble of a home that was destroyed by a suspected Russian airstrike in Markhalivka, Ukraine, on March 5.Hide Caption 37 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineGeorge Keburia says goodbye to his wife and children as they board a train in Odesa on March 5. They were heading to Lviv.Hide Caption 38 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA statue is covered in Lviv on March 5. Residents wrapped statues in protective sheets to try to safeguard historic monuments across the city.Hide Caption 39 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee across the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 5.Hide Caption 40 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMarina Yatsko runs behind her boyfriend, Fedor, as they arrive at the hospital with her 18-month-old son, Kirill, who was wounded by shelling in Mariupol on March 4. Medical workers frantically tried to save the boy's life, but he didn't survive.Hide Caption 41 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople remove personal belongings from a burning house after shelling in Irpin on March 4.Hide Caption 42 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineOksana and her son Dmytro stand over the open casket of her husband, Volodymyr Nezhenets, during his funeral in Kyiv on March 4. According to the Washington Post, he was a member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, which is comprised mostly of volunteers.Hide Caption 43 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople crowd on a platform as they try to board a westbound train in Kyiv on March 4.Hide Caption 44 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA bullet-ridden bus is seen after an ambush in Kyiv on March 4.Hide Caption 45 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople take shelter on the floor of a hospital during shelling in Mariupol on March 4.Hide Caption 46 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of the Ukrainian military gives instructions to civilians in Irpin on March 4. They were about to board an evacuation train headed to Kyiv.Hide Caption 47 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSurveillance camera footage shows a flare landing at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, during shelling on March 4. Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces have "occupied" the power plant.Hide Caption 48 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian child rests on a bed at a temporary refugee center in Záhony, Hungary, on March 4.Hide Caption 49 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA residential building destroyed by shelling is seen in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on March 3. Russian forces have shown a "willingness to hit civilian infrastructure on purpose," a senior US defense official told reporters.Hide Caption 50 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineLeos Leonid recovers at a hospital in Kyiv on March 3. The 64-year-old survived being crushed when an armored vehicle drove over his car. Video of the incident was widely shared on social media.Hide Caption 51 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier carries a baby across a destroyed bridge on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 52 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineResidents react in front of a burning building after shelling in Kharkiv on March 3.Hide Caption 53 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier who says he was shot three times in the opening days of the invasion sits on a hospital bed in Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 54 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople form a human chain to transfer supplies into Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 55 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA cemetery worker digs graves for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv on March 3.Hide Caption 56 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA mother cares for her two infant sons in the underground shelter of a maternity hospital in Kyiv on March 3. She gave birth a day earlier, and she and her husband haven't yet decided on names for the twins.Hide Caption 57 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces sits with a weapon in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 58 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineParamedics treat an elderly woman wounded by shelling before transferring her to a hospital in Mariupol on March 2.Hide Caption 59 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineResidents of Zhytomyr, Ukraine, work in the remains of a residential building on March 2. The building was destroyed by shelling.Hide Caption 60 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman reads a story to children while they take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 61 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces inspects damage in the backyard of a house in Gorenka on March 2.Hide Caption 62 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian woman takes her children over the border in Siret, Romania, on March 2. Many Ukrainians are fleeing the country at a pace that could turn into "Europe's largest refugee crisis this century," the United Nations Refugee Agency said.Hide Caption 63 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMilitia members set up anti-tank barricades in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 64 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait at a train station in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 65 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on March 2.Hide Caption 66 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky poses for a picture in a Kyiv bunker after an exclusive interview with CNN and Reuters on March 1. Zelensky said that as long as Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian cities continued, little progress could be made in talks between the two nations. "It's important to stop bombing people, and then we can move on and sit at the negotiation table," he said.Hide Caption 67 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn explosion is seen at a TV tower in Kyiv on March 1. Russian forces fired rockets near the tower and struck a Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv hours after warning of "high-precision" strikes on other facilities linked to Ukrainian security agencies.Hide Caption 68 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers attend Mass at an Orthodox monastery in Kyiv on March 1.Hide Caption 69 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMedical workers show a mother her newborn after she gave birth at a maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 1. The hospital is now also used as a medical ward and bomb shelter.Hide Caption 70 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn administrative building is seen in Kharkiv after Russian shelling on March 1. Russian forces have scaled up their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.Hide Caption 71 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian emergency workers carry a body of a victim following shelling that hit the City Hall building in Kharkiv on March 1.Hide Caption 72 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman named Helen comforts her 8-year-old daughter, Polina, in the bomb shelter of a Kyiv children's hospital on March 1. The girl was at the hospital being treated for encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.Hide Caption 73 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian refugees try to stay warm at the Medyka border crossing in Poland on March 1.Hide Caption 74 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineVolunteers in Kyiv sign up to join Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces on February 28.Hide Caption 75 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA member of the Territorial Defense Forces loads rifle magazines in Kyiv on February 28.Hide Caption 76 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineDelegations from Russia and Ukraine hold talks in Belarus on February 28. Both sides discussed a potential "ceasefire and the end of combat actions on the territory of Ukraine," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak told reporters. Without going into detail, Podolyak said that both sides would return to their capitals for consultations over whether to implement a number of "decisions."Hide Caption 77 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian forces order a man to the ground on February 28 as they increased security measures amid Russian attacks in Kyiv.Hide Caption 78 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA displaced Ukrainian cradles her child at a temporary shelter set up inside a gymnasium in Beregsurány, Hungary, on February 28.Hide Caption 79 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian infantry mobility vehicles are destroyed after fighting in Kharkiv on February 28. A residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was hit by a rocket attack, according to Ukrainian officials and multiple social media videos geolocated by CNN. A civilian was killed and 31 people were wounded, the city's council said. Hide Caption 80 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe lifeless body of a 6-year-old girl, who according to the Associated Press was killed by Russian shelling in a residential area, lies on a medical cart at a hospital in Mariupol on February 27. The girl, whose name was not immediately known, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.Hide Caption 81 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke billows over the Ukrainian city of Vasylkiv, just outside Kyiv on February 27. A fire at an oil storage area was seen raging at the Vasylkiv Air Base.Hide Caption 82 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait on a platform inside the railway station in Lviv on February 27. Thousands of people at Lviv's main train station attempted to board trains that would take them out of Ukraine.Hide Caption 83 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Russian armored vehicle burns after fighting in Kharkiv on February 27. Street fighting broke out as Russian troops entered Ukraine's second-largest city, and residents were urged to stay in shelters and not travel.Hide Caption 84 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineLocal residents prepare Molotov cocktails in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, on February 27.Hide Caption 85 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineCars line up on the road outside Mostyska, Ukraine, as people attempt to flee to Poland on February 27.Hide Caption 86 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian troops in Kyiv escort a prisoner February 27 who they suspected of being a Russian agent.Hide Caption 87 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian forces patrol mostly empty streets in Kyiv on February 27. Mayor Vitali Klitschko extended a citywide curfew.Hide Caption 88 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members take position at the Vasylkiv Air Base near Kyiv on February 27.Hide Caption 89 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman sleeps on chairs February 27 in the underground parking lot of a Kyiv hotel that has been turned into a bomb shelter.Hide Caption 90 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA damaged residential building is seen in Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 91 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv run for cover during shelling on February 26. Hide Caption 92 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn apartment building in Kyiv is seen after it was damaged by shelling on February 26. The outer walls of several apartment units appeared to be blown out entirely, with the interiors blackened and debris hanging loose. Hide Caption 93 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv take cover as an air-raid siren sounds February 26 near an apartment building that was damaged by shelling.Hide Caption 94 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA police vehicle patrols the streets of Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 95 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian troops inspect a site following a Russian airstrike in Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 96 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFollowing a national directive to help complicate the invading Russian Army's attempts to navigate, a road worker removes signs near Pisarivka, Ukraine, on February 26.Hide Caption 97 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA man kneels in front of a Russian tank in Bakhmach, Ukraine, on February 26 as Ukrainian citizens attempted to stop the tank from moving forward. The dramatic scene was captured on video, and CNN confirmed its authenticity. The moment drew comparisons to the iconic "Tank Man" of Tiananmen Square.Hide Caption 98 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv board a train heading to the west of the country on February 26. Kelly Clements, the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, told CNN that more than 120,000 people had left Ukraine while 850,000 were internally displaced.Hide Caption 99 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members look for and collect unexploded shells after fighting in Kyiv on February 26.Hide Caption 100 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke and flames are seen near Kyiv on February 26. Explosions were seen and heard in parts of the capital as Ukrainians battled to hold back advancing Russian troops.Hide Caption 101 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe body of a Russian soldier lies next to a Russian vehicle outside Kharkiv on February 25.Hide Caption 102 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman weeps in her car after crossing the border from Ukraine into Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania, on February 25.Hide Caption 103 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier sits injured from crossfire inside Kyiv on February 25.Hide Caption 104 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA child from Ukraine sleeps in a tent at a humanitarian center in Palanca, Moldova, on February 25.Hide Caption 105 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA firefighter walks between the ruins of a downed aircraft in Kyiv on February 25. Hide Caption 106 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineNewly married couple Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin pose for photo in Kyiv on February 25 after they joined the Territorial Defense Forces.Hide Caption 107 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMembers of the Ukrainian National Guard take positions in central Kyiv on February 25.Hide Caption 108 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople walk past a residential building in Kyiv that was hit in an alleged Russian airstrike on February 25.Hide Caption 109 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe body of a school employee, who according to locals was killed in recent shelling, lies in the separatist-controlled town of Horlivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 25.Hide Caption 110 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineKyiv residents take shelter in an underground parking garage on February 25.Hide Caption 111 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineIn this handout photo from the Ukrainian government, firefighters respond to the scene of a residential building on fire in Kyiv on February 25. Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said the city had been hit by "cruise or ballistic missiles."Hide Caption 112 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA wounded woman stands outside a hospital after an attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv, outside of Kharkiv, on February 24.Hide Caption 113 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe body of a rocket remains in an apartment after shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv on February 24.Hide Caption 114 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA boy plays with his tablet in a public basement used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 115 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA man mourns after an airstrike reportedly hit an apartment complex in Chuhuiv on February 24.Hide Caption 116 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSviatoslav Fursin, left, and Yaryna Arieva kneel during their wedding ceremony at the St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv on February 24. They had planned on getting married in May, but they rushed to tie the knot due to the attacks by Russian forces. "We maybe can die, and we just wanted to be together before all of that," Arieva said.Hide Caption 117 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members sit atop armored vehicles driving in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 24.Hide Caption 118 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Kyiv try to board a bus to travel west toward Poland on February 24.Hide Caption 119 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUS President Joe Biden arrives in the East Room of the White House to address the Russian invasion on February 24. "Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences," Biden said, laying out a set of measures that will "impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time."Hide Caption 120 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke rises from a military airport in Chuhuiv on February 24. Airports were also hit in Boryspil, Kharkiv, Ozerne, Kulbakino, Kramatorsk and Chornobaivka.Hide Caption 121 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople seek shelter inside a subway station in Kharkiv on February 24.Hide Caption 122 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian military vehicles are seen at the Chernobyl power plant near Pripyat, Ukraine, on February 24. Russian forces have seized control of the the plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, according to the agency that manages the area.Hide Caption 123 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait after boarding a bus to leave Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 124 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian President Zelensky holds an emergency meeting in Kyiv on February 24. In a video address, Zelensky announced that he was introducing martial law. He urged people to remain calm.Hide Caption 125 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePolice officers inspect the remains of a missile that landed in Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 126 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA staff member of a Kyiv hotel talks on the phone on February 24.Hide Caption 127 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke rises from an air defense base after an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol on February 24. A CNN team in Mariupol reported hearing a barrage of artillery.Hide Caption 128 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople wait in line to buy train tickets at the central station in Kyiv on February 24.Hide Caption 129 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA long line of cars is seen exiting Kyiv on February 24. Heavy traffic appeared to be heading west, away from where explosions were heard early in the morning.Hide Caption 130 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA photo provided by the Ukrainian President's office appears to show an explosion in Kyiv early on February 24.Hide Caption 131 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople in Moscow watch a televised address by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he announces a military operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on February 24. "Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history," he said.Hide Caption 132 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAn emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is held in New York to discuss the crisis on February 23. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop "attacking Ukraine" and to give peace a chance.Hide Caption 133 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA convoy of Russian military vehicles is seen February 23 in the Rostov region of Russia, which runs along Ukraine's eastern border.Hide Caption 134 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers talk in a shelter at the front line near Svitlodarsk, Ukraine, on February 23.Hide Caption 135 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSmoke rises from a damaged power plant in Shchastya that Ukrainian authorities say was hit by shelling on February 22.Hide Caption 136 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA damaged house is worked on after shelling near the Ukrainian front-line city of Novoluhanske on February 22.Hide Caption 137 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMourners gather at a church in Kyiv on February 22 for the funeral of Ukrainian Army Capt. Anton Sydorov. The Ukrainian military said he was killed by a shrapnel wound on February 19 after several rounds of artillery fire were directed at Ukrainian positions near Myronivske.Hide Caption 138 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers pay their respects during Sydorov's funeral in Kyiv on February 22.Hide Caption 139 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA sign displays conversion rates at a currency exchange kiosk in Kyiv on February 22. Global markets tumbled the day after Putin ordered troops into parts of eastern Ukraine.Hide Caption 140 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineRussian howitzers are loaded onto train cars near Taganrog, Russia, on February 22.Hide Caption 141 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople who left a separatist-held region in eastern Ukraine watch an address by Putin from their hotel room in Taganrog, Russia, on February 21. Putin blasted Kyiv's growing security ties with the West, and in lengthy remarks about the history of the USSR and the formation of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, he appeared to cast doubt on Ukraine's right to self-determination.Hide Caption 142 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePutin signs decrees recognizing the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic in a ceremony in Moscow on February 21. Earlier in the day, the heads of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics requested the Kremlin leader recognize their independence and sovereignty. Members of Putin's Security Council supported the initiative in a meeting earlier in the day.Hide Caption 143 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineProtesters demanding economic sanctions against Russia stand outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv on February 21. Only a small number of protesters showed up to demonstrate.Hide Caption 144 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineActivists hold a performance in front of the Russian embassy in Kyiv on February 21 in support of prisoners who were arrested in Crimea. They say the red doors are a symbol of the doors that were kicked in to search and arrest Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic minority.Hide Caption 145 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian servicemen shop in the front-line town of Avdiivka, Ukraine, on February 21.Hide Caption 146 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople lay flowers at the Motherland Monument in Kyiv on February 21.Hide Caption 147 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA local resident shows the depth of a crater from shelling in a field behind his house in the village of Tamarchuk, Ukraine, on February 20.Hide Caption 148 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members are seen along the front line outside of Popasna, Ukraine, on February 20. Hide Caption 149 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople evacuated from the pro-Russian separatist regions of Ukraine are seen at a temporary shelter in Taganrog, Russia, on February 20.Hide Caption 150 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAnastasia Manha lulls her 2-month-old son Mykyta after alleged shelling by separatists forces in Novohnativka, Ukraine, on February 20. Hide Caption 151 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian soldier stays on position on the front line near Novohnativka on February 20. Hide Caption 152 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA couple arrives at the city council to get married in Odesa on February 20. As Ukrainian authorities reported further ceasefire violations and top Western officials warned about an impending conflict, life went on in other parts of the country.Hide Caption 153 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy, left, visits soldiers at a front-line position in Novoluhanske on February 19. Minutes after he left, the position came under fire. No one was injured.Hide Caption 154 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman rests in a car near a border checkpoint in Avilo-Uspenka, Russia, on February 19.Hide Caption 155 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA Ukrainian service member walks by a building on February 19 that was hit by mortar fire in the front-line village of Krymske, Ukraine.Hide Caption 156 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineFighter jets fly over Belarus during a joint military exercise the country held with Russia on February 19.Hide Caption 157 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian soldiers stand guard at a military command center in Novoluhanske on February 19.Hide Caption 158 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePeople sit on a bus in Donetsk on February 18 after they were ordered to evacuate to Russia by pro-Russian separatists.Hide Caption 159 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineThe remains of a military vehicle are seen in a parking lot outside a government building following an explosion in Donetsk on February 18. Ukrainian and US officials said the vehicle explosion was a staged attack designed to stoke tensions in eastern Ukraine.Hide Caption 160 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA memorial service and candlelight vigil is held at the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv on February 18. They honored those who died in 2014 while protesting against the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader who later fled the country.Hide Caption 161 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA kindergarten that officials say was damaged by shelling is seen in Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukraine, on February 17. No lives were lost, but it was a stark reminder of the stakes for people living near the front lines that separate Ukrainian government forces from Russian-backed separatists.Hide Caption 162 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineChildren play on old Soviet tanks in front of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv on February 16.Hide Caption 163 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineAmbassadors of European countries lay roses at the Wall of Remembrance in Kyiv on February 16. The wall contains the names and photographs of military members who have died since the conflict with Russian-backed separatists began in 2014.Hide Caption 164 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUS troops walk on the tarmac at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland on February 16. US paratroopers landed in Poland as part of a deployment of several thousand sent to bolster NATO's eastern flank in response to tensions with Russia.Hide Caption 165 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA 200-meter-long Ukrainian flag is unfolded at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on February 16 to mark a "Day of Unity," an impromptu celebration declared by President Volodymyr Zelensky.Hide Caption 166 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineTravelers wait in line to check in to their departing flights February 15 at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv. US President Joe Biden urged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country, warning that "things could go crazy quickly" in the region.Hide Caption 167 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA location of Oschadbank, a state-owned bank, is seen in Kyiv on February 15. The websites of Oschadbank and PrivatBank, the country's two largest banks, were hit by cyberattacks that day, as were the websites of Ukraine's defense ministry and army, according to Ukrainian government agencies.Hide Caption 168 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineA woman and child walk underneath a military monument in Senkivka, Ukraine, on February 14. It's on the outskirts of the Three Sisters border crossing between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.Hide Caption 169 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members talk at a front-line position in eastern Ukraine on February 14. Hide Caption 170 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineMembers of Ukraine's National Guard look out a window as they ride a bus through the capital of Kyiv on February 14.Hide Caption 171 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineSatellite images taken on February 13 by Maxar Technologies revealed that dozens of helicopters had appeared at a previously vacant airbase in Russian-occupied Crimea.Hide Caption 172 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkrainePro-Russian separatists observe the movement of Ukrainian troops from trenches in Ukraine's Donbas area on February 11.Hide Caption 173 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members unpack Javelin anti-tank missiles that were delivered to Kyiv on February 10 as part of a US military support package for Ukraine.Hide Caption 174 of 175 Photos: Russia invades UkraineUkrainian service members walk on an armored fighting vehicle during a training exercise in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 10.Hide Caption 175 of 175"Are those air raid alarms? Those bastards are coming again," he said in one video. "People are doing their own business, my neighbor is out walking his dog again. This is our Odesa."Other times, he's more impassioned. "Someone told me nowadays, society has the laws of the jungle, where power comes from the barrel of a gun," he said, referencing a famous quote by Communist leader Mao Zedong. "Where is the sense in that?" As these videos began garnering attention, sometimes racking up more than 140,000 views, the number of critics rose too, with comments calling him a national traitor."You don't need this Chinese passport anymore, you have already forgotten which country you are from," one popular comment on Douyin read. "The official position of the country should be the position of all Chinese people."China has tried to stake out a neutral position, choosing not to condemn Russia or even call it an invasion while frequently saying "all countries' legitimate security concerns" should be addressed.In a call with US President Joe Biden on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said both countries have a responsibility for ensuring peace. But the White House said afterward it was still concerned China could provide Russia assistance.China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie"I don't understand how I 'betrayed' the country," Wang told CNN. With limited access to news broadcasts and widespread online misinformation, he said he doesn't understand China's or Russia's position -- all he knew was that "every day the city is under fire, many were killed."The comments of anonymous online strangers don't bother him -- but they do when it's from people he cares about, such as a Chinese Embassy staff member he knew from his previous residence in North Macedonia. He said the staffer reached out to him recently, insinuating Wang was being paid to post his videos, and asking: "Who sent you?" When Wang insisted he wasn't doing it for money, the staffer replied: "Your current behavior is not in line with national interests. I want to cut off relations with you, let's block each other."That "really hurt my heart," Wang said.Determined to stayChinese censors have also cracked down on his videos online, he said. While all his videos have stayed up on YouTube, which is blocked in China except for those with VPNs, only about 80% of his videos have been left on WeChat, and fewer than 20% on Douyin. He doesn't know what rules he has broken. He got so frustrated that in one video on March 7, he stuck black tape in an X over his mouth, silently gesturing to the camera to convey that he was safe and still in Odesa.After speaking with CNN, his Chinese social media accounts were banned, leaving him unable to contact his family back home.He has received "countless" messages from contacts, placing pressure on him to stop posting, he said. But he has no intention of doing so.This was supposed to be Xi Jinping's big year. Instead, he's dealing with Covid and war"I want to (provide) some voice for the people in Ukraine, for the heroes, for my neighbors. Because in my eyes they are all heroes," he said. "I see people being calm, I see people brave ... I want to remind you to see who is dying, who has been killed."There are signs his message may be landing. Under his videos, hate comments are interspersed with well wishes from viewers, urging him to stay safe and evacuate. A handful of comments express support for Ukraine.But for now, Wang has no intention of leaving -- not until "Odesa is too destroyed for humans to stay," he said. Apart from his affection for the city, it was a matter of principle, he added: "I can't stand the act of bullying people in front of my face." When he isn't filming videos, Wang provides volunteer support in repairing people's cell phones and assisting the displaced."(If) I turned back and left, it would be enough to make me regret for the rest of my life," he said. "I have no interest or desire to leave Ukraine until the war is ended and Ukraine has won."

Simone McCarthy and CNN's Beijing Bureau

2022-03-10 05:35:43

news

china

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/china/china-russia-disinformation-campaign-ukraine-intl-dst-hnk/index.html

China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie - CNN

In public statements and at international summits, Chinese officials have attempted to stake out a seemingly neutral position on the war in Ukraine, neither condemning Russian actions nor ruling out the possibility Beijing could act as a mediator in a push for peace.

china, China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie - CNN

China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie

Beijing (CNN)In public statements and at international summits, Chinese officials have attempted to stake out a seemingly neutral position on the war in Ukraine, neither condemning Russian actions nor ruling out the possibility Beijing could act as a mediator in a push for peace. But while its international messaging has kept many guessing as to Beijing's true intentions, much of its domestic media coverage of Russia's invasion tells a wholly different story. There, an alternate reality is playing out for China's 1.4 billion people, one in which the invasion is nothing more than a "special military operation," according to its national broadcaster CCTV; the United States may be funding a biological weapons program in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is a victim standing up for a beleaguered Russia. To tell that story, major state-run news media outlets -- which dominate China's highly censored media space -- have been largely echoing Russian state media stories or information from Russian officials. A CNN analysis reviewed nearly 5,000 social media posts from 14 Chinese state media outlets during the first eight days of Russia's invasion posted onto China's Twitter-like platform, Weibo. The analysis found that of the more than 300 most-shared posts about the events in Ukraine -- which were each shared more than 1,000 times -- almost half, about 140, were what CNN classified as distinctly pro-Russian, often containing information attributed to a Russian official or picked up directly from Russia's state media.Read MoreThe analysis, which focused on stories that got the most play on social media, may not be representative of all posts shared by state media outlets on Weibo. But it provides a snapshot of the state media-produced information that is most visible to the more than half a billion monthly users on the popular platform. It's not clear the extent to which these posts may be explicitly the result of a coordinated propaganda campaign between the two countries, but it is consistent with an ongoing pattern in which Russian and Chinese media have amplified and reinforced their often-interchangeable talking points on issues such as the treatment of Russian dissidents, Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, or the supposed American role in fomenting "color revolutions" against authoritarian regimes. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping walk down the stairs as they arrive for a BRICS summit in Brasilia, Brazil in 2019. Such mutual reinforcement has also spilled over into the extensive overseas and English-language propaganda operations that both countries have built to promote their views globally -- a route made more important with Russia's state media outlets being banned on air and online in parts of the West. In China's top-down government-controlled media environment, all state-affiliated content is vetted and issued in accordance with government directives. That China has chosen to follow Russia's lead in deliberately mischaracterizing the war only serves to underline Beijing's closeness to Moscow -- and almost makes a mockery of China's self-proclaimed impartiality in helping to engage with Russia and bring an end to the violence. The playbookRussian assurances that civilian sites will not be targeted -- despite extensive evidence to the contrary, descriptions of Ukrainian soldiers using "Nazi" tactics, and misinformation regarding the whereabouts of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are all stories that have been funneled from Russian sources into China's enclosed social media ecosystem -- where many Western news outlets are blocked -- by its state media outlets in recent days. That dynamic was at play on Monday morning, when China's state broadcaster CCTV released a package in its morning newscast highlighting Moscow's erroneous claim that Washington had funded the development of biological weapons in Ukrainian labs. That insinuation is used to support the narrative that Ukraine -- characterized by Moscow as an American puppet state -- threatens Russia, and not the other way around. The source? Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov, who on Sunday said Russian forces uncovered "evidence" of the "hasty measures to conceal any traces of the military biological program finance(d) by the US Department of Defense," and referenced documents he said detailed the destruction of hazardous pathogens at these facilities on the order of the Ukrainian Health Ministry. In a statement on Twitter Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki pushed back on "Russia's false claims about alleged US biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine" and noted the "echoing" of those "conspiracy theories" by Chinese officials. "This is preposterous. It's the kind of disinformation operation we've seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent," Psaki said, adding that the US was "in full compliance" with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and "does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.""Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It's a clear pattern," Psaki said. The subject was also raised in a Senate hearing on Tuesday, when Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, asked if Ukraine had biological weapons, said it has biological research facilities, which the US was concerned Russian forces may be seeking to control. "We are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces, should they approach," Nuland said. Residents watch a TV screen showing news about Ukraine at a shopping mall in Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on February 25, 2022.Minutes after the CCTV report aired, an affiliated news outlet released an online post repeating the claims from Russia's Defense Ministry and started a related hashtag on Weibo, which began trending. The hashtag was viewed more than 45 million times over a period of hours that day. The next day, after Russia doubled down on the biological weapons claims with further statements, without evidence, CCTV released a new television segment, which was again shared by prominent state media outlets on Weibo, gaining further traction. The story then moved into the narrative of China's officials when a state media reporter at a regular Foreign Ministry press briefing asked a question about the laboratories, prompting the spokesperson to read a lengthy prepared response that repeated Russian disinformation. "We once again urge the US to fully clarify its biological militarization activities both inside and outside its borders and accept multilateral verification," spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.Within hours, at least 17 state media outlets, including CCTV, Xinhua, and the People's Daily, posted Zhao's response on Weibo, where the topic racked up more than 210 million views. A related hashtag rose to be the top trending topic on Weibo by the following afternoon. The pattern is just one example of a playbook that enables China to cover the war through the lens of Russian rhetoric and disinformation. Other examples include stories, such as repeated false claims that Zelensky fled the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv -- sourced to a single Russian lawmaker, which were picked up and amplified by both Chinese and Russian state media outlets on their domestic and international platforms. A CNN analysis sought to understand how large a role such stories play in China's tightly controlled media ecosystem, first by combing through nearly 5,000 social media posts from the Weibo accounts of 14 of China's most influential state media outlets, focusing on the first eight days of the invasion and news about the events in Ukraine.Next, CNN analyzed which of those posts were the most highly engaged with, identifying more than 300 posts shared on Weibo more than 1,000 times. Of those more than 300 posts, an analysis found that nearly half showed Russia in a positive light -- a category CNN defined as news sourced solely from Russian officials or Russian media, content that describes Ukraine negatively, misinformation about Zelensky, or pro-Putin coverage. While about 140 posts showed Russia in a positive light, the analysis identified fewer than 15 posts that portrayed Ukraine positively.A look at other characterizations showed only around 90 of these posts were neutral -- for example, purely factual reports from reliable sources, news about humanitarian aid or updates on the evacuation of Chinese citizens from Ukraine.Just over a third were what CNN classified as anti-West or anti-US, for example: stories airing views that Russia was pushed to action in Ukraine by the expansion of NATO, or criticizing Western media coverage of the crisis. CNN reporters classified some posts into more than one category. A look at the distribution shows posts that depicted Russia in a positive light were more frequent than any other category.Because CNN only studied posts with high engagement, the findings may not be representative of all posts produced by state media.In response to CNN's request for comment, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday the country is a victim of disinformation."Some anti-China forces and media have fabricated too many lies, rumors and disinformation about China on issues that include the situation in Ukraine," it said in a statement. "They have smeared the image of China, poisoned the media environment and misled public worldwide. Such actions are hypocritical and despicable."The backdropThe findings contrast the apparent middle line that China has tried to walk in its international diplomacy.Though Beijing has stood apart from the Western response to Russia's invasion, with its diplomats refusing to condemn the invasion, or even call it such, and decrying Western sanctions, it has also frequently repeated that "all countries' legitimate security concerns" should be addressed. In a virtual summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for negotiations to bring about "peaceful outcomes" and stressed China's promises to contribute humanitarian aid to Ukraine. "There is a difference between the way China talks to the international audience and the way it talks to the domestic audience ... for the domestic audience, it's important to preserve this partnership with Russia, because that's a political priority for Xi," said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow and the chair of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.He points to the increasingly close relationship between China and Russia in recent years, a strategic partnership strengthened, in part, by shared friction with the West. "So (China's leaders) need to shape public perceptions about this, and explain why dealing with Russia is morally justified or is the right thing to do -- and (China's media coverage) serves this purpose," he said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a daily media briefing in Beijing, China, March 19, 2021. A glimpse into how China may seek to control its coverage was given in the days prior to the invasion, when an internal directive that was apparently accidentally shared on social media showed Chinese state media outlet Beijing News ordered its employees not to publish news reports that were "negative about Russia or pro-West." Beijing News did not respond to requests for comment. Maria Repnikova, director of the Center for Global Information Studies at Georgia State University, said Russia-leaning coverage was in line with historical precedent: "Stories that are critical of Russia or are portraying Russia in an unfavorable manner are generally censored," she said."As a result of that, it is expedient to use Russian state media sources because they're the ones portraying the (Ukraine) conflict with a more favorable eye or view from the Russian perspective," she said.Another sign of this has been which voices have been allowed to thrive on China's heavily censored social media platforms in the wake of the invasion. There, pro-Russia and anti-Western, nationalistic voices have also dominated, while there has been a suppression of pro-Ukrainian or anti-war messages on platforms and across the media landscape. One glaring example came Friday, when CCTV broadcast a speech from International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons, at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Games, in which many parts of the speech were muffled and were not translated. The offending context? Parsons' "message of peace," in which he did not name Russia or Ukraine but said he was "horrified at what is taking place in the world."Those voices from within China who have tried to speak up -- including five history professors who penned an open letter voicing their strong opposition to "Russia's war against Ukraine" -- have seen their posts swiftly deleted or social accounts suspended. "We have seen alternative, critical voices -- some subtle critique or attempts to present scenes from the war zone and talk about humanity and empathy toward Ukraine -- (but) a lot of these messages have been censored," said Repnikova.Social media platforms in China have taken action against extremist nationalist voices in recent weeks, with Sina Weibo "punishing" around 75 accounts and screening out more than 1,500 posts and video-streaming platform Douyin removing over 6,000 illegal videos, according to the state-owned Global Times. But the nationalistic voices that have dominated social media platforms fall in line with what Repnikova describes as "a significant spike in digital nationalism, (with) the US and the West (as) the key target of this nationalistic sentiment."Break the monopoly That nationalist sentiment -- fueled by a deep distrust of the US and concern about its role as the leading global power -- are a critical part of the glue that has firmed up the Russian and Chinese relationship in recent years. It's also filtered in the kinds of media coverage that each have shared overseas, as both Russia and China have sought to deepen their propaganda efforts, launching social media-friendly news brands in English and other languages, like China's CGTN and RT (formerly Russia Today). While experts say it's unclear if top media officials from the two countries are discussing news coverage at an operational level and some official coordination is more symbolic in nature, there is a growing push in recent years for alignment and content-sharing.A large Ukrainian flag with the slogan "We Stand With Ukraine" written on it in Chinese characters is seen on the outside wall of the Canadian Embassy on March 1, 2022 in Beijing, China. A number of content-sharing arrangements exist between Chinese and Russian media outlets, and the shared vision is clear: these outlets together can "break the monopoly of Western media," as a Global Times report on a China-Russia media forum in 2015 put it. Fast-forward to the crisis in Ukraine and the upside of that collaboration, for one partner anyway, is clear. In the European Union, Kremlin-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik were officially banned as of last Wednesday, with companies like Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, and Google's YouTube stepping in to block their content.But, on China's channels like CGTN and Global Times, which continue to operate, those Russian talking points are still getting through.Already this week, posts from those accounts have suggested Ukraine and the US have pro-Nazi leanings, repeated Russian misinformation on the laboratories, and cited Russia denying that it plans to overthrow the existing government in its "special military operation" in Ukraine.How CNN reported this story:Since international reporting is a highly controlled and regulated industry in China, only a select number of state media organizations, such as Xinhua and CCTV, have permission to report international news. For this story, we selected 14 Chinese media accounts with nearly or more than 10 million followers on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform that reaches more than half a billion monthly users and is popular in China. These accounts included major outlets such as Xinhua, China News Service, CCTV, the People's Daily, and the Global Times. We collected all of the posts related to Russia or Ukraine via a keyword search published by these accounts between February 24 and March 3, the first eight days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.We then examined posts that were shared more than 1,000 times and evaluated each of these — more than 300 — about their political preference. Reporters classified posts as neutral, pro-Russia, pro-Ukraine, anti-US/West and pro-China. Posts were sometimes categorized in multiple categories, such as pro-Russian and anti-West. We analyzed the source and wording of the news stories to determine their categories.Because the analysis focused on stories that got the most play on the highly-controlled social media platform, CNN's findings may not be representative of of all posts shared by state media outlets on Weibo.

Laura He, CNN Business

2022-03-04 03:12:21

business

economy

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/economy/china-cant-help-russia-sanctions-fallout-intl-hnk/index.html

China can't do much to help Russia's sanction-hit economy - CNN

Will China help Russia? That has been a big question since Russia invaded Ukraine last week. The two nations have forged close economic ties in recent years, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping calling Russian President Vladimir Putin his "best and bosom friend" in Moscow in 2019.

economy, China can't do much to help Russia's sanction-hit economy - CNN

Analysis: China can't do much to help Russia's sanction-hit economy

A version of this story appeared in CNN's Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country's rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.Hong Kong (CNN Business)Will China help Russia cope with the fallout from economic sanctions?That has been the big question since Russia invaded Ukraine last week. The two nations have forged close ties in recent years, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping calling Russian President Vladimir Putin his "best and bosom friend" in 2019. During Putin's visit to Beijing last month, the two states proclaimed that their friendship has "no limits."That was before Russia launched its war in Ukraine, and was hit with unprecedented sanctions from Western countries. Now, China's ability to help its neighbor is being sorely tested. Experts say Beijing's options are limited."China's leaders are walking a very difficult tightrope on Ukraine," said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a DC-based think tank. Why China won't put its economy on the line to rescue PutinBeijing has not rushed to help Russia after its economy was slammed by sanctions from all over the world. On Wednesday, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said that the country won't participate in sanctions, but he didn't offer any relief either.Read MoreEarlier this week, China's foreign minister spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, and said that China was "deeply grieved to see the conflict" and that its "fundamental position on the Ukraine issue is open, transparent and consistent."And the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a development bank backed by Beijing, said Thursday it was suspending all its activities in Russia as "the war in Ukraine unfolds.""China's complicated messaging suggests that Beijing will continue to blame Washington and its allies for provoking Russia," Singleton said.However, "such moves will fall far short of further antagonizing the United States on account of Beijing's desire to avoid a complete breakdown in US-China relations," he added.Close but relatively small trading tiesBefore Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin had deepened his country's ties with China significantly. During his recent visit to China, the two countries signed 15 deals, including new contracts with Russian energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft. China also agreed to lift all import restrictions on Russian wheat and barley. Last year, 16% of China's oil imports came from Russia, according to official statistics. This makes Russia the second biggest supplier to China after Saudi Arabia. About 5% of China's natural gas also came from Russia last year.Russia, meanwhile, buys about 70% of its semiconductors from China, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It also imports computers, smart phones, and car components from China. Xiaomi, for example, is among the most popular smartphone brands in Russia.As the West condemns Russia over Ukraine, Beijing strikes a different toneChina has also signed Russian banks onto its Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), a clearing and settlement system seen as a potential alternative to SWIFT, the Belgium-based secure messaging service that connect hundreds of financial institutions around the world. China and Russia share a strategic interest in challenging the West. But the invasion of Ukraine has put the friendship to the test.Friendship test"There is not yet any indication that China sees aiding Russia as worth violating Western sanctions," said Neil Thomas, a China analyst at Eurasia Group, adding that a "flagrant" defiance of those sanctions would come with a "heavy economic punishment" for Beijing as well. "Beijing's much-touted lifting of import restrictions on Russian wheat was agreed before the invasion and does not indicate Chinese support," he said.China lifts restrictions on Russian wheat imports While Russia needs China for trade, Beijing has other priorities. The world's second largest economy is Russia's No. 1 trading partner, accounting for 16% of the value of its foreign trade, according to CNN Business' calculations based on 2020 figures from the World Trade Organization and Chinese customs data. But for China, Russia matters a lot less: Trade between the two countries made up just 2% of China's total trade volume. The European Union and the United States have much larger shares.Chinese banks and companies also fear secondary sanctions if they deal with Russian counterparts. "Most Chinese banks cannot afford to lose access to US dollars and many Chinese industries cannot afford to lose access to US technology," said Thomas.According to Singleton, these Chinese entities "could very quickly find themselves subject to increased Western scrutiny if they are perceived in any meaningful way as aiding Russian attempts to evade U.S.-led sanctions.""Recognizing that China's economy and industrial output have been under enormous pressure in recent months, Chinese policymakers will likely attempt to strike a delicate balance between supporting Russia rhetorically but without antagonizing Western regulators," he added.There have been reports this week that two of China's largest banks — ICBC and Bank of China — have restricted financing for purchases of Russian commodities, in fear of violating potential sanctions. Reuters also reported Tuesday that China's coal imports from Russia have stalled because buyers couldn't secure funding from state banks worried about international sanctions. ICBC and Bank of China did not respond to a request for comment from CNN Business.Significant practical constraintsEven if China wants to support Russia in areas that are not subject to sanctions — such as energy — Beijing may face severe restrictions, experts said.The "financial sanctions that have been imposed on Russia by the West put significant practical constraints on China's dealings with Russia even where they don't restrict them directly," said Mark Williams, chief Asian economist at Capital Economics, in a research note on Wednesday.Some commentators have suggested that China's CIPS could be used as an alternative by Russia, now that seven Russian banks have been removed from SWIFT. But CIPS is much smaller in size. It has only 75 direct participating banks, compared with more than 11,000 member institutions in SWIFT. About 300 Russian financial institutions are in SWIFT, while only two dozen Russian banks are connected to CIPS. The yuan is also not freely convertible, and is used less frequently than other major currencies in international trade. It accounted for 3% of payments globally in January, compared with 40% in the dollar, according to SWIFT. Even China-Russia trade has been dominated by the dollar and euro."In practice, because CIPS is limited to payments in [yuan], it is only currently used for transactions with China. Banks elsewhere are unlikely to turn to CIPS as a SWIFT workaround while Russia is an international pariah," Williams said.Neither can China replace the United States in providing key technologies for Russia's needs.How significant are the US sanctions on Russia?Last week, the Biden administration announced a series of measures to restrict technological exports or foreign goods built with US technology to Russia. Russia imports mostly low-end computer chips from China, which are used in cars and home appliances. Both Russia and China rely on the United States for high-end chips needed for advanced weapons systems."China alone can't supply all of Russia's critical needs for the military," a senior US administration official said at a media briefing last week, according to Reuters. "China doesn't have any production of the most advanced technology nodes. So Russia and China are both reliant on other supplier countries and of course US technology to meet their needs."That could lead Chinese tech companies — particularly larger ones — to exercise even more caution in potential deals with Russia."Some small Chinese firms that do not depend on US inputs may backfill some of Russia's demand for sanctioned US technology," said Thomas from Eurasia Group. "But big Chinese tech firms will be cautious to avoid the fate of Huawei, which the US government stunted by cutting its access to advanced semiconductors," he added.

Analysis by Jessie Yeung, CNN

2022-02-16 09:24:41

news

china

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/16/china/hong-kong-covid-singapore-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

Hong Kong's outbreak shows the limits of zero-Covid -- but the government isn't budging - CNN

The Asian financial hub is committed to keeping Covid cases at zero, despite contending with a runaway outbreak.

china, Hong Kong's outbreak shows the limits of zero-Covid -- but the government isn't budging - CNN

Hong Kong is sticking to zero-Covid, no matter what the cost

A version of this story appeared in CNN's Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country's rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.Hong Kong (CNN)How to contain a runaway Covid outbreak, in a city committed to keeping cases at zero? That's the question now facing Hong Kong officials, as daily infections top 4,000, and previous fail-safe systems begin to buckle under the strain of their own uncompromising rules. For almost two years, Hong Kong had relied on a combination of stringent quarantines and sophisticated track-and-trace efforts to isolate positive cases, keeping the city comparatively virus-free -- even as the rest of the world began to loosen restrictions. But those measures no longer appear sufficient in the face of the latest Omicron wave, which officials have described as a "tsunami." Hong Kong's insistence on sending all positive cases to hospital, irrespective of the severity, has led to at least one hospital being so overwhelmed it was forced to move patients on gurneys outside, lining them up in the parking lot.Read MoreMeanwhile, a raft of tightened restrictions and targeted lockdowns have led many experts and residents to question the sustainability of such an approach as the city enters the third year of the pandemic.Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam at a news conference on February 15.On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping took the unusual step of directly calling on Hong Kong officials to take "all necessary measures," according to comments published on the front pages of two Chinese state-run newspapers. Xi's intervention has raised fears that further restrictions similar to those seen in mainland China, including a possible citywide lockdown, could soon follow. So far, the local government has firmly ruled out such a move, suggesting it would be impractical to confine more than 7 million people to their homes. But Xi's comments make clear that Hong Kong has little choice but to adhere to China's hard-line zero-Covid strategy -- whatever the cost.The biggest outbreak yetThe newest wave began in January, and quickly spun out of control despite authorities' increasingly desperate efforts.In mid-January, the government killed more than 2,500 hamsters and other small animals after a single Covid case was linked to a pet store, sparking widespread public outrage.Days later, a housing cluster prompted the government to lock down several buildings home to thousands of people. Soon, residents began complaining of trash piling up in the hallways, and of pay cuts for those who weren't able to work during the lockdown.In hindsight, it was an early sign of the chaos to come, and of a government unequipped for a wave of this magnitude despite having had more than two years to prepare.To date, less than 70% of the city's population has been fully vaccinated against Covid, according to government data, and vaccination rates among the elderly remain comparatively low despite vaccines being available since February 2021. Health officials push a trolley of supplies outside a locked-down residential building in Hong Kong on January 23. With numbers rising, authorities reimposed a series of familiar restrictions: closing all schools; shuttering bars, gyms, salons and numerous public spaces; suspending restaurant dine-in past 6 p.m., capping public gatherings; doubling down on a citywide mask mandate; and prohibiting more than two households to mix in private. But these measures -- part of the government's zero-Covid playbook each time a new outbreak arises -- failed to stop the surge. On Wednesday, the city reported a record 4,285 new cases. Before this wave, Hong Kong had never seen more than 200 new cases in a day.Many of the government's rules were formed with the zero-Covid goal in mind, such as hospitalization for all those who test positive for Covid -- regardless of their condition -- mandatory tests for anybody who may have been exposed, and quarantine of close contacts.Hong Kong's 'zero Covid' strategy frustrates travel-starved residentsThese rules and processes may have worked when Hong Kong was only dealing with a few dozen cases at a time -- but the scale of the latest outbreak has stretched the system to breaking point. As of Monday evening, seven of Hong Kong's 17 public hospitals had either reached or exceeded 100% inpatient bed occupancy -- leading to the makeshift outdoor wards, which could pose a problem this weekend with rain and cold temperatures expected. Long lines stretch across the city, with people waiting hours to get tested.But rather than consider different approaches, the government -- under pressure from Beijing -- has dug its heels in, more determined than ever to contain the outbreak."At this moment, we still feel that (dynamic zero-Covid) is the best strategy for Hong Kong," the city's leader Carrie Lam said last week -- referring to a new label that aims to quickly suppress all outbreaks.Even before Xi's reported instructions, the Chinese central government stepped in earlier this week -- seemingly growing impatient with Hong Kong's inability to rein in the virus itself. China will send health experts and medical supplies to Hong Kong, and help build new quarantine and isolation facilities, officials said -- bringing to mind the temporary hospitals that were constructed and operational within weeks in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic, at the start of it all.Lam has publicly welcomed the central government's support, admitting Tuesday that Hong Kong was struggling to cope with the exponential growth of cases. "The problem we are facing is, given the magnitude, pace and severity of this fifth wave, it has outgrown our capacity," she said. A widening gapThough Hong Kong has been aligned with Beijing in pursuing zero-Covid, it could have taken a different route -- one now playing out in a very similar city, 1,600 miles (about 2,600 kilometers) away.Last August, Singapore -- which for years has competed with Hong Kong for the title of Asia's top international business hub -- was the first Asian country to declare it was moving away from a zero-Covid policy to living with the virus instead. It was soon followed by Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and others.People walk in the Kreta Ayer district of Singapore ahead of the Lunar New Year on January 29.The mood in Singapore is now drastically different than in Hong Kong. A high vaccination rate and reopened travel with two dozen countries mean daily life has more or less resumed. Though cases there are spiking as well, people are able to go to the movies, meet friends at the bar, even attend sports events and live concerts. The few restrictions left -- like caps on social gatherings -- may soon be lifted too when the Omicron wave subsides, the health minister said Monday. "Like most Singaporeans, I am looking forward to it," he added.But there is little of that optimism in Hong Kong, with leaders defiant even as the city's tough travel restrictions render it increasingly isolated from the world. "With the full support of the central (Chinese) government, the government's united effort, and citizens' full support, we have to fight against this wave of the virus," Lam said on Tuesday. "Surrendering to the virus is not an option."

Selina Wang, CNN

2022-02-16 03:55:06

news

china

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/15/china/wang-grandmother-reunion-olympics-covid-bubble-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

Beijing Covid bubble: We are in the same Olympic city but remain a world apart - CNN

Two months ago, I called my grandma to tell her I'd be in Beijing for the Winter Olympics. She was thrilled.

china, Beijing Covid bubble: We are in the same Olympic city but remain a world apart - CNN

We are in the same Olympic city but remain a world apart

Beijing (CNN)Two months ago, I called my grandma to tell her I'd be in Beijing for the Winter Olympics. She was thrilled.But I explained that even though we'd be in the same city, I wouldn't be able to see her. I'd be in a strict bubble, separate from the rest of China's population. My grandma said not to worry. Just focus on your work, she said. I lived in Beijing before taking up a posting in Tokyo early in the pandemic. When I left, I wasn't sure when I'd see my grandma again. China's borders have been virtually closed for two years because of Covid, and the government has accepted limited visas for journalists. The Winter Olympics offered a rare chance for me to return to the country. Yet within the Olympic closed loop, it's as if I'm traversing the city in a glass box, unable to experience the Beijing I know. Hotels and venues are surrounded by temporary walls, fences, and security. I've gotten used to seeing workers in hazmat suits -- waiting tables, serving cocktails, or taking my Covid test. As I watch the familiar Beijing streets zoom by through car windows -- a colorful blur of tall buildings, masked faces and delivery scooters -- I long to step out just for a moment.So when I noticed a bridge near my hotel that allowed Beijing residents to look down into the closed loop, within the temporary walls, I saw a window of opportunity to see my grandma. I dropped a location pin to my relatives, and told them that unfortunately, this was the closest we could get while I was in Beijing.Read MoreSelina Wang (left) pictured with her grandmother and her sister.Still, my grandma was delighted, arriving 20 minutes early in her nicest winter coat. I yelled Happy New Year in Mandarin as loud as I could, as she's hard of hearing, and jumped up and down. She took off her mask and smiled broadly, her face crinkling at the edges. Our meeting was emblematic of the isolation the world has dealt with since the pandemic began. Early on, I was separated from my husband for nine months. I didn't see my parents for more than two years. I spent months and months in various quarantines in Asia.Now, even though I was finally back in the same city as my grandma, literally just meters away from her during the Lunar New Year holiday, I couldn't embrace her. Tears started to well. It was overwhelming to see her face from a distance.I took out my phone to video call her so she could hear me properly. How ironic it was that even in our face-to-face meeting, we still had to resort to a virtual call to communicate. Grandma told me she was mostly staying at home for the holidays, as there were no festivities to attend in Beijing because of Covid. "Even though I was finally back in the same city as my grandma, literally just meters away from her during the Lunar New Year holiday, I couldn't embrace her." She recently relocated from Henan to live with relatives in Beijing to have heating in the wintertime. She was grateful for the warmth and was comfortable -- albeit sometimes lonely -- at home. Despite the joy I felt in seeing my grandma, the tears continued to flow. It was a cathartic emotional release. She's my last living grandparent, and it was heartening to see that despite the tumult of the last few years, she's safe and healthy. JUST WATCHEDTwo CNN reporters covering both sides of Beijing's walled-off city. See the differenceReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTwo CNN reporters covering both sides of Beijing's walled-off city. See the difference 02:43Olympic sacrificesThroughout the pandemic, China has sealed off entire communities or cities over even a single Covid case. In some cities, like in Wuhan and Xi'an, residents have endured draconian measures. At the same time, for many locals like my grandma, who haven't lived in cities with major outbreaks, the strict Covid rules are just a way of life. They've accepted the restrictions, preferring the sporadic lockdowns and confinement to the skyrocketing numbers of death they see reported elsewhere. Beijing's Olympic 'bubble' will be the most ambitious Covid quarantine ever attempted. Will it work?I spoke to one of the Covid testers stationed outside my hotel. He sits in a small cubicle the size of a phone booth, wearing a hazmat suit, mask and face shield. Through the plexiglass, he told me that during his shifts that last at least six hours he cannot drink, eat, or use the bathroom. To prevent himself from needing to relieve himself, he doesn't eat before his shift starts. He says it's difficult to be away from his six-year-old son for so long, but he manages to video call him every day. Despite the grueling work, he said it's all worth it to be a part of the Games. On Lunar New Year's Day, I saw little festivities. The only reminder was the red lanterns that dotted the trees outside the media center. That day, I noticed an Olympic worker standing at the edge of the closed loop, waving to her two young sons behind layers of barricades and fences. Her sons gripped the fence, yelling to their mother that they missed her and wished they could be together for the New Year. It was a touching moment that inspired me to meet my grandma the following day. A security guard keeps watch at the boundary of the Beijing Olympic bubble on January 25.The woman told me this was the longest she'd ever been apart from her kids. Once in a while, they would meet at the edge of the park and wave to each other from afar. Local Chinese staff have been in the Olympic bubble since early January and will stay in it through the end of the Paralympic Games. After that, they're required to quarantine for as long as 21 days at a government facility. Especially on Lunar New Year Day, she said it made her tearful to think about how close she was to her children, yet unbearably far. I heard similar stories over and over again from drivers, security guards, restaurant waiters, and volunteers in the Olympic closed loop. They've all decided to live separately from their families for months, in order to be part of the Olympics. Some are frustrated by the confinement -- disappointed they can't get closer to the Olympic action. But most of them told me they're proud and excited to help make the event happen, brushing off the personal sacrifice. A young Selina Wang and her sister with their grandparents.Worlds apartFor my grandma, the pandemic times are just a small chapter in her life beset with struggle and sacrifice. She survived The Great Leap Forward in China, when tens of millions died from famine. When she was pregnant with my father, she had to subsist on porridge, tree leaves and tree bark to piece enough nutrition to survive. My father grew up in similarly challenging conditions. He remembers the Lunar New Year as one of the rare moments growing up when his belly was full. My parents attended graduate school in America, where they settled down and raised me and my sister. My grandma and grandpa, who were farmers in China, came to the US to care for us until I was in elementary school, while my parents worked. Grandpa walked me to school every day. Grandma's handmade dumplings and noodles were sitting on the table when I came home. Grandpa turned our backyard into a vegetable garden. Grandma sat by my bedside when I struggled to fall asleep. They taught me to read and write Chinese. I even spoke Mandarin with a villager's countryside accent. "But increasingly, China's rise is at odds with America's — and many democratic nations' — dream for the world." As I looked at my grandma from afar, I could see an expression of pride on her face. In her eyes, I had succeeded as the product of the American Dream and her other "grand" children in China were living through China's rise. Increasingly, China's rise is at odds with America's -- and many democratic nations' -- dream for the world. The China my grandma lives in now is far wealthier and more powerful than the impoverished country she raised my father in. It's also become increasingly authoritarian and intolerant of dissent. The United States and its allies have boycotted the Games as a statement against allegations of human rights abuses that Beijing vehemently denies. Tensions are growing between China and numerous countries. Surveillance and censorship mechanisms have also become more sophisticated. I've grown accustomed to seeing some of my television reports censored in real time on TV screens in China. Selina Wang as a child, pictured with her family.At the Olympics, the pandemic has also given China the ability to closely monitor and track participants, including journalists. The restrictions we face reflect a country that has become more hostile to journalists, free speech, and generally any criticism of China. In that environment, it's harder than ever to tell stories about Chinese people. Many are fearful of retribution for speaking to Western media, even on non-sensitive topics. The woman I spoke to in the Olympic bubble on New Year's Day -- the one who was meeting her children -- asked me not to use her name or show her face on camera, worried about the consequences of sharing her story. That sentiment makes it harder for the world to learn about the rich and multifaceted lives of China's 1.4 billion people. As I watched my Grandma's peaceful expression from the bridge above, I told her I couldn't wait to eat her dumplings again. I wanted to give her a big hug and climb over that wall -- the barrier between us, symbolic of a nation increasingly separated from the world, even for the people who want to see the country and its residents thrive.

Melissa Bell, Dalal Mawad and Richard Allen Greene, CNN

2021-12-14 12:00:19

news

europe

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/14/europe/europe-covid-vaccines-opposition-populism-intl/index.html

Why Europe's fight against the pandemic is about to get much more dangerous - CNN

"Despite months of persuasion, we have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated." Those were the words of Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg last month as he announced the first nationwide vaccine mandate in Europe.

europe, Why Europe's fight against the pandemic is about to get much more dangerous - CNN

Why Europe's fight against the pandemic is about to get much more dangerous

Paris (CNN)"Despite months of persuasion, despite intensive media campaigns, despite discussions in various media we have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated." Those were the words of former Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg last month as he announced the first nationwide vaccine mandate in Europe. Now, Germany looks set to follow where Austria has led. Others have made vaccines mandatory for parts of the population and imposed restrictions that increasingly explicitly target the unvaccinated, as Europe battles the twin challenges of sharply rising Covid figures and plateauing vaccination rates. Nearly one year into the EU's vaccination campaign, and with around one in three Europeans still unvaccinated, it is not so much hesitancy that European governments are now facing as outright opposition, with the danger that as governments get tougher so too will popular anger towards them. The crucial question of trustRead MoreOnly 19% of Europeans include their government among their most trusted sources of reliable information on Covid-19 vaccines, according to a survey conducted in May 2021 by the European Barometer, a collection of cross-country public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the EU's institutions.Even before the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy in Europe was strongly correlated to a populist distrust of mainstream parties and governments. One study published in the European Journal of Public Health in 2019 found "a highly significant positive association between the percentage of people in a country who voted for populist parties and the percentage who believe that vaccines are not important and not effective." What the pandemic has provided is a Europe-wide real-time test of that correlation. Nearly two years in and with most countries having exhausted what means they had of encouraging people to get vaccinated, the map of those who remain unvaccinated shows that where there is distrust in government and traditional political parties -- as measured by the strength of populist movements -- many people have yet to get vaccinated.Essentially, people who trust institutions need no convincing in the face of a pandemic; people who don't are unlikely to be influenced at all. Bodies pile up outside hospital morgue as Romania struggles with fourth wave of CovidEastern Europe is where vaccination rates are the lowest. Bulgaria has the lowest rate of all, with just 26.6% of the total population vaccinated, according to government data. The country has also been going through a major political crisis with three parliamentary elections held this year. Difficulties with vaccine rollouts and in reaching more remote and elderly rural populations are also to blame in Eastern Europe, but in some of the countries where vaccine take-up has been lowest, populist parties are either in power or strong electorally. Further west, lower vaccination rates are also to be found in countries and regions with either popular or voluble populist or extremist movements, as in Germany, Austria and Northern Italy.In a paper published by the journal Psychological Medicine in October, Michele Roccato and Silvia Russo from the University of Turin argue that their study shows "people with a populist orientation tend to refuse the Covid-19 vaccine, in line with previous research showing that vaccine refusal is often politicized, but that its politicization is not limited to the traditional left-right cleavage." A new common enemySophie Tissier, who organizes protests against Covid-19 restrictions and vaccines in France, says that these protests have created a new political force that is radical but goes beyond party political lines. She says her group seeks to "create a citizens' opposition which is beyond electoral considerations and much more like a watchdog that sits outside the world of politics to be able to tell it: 'Look here, you are no longer protecting our rights, you are no longer protecting our rights under the law.'" Demonstrators march during a protest against coronavirus measures in Brussels, Belgium, on December 5, 2021.In August, more than 230,000 people took to the streets across the country in one day after France became one of the first European countries to announce the use of relatively strict vaccine passes."It really set things alight because people realized that life as it was, was coming to an end," she said. "People would no longer be free, or able to go out as they did."Since then, protests have tapered off in France, partly because no mainstream party has been openly encouraging its supporters to join them. France's vaccine rates are among the highest in Europe, suggesting that even in countries where there is strong vaccine hesitancy -- as there was in France even before the pandemic -- far-right or populist parties' stance on the vaccine can have an impact. Elsewhere in Europe, such groups are clearly fanning the anti-vaccination flames. In Austria, several protests planned since the government announced its nationwide vaccine mandate last month have been planned by the far-right Freedom Party.The mandate is due to come into force in February 2022.Even as he announced the move, Schallenberg accused the Freedom Party of being responsible for the country's low vaccination rates and of having stirred up vaccine hesitancy. "We have too many political forces in this country that are fighting against [vaccination] vehemently, massively and publicly. That is irresponsible," Schallenberg said, adding: "Incited by these radical opponents of vaccination, by specious fake news, unfortunately too many of us have not been vaccinated. The consequence is overcrowded intensive care units and enormous human suffering."The world has the tools to end the coronavirus pandemic. They're not being used properlyIn other European countries, populist parties have also jumped on the bandwagon. And the divide in opinion over pandemic measures is no longer about extreme left and extreme right, said French political scientist Jean-Yves Camus, but "between the mainstream and the periphery." "It's much more about the extreme," Camus said. "The most extreme fringe groups taking advantage of the pandemic to say: 'This virus is fake, there is no pandemic and you are being tricked by your governments. It's a worldwide conspiracy of your national governments. They are using the pandemic to infringe on your individual rights and using vaccination passes to have your personal data,' and so on." In parts of Eastern Europe, but also in and around Germany -- from Northern Italy to the Netherlands and Austria -- parties which once focused on immigration or Europe have been tapping into the widespread anger of those opposed to vaccines and Covid-19 restrictions, shifting their attention to an issue far more likely to appeal to the apolitical and to cut across traditional party political lines. Their new enemy is far more federating: The Covid-19 measures and vaccination campaigns that they say threaten their freedom. A protester wearing a mask depicting syringes applauds in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 9, 2021, during a rally against coronavirus measures.Vaccine mandatesThe World Health Organization has cautioned against vaccine mandates, because of their potential impact on public confidence and public trust. Dr Hans Kluge, WHO's Europe Director, said they should be used as "an absolute last resort, and only applicable when all other feasible options to improve vaccine uptake have been exhausted."In a part of the world where the fight against the pandemic has already been hampered by vaccine hesitancy, such mandates could fuel more resistance. "The worry is that anti-vaxxers could come to hold even more extreme positions," said Russo, of the University of Turin. "That's one risk. But we should also consider that where vaccines become mandatory, there will need to be controls and that could further undermine institutional trust. "In other words, forced vaccination might push people into vaccination centers but it will also drive some of them to the streets, confirming and further fueling their deeply held suspicion of "the system." The fight against the pandemic may one day come to an end, but the fight against populism in Europe could be just beginning.

Analysis by Daniel Dale, CNN

2022-01-20 12:00:17

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/politics/fact-check-biden-false-claims-first-year-2021/index.html

Fact check: A look at Biden's first year in false claims - CNNPolitics

When President Joe Biden passingly said in a voting rights speech last week that he had been "arrested" in the context of the civil rights movement -- even suggesting this had happened more than once -- it was a classic Biden false claim: an anecdote about his past for which there is no evidence, prompted by a decision to ad-lib rather than stick to a prepared text, resulting in easily avoidable questions about his honesty.

politics, Fact check: A look at Biden's first year in false claims - CNNPolitics

Fact check: A look at Biden's first year in false claims

Washington (CNN)When President Joe Biden passingly said in a voting rights speech last week that he had been "arrested" in the context of the civil rights movement -- even suggesting this had happened more than once -- it was a classic Biden false claim: an anecdote about his past for which there is no evidence, prompted by a decision to ad-lib rather than stick to a prepared text, resulting in easily avoidable questions about his honesty. Biden's imaginary or embellished stories about his own history were the most memorable falsehoods of his first year in office. They were not, however, the only ones. The President also made multiple false claims about important policy matters, notably including three subjects that occupied much of his time: the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the economy and the Covid-19 pandemic. And Biden was incorrect on numerous occasions when ad-libbing about a wide assortment of facts and figures -- sometimes in a way that appeared inadvertent, but other times in a way that helped him make a political point. Unlike his uniquely dishonest predecessor, Biden did not bury fact-checkers in a daily avalanche of serial falseness. Biden never came close to making a dozen false claims in a single speech, let alone five dozen false claims in one address, as Trump once did. In fact, the total number of Biden false claims so far is in the dozens, while Trump delivered well over 1,000 total false claims in his own first year and more than 3,000 the next year. Read MoreSo Biden is no Trump. With that said, dozens of false claims from the President of the United States is not nothing. And considering that Biden added dozens more claims that were misleading or lacking in important context, he provided more than enough material to keep fact-checkers on their toes. Here is a roundup of Biden's first year in inaccuracy. The White House declined to comment for this article; it has previously commented for individual fact checks on some of the false claims we are discussing again below.False claims about his own pastBiden made a series of claims about his own past that were just not true. It was these easy-to-understand, hard-to-defend personal falsehoods -- more than his false claims about complex policy issues or obscure statistics, which supporters could more easily dismiss as good-faith errors -- that provided the best ammunition for opponents looking to portray him as deceptive.And like some of Trump's tall tales about his past, Biden's tended to be peripheral to his message. In other words, he was hurting his reputation for little possible gain.While talking in November to technical college students standing near a truck, Biden claimed, "I used to drive a tractor-trailer," though only for "part of a summer." This was similar to something he had said at a Mack Trucks facility in July, when he claimed, "I used to drive an 18-wheeler, man," adding, "I got to." There is no evidence Biden ever drove a big truck; the White House previously noted to CNN that he once had a job driving a school bus (which is not an 18-wheeler or a tractor-trailer) and that, as a senator in 1973, he spent a night riding in a cargo truck (not driving it).Biden repeatedly told a story about a supposed conversation during his vice presidency with an old friend, an Amtrak train conductor, that could not possibly have happened because the man was dead at the time. He repeatedly boasted that he had traveled "17,000 miles" with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though that number is not even close to correct.Biden distracted from his voting rights message with the baseless claim last week, which he had made before, about having been arrested during a civil rights protest; in some of the previous versions of the story, he had merely claimed a police officer had taken him home from a protest. (There is evidence Biden participated in some civil rights activities in his youth but no record of any arrest.) And Biden told two different inaccurate stories while trying to emphasize his connection to the Jewish community. The 7 most important lines from Joe Biden's news conferenceAt a September event in honor of the High Holy Days, Biden told Jewish leaders that he remembered "spending time at" and "going to" Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, the site of an antisemitic massacre in 2018; he had spoken by phone to the synagogue's rabbi in 2019 but never went. At a Hanukkah event in December, Biden claimed that late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir had invited him to meet with her during the Six-Day War of 1967 (he actually met with her weeks before the Yom Kippur War six years later) and, more significantly, that she had wanted him to be "the liaison between she and the Egyptians about the Suez, and so on and so forth." There is zero evidence Meir ever wanted to use a 30-year-old rookie US senator as a "liaison" with a major adversary. False claims about AfghanistanBiden was bedeviled over the summer by his chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. And he made a variety of false claims as he tried to defend his handling of the situation -- further undermining his authority on an issue on which he was already struggling to persuade the public.In August, the President said, "What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point, with al Qaeda gone?" Al Qaeda had been degraded in Afghanistan, but it wasn't "gone" -- as a Pentagon spokesman acknowledged on camera that same day. In an interview that week, Biden defended the US withdrawal in part by claiming that the concept of nation-building in Afghanistan "never made any sense to me" -- though, in fact, he had explicitly advocated nation-building in the early years of the war, both in Afghanistan and more broadly.In July, when Biden was under pressure to quickly relocate Afghans who had assisted US troops, he said "the law doesn't allow" Afghan translators to come to the US to await the processing of their visa applications. But experts in immigration law immediately said this wasn't true, given the administration's authority to grant "parole," and, indeed, the Biden administration ended up using parole later in the summer to do what Biden had claimed wasn't permitted. In December, Biden said in another interview that "I've been against that war in Afghanistan from the very beginning." While he eventually grew opposed to the war, he was not against it from the start -- as fact-checkers pointed out when he had made similar remarks during his presidential campaign. False claims about the economyThe state of the economy was a key rhetorical battleground between Biden and his critics: He argued it was thriving; they argued it was failing. And although both sides often cited valid data points, the President also made some false claims to bolster his case.Biden occasionally overstated progress and understated problems. Asked at a CNN town hall in July about inflation in automobile prices, he claimed that the cost of a car was "kind of back to what it was before the pandemic"; the cost had actually increased substantially since late 2019 and early 2020. In an economic speech in November, he greatly exaggerated the extent of the decline in the unemployment rate during his tenure.To try to sell his economic policies, Biden sometimes made inaccurate statements about what experts had said about them. In May alone, he falsely claimed that there was a consensus among economists about how many jobs his American Jobs Plan would create, significantly overstated how many jobs the firm Moody's Analytics in particular predicted the plan would create and falsely claimed that the last five leaders of the Federal Reserve had said the plan would produce economic growth -- wrongly describing both the contents and the authorship of an article that was actually written by five former Internal Revenue Service chiefs. Later in the year, Biden misleadingly framed another Moody's jobs estimate. And he repeatedly omitted the key phrase "longer-term" from an assertion by Nobel-winning economists that his $1.9 trillion Build Back Better agenda would "ease longer-term inflationary pressures" -- leaving Americans to believe that these economists might have said his agenda would reduce the inflation hurting their bank accounts today.False claims about the Covid-19 pandemicMany of Biden's first-year speeches were devoted to the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden was almost incomparably more accurate on this subject than Trump was, tending to factually convey the severity of the situation rather than match his predecessor's fantastical rhetoric about how bad numbers were not actually bad numbers and how the virus would just disappear. But Biden made a smattering of false claims on this topic, too.At the CNN town hall in July, Biden made the inaccurate categorical promise that "you're not going to get Covid" if you're vaccinated. It was clear even before the emergence of the Omicron variant that vaccinated people were still getting infected with the virus, though the vaccines made them much less likely to get seriously ill; vaccinated people on the President's own staff had been infected. Biden also went too far at the town hall when he categorically pledged that "if you're vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be in the ICU unit and you're not going to die"; these outcomes happen, too, though they are much less common among vaccinated people. Biden sometimes exaggerated on the subject of his administration's work to get Americans vaccinated -- misleadingly playing down the Trump administration's own vaccine purchases and, in May, overstating how the US vaccination rate compared with those of the rest of the world. And he made various errors in discussing pandemic-related facts and figures.In February, Biden claimed that "suicides are up" amid the pandemic; experts said at the time that the claim was premature, and it turned out to be wrong (though suicide rates did increase for some specific demographic groups). In October, the President wrongly told Americans that there were "over 800,000" vaccination sites in the country; he had added an extra 0 to the correct figure he usually used, 80,000.False claims in unscripted settingsWhen Biden stuck to prepared speeches vetted by his staff, he tended to be factual (though certainly wasn't perfect). When he ad-libbed or participated in unscripted exchanges with journalists and citizens, he was more likely to sprinkle in inaccuracies -- making false or misleading claims about everything from his handling of the situation at the southern border to Virginia political history to gun laws to the size of a tax break for people who own racehorses.During Biden's first 100 days in the Oval Office, he was repeatedly incorrect or misleading in describing the actions of the Trump administration. And he made one particularly notable misleading claim during that early period. At a heated moment of the national debate over Georgia Republicans' new elections law, Biden did a television interview in which he criticized the law in part by misstating what it says.

Daniel Dale and Marshall Cohen, CNN

2022-01-04 23:12:55

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/04/politics/fact-check-capitol-insurrection-january-6-lies/index.html

Fact check: 5 enduring lies about Capitol insurrection - CNNPolitics

The Capitol insurrection was based on a lie about the 2020 election. And for a whole year now, the insurrection itself has been lied about.

politics, Fact check: 5 enduring lies about Capitol insurrection - CNNPolitics

Fact check: Five enduring lies about the Capitol insurrection

Washington (CNN)The Capitol insurrection was based on a lie about the 2020 election. And for a whole year now, the insurrection itself has been lied about. Donald Trump supporters' violent attack on the Capitol has been the subject of a dishonesty campaign that began amid the fog of January 6 and escalated even as the facts became clearer. Trump, some right-wing media figures and some Republican members of Congress have mounted a sustained effort to rewrite the history of that deadly day.They have falsely claimed all of the rioters were unarmed. They have falsely claimed the people at the Capitol merely held a "protest" against an election they falsely claimed was fraudulent. They have falsely claimed the rioters were welcomed into the Capitol by police officers.They have falsely claimed the riot was orchestrated by left-wing groups or the FBI. And they have falsely claimed nonviolent rioters are being jailed as "political prisoners."Here is a fact check of five of the most enduring lies about January 6.Read MoreLie: The rioters were completely unarmedTrump and some of his allies continue to claim that all of the people at the Capitol on January 6 were unarmed.In a December 21 statement, Trump called January 6 a "completely unarmed protest." Similarly, in a tweet on December 17, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote, "One of the biggest holes in the lie about J6 being a planned insurrection is that all the people there were unarmed. Anyone with half a brain knows that gun owners only leave their firearms at home when they don't feel the need to carry a gun or are obeying the law." Facts First: It's not even close to true that all of the people at the Capitol on January 6 were unarmed -- and the claim is still false even if it is specifically about guns. People who illegally entered Capitol grounds during the insurrection were armed with a wide variety of weapons, including guns, stun guns, knives, batons, baseball bats, axes and chemical sprays. The Department of Justice said in an official update last week that so far "over 75" people charged in connection to the attack "have been charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon." We may never get a complete inventory of the concealed weapons the rioters possessed on January 6, since nearly all of the rioters were able to leave the Capitol without being detained and searched. But prosecutors have alleged that some of the people present at the Capitol were armed with guns, as were some other Trump supporters who traveled to Washington for January 6.Mark Mazza of Indiana has been charged with crimes including possession of a firearm on Capitol grounds; he has pleaded not guilty. According to the Capitol Police, Mazza accidentally dropped his loaded revolver during a struggle with police on a Capitol terrace. He allegedly told investigators later that if he had visited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that day, "you'd be here for another reason."Guy Reffitt of Texas has been charged with crimes including illegally carrying a semi-automatic handgun on Capitol grounds; he has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege Reffitt "specifically targeted at least two lawmakers -- the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and then-Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell -- whom he sought to physically remove or displace from the Capitol building." And police allege Christopher Alberts of Maryland was arrested trying to flee Capitol grounds on January 6 with a loaded pistol; he has pleaded not guilty.Mark Ibrahim, who was an off-duty special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration at the time of the riot, has been charged with crimes including carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds. Ibrahim, who has said he was later fired by the DEA (the DEA would confirm to CNN only that he no longer works there), was photographed that day displaying what appeared to be a handgun. He has pleaded not guilty. In addition, Lonnie Coffman of Alabama, who pleaded guilty to weapons charges in November, admitted that he had carried two loaded pistols in Washington on January 6 and that a truck he had parked blocks from the Capitol contained additional loaded guns, Molotov cocktails and other weapons. Cleveland Meredith Jr., who pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Pelosi and was sentenced to 28 months in prison, drove from Colorado to Washington with a rifle and handgun that were found in his trailer outside a Washington hotel. The FBI said Meredith had told agents he had tried to get to Washington on January 5 but ended up arriving late on January 6.Lie: The rioters were merely protesting a 'rigged' election Trump called on his supporters to come to Washington on January 6 for a "wild" protest against President Joe Biden's victory, which Trump falsely claimed was fraudulent. During his rally speech on the morning of January 6, Trump pushed that election lie, directed supporters to march to the Capitol and urged them to "fight like hell."After the insurrection, Trump continued to repeat the election lie for months -- and adapted it to minimize what had happened at the Capitol. In an October statement, he claimed that the "real insurrection" was the 2020 election and January 6 was simply a "day of protesting." (He also made similar claims later in the year.)Facts First: Both parts of Trump's claim are obvious lies. The election wasn't rigged and wasn't fraudulent; Biden won fair and square; there was a tiny smattering of voter fraud that was nowhere near widespread enough to have changed the outcome in any state, let alone to have reversed Biden's 306-232 victory in the Electoral College. And the insurrection of January 6 -- in which approximately 140 police officers were assaulted and the peaceful transfer of power was violently interrupted -- involved thousands of alleged crimes; it was, very clearly, no mere protest."This was not a peaceful protest. Hundreds of people came to Washington, DC, to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power," Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court said last January. Howell added in October: "The rioters attacking the US Capitol on January 6th, as part of a large mob, were not mere trespassers engaging in protected First Amendment protests; they were certainly not tourists. And I say that again and again because there still seems, in some areas, to be a debate about that issue." Lie: The rioters were invited into the Capitol by police A common refrain from January 6 rioters, and some of their Republican defenders, is that they were welcomed into the Capitol by police officers. Trump said in a book interview in March that "the Capitol Police were ushering people in" and "the Capitol Police were very friendly. You know, they were hugging and kissing." The claim has been echoed by Trump supporters. For example, Trump-endorsed Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake declared at a Trump rally in October that the people being held in jail over the Capitol attack "were invited in by Capitol Police."Facts First: The claim that the rioters were invited into the Capitol is false. Again, about 140 police officers were assaulted while trying to stop the mob from breaching the Capitol. There were hours-long battles between police and rioters near some entrances. CNN obtained footage from police body-worn cameras showing how dozens of officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with rioters in a desperate effort to keep them out of the building.Rioters inside the Capitol after breaching barricades on Jan. 6, 2021. There are plenty of instances where rioters waltzed into the Capitol without a fight, but only after they had stormed past barricades and, in some cases, even stepped through broken windows. In some areas, police were so outnumbered by the mob that they retreated, stood aside or tried to politely engage with rioters to de-escalate the situation rather than fighting or making arrests, but that is clearly not the same as welcoming rioters into the building. Since we don't have video of every single encounter between police and rioters, it's theoretically possible that some tiny number of officers did invite rioters in. The Capitol Police announced in September that three officers were facing discipline for unspecified noncriminal "conduct unbecoming" that day, while three others were facing discipline for other policy violations. But no evidence has publicly emerged to date of even one officer inviting a rioter into the Capitol. And even if a few isolated incidents emerge in the future, it's clear that this was not a widespread or systemic occurrence as Trump and others suggested.Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said on CNN in September: "The officers that we have investigated and disciplined, the cases that we investigated, they run from minor infractions to officers making very poor judgments for more serious misconduct. But this notion that the Capitol Police were somehow allowing these folks into the Capitol, inviting them in, helping them, just simply not true." Lie: The jailed rioters are nonviolent political prisoners One of the most prevalent counternarratives about January 6 is that a large number of nonviolent people who were present at the Capitol are being unfairly prosecuted by liberal zealots at the Justice Department, and that these nonviolent people have now become "political prisoners" while awaiting trial in jail. Such claims have emerged as a rallying cry among a small but vocal cohort of Trump loyalists in the House Republican conference.Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar claimed in July that jailed rioters who had supposedly spent time in solitary confinement "are not unruly or dangerous, violent criminals" but are "political prisoners who are now being persecuted"; he suggested that there are "nearly 200" nonviolent Capitol participants behind bars. And the pro-Trump group behind September's "Justice for J6" rally said its event was meant "to bring awareness and attention to the unjust and unethical treatment of nonviolent January 6 political prisoners."Facts First: This "political prisoners" narrative is false. The vast majority of the 700-plus people charged in the Capitol riot to date were released shortly after their arrests. Only a few dozen were ordered by judges to remain in jail before trial, and most of those defendants were charged with attacking police or conspiring with far-right militia groups. It's true that the conditions are poor at the Washington jail where incarcerated rioters are being held. And it's obviously unpleasant for anyone to live behind bars. But the small subset of January 6 defendants who are currently in jail are there only because a federal judge ruled that they are either too dangerous to release or pose a flight risk. The decision to keep them incarcerated was not made by Biden's political appointees or any other Justice Department officials.A few rioters have claimed in court that they are the victims of politically motivated prosecution because they support Trump. Federal judges, including those appointed by Trump, have rejected these arguments. Lie: January 6 was a false flag attackBefore the Capitol was even cleared of rioters on January 6, some prominent Trump supporters started to try to deflect blame -- claiming that left-wing Antifa, a loose collection of self-described anti-fascists, was actually behind the violence. Such "false flag" theories -- that the violence was secretly orchestrated by Trump's opponents in an attempt to make Trump look bad -- never went away. And the theories have expanded to include claims that the violence was orchestrated by the Black Lives Matter movement or even by an arm of the federal government itself, the FBI. Fox News host Tucker Carlson has promoted false flag theories, focusing on the FBI, both in his own remarks and in his revisionist documentary series on a Fox streaming service in November. Carlson has claimed on his show that government documents showed that "FBI operatives were organizing the attack on the Capitol on January 6." Former Army Capt. Emily Rainey said in the documentary (and in a trailer Carlson tweeted out): "It is my opinion that false flags have happened in this country, one of which may have been January 6." And Trump himself has given oxygen to the theories, claiming in a December interview with ring-wing commentator Candace Owens, "You have BLM and you had Antifa people, I have very little doubt about that, and they were antagonizing and they were agitating." Facts First: The insurrection at the Capitol was not a false flag. Just as it looked on January 6, a mob of diehard Trump supporters stormed the building. They did so after Trump urged supporters to come to Washington and then, as we noted above, made a speech urging them to "fight like hell" and to march to the Capitol. The rioters' allegiance to Trump has been exhaustively documented in court proceedings and in their social media posts and media interviews. Though there are thousands of pages of court documents stemming from criminal cases against January 6 rioters, no Capitol riot defendant as of the end of 2021 had any confirmed involvement in Antifa or Black Lives Matter groups. (One defendant who filmed the riot had expressed support for Black Lives Matter but was disavowed in 2020 by BLM activists, some of whom suspected he was a provocateur connected to the political right.) By contrast, hundreds of Capitol riot defendants were confirmed to be Trump supporters -- and some were members of far-right extremist groups. Members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys have been charged with conspiracy regarding January 6; some have pleaded guilty.Carlson wrongly described the court documents he inaccurately claimed were a smoking gun about FBI operatives organizing the attack; you can read more about that claim here. While it is entirely possible that some of the Capitol rioters were secretly serving as informants for the FBI -- The New York Times reported in October that a member of the Proud Boys who had entered the Capitol on January 6 was an FBI informant -- the presence of a few FBI informants among the estimated 2,000-plus people who illegally breached the Capitol would not make the entire mob assault an FBI-orchestrated "false flag" operation. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, vice chair of the House select committee investigating the insurrection, said on Fox News in November that there is no truth to claims that January 6 was a false flag perpetrated by "deep state" liberals trying to set up Trump supporters. "It's the same kind of thing that you hear from people who say that 9/11 was an inside job, for example. It's un-American to be spreading those kinds of lies, and they are lies," Cheney said.CNN's Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this article.

Analysis by Daniel Dale, CNN

2021-03-03 01:33:41

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/politics/fact-check-antifa-capitol-lie-republicans-polls/index.html

Anatomy of a lie: How the myth that Antifa stormed the Capitol became a widespread belief among Republicans - CNNPolitics

Despite numerous debunkings, the lie that Antifa is responsible for the attack, not Trump supporters, has become pervasive among Republicans -- after being promoted by a long list of prominent right-wing people and entities.

politics, Anatomy of a lie: How the myth that Antifa stormed the Capitol became a widespread belief among Republicans - CNNPolitics

Anatomy of a lie: How the myth that Antifa stormed the Capitol became a widespread belief among Republicans

Washington (CNN)FBI Director Christopher Wray was live on CNN and MSNBC when he told a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday morning that the FBI had not yet found any evidence that subscribers to the Antifa movement were involved in the January attack on the US Capitol. At that moment, Fox News was in a commercial break from its regular programming. It had just urged viewers to stay tuned for a segment about educators "canceling" Dr. Seuss. And so America's most popular right-wing television network again missed a chance -- or, perhaps, again chose to miss a chance -- to confront its viewers with the debunking of a lie that has become a widespread belief among right-wing Americans.In part because of Fox, the conspiracy theory has become pervasive in conservative circles. Opinion polls suggest that a large percentage of Republicans baselessly think that Antifa was primarily responsible for the insurrection that was actually perpetrated by supporters of former President Donald Trump, some of whom have allegedly expressed irritation that Antifa has been given the credit for their own behavior.In a January poll by the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, 50% of Republicans said Antifa was mostly responsible for the violence at the Capitol. A January poll by NBC found that 48% of Republican registered voters thought Antifa was solely or mainly responsible for the Capitol riot. Read MoreThe problem is bigger than FoxFox News deserves part of the blame for this worrying state of affairs. Some of its most prominent personalities have given fuel to the lie. Other Fox personalities have joined Trump in generally overhyping the danger posed by Antifa -- a far-left, sometimes violent collection of self-described anti-fascists -- thus priming viewers to perceive a movement that has been much less deadly than far-right extremism as a principal threat to the nation. But the problem here is bigger than any one media outlet. The lie about Antifa and the Capitol has been promoted by a large roster of right-wing people and entities. They include right-wing television networks Newsmax and One America News; Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump impeachment attorney Michael van der Veen; Republican members of Congress like Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Matt Gaetz and Sen. Ron Johnson; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican state legislators; former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin; right-wing conspiracy websites like The Gateway Pundit; and popular right-wing commentators on social media and talk radio. The peddlers of the lie have found a tiny nugget of truth to help their cause. Of more than 260 Capitol defendants who have been revealed by the Department of Justice to date, one of them, John Sullivan, is a political oddball who has used the hashtag #antifa on social media. But left-wing activists have previously expressed suspicion about him, the FBI has never claimed that he is an actual Antifa activist and, regardless, the list of people charged over the riot is overwhelmingly composed of Trump supporters -- including, as Wray testified Tuesday, militia members and White supremacists. A history of blaming AntifaIn a well-reported story this week, The New York Times identified a false article published by the conservative Washington Times on the day of the insurrection as particularly impactful in the spread of the lie that Antifa was responsible. The article, which the Washington Times later corrected, wrongly claimed that a facial recognition company had identified two Antifa members at the Capitol. There's no doubt that the inaccurate version of the article went viral on social media. If it hadn't, though, some other Antifa-related lie almost certainly would have.Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, noted that right-wing media has found a way to falsely blame Antifa for everything from mass shootings to wildfires. The lie about Antifa orchestrating the Capitol attack, Donovan said, is part of "a very long disinformation campaign against the left" by a "right-wing media ecosystem that wants to shift the blame for anything bad that happens in our society."And much of the ecosystem of right-wing media consumers is willing to eat it up. As impossible as it seems to get Fox News and other lucrative right-wing platforms to behave more responsibly in supplying information, it seems just as hard to address the demand-side problem. Between the popularity of absurd lies about the birthplace of former President Barack Obama, the rise of the bonkers QAnon movement, the popularity of Trump's lies about the 2020 election and now the popularity of this lie about Antifa and the Capitol, it appears clear that millions of right-wing Americans are eager to believe in outlandish conspiracy theories about their political opponents. Fact-checkers will keep debunking the nonsense. But we know that in the short term there is no number of fact checks or statements from the FBI that can convince millions of Americans that they are wrong.

Terence Burlij, Melissa Holzberg DePalo and Ethan Cohen, CNN

2022-02-26 10:00:09

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/26/politics/key-dates-2022-midterm-election/index.html

Key dates for the 2022 midterm election - CNNPolitics

Voting ends in the first primaries for the 2022 midterm elections in a matter of days.

politics, Key dates for the 2022 midterm election - CNNPolitics

A roadmap to the 2022 midterm elections

(CNN)Voting ends in the first primaries for the 2022 midterm elections in a matter of days.Texas will kick things off on March 1, and the primary process will wrap up more than six months later on September 13 in Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Those contests will tee up Election Day on November 8, when control of the House and Senate will be up for grabs as well as several high-profile gubernatorial races in key battleground states.The outcome of November's elections will serve as a referendum on President Joe Biden's first two years in office and set the table for the 2024 presidential campaign. Biden and congressional Democrats have scored some legislative victories and are poised to confirm a history-making pick to the Supreme Court in Ketanji Brown Jackson. Yet economic anxiety punctuated by inflation concerns combined with exhaustion over the coronavirus pandemic has tilted the political environment in favor of Republicans, who also have electoral history on their side. There is also a unique dynamic to these midterms, with former President Donald Trump eyeing a potential return to the White House and looking to lay the groundwork by endorsing candidates in GOP primaries who have embraced his lies about the 2020 election results.The majority in the Senate, currently split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tiebreaker, is expected to come down to a handful of competitive races. There are four Democratic incumbents running in battleground states Biden won in 2020: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire. Republicans have incumbents seeking reelection in Wisconsin and Florida, and they're defending three open seats in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio. In total, 34 Senate seats will be decided in November.In the House, Republicans need a net gain of five seats to win control of the chamber. More than 40 members, mostly Democrats, have announced they are leaving Congress. Some of those decisions were driven by redistricting, the once-a-decade process of redrawing congressional and state legislative boundaries. In states with partisan control of the process, both parties have tried to draw new maps to their advantage: to pick up more seats, shore up incumbents or reduce the number of competitive districts.Read MoreThere are currently 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors -- with 36 seats up for grabs this November -- including several in battleground states that could play a significant role in deciding the outcome of the 2024 election. Beyond elections for governor, state races for secretary of state and attorney general will receive unprecedented attention, as the battle over how elections are handled intensifies in the aftermath of the 2020 campaign.Here are the key dates and contests to watch as the 2022 primary process plays out:March 1: Texas primariesTexas Gov. Greg Abbott The Lone Star State is home to a few intriguing GOP statewide primaries and a House Democratic primary that highlights the ideological divide within the party.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking reelection to a third term, which could set the stage for a potential 2024 bid. First, he must get through a GOP primary that includes challenges from former (Florida) Rep. Allen West and businessman and ex-state Sen. Don Huffines.There is also a contested Republican primary in the race for state attorney general, with incumbent Ken Paxton being challenged by state Land Commissioner George P. Bush, US Rep. Louie Gohmert and former state Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. Paxton's rivals have taken aim at his legal problems, but Trump has thrown his support behind the incumbent, who led a failed effort to challenge the 2020 election results in four battleground states at the US Supreme Court.In south Texas, there is a rematch of a 2020 Democratic primary in the 28th Congressional District between centrist Rep. Henry Cuellar and immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros, who has received the endorsement of progressive leaders, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The FBI searched Cuellar's home and campaign office in January, but the nine-term congressman released a video a week later vowing to seek reelection despite the "ongoing investigation."The Dallas-area 3rd Congressional District is the site of a battle over how the GOP should handle the 2020 election and the events of January 6, 2021. Rep. Van Taylor is a conservative Republican, but he voted to accept the 2020 presidential election results and supported an independent commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. (He opposed the select committee that was eventually created.) He's now facing several primary challengers who question the results of the election, criticize Taylor's vote on the commission and downplay the Capitol insurrection. The district also became much more Republican in redistricting, so while the seat shouldn't be competitive in November, it could be easier for a more right-wing candidate to defeat Taylor in the primary. April 5: Special election primary in California's 22nd Congressional DistrictFormer GOP Rep. Devin NunesFormer GOP Rep. Devin Nunes set off this special primary contest with his resignation from Congress in January to join Trump's new social media venture. Assuming no candidate gets a majority of the vote in the all-party primary, the top two finishers will face off in June, when California holds its general election primaries, giving the eventual winner about six months to represent this Central Valley seat in Congress. The district will have new boundaries for the election held in November.May 3: Indiana and Ohio primariesOhio Gov. Mike DeWineThe Buckeye State has a pair of Republican primary battles that could offer early clues about the GOP electorate heading into the heart of the nominating calendar.Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is seeking a second term. His management of the coronavirus pandemic has become the target of fierce criticism from opponent Jim Renacci, a former GOP congressman who has accused DeWine of governing Ohio "like a blue-state liberal." On the Democratic side, it's a battle between two former mayors, with Dayton's Nan Whaley and Cincinnati's John Cranley squaring off for the nomination.In the GOP Senate primary, the crowded contest has at times veered toward political theater as several top contenders -- most notably former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance -- have sought to burnish their conservative pro-Trump credentials with incendiary rhetoric and inflammatory displays of opposition to public health precautions. Former state GOP chair Jane Timken and businessman Mike Gibbons are also making plays for the Trump base, while state Sen. Matt Dolan is testing the theory that there is still room in the party for a candidate who doesn't fully embrace the former President.After a history of teasing potential statewide bids only to pass, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan decided to take the plunge (with a helpful shove from redistricting) and launched a bid for US Senate. He faces a primary challenge from consumer protection attorney Morgan Harper. While Ohio has been trending red in recent years, Ryan is hoping to follow a similar blue-collar blueprint that has helped Sen. Sherrod Brown win statewide three times, most recently against Renacci in 2018. May 10: Nebraska and West Virginia primariesWest Virginia Rep. David McKinleyWest Virginia is poised to hold the country's first incumbent vs. incumbent primary of the 2022 cycle, featuring GOP Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney. The Republicans were drawn into the new 2nd Congressional District after the state lost a House seat following the 2020 census. The matchup will be an early test of Trump's sway in GOP primaries, with the former President backing Mooney over McKinley, who did not object to counting the Electoral College vote and supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Mooney objected to the Pennsylvania electoral count, but not Arizona, and voted against the infrastructure package. In Nebraska, outgoing Gov. Pete Ricketts urged Trump to stay out of the GOP primary to replace him, but the former President spurned the request and threw his support behind businessman Charles Herbster last October. Ricketts later endorsed Nebraska University Regent Jim Pillen, setting up a proxy battle between the two GOP leaders who both carried the Cornhusker State by wide margins.Meanwhile, in Nebraska's 1st Congressional District, embattled GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry is facing a primary challenge from state Sen. Mike Flood, who has been endorsed by Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman. Fortenberry was indicted last fall for allegedly concealing information and lying to federal authorities investigating illegal campaign contributions. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.May 17: Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania primariesCelebrity doctor Mehmet OzThe fight for the GOP Senate nomination in Pennsylvania could be one of the nastiest and most expensive primary contests of the entire 2022 cycle, with hedge fund executive David McCormick and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz trading pointed attacks over their personal ties to foreign countries. Both contenders are pumping massive amounts of their personal wealth into TV ads. The crowded field also includes former US ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands, who, like the top contenders, is relying on her personal wealth, and Jeff Bartos, the party's 2018 nominee for lieutenant governor. The race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey was upended last November when Trump-backed candidate Sean Parnell ended his campaign amid scrutiny of his turbulent personal life. So far, the former President has held off on throwing his support behind another candidate, a move that could shake up the trajectory of the primary.Democrats see the Keystone State as perhaps the party's best opportunity to flip a Republican-held Senate seat. The competition on the Democratic side features candidates with distinct backgrounds who represent divergent ideological factions within the party. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, an outspoken progressive and strong fundraiser, and Rep. Conor Lamb, a Marine Corps veteran and former federal prosecutor, are seen as the top contenders. Rounding out the field is state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who has won the backing of some progressive groups.There is also a wide-open race for governor in Pennsylvania, with Democrat Tom Wolf term-limited. The lone Democratic candidate is state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who was one of the leading officials rebutting false claims about the commonwealth's 2020 election results. The GOP field includes state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, former US Rep. Lou Barletta, former US Attorney Bill McSwain, state Sen. Doug Mastriano and businessman Dave White. Trump, and his lies about the election, are expected to be a driving factor in the primary.In North Carolina, Trump's early surprise endorsement of US Rep. Ted Budd failed to clear the GOP Senate primary field, with former Gov. Pat McCrory, former US Rep. Mark Walker and Army veteran Marjorie K. Eastman also in the running to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Walker announced in January he would stay in the Senate race, defying Trump's effort to get the former congressman to drop his bid and run for a House seat. On the Democratic side, the party has largely cleared the field for former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley.Idaho is another state home to a GOP civil war, with Gov. Brad Little getting a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. The two have engaged in a political tug-of-war, with McGeachin on multiple occasions using her powers as acting governor to issue executive orders while Little was out of state, only to have the governor rescind them upon his return. Trump endorsed McGeachin last November, calling her a "a true supporter of MAGA from the very beginning."May 24: Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia primaries; Texas runoffs (if necessary)Georgia Gov. Brian KempThere is perhaps no state on the 2022 map where Trump is seeking to exert his influence on the Republican Party more than Georgia, where he rolled out a "Trump ticket" of candidates, including two who are challenging GOP incumbents the former President attacked after they rejected his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.The top target for Trump is Gov. Brian Kemp, whose decision to certify Biden's narrow win in Georgia unleashed fierce and frequent attacks by the former President. The attacks culminated with Trump's endorsement of former US Sen. David Perdue after he launched a primary challenge against Kemp. Perdue lost his Senate runoff to Democrat Jon Ossoff in January 2021, which some Republicans blamed, in part, on Trump's efforts to undermine the state's election results. Now Perdue is making Trump's lies about the 2020 election a cornerstone of his bid to defeat Kemp. The winner of the GOP primary will likely face Democrat Stacey Abrams, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Kemp by less than 2 percentage points.While the GOP primary for governor is unsettled, Republican Herschel Walker has plenty of running room in the Senate race. The former football star has Trump's support as he seeks to defeat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who scored a 2-point victory in a Senate special election runoff against Republican Kelly Loeffler last year. Warnock has been a prolific fundraiser, beginning 2022 with nearly $23 million in the bank.Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stood up to Trump's demands that he "find" the votes to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. Now the question is whether the state's top election official can withstand a primary challenge from Trump-backed US Rep. Jody Hice, who embraced the former President's false claims about the election. Among the Democratic contenders are state Rep. Bee Nguyen, who succeeded Abrams in the state legislature, and former Fulton County Commission chair John Eaves.The Atlanta area will host the year's first Democratic member vs. member primary, with Reps. Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux running in the newly redrawn 7th Congressional District after the GOP-controlled state legislature turned McBath's current seat safely red. Both Democrats flipped suburban districts previously held by Republicans -- McBath in 2018 and Bourdeaux in 2020. Georgia won't be the only state testing the power of Trump's endorsement on this primary day. In Alabama, US Rep. Mo Brooks is hoping the former President's support will help deliver him the GOP Senate nomination. But the conservative firebrand is running against two well-funded opponents: Katie Britt, a former top aide to retiring Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, and Mike Durant, an aerospace executive and former Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Brooks has struggled to take command of the field, prompting frustration from the former President.Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is running for a second full term but is being challenged by several candidates in the GOP primary, including Lindy Blanchard, who served as ambassador to Slovenia in the Trump administration. Blanchard initially launched a bid for the open Senate seat but switched gears to run for governor last December.In Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders -- a former White House press secretary under Trump and daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee -- has a clear path to the Republican nomination as she seeks to succeed GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson. With Trump having carried the Natural State by more than 20 points in 2020, Sanders is poised to follow in her father's footsteps and become Arkansas' first female governor.June 7: California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota primaries; special election in California's 22nd Congressional District (if necessary)California Gov. Gavin NewsomLast September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom became the second governor in US history to defeat a recall. Now the Democrat appears to be coasting toward a second term in office -- which could serve as a platform for a national run down the road. There are already signs of a brewing feud between Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a top GOP 2024 prospect.Sen. Alex Padilla, appointed by Newsom to the seat vacated by Harris ahead of her becoming vice president, is running for a full six-year term. At the same time, Padilla must run in a special election for the remaining weeks of the original Harris term. California is losing a US House seat for the first time in the state's history because of slower population growth. The new congressional maps, drawn by an independent commission, have scrambled the Golden State's political landscape. With the potential for as many as 10 competitive House races this fall, the state's top-two primary system could be a major factor in shaping the battleground map.GOP Rep. David Valadao is running in the newly drawn 22nd District in the Central Valley, which became more favorable to Democrats under redistricting. Valadao is the only House Republican running for reelection who voted for to impeach Trump in 2021 for inciting the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and doesn't have a challenger endorsed by the former President (yet). Among his Democratic challengers is Rudy Salas, a California assemblyman and former member of the Bakersfield City Council. Another race to keep an eye on is the new 27th District around Los Angeles, where GOP Rep. Mike Garcia is a top target of Democrats. His challengers include former state assemblywoman Christy Smith, who is running for a third time against Garcia. She lost a special election and general election to him in 2020, with the latter race decided by a margin of just 333 votes. Democrat Quaye Quartey, a retired Navy intelligence officer, is also running.Prior to serving as Trump's interior secretary, Ryan Zinke spent about two years representing Montana in the US House. Zinke is now eyeing a return to Capitol Hill after Montana gained a House seat following the 2020 census, though he's facing scrutiny about his current ties to the state. June 14: Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina primariesNevada Sen. Catherine Cortez MastoNevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is one of the most endangered Senate Democrats running this year, looking to carry a state Biden won by less than 3 points in 2020. The top contender in the GOP field is former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, the party's 2018 nominee for governor, who has managed to unite the Trump and Mitch McConnell wings. Still, he is facing a primary challenge from Army veteran Sam Brown, who has demonstrated some fundraising strength.In the Silver State's race for governor, incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak is seeking a second term, with several Republicans lining up to run against him, including former US Sen. Dean Heller and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo.The fate of two Trump targets could be decided this day in South Carolina, where the former President has endorsed primary challengers to GOP Reps. Tom Rice and Nancy Mace. In the 7th Congressional District, Trump has backed state Rep. Russell Fry against Rice, who was one of the 10 House Republicans to vote in favor of Trump's impeachment last January. Mace, who represents the 1st District, voted to certify the election results (but not for impeachment) and has tried to walk the Trump tightrope, criticizing his actions at times and embracing the former President at others. Trump has thrown his support behind former state Rep. Katie Arrington, who defeated former Rep. Mark Sanford in the 2018 GOP primary for the 1st District, only to lose to Democrat Joe Cunningham in the general election.In Maine, a pair of Republicans are attempting political comebacks -- with former Gov. Paul LePage and former US Rep. Bruce Poliquin both running for their old jobs. LePage is looking to challenge Democrat Janet Mills, who won the 2018 race to succeed him. Poliquin is eyeing a rematch in the 2nd Congressional District with Jared Golden, the Democrat who defeated him four years ago. June 21: DC and Virginia primaries; runoffs in Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia (if necessary)Virginia Rep. Abigail SpanbergerLast November's victory by Republican Glenn Youngkin in the race for Virginia governor boosted the GOP's hopes that 2022 would be a strong year for the party in the commonwealth and beyond. This year, the battleground in the Old Dominion will center on two competitive House races featuring a pair of Democrats first elected in the 2018 blue wave -- Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria. A handful Republicans have lined up to challenge Spanberger in the new 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn to include more of the Democratic-leaning exurbs in Northern Virginia but no longer includes the congresswoman's home near Richmond. Luria's 2nd District, meanwhile, became more favorable to Republicans under redistricting, with state Sen. Jen Kiggans seen as a top contender in the GOP primary.June 28: Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma and Utah primaries; runoffs in Mississippi and South Carolina (if necessary)Illinois Rep. Mary MillerThe Land of Lincoln is the scene of not one but two dual incumbent House primaries after Illinois lost a seat based on the 2020 census.The GOP contest in the 15th District will provide another test of Trump's endorsement strength, with Reps. Mary Miller and Rodney Davis facing off. The former President rebuffed the advice of GOP leaders to remain neutral and threw his support behind Miller, a freshman member who has stirred controversy since arriving in Congress. Davis, now in his fifth term, is an ally of House Republican leadership and poised to become a committee chairman if the GOP wins control of the chamber.Democrats have their own incumbent vs. incumbent primary in the 6th District, where Reps. Sean Casten and Marie Newman will compete for the party's nomination. Casten flipped a GOP-held seat in 2018 while Newman narrowly defeated conservative Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski in a 2020 primary before winning her general election race by double digits.On the same day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will face off against US Rep. Tom Suozzi and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary as Hochul seeks a full term in office. Hochul became the first female governor of the Empire State last August after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment. Among the candidates on the Republican side are Rep. Lee Zeldin, 2014 GOP gubernatorial nominee Rob Astorino, businessman Harry Wilson and Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. With popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan unable to run for a third term in Maryland, Democrats are hopeful about their prospects of retaking the governor's mansion after eight years of Republican rule. That optimism has produced a crowded Democratic field, which includes former US Labor Secretary Tom Perez, state Comptroller Peter Franchot, author and former nonprofit chief Wes Moore and former US Education Secretary John King. Trump has endorsed state Del. Daniel Cox, who is running in the GOP primary against Hogan's preferred candidate, state Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz.July 26: North Carolina runoffs (if necessary)The calendar in July is rather bare, unless any of the North Carolina primary contests in May require a runoff to decide the winner. Candidates only need to top 30% of the vote to avoid that scenario.August 2: Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington primariesArizona Secretary of State Katie HobbsTwo states at the center of Trump's lies about the 2020 election will vote on this day -- Arizona and Michigan.Sparked by the former President's falsehoods, GOP lawmakers in Arizona launched a months-long partisan review of the results in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, which ultimately confirmed Biden's victory there. That fact has failed to dissuade Republican candidates from embracing Trump's baseless claims. The former President has endorsed former TV anchor Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and state Rep. Mark Finchem, a candidate for secretary of state, both of whom have cast doubts about the 2020 election results. Current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is running for governor, putting her defense of the state's elections at the center of her candidacy. In addition to Lake, the other Republican contenders include former US Rep. Matt Salmon, developer and former Arizona Board of Regents member Karrin Taylor Robson and businessman Steve Gaynor.Finchem is joined in the GOP secretary of state primary by state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who has advocated for so-called election integrity legislation. The Democratic candidates hoping to succeed Hobbs include Adrian Fontes, the former Maricopa County recorder, and Arizona House Minority Leader Reginald Bolding.Trump has yet to endorse in the Arizona GOP Senate primary, but his impact on the field has been felt in how the leading candidates are positioning themselves to align with the former President's policies and politics. That list of hopefuls includes state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, businessman Jim Lamon and venture capitalist Blake Masters, who has the backing of tech billionaire Peter Thiel and the anti-tax Club for Growth. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and his massive campaign war chest await whichever candidate emerges victorious on the Republican side. The former astronaut is running for a full six-year term after defeating appointed Republican Sen. Martha McSally in a 2020 special election. In Michigan, Trump has endorsed two statewide candidates who've spread election falsehoods -- Kristina Karamo for secretary of state and Matthew DePerno for state attorney general. They are seeking to challenge incumbent Democrats Jocelyn Benson and Dana Nessel, who have pushed back on Trump's efforts to undermine the state's 2020 election results.Michigan Gov. Gretchen WhitmerDemocratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was on Biden's short list for vice president, is also seeking a second term. Businessman Kevin Rinke and former Detroit police chief James Craig are among a packed field of GOP candidates looking to challenge Whitmer.The new congressional map in Michigan has set up an all-incumbent primary battle in the 11th district featuring Democratic Reps. Haley Stevens and Andy Levin. The district's new lines make it a safer seat for Democrats than the one Stevens flipped in 2018. Levin has deep political roots in the state, with his father, Sander, serving in the US House for more than 30 years and his uncle Carl Levin serving six terms as a US senator.GOP Rep. Peter Meijer is running for reelection in Michigan's 3rd Congressional District after voting for impeachment and faces a primary challenge in John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official who has the backing of the former President. Trump has also endorsed state Rep. Steve Carra, who had launched a bid against Rep. Fred Upton, another GOP member who voted to impeach. But Upton has not yet officially announced if he's running for another term, which would mean having to face off against fellow GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga in the newly drawn 4th District.Two House Republicans from Washington who voted for Trump's impeachment -- Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse -- will also face GOP primary voters on this day. Both have Trump-backed opponents in their all-party primaries. Retired Army Special Forces officer Joe Kent is challenging Beutler, while failed 2020 gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp is seeking to oust Newhouse. Like in California, the top two finishers in the primary advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.In Missouri, there is a crowded GOP primary to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt in a state that should favor the party. Some Republicans are concerned that if former Gov. Eric Greitens emerges as the nominee, it could put the seat in play for Democrats, given his scandal-plagued past. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley has endorsed US Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the primary, with state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, US Rep. Billy Long, state Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Schatz and St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey also in the mix. On the Democratic side, Marine veteran Lucas Kunce appears to be the leading contender.August 4: Tennessee primariesFormer State Department spokesperson Morgan OrtagusTennessee Republicans cracked Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper's Nashville-based seat in redistricting, diluting the power of the vote in Davidson County, spreading it across three GOP-leaning districts. The move prompted Cooper to announce his retirement. It has also sparked a GOP showdown for the new 5th Congressional District. Trump is backing Morgan Ortagus, a former State Department spokesperson, while two top allies of the former President -- US Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn -- are supporting social media influencer Robby Starbuck. Former state House Speaker Beth Harwell is running for the redrawn seat as well. August 9: Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin primariesWisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is the only Republican senator seeking reelection in a state Biden carried in 2020. A dozen Democrats have lined up to take on the two-term incumbent, who has evolved from a tea party insurgent during his first run in 2010 to a promoter of Covid-19 and January 6 conspiracies. The leading Democratic challengers appear to be Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry and state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski.The GOP field to take on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is less crowded, with former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, state Rep. Timothy Ramthun and Kevin Nicholson, who lost in the 2018 Senate Republican primary, among the contenders. The last time a Republican candidate won a statewide office in Minnesota was 2006, when former Gov. Tim Pawlenty was narrowly reelected. Several Republicans are running to prevent Democratic Gov. Tim Walz from winning a second term. Misinformation about Covid-19 and the 2020 election have been key issues in the GOP primary. One leading candidate is Scott Jensen, a former state senator and family doctor, who has voiced vaccine skepticism and opposition to mandates. Another physician, Neil Shah, has suggested he took an unproven drug to treat coronavirus. At a forum last December, none of the five candidates who participated were willing to answer a plain "yes" when asked whether they thought Biden won a "constitutional majority in the Electoral College."Ultimately, whether Republicans lean toward a candidate like Jensen or Shah or a more mainstream pick like state Sens. Paul Gazelka or Michelle Benson, the primary may well be decided long before August. The state GOP will endorse a candidate at its convention in May and most, if not all, of the other candidates could drop their bids if they don't earn that nod.Vermont is the only state in the union that's never sent a woman to Congress. But Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy's decision to call it quits after almost 50 years in the Senate started a domino effect that could change that. Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, the state's lone House member, is trying to move across the Capitol to succeed Leahy. That's set up a Democratic primary in which two of the leading candidates are women. Lt. Gov. Molly Gray and state Sen. Becca Balint both declared for the seat shortly after Welch made his announcement.Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican who leads one of the most Democratic states in the nation, will also be up for reelection (Vermont governors serve two-year terms) but he's yet to announce his plans.Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats, also face voters this year. August 13: Hawaii primariesHawaii Lt. Gov. Josh GreenTerm limits prevent Hawaii Gov. David Ige from seeking a third term, and several Democrats have lined up to succeed him. The primary field includes Lt. Gov. Josh Green, a doctor who has been one of the main faces of the state's pandemic response, former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano and former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell. US Rep. Kai Kahele has also been mentioned as a potential candidate. Hawaii is one of the most Democratic states in the country, so the winner of the Democratic primary will be heavily favored in November. August 16: Alaska and Wyoming primaries; South Dakota runoffs (if necessary) Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney Two of Trump's top GOP targets in 2022 are Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The coincidence of both states holding primaries on the same day sets up an epic test of the former President's sway in the GOP. There is arguably no Republican who has drawn Trump's ire more than Cheney, who voted in favor of impeachment last year and is the vice chair on the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Trump has endorsed Harriet Hageman, a onetime critic, as the candidate to fulfill his goal of ousting Cheney. So has House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. And the Republican National Committee took the unprecedented step of censuring the congreswoman. Working in Cheney's favor are her family's deep roots in the state and her massive campaign war chest. She also might benefit from the fact that she could win the primary without receiving a majority of the vote, as Hageman has not cleared the field of Cheney challengers despite Trump's support.Murkowski is the lone Republican running for reelection this year who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial in the Senate. The former President has backed Kelly Tshibaka, who formerly led Alaska's Department of Administration. But the race in Alaska will be complicated by the state's new election system, with all the Senate candidates running on a single ballot and the top four finishers, regardless of party, advancing to the general election, which will be decided by ranked-choice voting. Given that, Murkowski is almost certain to advance to the November vote, where she could benefit from the reallocation process. The senator has faced tough reelection campaigns before -- winning as a write-in candidate in 2010 after losing the GOP primary to a tea party challenger. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies are firmly behind Murkowski's bid.August 23: Florida primaries; Oklahoma runoffs (if necessary)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who has made himself a national figure with a laissez-faire approach to the Covid-19 pandemic and willingness to embrace hot-button conservative causes, might be eyeing another office in a few years. But first, he needs to win a second term, with the possibility of a decisive victory likely to only spark further speculation about his ambitions beyond the Sunshine State.Three Democrats are hoping to derail DeSantis' rise, with US Rep. Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor, trying to reclaim his seat as Florida's chief executive. Crist leads the Democratic field in fundraising. The other contenders to take on DeSantis are state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and state Sen. Annette Taddeo.Before DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio was seen as the GOP's rising star in Florida. His failed 2016 presidential bid upended that trajectory and led Rubio to reverse course and seek reelection to the Senate. Now he's seeking a third term, with the onetime tea party darling turned Trump critic having fully embraced the former President amid Florida's shift to the right. US Rep. Val Demings, a former Orlando police chief, is the prohibitive favorite in the Democratic primary and has been a strong fundraiser.The outcome of these two races could dictate heading into 2024 how much attention and resources Democrats will deploy to Florida, which has been one of the premier battleground states in presidential races for many cycles. September 6: Massachusetts primariesFormer state Rep. Geoff DiehlThe decision by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to not seek a third term in deep-blue Massachusetts sets up another test of Trump's power inside the GOP. Former state Rep. Geoff Diehl originally launched his campaign as a challenge to Baker and picked up Trump's endorsement. But while Diehl won't have the popular incumbent as an opponent, he also doesn't have a clear lane to November. Chris Doughty, a businessman and self-described moderate, joined the race in late January. While he doesn't have electoral experience like Diehl, Doughty was able to open his campaign with half a million dollars of his own money. On the Democratic side, state Attorney General Maura Healey, who entered the race after Baker declined to run again, leads the entire field in fundraising. State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz is also running. Despite favoring Democrats at the federal level, Massachusetts has a habit of electing moderate Republican governors. Without Baker on the ballot, Democrats are hopeful they'll avoid such a fate this November. September 13: Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island primariesNew Hampshire Sen. Maggie HassanDemocratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire is one of the GOP's top targets in 2022, but the party's hopes of flipping the seat took a hit last November when popular Granite State Gov. Chris Sununu passed on a Senate bid. Sununu's decision sets up what could be a long and crowded GOP primary, given New Hampshire's late primary date. Candidates include former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith, retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc and state Senate President Chuck Morse, who's received praise from McConnell. Redistricting is poised to make New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District, currently held by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, more favorable for Republicans. That shift has attracted a wide field of GOP challengers, including Matt Mowers, who lost to Pappas in 2020, former Trump aide Karoline Leavitt and Gail Huff Brown, a former TV anchor and the wife of former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown.There will likely be another crowded primary on this day on the Democratic side in the Rhode Island governor's race. Then-Lt. Gov. Dan McKee was elevated to the top job when Gina Raimondo was appointed as Biden's commerce secretary last year, and he's now seeking a full term. But Rhode Island Democrats aren't just letting McKee have it. The packed field currently includes Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, former Secretary of State Matt Brown and Helena Foulkes, a former executive at Rhode Island-based CVS. November 8: Election Day; Open primaries in Louisiana

David Wright, CNN

2022-03-17 20:46:42

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/politics/republican-advertising-inflation-midterms/index.html

Republicans hammer Democrats on inflation in midterms advertising - CNNPolitics

Republicans are leveraging voter frustration with high prices to hammer Democrats in midterms campaign ads.

politics, Republicans hammer Democrats on inflation in midterms advertising - CNNPolitics

Republicans hammer Democrats on inflation in midterms advertising

(CNN)Republicans are leveraging voter frustration with high prices to hammer Democrats in midterms campaign ads. GOP groups and campaigns up and down the ballot have produced 93 distinct TV ads mentioning inflation, spending $13 million on more than 30,000 airings from the start of 2021 through Thursday. By comparison, their Democratic counterparts have produced just two ads mentioning inflation, spending about $600,000 on 1,700 airings, according to a CNN analysis of AdImpact data. In their ads, Republicans blame policies from President Joe Biden and Democrats in Washington for inflation, which is at its highest level since 1982.One Nation, a GOP group, is targeting Democratic senators in key states such as Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire with an ad filled with newsclips about inflation, saying, "Inflation is killing us. Stop the reckless spending."Another GOP group, Building America's Future, is running ads across a range of competitive House and Senate races, warning that "inflation is rising out of control, prices surging from cars to gasoline, to groceries and utilities." And American Action Network, a conservative group, is running ads in multiple races about "record inflation," calling it a "hidden tax on the working class."Read MoreRepublican candidates for US Senate in key races across the country have also made inflation a point of emphasis.In Arizona, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly faces a competitive reelection campaign, and Republican challenger Jim Lamon accuses the senator in one of his ads of causing "rampant inflation" by supporting the Biden agenda. Lamon first faces a crowded GOP primary that includes state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, venture capitalist Blake Masters and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Mick McGuire.In the race to replace retiring Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman, Republican Mike Gibbons -- a self-funding candidate pouring millions into his bid -- has an ad that says, "It's roaring into our lives, Biden's raging inflation. We're paying the high price, and politicians are completely to blame." The competitive GOP primary there also features former state party chair Jane Timken, state senator and Cleveland Guardians part-owner Matt Dolan, author J.D. Vance and former state Treasurer Josh Mandel. In another key open-seat Senate race, Pennsylvania Republican Mehmet Oz is spending millions on his ads saying "Biden's reckless spending caused inflation." GOP Sen. Pat Toomey's retirement in the battleground state has drawn a long list of contenders for his seat, including former hedge fund manager David McCormick and Trump-era Ambassador Carla Sands on the GOP side, and state Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and US Rep. Conor Lamb on the Democratic side.And in Missouri, US Rep. Billy Long -- a former auctioneer running in the contested Republican primary for retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt's seat that also includes ex-Gov. Eric Greitens and US Rep. Vicky Hartzler -- remarks on inflation in one of his campaign spots. "Now we have Biden and the far left crazies letting inflation rise faster than an auctioneer rattling off numbers," he says. Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, who is up for reelection this fall in a state that Biden carried in 2020, warns in an ad that "from open borders, increasing crime and rising inflation, Democratic policies are weakening America." Democrats -- currently with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress -- have referenced inflation far less often in their midterms advertising. Alex Lasry, a potential challenger to Johnson in Wisconsin, confronts the issue in one of his ads: "Supply chain backlogs. Inflation agitation. Here's an idea. If we make things here in America, supply chain issues won't be a thing anymore."

Gabby Orr, CNN

2022-03-18 15:16:36

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/18/politics/trump-mo-brooks-alabama-senate-endorsement/index.html

Trump considers rescinding his endorsement of Mo Brooks in Alabama's competitive Senate primary - CNNPolitics

Former President Donald Trump is on the brink of withdrawing his endorsement from Alabama Senate hopeful Mo Brooks following a series of public and private missteps by the Republican congressman, including back-to-back statements this week in which Brooks declined to affirm Trump's belief that the 2020 election result can be overturned.

politics, Trump considers rescinding his endorsement of Mo Brooks in Alabama's competitive Senate primary - CNNPolitics

Trump considers rescinding his endorsement of Mo Brooks in Alabama's competitive Senate primary

(CNN)Former President Donald Trump is on the brink of withdrawing his endorsement from Alabama Senate hopeful Mo Brooks following a series of public and private missteps by the Republican congressman, including back-to-back statements this week in which Brooks declined to affirm Trump's belief that the 2020 election result can be overturned. "I am baffled by the view that we can do something right now to put Donald Trump into office today," Brooks said in a local radio interview Thursday, one day after he told an Alabama newspaper there was no "legal" mechanism by which Trump could be reinstalled as president. "Whoever is giving him that advice is misleading President Trump," Brooks told AL.com.While Trump has been seething over Brooks' lackluster campaign performance for several months now, four people familiar with the situation told CNN that he has reached his breaking point and is weighing when and how he might pursue a course correction in the contentious Republican primary to succeed retiring Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby. Two of these people said a phone call that took place between Trump and Brooks earlier this week precipitated Trump's decision to publicly criticize Brooks in an interview with the Washington Examiner that published Wednesday. "He basically said, 'What is wrong with you? Why aren't you doing better?' and Mo said, 'I don't know what you're talking about,'" recounted a person familiar with their conversation.Read MoreTrump endorsed Brooks last April, saying in a statement at the time that "few Republicans have as much courage and fight" as the Alabama congressman, who was the first House Republican to challenge the tally of Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021. A person close to Trump, who told the Examiner that Brooks has been "disappointing," said the former President felt that Brooks shrugged off his concerns during their most recent conversation and has been taking his endorsement for granted. Brooks is competing against Katie Britt, who served as chief of staff to Shelby and later became president of the Alabama Business Council, and US Army veteran Mike Durant, both of whom have benefited from heavy spending on their behalf from outside groups involved in the race.In Alabama, Brooks looks to redeem himself with Trump amid campaign struggles Brooks has been "a bad candidate running a bad campaign," said veteran GOP pollster Jim McLaughlin, a Trump campaign pollster who is not affiliated with any of the three candidates. The dust-up with Brooks has left Trump in an uncomfortable position, said people close to the former President. On one hand, many of his top allies have strongly advised him against issuing a second endorsement in the race. They are fearful that it could dilute the power of his endorsement in other contests, making it less desirable in primaries where he hasn't already chosen a candidate and causing long-term damage to his reputation as a kingmaker inside the Republican Party. On the other hand, Trump is highly sensitive about picking losing candidates and has become increasingly convinced that Brooks is not going to make it to the runoff contest that is likely to follow Alabama's May 24 primary. "He is definitely in a bind, and it's one of the reasons why he wants to wait until the last minute to endorse in other races. This has been a lesson in the danger of an early endorsement," one Trump adviser said. The Brooks campaign disputed that the Alabama congressman is at risk of losing his Trump endorsement anytime soon, suggesting that he has several allies inside Trump's orbit who may talk the former President out of co-endorsing another candidate or abandoning his support for Brooks. "Mo Brooks has a lot of strong allies in the MAGA movement and a lot of allies who do have the President's ear, and it's a safe guess that Trump is going to have a lot of Mo Brooks' friends going to bat for him," a Brooks campaign aide said.In a statement to CNN, Brooks campaign spokesman Will Hampson accused Britt's campaign of circulating a poll commissioned by the Alabama Forestry Association (and conducted by McLaughlin's firm) that showed Britt and Durant leading Brooks, in an effort to catch Trump's attention. Hampson also said Brooks has embraced Trump's false claims about massive voter fraud in the 2020 election and still has a May 4 fundraiser scheduled at Mar-a-Lago, which Brooks' campaign touted to CNN.On Thursday, Brooks also released his first ad of the cycle, claiming he is the only candidate in the race who stood with Trump "against voter fraud on January 6th." However, neither of his competitor were serving in Congress at the time the House voted to certify the 2020 election results. Brooks commits a 'cardinal sin' Trump has been irritated with Brooks' messaging about 2020 ever since August, when the conservative congressman told a MAGA-friendly audience gathered for a Trump rally in Cullman, Alabama, that they should put the last presidential contest behind them. The comment garnered a cold reaction from the crowd and led to Trump griping privately to aides that Brooks embarrassed himself and the former President. Over the next several months, as Trump watched Britt and Durant outraise his choice in the primary and was reminded of Brooks' anti-Trump comments during the 2016 GOP presidential primary, he grew increasingly frustrated with the state of Brooks' campaign. A person close to Trump said the former President backed off his criticism after Brooks shook up his campaign staff earlier this year but noted that Trump's frustration returned after witnessing no discernible improvement over the course of several weeks. Trump's rally in Alabama is a boon for Mo Brooks' Senate campaign"He feels he has been more than patient and that Mo hasn't risen to the occasion despite many opportunities to do so," the person close to Trump said. It was the phone call earlier this week that finally put Trump over the edge, leaving him so frustrated with Brooks that he unloaded on the Alabama congressman in his comments to the Examiner, this person said. "I'm disappointed that he gave an inarticulate answer and I'll have to find out what he means," Trump said, referring to Brooks' comments about 2020 at the Cullman rally. "If it meant what he sounded like, I would have no problem changing [my endorsement] because when you endorse somebody, you endorse somebody based on principle." Trump continued, "If he changed that principle, I would have no problem doing that. I'm determining right now, has Mo Brooks -- has he changed?" Several aides and advisers were shocked late Wednesday when Brooks responded to Trump's criticism by appearing to suggest that the former President was asking him to break the law "to remove Joe Biden from office so he can be president." In his interview with AL.com, Brooks said Trump was being told "that there are mechanisms by which he could have been returned to the White House in 2021 or in 2022, and it's just not legal." "The law doesn't permit that," Brooks said.Trump pulls strings behind the scenes to help loyal 2022 candidates Then, on Thursday, he reiterated in an interview with the "Alabama's Morning News" podcast that Republicans "have to focus on the 2022 and 2024 elections." Brooks also said he has not spoken to Trump since he publicly criticized him, adding that he was "totally baffled" by the former President's comments. One Trump adviser said Brooks committed a "cardinal sin" by suggesting that the the results of the 2020 election cannot be overturned, something Trump has remained fixated on since losing to now-President Joe Biden in November 2020. Even though this adviser and others in the former President's orbit agree that there is no scenario in which Trump could be reinstated as president -- in part because his claims of massive voter fraud have been repeatedly disproved in a number of states -- the adviser said Brooks was saying "the quiet part out loud and it might cost him (Trump's) support." One of Brooks' top backers -- the conservative Club for Growth -- has stood by him even as his relationship with Trump has soured. In the hours after Brooks made the comments about the 2020 election on Wednesday, the group launched a new ad buy targeting Britt over her support for the 2019 state gas tax increase in Alabama when she was leading the Business Council. Reached by CNN on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the club said they did not have any further comment to add about Brooks or Trump's criticism of him. As he looks to turn his campaign around in the final two months of the Senate primary, Brooks will be joined next week by one MAGA heavyweight, Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, who has largely embraced Trump's conspiracies about the 2020 election. The duo will host five events together across the state, according to the Brooks campaign aide.

Alex Rogers and Michael Warren, CNN

2022-03-16 23:24:19

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/politics/dr-oz-turkish-citizenship-pennsylvania-senate/index.html

Dr. Oz vows to renounce Turkish citizenship if elected to Senate - CNNPolitics

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is seeking the Republican nomination for US Senate in Pennsylvania, said Wednesday that he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected, after one of his top primary rivals questioned his allegiance to the United States.

politics, Dr. Oz vows to renounce Turkish citizenship if elected to Senate - CNNPolitics

Dr. Oz vows to renounce Turkish citizenship if elected to Senate

(CNN)Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is seeking the Republican nomination for US Senate in Pennsylvania, said Wednesday that he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected, after one of his top primary rivals questioned his allegiance to the United States. "My dual citizenship has become a distraction in this campaign," the former daytime TV personality said in a statement. "I maintained it to care for my ailing mother, but after several weeks of discussions with my family, I'm committing that before I am sworn in as the next U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania, I will only be a U.S. citizen."On Tuesday, the website PoliticsPA reported that Oz had said he would keep his Turkish citizenship, even if it forced him to forgo security clearances as a senator. The Oz campaign denies that the candidate said that but did not provide CNN with audio of the exchange, which took place during a news conference in Harrisburg. There appears to be no requirement that elected members of Congress renounce their citizenship of other countries in order to attend classified briefings.Nonetheless, Republican primary rival David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, has been attacking Oz over his dual citizenship, which Oz has said he retains in order to care for his mother in Turkey, a NATO member. Dr. Oz supported health insurance mandates and promoted Obamacare before Senate run Before Oz issued his statement, the McCormick campaign organized a press briefing Wednesday with Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, who said it was "inconceivable" that a senator could forgo attending classified briefings. When asked why a senator would have to renounce his dual citizenship to have the necessary security clearance, Sullivan said he was unsure.Read More"My understanding is, and I might be wrong, is that the issue has never been tested, that a dual citizen from another country, a Middle East country, would have to renounce," Sullivan said. "My understanding is it's never been tested, and why should you even risk testing it? I don't know where the intel community would come out on this."It is not the first time McCormick's campaign has tried to make an issue of the background of Oz, who was born in the United States to Turkish immigrant parents. Jess Szymanski, a McCormick campaign spokesperson, asked last month how Oz could be "America First" when he had "dual loyalties." Oz's campaign, in turn, has tried to portray McCormick as as too cozy with China, citing statements McCormick made as a top Treasury Department official in the George W. Bush administration and his hedge fund's recent investments in China. Oz said in his statement Wednesday that McCormick's attacks were "bigoted," "desperate," "disgraceful" and "disqualifying.""The bigoted attacks my opponent Dave McCormick has made against me as the child of immigrants are reminiscent of slurs made in the past about Catholics and Jews," Oz said. "It is a sign of McCormick's desperate campaign that he has resorted to this disgraceful tactic. It is completely disqualifying behavior for anyone aiming to serve in the United States Senate."McCormick responded Wednesday that Oz should drop his Turkish citizenship "now." "Voters can't trust Mehmet Oz," McCormick said on Twitter. "Renounce your Turkish citizenship now."A March 2-6 Fox survey of Republican primary voters in Pennsylvania found McCormick leading Oz by 9 points, 24% to 15%. Political commenter Kathy Barnette and Jeff Bartos, the 2018 GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, were at 9% each and former US Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands was at 6%. Nearly a third of voters were unsure which candidates they supported. Fox first reported that Oz planned to renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected to the Senate. The Pennsylvania primary takes place on May 17.

Annie Grayer and Fredreka Schouten, CNN

2022-03-16 16:57:46

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/politics/justice-department-insider-threats-election-claim/index.html

House Democrats call on Justice Department to address 'insider threats' posed by candidates who believe false election fraud claims - CNNPolitics

More than a dozen House Democrats are calling on the Department of Justice to address "insider threats" that they say candidates for state and local election posts, who believe the 2020 election was stolen, pose to the nation's election systems.

politics, House Democrats call on Justice Department to address 'insider threats' posed by candidates who believe false election fraud claims - CNNPolitics

House Democrats call on Justice Department to address 'insider threats' posed by candidates who believe false election fraud claims

(CNN)More than a dozen House Democrats are calling on the Department of Justice to address "insider threats" that they say candidates for state and local election posts, who believe the 2020 election was stolen, pose to the nation's election systems."Unfortunately, many of the candidates seeking to fill newly vacated state and local election posts support former President Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen," wrote the Democrats, including Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection.Reps. Deborah Ross of North Carolina, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Terri Sewell of Alabama are co-leaders on the letter."We are concerned that this new cohort of election officials may be inclined to abuse their authority to directly influence the results of future elections," they wrote.The lawmakers suggest that there is an "active effort to recruit and convince election officials at all levels of governance to sabotage future elections by spreading conspiracy theories and promoting the claims of election deniers."Read MoreIn addition to pointing to local examples in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Colorado, the lawmakers say that "at least ten candidates running for secretary of state and eight running for state attorney general across the country back false claims that the 2020 election was illegitimate."Here are the three things the group of lawmakers are calling on DOJ to do:Protect the integrity of election results, including by addressing "threats coming from within our electoral system."Work with states to investigate possibly prosecute individuals and who engage in illegal conduct that poses a "serious threat to voting system security and software, or disrupts the fair and accurate counting of votes."Consider additional steps, such as deploying nonpartisan election monitors.Watchdog groups have sounded alarms for months about candidates who have disputed the results of the 2020 election running for election offices.At least 22 candidates who have questioned President Joe Biden's victory were running for secretary of state jobs in 18 states as of late February, according to States United Action, a nonpartisan group tracking the contests.And in Colorado last week, a grand jury indicted Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in a case stemming from an investigation into an election security breach.The criminal investigation into the clerk's office began after Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, accused Peters and her deputies of facilitating a security breach in May. The breach resulted in confidential voting machine logins and forensic images of their hard drives being published in a QAnon-affiliated Telegram channel in early August 2021, according to previous CNN reporting.Peters, a pro-Trump Republican who recently announced a bid for Colorado secretary of state, has cast the investigation as politically motivated.In a statement last week, Griswold said that Peters' actions "constituted one of the nation's first insider threats" involving an election official risking "the integrity of the election system in an effort to prove unfounded conspiracy theories."CNN's Jeremy Harlan contributed to this story

Analysis by Ronald Brownstein

2022-03-15 04:02:53

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/2022-midterm-election-biden-senate-democrats/index.html

2022 midterm elections: Biden states will decide who controls the Senate - CNNPolitics

The one silver lining for Democrats on an otherwise stormy political horizon may be the map of states with competitive Senate races this fall.

politics, 2022 midterm elections: Biden states will decide who controls the Senate - CNNPolitics

Biden states will decide who controls the Senate

(CNN)The one silver lining for Democrats on an otherwise stormy political horizon may be the map of states with competitive Senate races this fall.All of the Senate contests both sides consider the most competitive will be in states that Joe Biden won in 2020, albeit in most cases narrowly. That geography could provide a critical boost for beleaguered Democrats in an era when both parties are finding it more difficult to win Senate races in states that usually vote the other way for president. That dynamic has grown so powerful that each party now holds just three of the 50 Senate seats in the 25 states that voted against their presidential candidates in the 2020 election. None of the three Democratic senators in states that then-President Donald Trump won in 2020 is on the ballot this fall, which leaves the battlefield centered overwhelmingly on terrain Biden captured. But Biden's eroding job approval numbers could undermine that potential geographic advantage. Each side has won very few 21st-century Senate races, either with incumbents or for open seats, in states where the approval rating is lagging for a president of its party. The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022Now Republicans are confident that Biden's sagging approval ratings in the key states will create a comparable undertow on Democrats. Read More"I think Biden's numbers will very much drive the 2022 elections," says Republican consultant John Brabender. A pivotal question for Democrats is whether Biden has a better chance of recovering at least somewhat by November in the states that he won -- and where more voters therefore have some history of viewing him favorably. Or, failing that, whether in these states that rejected Trump in 2020 (and in some cases 2016 as well), Democratic Senate candidates can survive even lackluster numbers for Biden by reminding voters what they don't like about the GOP alternatives. "It's not just a referendum on Biden," insists Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who worked for the President during the campaign. "In Senate races you have the resources to make it a real choice; it doesn't have to be a derivative choice of an affirmation of the president or not." Unless Biden can get a second wind before November, especially in states that he won, the Democrats' chances of holding the Senate will turn on whether she's right.Ticket-splitting declinesThe basic trend of Senate results aligning more thoroughly with presidential results in the same state is one of the most powerful dynamics of modern American politics -- and a big shift from the politics during the second half of the 20th century. The first decades after World War II were a heyday for ticket-splitting in Senate elections. Republicans, for instance, held only about half the Senate seats in the states that voted twice for GOP Presidents Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972 and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The reason Senate and presidential results diverged in so many states is that many voters in that era voted for one party for president and the other in Senate races. (The same dynamic largely shaped the results of House races in these years as well.) Data from the University of Michigan's American National Election Studies found that during the 1970s one-fourth of voters backed Senate candidates of one party and presidential nominees of the other, and nearly that many did so again in the 1980s, according to analysis by Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz. The phenomenon was most intense those years in the South -- where conservative Whites backed GOP presidential nominees but still pulled the lever for conservative Democrats in congressional elections -- but not confined to that region.ISO: A Democratic message for 2022But as American politics has grown more polarized since the 1980s, such split-ticket voting has plummeted. More people have treated their votes for Senate (and also House races) less as a choice between two individuals than as a quasi-parliamentary referendum on which party they wanted to control Congress -- a judgment that increasingly pivoted on their assessments of the president and his party. Just 1 in 6 people split their votes between presidential and Senate races in the 1990s, according to Abramowitz's calculations. The number of split-ticket voters, though oscillating somewhat from election to election, has fallen even further during presidential contests in this century, frequently dropping to only about 1 in 10.With fewer voters splitting their tickets, each party is electing fewer senators in effect behind enemy lines -- in states that usually vote the other way for president. By the time of President Barack Obama's reelection in 2012, Democrats held more than four-fifths of the Senate seats in the states he had won twice, while Republicans controlled over three-fourths in the states that had voted against him twice. The numbers were even more dramatic after 2020: Republicans now hold 94% of the seats in the states that voted for Trump two times. (That reflects their hold of 47 of the 50 Senate seats in the 25 states he carried in 2020, since all of them also voted for him in 2016.) Twenty states voted against Trump both times: Democrats now control 98% of their Senate seats -- all but the one held by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on February 24, 2021, on Capitol Hill.The remaining five states -- Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- flipped from supporting Trump in 2016 to backing Biden in 2020. Democrats now hold eight of their 10 Senate seats.In each column of that ledger, those numbers could shift after this fall's elections: In the states that voted against Trump twice, Republicans are targeting three Senate Democratic incumbents. Their chances are best against Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, a state Trump lost only narrowly each time, but Republicans also believe they can threaten New Hampshire's Maggie Hassan and even Colorado's Michael Bennet if a big enough red wave develops. Democrats have no opportunities in this column this year because the sole Republican senator left in the 20 states that opposed Trump twice -- Collins -- won reelection in 2020.In the states Trump won twice, Democrats dodged a bullet because none of their three senators in this category -- Montana's Jon Tester, Ohio's Sherrod Brown and West Virginia's Joe Manchin -- is up for reelection this fall. All might have faced very difficult odds in this political environment: In the four midterm elections since 2006, the party holding the White House has lost 12 of the 14 Senate seats it was defending in states that voted against the president in the previous election, according to recent calculations by political analyst Amy Walter. Instead, Democrats are hoping to take the offense in three states Trump carried: Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. Democrats have unified behind credible candidates in Ohio (Rep. Tim Ryan) and Florida (Rep. Val Demings) and have a clear favorite in North Carolina (former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley). But all of those states have moved away from Democrats during the Trump era, and each will be tough in a midterm when the national current is running further toward the GOP. Brabender predicts that Democrats will ultimately shift their focus away from such challenging terrain toward protecting their own incumbents.In the states that flipped from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020, only Michigan is not electing a senator this year. The remaining four will likely decide control of the Senate. They divide in intriguing symmetry: In the Rust Belt, Democrats are seriously pursuing the open seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and the Wisconsin seat held by Sen. Ron Johnson. In the Sun Belt, Republicans, in turn, are seriously threatening the seats held by Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, each of whom is running for a full six-year term after winning a special election to finish an unexpired term in 2020. Chilling precedent for DemocratsThe clear message of midterm elections in this century is that Biden's approval rating will cast a huge shadow over the contests in all three of these categories. In 2018, for instance, Republicans lost all 10 of the Senate races in states where Trump's approval rating registered at 48% or below, according to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research for a consortium of media organizations including CNN. Similarly, in the 2014 midterm elections, Democrats lost 14 of the 15 Senate races in states where Obama's approval rating stood at 42% or less, according to the exit polls. In 2010, Democrats likewise lost 13 of the 15 where Obama stood at 47% or less. In 2006, Republicans lost 19 of the 20 Senate races in states where President George W. Bush's job approval stood at 45% or less. Those are scary precedents for Democrats, because Biden's approval ratings are lagging in the key states on the Senate map. Recent public polls show his job approval at 43% in Wisconsin and between 35% and 40% in Georgia, New Hampshire and Florida. On a slightly different metric, only 3 in 10 described his performance as excellent or good in a recent Pennsylvania poll. Mike Noble, a former Republican consultant who now polls for nonpartisan clients in Arizona, says his numbers show comparable erosion there for Biden since he faced disillusionment over the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer. "We haven't seen him recover ever since that first domino in Afghanistan," Noble says. Vulnerable Democrats feel inflation squeeze and call for more White House action That history, and Biden's current distress, raise two core questions. One is whether the President has a better chance to rebuild his approval rating by November in states he won than in those he lost because more voters have histories of viewing him positively. Lake, the Democratic pollster, says recovery is "much" easier in states "where people already voted for you and people already liked you." In states that a president lost, she continued, "it is very, very hard in the first off-year election to create something from scratch." But in states that he won, she argues, it's easier for voters to be moved by changes in circumstance, such as the leadership Biden has displayed in coalescing the Western response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In those states, "It's easier for voters to say, 'Where were you? This is the Biden I voted for; this is the Biden I was looking for.' "Biden's approval rating, as noted above, has sagged in states he won as well as those he lost. "It's worse in the states that he lost because they are predisposed to think negatively of him, but you don't have the kind of collapse he's had ... without it being across the board," says Republican pollster Whit Ayres. But there's evidence in public polling that in the states Biden won, dissatisfaction with him may not be as intense, and thus as unmovable. The latest Franklin & Marshall College poll in Pennsylvania captures the dynamic. In the survey, just that 30% described Biden's performance as excellent or good, while 51% described it as poor. But another 18% of those surveyed described his performance as only "fair."Berwood A. Yost, director of the college's Center for Opinion Research, told me that fully four-fifths of the poll respondents who gave Biden that equivocal "fair" rating had voted for him in 2020. The President would provide Pennsylvania Democrats a huge boost if he can move those ambivalent former voters back to fully positive, because almost all of those in the poll who gave him excellent or good marks said they intend to vote Democratic for Congress in November. "He's probably not going to get those Trump voters," Yost told me. "His hope is in his base and his ability to get the moderate or independent voters back to his side."Ayres is skeptical that Biden can recover too many of those swing voters, even in states like Pennsylvania where they include more people who voted for him in 2020. "He got a significant share of independents who believed that he was going to be a centrist, competent president and he's done a pretty good job of blowing up both of those characteristics by continually veering to the left on policy and demonstrating with the withdrawal from Afghanistan that his reputation for foreign policy expertise may have been a mirage," Ayres argues. "People who believed that you ran one way and then governed another are not going to be real open to coming back as long as he continues to pursue the current course."Working 'both sides'The other key question is the extent to which individual Democratic Senate candidates can separate their fates from Biden's. The general trend is unmistakably toward greater synchronization between Senate results and views of the president, but there remain occasional exceptions, such as Collins' victory in 2020 in a state Biden won comfortably, or the 2018 victories of Democratic Sens. Manchin, Tester and Brown in states where Trump's approval rating in the exit polls exceeded 50%.To escape the undertow of negative views about Biden, Democratic Senate candidates need to work on what party pollster Andrew Baumann calls "both sides" of the choice in their elections. "You need to lift up the Democratic candidate and show some separation," he says, "and you need to just make it clear that even if these voters are not happy with Biden that the Republican alternative here is unacceptable."Why Republicans aren't likely to lose any Senate seats in 2022Already, Democrats can point to polls showing some of their senators enjoying better ratings than Biden in their state. A January Quinnipiac poll in Georgia, for instance, put Warnock's approval rating there 11 percentage points higher than the President's -- and a striking 15 points better with independents.Even more important for Democrats in most of these races, though, may be the second half of Baumann's equation: disqualifying the Republican alternative. Of the races that both sides are seriously contesting, only two involve Republican incumbents: Wisconsin's Johnson and Florida's Marco Rubio. Recent polls show voters divided only evenly on Rubio's performance and a clear plurality of Wisconsin voters expressing unfavorable views toward Johnson.In the other contests, Democrats are optimistic that the GOP will, in many instances, put "forward flawed candidates who are stuck in vicious expensive primaries that will drain their resources and leave their eventual nominee badly out of step with the voters that decide the general election in their states," as David Bergstein, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, says.Brabender, the GOP consultant, says Democratic hopes of disqualifying Republican nominees by linking them to Trump probably won't prove as effective as they anticipate -- even in states that rejected him in 2020. One reason, he argues, is that Trump is simply less visible than he was while in office. "Secondly, I don't think there is the negative connotation of Trump at this moment that there was," Brabender adds, "because [voters] don't look at Biden as an improvement."But to the extent Republicans do emerge from Senate primaries damaged or positioned too far to the right -- a real risk for the GOP particularly in Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- they may struggle to consolidate the voters disenchanted with Biden. One early marker of that possibility: Less than three-fifths of the Wisconsin residents who disapproved of Biden's job performance expressed favorable views toward Johnson in the latest Marquette University Law School poll, according to data provided by Charles Franklin, the survey's director. (By comparison, nearly four-fifths of those who approved of Biden already hold unfavorable views about Johnson.)All of these factors, most experts agree, give Democrats better odds of holding the Senate in November than the House. But unless Biden's approval rating substantially recovers by fall, their chances will remain murky on both fronts. A more favorable map may be a necessary condition for Democrats maintaining their Senate majority, but it's far from clear it will be sufficient.

Michael Warren, CNN

2022-03-14 14:00:46

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/politics/liz-cheney-trump-republican-fundraiser/index.html

As Liz Cheney takes on Trump, Republican donors line up behind her - CNNPolitics

Republican donors are opening their wallets for Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, but their interest is not limited to her House race. More than two full years before the 2024 election, Cheney is emerging as the anti-Trump champion, and plenty of Republicans are glad to see it.

politics, As Liz Cheney takes on Trump, Republican donors line up behind her - CNNPolitics

Republican donors line up behind Liz Cheney as she takes on Trump

(CNN)Bobbie and Bill Kilberg were expecting a few dozen people for their fundraiser Monday for GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, an intimate cocktail party they were planning at their home in McLean, Virginia. But in the weeks since the Republican National Committee voted to censure Cheney for her involvement in the ongoing House select committee investigation of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, the couple was flooded with requests to come and meet the congresswoman and the event's special guest, Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney.So many people RSVP'd yes that Monday's event was moved to another, larger venue. The Kilbergs finally had to cap the list of co-hosts when it hit 75. The donor interest isn't all for Cheney's reelection bid for her House seat in Wyoming. More than two full years before the 2024 election, Cheney is emerging as the anti-Trump champion, and plenty of Republicans are glad to see it. "We are moving beyond Donald Trump," Bobbie Kilberg told CNN. "Enough, already. Enough's enough."Read MoreKilberg and other allies insist Cheney remains focused on her reelection to the House this year, which includes a daunting primary challenge from her onetime adviser Harriet Hageman. Trump has endorsed Hageman, who has all but cleared the field of Republican challengers, and defeating Cheney remains one of the former President's top priorities in the midterm cycle.Vilified by Trump, Liz Cheney explores her political future with backing from GOP eldersBut several Republicans have said it's not out of the question she could seek the GOP nomination for president if Trump runs again."Would it surprise me? Not even in the slightest," said Landon Brown, a state representative in Wyoming and one of the few elected Republicans there publicly backing Cheney in the primary.Through a spokesman, Cheney declined to comment for this story.Cheney's own activity suggests she is laying the groundwork for something more. Last year, she traveled to the early primary state of New Hampshire. She has been making speeches to national Republican organizations such as the centrist Ripon Society. And Cheney has demonstrated impressive fundraising prowess, including raising a personal record $2 million in the final quarter of 2021. "People respond to people who are principled and who stand up and are their own person," said former Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock of Virginia, who is attending the McLean fundraiser.Both George W. Bush and Romney, the two living Republican presidential nominees besides Trump, have raised money for Cheney's reelection effort, connecting her directly to their broad donor networks.Among the others on the fundraiser's invitation are several luminaries of the pre-Trump GOP and veterans of past Republican administrations, including Cheney's parents, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney, and her sister, Mary, and Mary's wife, Heather.Also expected to attend are former Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby, former presidential candidate and ex-Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina, former Solicitor General Ted Olson, conservative lawyer Miguel Estrada and former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who served under Romney when he was governor of the Bay State.Cheney's alliance with Romney has drawn particular attention given his status as both an elder statesman and one of the most prominent elected Republicans to oppose Trump's influence on the party."That baton has passed to Liz. She is the one," said one Republican operative who has spoken with Cheney occasionally.Despite her ouster from House GOP leadership last year, Cheney has enhanced her visibility in recent months. She has become a de facto spokeswoman for the anti-Trump wing of the party from her perch as the top Republican on the January 6 select committee -- a role that could elevate her further if the panel holds public hearings on its findings this year.In censure of Cheney and Kinzinger, RNC calls events of January 6 'legitimate political discourse'The RNC's censure last month of Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the select committee, seems to have galvanized opponents and skeptics of Trump within the party to rally around Cheney. Comstock said that in the days following the censure, former RNC members and staff reached out to express their outrage about the move.But any pursuit of a White House bid would depend on Cheney's performance against Hageman in the Wyoming primary on August 16. Given Trump's animosity toward the congresswoman, the full power of his political operation could be directed toward her. And Hageman and her allies have seized on Cheney's connections to powerful Republicans in Washington."As I have traveled throughout the state of Wyoming over the last six months, it has become very apparent to me that we are ready for new blood in Congress," Hageman said at a recent event in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, a longtime critic of Cheney.Despite her considerable and growing campaign coffers, Cheney faces an uphill battle in Wyoming, the state Trump won by his widest margin in 2020."She hasn't been really challenged hard," said Brown, the Wyoming state representative. "I don't think it's a shoo-in like it has been in the past."But the prospect of defeating the Trump machine through the Wyoming primary is what has party bigwigs opening their wallets. And if Cheney is successful?"I think she has all kinds of prospects," said Comstock.

Marshall Cohen, CNN

2022-03-14 20:41:03

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/politics/madison-cawthorn-candidacy-challenge/index.html

Appeals court could soon rule on challenge to Madison Cawthorn's candidacy over January 6 - CNNPolitics

A federal appeals court is expected to decide soon whether to revive a longshot challenge against GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn's candidacy, which revolves around whether the Constitution's ban on insurrectionists holding office should apply to him.

politics, Appeals court could soon rule on challenge to Madison Cawthorn's candidacy over January 6 - CNNPolitics

Appeals court could soon rule on challenge to Madison Cawthorn's candidacy over January 6

(CNN)A federal appeals court is expected to decide soon whether to revive a longshot challenge against GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn's candidacy, which revolves around whether the Constitution's ban on insurrectionists holding office should apply to him.The liberal activists, legal scholars and anti-Trump Republicans who oppose Cawthorn asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to step in and revive their challenge that was shut down earlier this month by a lower-court judge. Cawthorn spoke at then-President Donald Trump's January 6, 2021, rally and posted militant tweets in the run-up to the attack.It's unclear when the Virginia-based appeals court will weigh in on the matter. Time is running out for the anti-Cawthorn challengers ahead of North Carolina's primary elections on May 17. Some counties will start printing ballots as soon as this week, and the first ballots will be sent to voters on March 28, according to a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.At least for now, the challengers won't be getting any legal support from the state election board, which said in a filing late Monday that it will "take no position" on the challengers' emergency request to revive the state-level proceedings.Analysis: Madison Cawthorn is having a *very* bad weekA federal judge in Wilmington, North Carolina, previously decided that the state-level challenges can't move forward because Congress essentially neutered the 14th Amendment's "disqualification clause" with a blanket amnesty law in 1872. The anti-Cawthorn groups blasted the ruling from Chief Judge Richard Myers, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.Read More"This novel and bizarre statutory interpretation contradicts the statutory text, basic logic, legislative history, and Congress's own understanding," the challengers wrote, asking the appeals court to block Myers' ruling and to let the state-level challenge proceed as planned.But Cawthorn's lawyers say the challengers don't even have standing to appeal the decision. That's because they weren't technically a party to the lawsuit, which Cawthorn filed against the North Carolina State Board of Elections to shut down efforts to challenge his candidacy. So far, the state officials haven't initiated any appeals.Analysis: Madison Cawthorn didn't learn the right lesson from January 6In a court filing Monday night, the election board said it is still mulling an appeal and "reviewing" the matter. But in a blow to the challengers, the board also said that if it does decide to appeal the decision, it won't try to fast-track the case, even with the approaching deadlines for the state to send out ballots to voters.The election board told the appeals court that the state-level challenge, if it is allowed to proceed, would need to wrap up within roughly a week, before primary election ballots start getting printed. Since the challenge was lodged in January, Cawthorn and his attorneys have painted it as an attempt to "cancel" him and to undermine election integrity by disqualifying him instead of beating him at the ballot box."Free and fair elections, and our Democratic process, are seriously undermined by allowing state bureaucrats to determine who is qualified to run on the basis of questionable, subjective, and spurious accusations of 'insurrection,'" Cawthorn's lawyers wrote Monday in a court filing.If the appeals court revives the candidacy challenge, the focus will shift back to the North Carolina election board, which would be required to appoint a panel to hear the challenge. Cawthorn could be subpoenaed or deposed, and he would need to prove by a "more likely than not" standard that he did not support the January 6 insurrection or give comfort to the rioters.Throughout the process, Cawthorn has denied wrongdoing and says he isn't an insurrectionist.The "disqualification clause" of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution says elected officials who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution but then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof" is banned from future office. But the amendment also said Congress could wipe away this punishment with a two-thirds vote.Congress passed the Amnesty Act of 1872, which said "all political disabilities imposed... are hereby removed from all persons whomsoever." Cawthorn has argued, and the district judge agreed, that this applies to all insurrectionists in perpetuity. The challengers, and leading constitutional experts, say the law was a one-time grant of amnesty to former Confederates.This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.

Eric Bradner, CNN

2022-03-13 00:28:47

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/12/politics/democrats-midterms-message-2022-biden/index.html

Democrats search for a 2022 midterm message at party gatherings - CNNPolitics

Recent party gatherings offered a window into why Democrats, who already face economic and historical headwinds heading into the 2022 midterms, have struggled to coalesce around a message to make their case to keep their narrow House and Senate majorities.

politics, Democrats search for a 2022 midterm message at party gatherings - CNNPolitics

'They got what they ordered, right?': Democrats search for a midterm message at party gatherings

(CNN)At gatherings in Washington and Philadelphia this week, President Joe Biden sought to rally Democrats around a midterm message that the party has delivered on its domestic promises. What Democrats need to do, he and other party brass argued, is make sure Americans know what they've accomplished.But he also admitted at the House Democratic retreat in Philadelphia on Friday that making that case to voters is no easy task."The American people just trying to stay above water don't understand this," Biden said. "You tell them about the American Rescue Plan, and they say, 'What the hell are you talking about?'" Biden's candid remark offered a window into why Democrats, who already face economic and historical headwinds heading into November's midterms, have struggled to coalesce around a message to make their case to keep their narrow House and Senate majorities. With their Build Back Better agenda on ice, a war in Europe commanding the White House's focus and rising inflation and gas prices emerging as Americans' dominant economic concerns, Democrats find themselves with little momentum and limited ability to steer the national political conversation onto more favorable ground.Read MoreParty leaders are frustrated by how little credit they receive for enacting a massive economic stimulus and an infrastructure package, overseeing the distribution of coronavirus vaccines to hundreds of millions of people and fulfilling Biden's promise to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. DNC officials discuss demoting Iowa and changing early-voting state mix in presidential nominating calendarsThey argue that Democrats' record in the first 14 months of Biden's administration offers a strong contrast with Republicans, who have so far built their midterm message around opposition to Biden rather than a vision for what the GOP would do if it wins control of Congress in November. Republicans need a net of five seats to win back the House and one seat to retake the Senate this fall."Our task is to show people that in many ways, they got what they ordered, right?" Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday at the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting in Washington. "They said this is what they wanted. They stood in line. They took time from work. It was difficult. And a lot of what they demanded, they got."Stalled momentumAny momentum from Biden's early economic successes was siphoned away when the Democratic-led Congress spent months unsuccessfully trying to reach a compromise on Biden's Build Back Better plan that would have included much of his climate and social policy agenda. The White House has since dropped the Build Back Better branding -- it was absent in Biden's State of the Union speech and nowhere to be found at the retreat in Philadelphia or the DNC gathering in Washington.Democratic efforts in Congress to pass voting rights legislation in response to a spate of restrictive new election laws passed in GOP-controlled states have stalled amid disagreement over at least partially eliminating the Senate filibuster.And rising inflation and gas price hikes -- issues that Biden has blamed on Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- have trumped other economic concerns for voters."The overall message of, yes, Biden has moved the country forward -- shots in the arm, money in pockets, has improved unemployment numbers -- all of that is true," said Jane Kleeb, the Nebraska Democratic Party chair. "What's also true is people like the concrete things that they can get their hands around at the national level as well as the local level." She pointed to the lapse in the $300-a-month child tax credit and rising gas prices as more tangible to voters. Kleeb said she has urged White House aides to take an "offensive message, not a defensive message" on gas prices, and particularly in defending Biden's decision to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have used Biden's move to argue that he is to blame for rising gas prices. Kleeb said Democrats need to make the case that Biden's Keystone XL decision protected property rights and that its construction would not have changed gas prices.Why record-high gas prices won't be solved by drilling more oil in the US"What's on President Biden's shoulders and the DNC is improving the overall brand of Democrats," she said. Other DNC members also pointed to rising gas prices as a major obstacle in selling the party's economic achievements. "We've got to clear up this assumption that President Biden is the reason gas is going through the roof," said Felesia Martin, a Wisconsin Democratic Party vice chair and Milwaukee County supervisor. "So much is going on. Two years of Covid, carrying into a third year, multiple variants, and it's impacting everybody economically and on the home front with education. They're not going to take the time to absorb all the great things that Democrats have done and are delivering on," she said. "That is the major challenge for all of us."Focusing on the GOPIn Washington this week, Democrats took a shot at a 2022 messaging plan by highlighting recent actions of two GOP senators -- Wisconsin's Ron Johnson and Florida's Rick Scott -- in an effort to open old campaign playbooks against Republicans on personality, taxes and health care. The Democratic midterm wave of 2018 was driven by a relentless focus on President Donald Trump's unpopularity, on the GOP's failed efforts to undo the Affordable Care Act and on the 2017 Republican-backed tax cuts.In a call with reporters, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison pointed to Johnson's comment in a recent Breitbart interview that Republicans should continue to seek to repeal Obamacare if they win control of Congress in November and the White House in 2024. Harrison also pointed to the recent 11-point plan released by Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP's campaign arm. His plan included a proposal that read: "All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount.""Republicans have finally made their agenda crystal clear," Harrison said. "Thanks to Senator and NRSC Chair Rick Scott and Sen. Ron Johnson, we know exactly what the Republican economic agenda is. It's for higher taxes, higher health care premiums. And absolutely they have no plan to lower costs on prescription drugs or other things in this country."Johnson has since backtracked, and Scott's plan drew a stern rebuke from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said Scott's plan "would not be a part of our agenda." Mitch McConnell rebukes NRSC Chair Rick Scott's plan 'to rescue America'Still, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said: "Without question, that's going to be a big issue, given that that's part of their platform. And every single candidate will be asked about their position on that as we go forward." "I believe that folks don't want to go back to the days when Republicans were focused on the wealthiest in this country and the highly profitable corporations that continue to increase prices right now," Peters said.Kleeb said Democrats should draw contrasts with Republicans' focus on cultural issues at the state level. Florida state legislators passed a bill that would ban certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, which critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott directed that gender-affirming surgical treatments and hormone therapy given to transgender youth be investigated as "child abuse." And a number of Republican-led states have advanced measures that would prohibit transgender youth from participating on school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.Democrats also previewed an effort to latch Republican midterm candidates to more controversial figures in the GOP, including Trump, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Abbott and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.However, similar efforts to tie entire parties to their least popular figures in the opposing party have failed in recent elections. In 2018, the GOP attempted to tie Democratic candidates to Nancy Pelosi -- but lost control of the House anyway. In the Virginia governor's race last year, Democrats tried to cast Republican Glenn Youngkin as a version of Trump with what Biden called "a smile and a fleece vest" -- but Youngkin won anyway.Still, Biden told DNC members Thursday night that the party needs to find a way to recapture its energy from the 2018 and 2020 election cycles that were favorable to Democrats.If the party loses control of Congress in November, the President said, "it's going to be a sad, sad two years" until the 2024 election.

Analysis by John Harwood, CNN

2022-03-13 07:04:18

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/13/politics/politics-midterms-biden-ukraine/index.html

Biden's Ukraine leadership may not help Democrats at the ballot box - CNNPolitics

President Joe Biden has maintained impressive unity among Western allies in leading the strong coordinated response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine.

politics, Biden's Ukraine leadership may not help Democrats at the ballot box - CNNPolitics

Biden's Ukraine leadership may not help Democrats at the ballot box

(CNN)President Joe Biden has maintained impressive unity among Western allies in leading the strong coordinated response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine.At home, Biden has gratified Democratic campaign strategists lately with tactical adjustments. He smacked away the far left's counterproductive "defund the police" slogan in his State of the Union address. He has more aggressively promoted accomplishments like the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Last week, he slapped a "Putin's price hike" label on the rising cost of gasoline.And what will it get him politically in midterm elections for Congress this fall? Probably not much.Polls on the battle for Congress show a close race among registered voters, but a Republican advantage among those most enthusiastic about the election. A Wall Street Journal survey last week showed Democrats losing ground on important issues such as education, the coronavirus pandemic and protecting the middle class.The President's job approval rating -- the most important indicator of November prospects -- has been stuck in the low 40s for months. If it remains there on Election Day, Republicans stand a very strong chance of regaining control of Congress and roadblocking Biden's agenda.Read MoreThis partly reflects history's metronomic rhythms. As Democratic predecessors Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both discovered, presidents become the focus of public discontent after taking office. In their first midterm elections, they nearly always lose ground in Congress and often see their parties tossed from control.The peculiar circumstances of 2022 could exaggerate those rhythms. A robust economic recovery -- something presidents always crave -- has generated the nasty side effect of higher inflation as supply struggles to match demand following the pandemic shutdowns of 2020.Last year's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which fueled that recovery, also fueled inflation-producing consumer demand. Rising prices have replaced jobs as the top economic concern among voters.The White House began the year with hope for better fortunes. Light at the end of the pandemic tunnel held the promise of a brighter mood. It also underpinned economists' forecasts of diminishing inflation as the election approached.Now fresh challenges have emerged. A war initiated by a leading oil producer, and the sanctions response Biden has led, has kept the price of gas rising past $4 per gallon.That's no record. Adjusted for inflation and auto fuel-efficiency gains, Democratic economist Larry Summers told CNN last week, the burden of gas prices on consumers remains lower than 10 years ago.But any sharp increase makes motorists unhappy. The fallout could get worse. If the price for a barrel of oil -- which hit $130 a week ago -- were to reach and remain at $150 through mid-2021, economic recovery could turn into recession, projects Moody's economist Mark Zandi.Some Biden advisers, though not all of them, still see solid opportunities for political recovery this fall. The transition from disruptive pandemic to manageable endemic has arrived.Biden's State of the Union coupled notes of bipartisan unity around Ukraine with appeals to core Democratic constituencies he needs to energize. The White House expects his Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson -- who Republicans concede is headed for confirmation -- to galvanize Black support this fall.More important is the dramatic shift in public attention to the war.Instead of wheedling Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who sank Biden's Build Back Better bill in December, the President is confronting Russia's murderous tyrant. Praise for his leadership from voices in both parties helps offset accusations of weakness and incompetence that stuck to Biden after last year's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan."Biden's muscular reaffirmation of the U.S. commitment to NATO was crucial not just for Europe but for the world," conservative columnist Mona Charen, a former White House aide to Ronald Reagan, wrote last week in The Bulwark. "If Ronald Reagan were still alive, he'd find little to criticize in the administration's approach."The crisis also affects intra-Republican politics. Former Vice President Mike Pence's statement that the GOP can't accommodate "apologists for Putin" squarely targeted former President Donald Trump, whose cozy relations with Russia suddenly offer Democrats a much larger target."There's a lot of potential for the focus on foreign policy to scramble things up," observed Democratic data analyst David Shor. If Biden's job approval could reach even 45% by this fall, Shor estimated, his party will have a chance to keep control of Congress.CNN's average of major polls last week showed Biden at 43% approval. That's 2 points below Shor's minimum target, but 2 points higher than the previous average in February.But the duration of any uptick remains unproven. So is the prospect that it will continue.There appears to be no possibility of a dramatic surge in support of the kind that both Presidents Bush received after the first Gulf War and the 9/11 attacks. That's due partly to increased partisan polarization, and partly to the ugly contours of a Russian invasion that the US and NATO remain determined not to engage with their own military forces.Biden's "stroke has gotten stronger (but) he's still swimming against the tide," concluded Democratic pollster Geoff Garin. There are times when presidential leadership has to be its own reward.

Analysis by Ronald Brownstein

2022-03-08 05:05:43

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/08/politics/biden-polling-independents/index.html

Why independents have cooled on Biden -- and what that means for Democrats - CNNPolitics

President Joe Biden is facing historically low approval ratings among independents, a trend that threatens Democrats in November's midterm elections if he can't reverse it by then.

politics, Why independents have cooled on Biden -- and what that means for Democrats - CNNPolitics

Why independents have cooled on Biden -- and what that means for Democrats

(CNN)President Joe Biden is facing historically low approval ratings among independents, a trend that threatens Democrats in November's midterm elections if he can't reverse it by then.Although the number of truly independent swing voters has declined over the past half century, they can still provide the margin between electoral victory and defeat at a time when the two party coalitions are so closely balanced. And after moving toward Democrats in the 2018 and 2020 elections largely because of their distaste for Donald Trump, independents are now giving Biden job ratings in both state and national polls nearly as low as they ever provided Trump.Independents "swung heavily against Republicans in 2018 and 2020 because they hated Donald Trump," says Dick Wadhams, the former Republican state chair in Colorado. "Now these same unaffiliated voters are looking at the guy in the White House, Democrats in Congress, Democrats in the state legislatures, and I don't think they like what they see."After the frequent promises of "transformative" leadership during his first year, Biden's more meat-and-potatoes State of the Union address -- with its emphasis on such centrist themes as funding, rather than "defunding," the police -- struck many analysts in both parties as a reset with those less partisan voters. Some national polling and other analysis since the speech suggest that the address, along with Biden's visibility leading the Western response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, may, in fact, be generating a second look for him among some of them. Is this the beginning of a Joe Biden comeback?During the speech, "there were a variety of places where Democrats, independents and Republicans were traveling together in their responses in a way that is really heartening" for Biden, says Democratic pollster Margie Omero, who observed the reactions of a "dial group" of voters to the remarks.Read MoreStill, most strategists in both parties agree it will take time, and sustained real world gains on inflation and the pandemic, for Biden to climb out of the hole he's fallen into with independents, especially because so many of them say in recent polls that they do not consider him a strong leader. While Biden still has time to recover among them by 2024, Republican pollster Glen Bolger says the President faces much longer odds of a significant rebound before November's midterm elections. Over that time frame, Bolger argues, "it's hard for independents to move from where they are to even a mixed rating of the guy." Given the tightening correlation between voter attitudes about the president and their choices in House and Senate races, that's a daunting prospect for Democrats. Their best chance of avoiding a wipeout among independents this fall may revolve less around improving their view of Biden than rekindling their doubts about Republicans -- particularly their ties to Trump. Exactly how many voters qualify as true independents unaffiliated with either party is a matter of sustained dispute. In Gallup polling, about 4 in 10, and often more, adults have identified as independents since early in Barack Obama's presidency. In the Edison Research exit polls conducted for a consortium of media organizations, the share of voters who identify as independents has varied only between 25% and 30% in every election in this century.But party operatives and political scientists agree that most of those independents are, as the saying goes, partisans who just don't want to wear their team's jerseys. After sorting out the self-described independents who lean reliably toward either side, Gallup consistently records a little more than 1 in 10 adults as fully independent. The Cooperative Election Study, a large-scale survey conducted by an academic consortium, likewise characterizes about 7% to 10% of voters as truly independent from both parties. Others put the number slightly higher: CNN polling director Jennifer Agiesta says the network's latest national survey identified about 1 in 6 Americans as truly unaffiliated with either side. Who are independent voters?Independents don't entirely fit any one demographic or ideological profile: They include both well-educated voters who are socially liberal and fiscally conservative (probably the dominant image) as well as plenty of non-college voters who are the opposite. In fact, the composition of who identifies as an independent changes from election to election as events nudge voters in and out of allegiance to the two major parties: The share of self-identified independents, for instance, who called themselves conservative was much higher in the 2010 GOP landslide than in the sweeping 2018 Democratic midterm gains, according to exit poll data provided to CNN by Edison. The voters who identified as independent in 2018 were also younger and much better educated than in 2010.Compared with a generation ago, almost all campaigns in both parties have reduced their focus on persuading independents or swing voters and shifted more toward mobilizing their base supporters. But somewhat paradoxically, because each side has done so well at turning out its base, support from independents still often constitutes the tipping point in states or House districts closely balanced between the two sides. "Even though deepening partisanship has reduced the number of swing voters, the narrow margins of our recent national elections has made these voters more important than ever," the veteran Democratic analysts William Galston and Elaine Kamarck wrote in a recent paper for the centrist Progressive Policy Institute. "This reality will dominate national politics until one party breaks the deadlock of the past three decades and creates a decisive national majority."Exit polls of House elections over the past four decades provide one measure of that tipping-point role. The party that won more independents in the exit polls also won the national House popular vote in every election since 1986, with the sole exception of 2004, when House Republicans narrowly lost independents but still won more votes nationally because of the surge in GOP turnout that President George W. Bush engineered that year. The winning party carried independents by double-digit margins in each recent year with a big congressional swing: the major Democratic gains in 2006 and 2018 and the Republican sweeps in 1994, 2010 and 2014, exit polls found. It's likely the case that some true independents are always voting for the lesser of two evils, so it's not unusual for independents to be dissatisfied with the president they have voted for in the past election. The fact that they are true independents means they don't like either party much anyway.Brian Schaffner, Tufts University political scientistThat's the foreboding backdrop for Democrats assessing a flurry of new state and national polls showing Biden facing a huge decline among the broadly defined group of independent voters (which includes those who lean toward either party). In 2020, the exit polls showed Biden carrying 54% of independents and beating Trump among them by 13 percentage points; the Pew Research Center's validated voters survey found only a slightly narrower margin for Biden. He roughly matched that vote with a 51% approval rating among independent adults in an April 2021 CNN poll, his high point among them in office.But the latest CNN national poll, conducted by SRSS, put Biden's overall job approval rating among independents at just 36%, with 64% disapproving. The most recent national surveys by Gallup, CBS and Fox also put his rating with them around that level; pre-State of the Union polls by ABC/Washington Post and NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist were even worse, with each showing only around 3 in 10 independents approving. A post-State of the Union Marist poll showed his approval with those voters improving to nearly 4 in 10, but that still left about 6 in 10 of them disapproving.By historic standards, these are very low numbers with independents. In CNN polling, Biden's standing with independents is only slightly above the lowest job approval the survey ever recorded among them for Trump (31%) or Obama (32%), according to Agiesta. Biden's standing with independents in the Gallup survey matches Obama's low point, though it still exceeds the nadir for Trump (30%) or George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, each of whom fell into the twenties at points.State polls tell the same story. The 2020 exit polls found Biden winning 53% or 54% of independent voters in two key swing states he carried -- Georgia and Wisconsin -- and more than 60% of them in a third, New Hampshire. But the most recent public state surveys in Georgia, New Hampshire and Wisconsin each put his current approval with independents at only around 1 in 3 or less.Biden is also scuffling with independents on other measures. In the latest CNN survey, just 33% of independent adults said his first year had been a success. Only 3 in 10 gave him good grades for handling the economy and just a little more than a third rated him positively on responding to crime. In the ABC/Washington Post poll, only 3 in 10 independents called him a strong leader; that number was only about 1 in 4 in the Fox survey. Why did this happen?Strategists in both parties generally agree that the same three dynamics have ground down Biden's standing with independents, though they differ on the relative emphasis they place on each.• One is ideological backlash. "I keep coming back to the idea that he ran as a centrist and he's governed as a progressive and he's betrayed the electorate, particularly in Arizona," says Charles Coughlin, a Republican public relations and political consultant in the state.• The second is doubts about Biden's personal capacity for the job, measured in those recent surveys showing that roughly three-fifths of independents say they do not consider him a strong leader. • To both parties, though, probably the key driver of his decline is dissatisfaction with the country's overall direction, particularly on inflation, the lingering disruptions created by the coronavirus and, particularly in larger cities, crime and homelessness. Yair Ghitza, the chief scientist at Catalist, a prominent Democratic targeting firm, expressed an opinion common in both parties when he told me that views among independents change more based on current conditions in the country than do opinions among more hard-core partisans. "Most of the time you are going to see independents moving more than the strong partisans," he says.JUST WATCHEDHear CNN political director's takeaways from post-SOTU pollReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHHear CNN political director's takeaways from post-SOTU poll 03:26Brian Schaffner, a Tufts University political scientist who's a co-director of the Cooperative Election Study, agrees that voters not fully attached to either party typically respond more than partisans to shifts in current events. In the November 2021 Cooperative Election Study annual survey, Biden's approval rating among the voters the poll characterizes as true independents plummeted to just 25%. While that's an extremely low number, Schaffner points out that only rarely did more than 40% of these true independents approve of either Obama or Trump. "It's likely the case that some true independents are always voting for the lesser of two evils, so it's not unusual for independents to be dissatisfied with the president they have voted for in the past election," he says. "The fact that they are true independents means they don't like either party much anyway."While Republicans have been outraged and Democrats frustrated and demoralized by the big ideological congressional battles that have derailed Biden's "Build Back Better" economic plan, many independents have seen the entire struggle as disconnected from their most pressing concerns, many analysts agree. "They are not so ideologically" engaged, says Coughlin. Instead their view is, "I want to see it work. I want to see the border work; I want to see our country be strong again. I want to see the economy work; I want to see inflation go down."These attitudes are translating into scary early numbers among independents for Democrats in several polls. In the ABC/Washington Post survey, independents gave Republicans a 14-percentage-point lead when asked which party they intended to support in November's election. For perspective, that's roughly the level of advantage among independents in the exit polls that Republicans amassed during their 1994 House landslide and slightly bigger than the Democratic lead in 2018.Can Democrats turn things around?Can Democrats dig out of this hole by November? Andrew Baumann, a Democratic pollster based in Colorado, a state with a large number of independent voters, sees three big imperatives for the party among them.• One is for Biden to regain at least some of the ground he's lost. "He's not probably going to get back to 50 with this group by November," Baumann says, "but there is a big difference between 35% and 45." Most Democrats agree the key for any Biden revival with independents will be actual improvement in inflation and the virus. But many also believe that the chastened tone of his State of the Union address -- which replaced the promises of "transformational" leadership with more centrist language and reframed his economic plan as an effort to help families meet daily costs for child care, drugs and utilities -- was a step in the right direction. • Baumann's second priority is for candidates to emphasize their own strengths and establish separation from Biden where necessary. That's become harder to do, he acknowledges, in an era when attitudes toward the president increasingly shape voters' choices in House and Senate races. But polls suggest voters are still open to some differentiation: In a January Quinnipiac poll, for instance, the positive ratings among independents for Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, one of the key GOP targets in November's election, stood 15 points higher than Biden's.• Like many Democrats, though, Baumann thinks the key to Democrats' closing the gap with independents is to highlight the elements of the GOP's agenda they dislike. "You need to just make it clear that even if these voters are not happy with Biden that the alternative here is unacceptable," he says. Democrats have no shortage of targets for that effort, party strategists believe. For instance, even as the GOP majority on the Supreme Court nears a decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade and Republican-controlled states race to impose new limits (or effective bans) on abortion, a January CNN poll found that nearly three-fourths of independents want to maintain the constitutional right to the procedure. Omero says Biden's defense of abortion rights in last week's speech was one of the moments when the positive reaction among independents veered most sharply from the negative response among Republicans.When the president is suffering from low approval ratings, it's common for his party to insist it will make the next election a choice, not a referendum. In practice, with views about the president exerting ever more influence over the results, that's become more and more difficult to do. Schaffner, like other analysts, believes that while raising doubts about the Republican alternative may help Democrats win back independents disillusioned with Biden in the 2024 presidential election, history suggests that contrast message does not work as well in a midterm. Independents, he says, "because they don't like either party" often engage in "balancing behavior" during midterms, which this year could translate into a view that "I should vote Republican to cancel out my dislike of Biden."But the continued polarization around Trump may offer Democrats an opportunity to break that pattern. For one thing, he remains about as unpopular among independents as Biden is. For another, he remains unusually visible, pressing his unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 election, touting his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the Ukraine invasion and confronting continued revelations about his campaign to overturn the election's result, which culminated in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol last year. Wadhams, like many Republicans, is generally confident that Democrats can't shift the focus for most voters, especially independents, from the current President to his predecessor.

Analysis by Harry Enten, CNN

2022-03-05 21:20:58

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/05/politics/democrats-hispanics-republicans-texas/index.html

Democrats' problem with Hispanic voters isn't going away as GOP gains seem to be solidifying - CNNPolitics

The Democratic Party's early 2000s dream of an emerging majority based on a diversifying electorate has run into reality. Democrats lost the 2016 presidential election, and they barely won in 2020. Part of their problem was declining support among White voters.

politics, Democrats' problem with Hispanic voters isn't going away as GOP gains seem to be solidifying - CNNPolitics

Democrats' problem with Hispanic voters isn't going away as GOP gains seem to be solidifying

(CNN)The Democratic Party's early 2000s dream of an emerging majority based on a diversifying electorate has run into reality. Democrats lost the 2016 presidential election, and they barely won in 2020. Part of their problem was declining support among White voters.But the 2020 election also pointed to another problem: Hispanic voters (who are growing as a portion of the electorate) moving toward the Republican Party. Recent polling -- and now this week's Texas primaries -- show that these Republican gains don't seem to be going away anytime soon.Texas is a heavily Hispanic state relative to the country as a whole. There are 16 counties in Texas where Hispanics make up at least 80% of the citizen voting age population, according to the latest data available from Census Bureau. The county with the highest percentage of Hispanic adult citizens (Starr County) backed now-President Joe Biden by 5 points in 2020, after voting for Hillary Clinton by 60 points four years earlier. (That's not a misprint. It really was a 55-point swing.)Regularly scheduled primaries, of course, don't feature a Democratic candidate versus a Republican candidate. We can, however, look at the relative turnout between the Democratic and Republican primaries. This is instructive in Texas where voters don't register by party and can choose which party's primary to vote in.Democrats look to win back Latino voters after Trump's inroads in South TexasAll told, 27% of the Texans who voted Tuesday in the 16 most Hispanic counties cast a ballot in the Republican primary. This may not seem like a lot but consider that in 2018, just 15% of those who voted in either the Democratic or Republican primary cast a ballot on the Republican side.Read MoreIn Starr County, 24% of primary votes were cast on the Republican side Tuesday. It was basically nothing in 2018, with a mere 0.2% of primary votes being cast on the Republican side. That's a 24-point shift.Compare this with what happened statewide in Texas this year. There was slight movement toward Republicans: Of the votes cast on the Democratic or Republican side, 65% were Republican primary votes. In 2018, it was 60%. This was a 4-point shift without rounding.Put another way, the shift in Republican primary participation in those 16 heavily Hispanic counties was nearly three times the statewide shift.More signs of a shiftTexas, though, is only one state. Further, it's just a primary.But even on the national level, Texas does not seem to be that much of an outlier.While it's not clear that Hispanic Americans have moved even more toward the Republicans relative to how Americans overall are shifting, it's clear that Republicans are holding their gains from 2020.Trump made big in-roads in Hispanic areas across the nationNationally, the three polls that meet CNN standards for reporting (CNN/SSRS, Fox and Quinnipiac University) have produced generic congressional ballot results since the beginning of the year and provided a crosstab on Hispanic voters' midterm preferences. The generic ballot asks respondents some form of the following question: "If the elections for Congress were held today, would you vote for the Democratic or Republican Party?"Democrats have held a 23-point advantage among Hispanics on the generic congressional ballot in the average of these polls so far this year.An average of three estimates of how Americans voted in House races in 2020 (Catalist, the CNN exit poll and the Pew Research Center) found that Democrats won the House vote by about 28 points in 2020 among Hispanics.This 5-point shift toward Republicans among Hispanics is in line with the 5-point shift we see among voters overall -- Republicans ahead by 2 points on the generic congressional ballot, compared with losing the national House vote by 3 points in 2020.The key thing to realize, though, is that Democrats did worse -- and Republicans did better -- among Hispanic voters in 2020 House races relative to the national vote than in any House election since 2004. So while not losing additional ground is not a bad thing for Democrats, it's not a good thing either.The Biden factorIf anything, the picture gets better for Republicans when you examine Biden's popularity. Across the CNN, Fox and Quinnipiac polls this year, the President's net approval rating averages +2 points with Hispanic Americans. That's 17 points better than his net approval rating with voters overall in these polls (-15 points).CNN Poll: Most Biden detractors say he's done nothing they like since becoming presidentIn the 2020 election, Biden's margin with Hispanic voters was about 23 points better than it was overall.So compared with 2020, Biden is doing worse with Hispanics relative to how he is doing with voters overall. That's notable given that earlier in his presidency, Biden was doing significantly better among Hispanics relative to how he was doing overall and compared with how he did in 2020.This fits with an analysis from FiveThirtyEight's Geoffrey Skelley, which found that Biden's approval rating had fallen disproportionately among Hispanics over the course of his presidency.The fact that the political preferences of Hispanic Americans are jumping around may get at something larger: Their votes are up for grabs more so than the average voter's. While they may still be more Democratic-leaning, both parties have a good chance of making up ground among the Hispanic electorate.I'd expect a lot of attention to be focused on this growing bloc of voters in the midterms.

Simone Pathe, CNN

2022-02-03 11:09:19

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/politics/senate-race-rankings-february/index.html

The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022 - CNNPolitics

There's nothing like a Supreme Court vacancy to get people in Washington, DC, talking about the Senate. And with nine months to go until the midterm elections, here is CNN's latest look at the 10 Senate seats most likely to flip, as of right now.

politics, The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022 - CNNPolitics

The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022

(CNN)There's nothing like a Supreme Court vacancy to get people in Washington talking about the Senate. It's less clear, however, whether the voters who will decide control of the Senate nine months from now are attuned to that conversation, especially since the ideological makeup of the court is not in the balance. Justice Stephen Breyer's decision to retire came as President Joe Biden's approval rating stood at 42%, with 55% disapproving, according to CNN's average of six recent national polls. The best scenario for Democrats is that the vacancy and Biden's pledge to nominate a Black woman will help drive base enthusiasm and remind moderates who care about abortion rights, for example, of what's at stake in the battle for the Senate. But that may be a lot of theoretical dot-connecting for most Americans preoccupied with high prices at the pump and the checkout line. Still, the seat most likely to flip partisan control is the place where Democrats see the Supreme Court vacancy as having perhaps the biggest impact. That's not a new development: Pennsylvania has led the list since CNN started ranking the 2022 races nearly a year ago. But it speaks to the demographics Democrats need to turn out in the Keystone State -- their urban base and suburban voters. The ranking is based on CNN's reporting and fundraising data, as well as historical data about how states and candidates have performed. Fundraising reports for the fourth quarter of 2021, which were due to the Federal Election Commission by Monday, showed some Democrats raising massive sums of money, while some Republican candidates poured significant personal wealth into their campaigns. As the year progresses, more polling and advertising spending data will become bigger factors in the ranking. Read MoreWhile Pennsylvania still leads the list, Republicans are feeling more confident about the seat, which GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is vacating, than they have in months, thanks to some new candidates. But it remains a question, as is the case in several other races, how much embracing former President Donald Trump in the primary comes back to haunt the eventual GOP nominee in the general election in a state Biden won in 2020. As he resumes his campaign-style rallies, with a heavy focus on his 2020 election lies, Trump is signaling that he won't be sitting 2022 out quietly, even if he's not on the ballot. The jockeying for his support has already led to massive spending -- especially in Pennsylvania, where the GOP primary has attracted $18 million, mostly in December and January alone, according to a CNN analysis of AdImpact data. "I still say it's 50-50," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN's Manu Raju last week about the GOP's chances of flipping the chamber. The Kentucky Republican backed the bipartisan infrastructure law, one of Biden's biggest achievements to date, but he's standing in the way (along with two moderate Democrats) of the President's other priorities, such as his social spending and climate change plan and voting rights legislation, both of which stalled in the Senate. Trump team announces $122 million war chestVulnerable Democratic incumbents on this list -- Sens. Mark Kelly, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan and Raphael Warnock -- all voted in favor of eliminating the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. While taking that position has become a new litmus test of sorts in Democratic primaries (again, see Pennsylvania), and some Republicans are attacking Democrats over it, it's far from clear that the fate of the 60-vote threshold is a salient issue for American voters. There's been plenty of effort to get voters' attention. Candidates and outside groups have already spent twice as much on TV and radio ads as they had at similar points in the 2018 and 2020 cycles, according to a CNN analysis of AdImpact data. Look for that spending to increase quickly ahead of spring primaries, with the first big Senate contest of the year (Ohio) happening on May 3. Until then, stay tuned for more updates to this ranking. Here are the top 10 Senate seats most likely to flip as of this month: 1. PennsylvaniaIncumbent: Republican Pat Toomey (retiring)Pennsylvania remains the seat most likely to flip, although Republicans feel better about holding retiring Sen. Pat Toomey's seat now that the Trump-backed candidate is out of the race and several new candidates have jumped in. "We have an embarrassment of riches," McConnell told Raju in late January. The biggest new name is hedge fund executive David McCormick. A former Treasury official in the George W. Bush administration who lived in Connecticut for years, McCormick has rolled out ads trying to convince voters that "his Pennsylvania roots will keep him grounded." He's the husband of Dina Powell McCormick, who was Trump's deputy national security adviser. Sean Parnell, the Trump endorsee who suspended his campaign after a public custody battle that was generating worrisome headlines for the GOP, quickly backed McCormick, as did Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who recently rallied with him in the state. McCormick and his allies are already in a sniping contest with Dr. Mehmet Oz, who entered the race late last fall and had loaned his campaign more than $5 million, according to his recent FEC filing. Honor Pennsylvania, an anti-Oz group, is attacking the former talk show host as a "Hollywood liberal." (Like McCormick, Oz recently lived out of state, in New Jersey.) American Leadership Action, a pro-Oz group, is going after McCormick's business record, as is Oz's campaign. There were already Republicans running here -- allies of businessman Jeff Bartos, for example, are attacking the two newcomers as carpetbaggers -- and Carla Sands, who was ambassador to Denmark under Trump, loaned her campaign another $500,000 in the fourth quarter. While Democrats are enjoying watching Republicans duke it out, they have their own crowded primary. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is still the fundraising leader, raising $2.7 million in the fourth quarter. Rep. Conor Lamb -- who, like Fetterman, is from the western part of the state -- has picked up some labor endorsements and the backing of the mayor of Philadelphia. He finished ahead of the other candidates in a state party committee vote last weekend but fell short of the threshold for an endorsement. 2. GeorgiaIncumbent: Democrat Raphael WarnockAfter winning a special election runoff last winter that helped flip the Senate, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock never slowed down. He raised $9.8 million in the fourth quarter as he seeks a full six-year term in November. Only a sum like that could make the nearly $5.4 million that Republican challenger Herschel Walker raised seem paltry. Since Biden won the state in 2020, Georgia has remained one of the most interesting political battlegrounds that's also home to a high-profile gubernatorial race and is ground zero for the fight for voting rights, which Democrats hope could energize turnout on their side. With the national spotlight on his state, Warnock isn't likely to be hurting for money anytime soon. And while staggering Democratic fundraising hasn't always translated to success (see South Carolina in 2020 or Texas in 2018), public polling suggests this race is competitive. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed no clear leader, with Walker at 49% and Warnock at 48% among registered voters. Republicans are feeling confident about this race now that McConnell and Trump are united behind Walker, even if the former NFL star remains largely untested as a candidate, and because the national environment has looked increasingly strong for them. Biden's job approval rating in the Peach State in that Quinnipiac poll, for example, was 36%. But Democrats take heart that Warnock's job approval was a higher 47%. With Senate races so nationalized these days, Warnock will need to continue to overperform Biden -- as he did in 2021 -- if he's going to survive in November, regardless of how many millions he raises. 3. WisconsinIncumbent: Republican Ron JohnsonThe big news here is GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is running for reelection, which reassured Republicans and enthused Democrats. Republicans are glad to be avoiding another messy primary, and they're thankful Johnson didn't wait even longer to make his announcement. In a video explaining his decision, Johnson says he intended for his current term to be his last but cannot "walk away" after seeing "the Democrats in total control." Democrats, however, are thrilled that Johnson -- who has continued to make controversial and misleading statements about Covid-19 and January 6 -- is running. They believe he's a damaged enough incumbent that it will be easier to flip this seat with him in it than if he weren't. Senate Majority PAC, the preeminent Democratic super PAC, quickly attacked Johnson for being "deep in the swamp." Johnson's announcement also prompted the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to launch its first TV ad of the cycle, hitting him for "looking out for himself." Republicans think a strong national environment will help them hold on to this seat, especially if they can paint the eventual Democratic nominee as too far left for the state, which backed Biden by less than a point in 2020. They're excited about the prospect of running against Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, for example, who has the support of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Barnes raised $1.2 million in the fourth quarter -- which is more than Johnson's $711,000 but lower than some Democratic challengers across the country. And he faces a crowded primary, including Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, who loaned his campaign about $1.5 million in the fourth quarter and has been running a series of ads on TV. 4. ArizonaIncumbent: Democrat Mark KellyDemocratic Sen. Mark Kelly, like Warnock in Georgia, continues to post impressive fundraising numbers as he runs for a full six-year term in November. Kelly raised nearly $9 million in the last quarter. That, on its own, should put Republicans on notice in an increasingly purple state that Biden narrowly won in 2020. But unlike Georgia, where the GOP has largely coalesced around one candidate, Republicans here face a real headache with a messy candidate field ahead of the August primary. There have been renewed rumors about Gov. Doug Ducey running, which would please McConnell and national Republicans, but he's a frequent target of Trump and doesn't appear to have made any moves ahead of the April filing deadline. That leaves Attorney General Mark Brnovich, whose fundraising continues to be underwhelming (he raised about $800,000 last quarter) and venture capitalist Blake Masters, among several others, duking it out. Masters raised nearly $1.6 million, but he also has the advantage of a Peter Thiel-backed super PAC touting him as a "Trump conservative." Based on the advertising in the state -- which has already crept past $30 million, according to CNN's analysis of AdImpact data as of Friday -- Republicans are leaning into the Trump loyalty contest. Solar energy entrepreneur Jim Lamon, for example, who loaned his campaign $3 million in the fourth quarter, is going all-in on Trump's claims of a rigged election. Regardless of their nominee, Republicans think it's a winnable race, especially if the national environment continues to look bleak for Biden and other Democrats, and they're eager to go after Kelly's voting record and exploit the differences between him and his more moderate Democratic Arizona colleague, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. 5. NevadaIncumbent: Democrat Catherine Cortez MastoThis is one of the few contests, like Georgia, where Trump and McConnell have already united behind the same candidate. In Nevada, it's former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, the grandson of the former governor and senator with the same last name. The GOP's ability to coalesce around him ahead of the June primary could be critical to winning the seat, but he still faces competition. Retired Army Capt. Sam Brown raised about $1 million in the fourth quarter, just shy of Laxalt's $1.3 million. Republicans are hopeful that Biden's sagging approval ratings and voters' anxieties will help them in the state, which has seen its share of pandemic and inflation woes. "I don't know if it's the President, or what happened, but (under Trump) it was so much better," one Nevada voter who has recently voted for Democrats told CNN's Maeve Reston in early January. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the former chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, raised about $3.3 million last quarter and hasn't yet really reintroduced herself to voters. Democrats have long believed that abortion could be a salient issue here -- especially since Laxalt's opposition to abortion rights puts him at odds with the state's most recent GOP governor -- and are hoping the Supreme Court vacancy will help bring more attention to that contrast by reminding voters what's at stake. But Republicans' inroads with Hispanics, combined with the state's non-college-educated White population, make this race among the most competitive. 6. North CarolinaIncumbent: Republican Richard Burr (retiring)Trump's endorsement in this race nearly eight months ago has yet to clear the GOP field, with none of the candidates posting stellar fundraising. In fact, former Rep. Mark Walker announced last week that he would carry on with his Senate campaign rather than drop down to a House race with the possibility of an endorsement from the ex-President. Rep. Ted Budd, Trump's pick for Senate, raised $968,000 in the fourth quarter and continues to introduce himself to voters statewide, while the Club for Growth's political arm spends big to help him. That includes going hard after former Gov. Pat McCrory, who raised $748,000. Combat veteran Marjorie K. Eastman raised $423,000 and is less well known but has benefited from nearly $1 million in outside spending from a group called Restore Common Sense. The delay in the state's primaries from March to May, thanks to redistricting litigation, will give Republicans more time to sort out their field. Democrats, meanwhile, have a prohibitive favorite in former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley after other major candidates dropped out. She raised $2.1 million in the last quarter. While Republicans likely start with the advantage in this state that Trump carried by about a point in 2020, Democrats are hopeful Beasley can energize minority turnout in a non-presidential year. 7. New HampshireIncumbent: Democrat Maggie HassanDemocratic Sen. Maggie Hassan got a huge break when Republican Gov. Chris Sununu decided late last year to run for reelection rather than challenge her. Besides retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, several other Republicans are now hoping to take on Hassan, although none of Sununu's stature. Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP gubernatorial nod in 2012, announced his campaign last month. State Senate President Chuck Morse followed over the weekend, riding a skid-steer loader into his snowy announcement event, WMUR reported. McConnell singled out Morse in his interview with CNN last week, saying, "We think we'll have a good candidate there." Democrats have done well in the Granite State in recent federal elections, with Biden carrying the state by 7 points in 2020. But his approval rating slipped last fall, giving Republicans hope they'd unseat Hassan even without their preferred candidate. Biden's numbers had somewhat improved by mid-December, returning to July levels, according to the most recent University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll. Hassan, who raised $3.2 million in the last quarter, isn't in as competitive a race as she could have been had Sununu thrown his hat in the ring, but she still has to hope that the national environment doesn't endanger her. Only 28% of New Hampshire residents in that Granite State Poll, for example, said things in the US "are headed in the right direction." 8. Florida Incumbent: Republican Marco RubioGOP Sen. Marco Rubio is running for a third term in a state that has favored Republicans recently. (Trump carried it by 3 points in 2020.) That means he starts as the favorite, but Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who was a contender for Biden's running mate, has been an impressive fundraiser. She raised about $7.2 million in the fourth quarter -- more than Rubio's $5.2 million, although he ended 2021 with more cash on hand. Demings will need the money to introduce herself statewide across expensive media markets. Rubio has recently been touting his support from law enforcement, trying to counter any advantages Demings might bring to the race as a former Orlando police chief. The congresswoman responded last week by calling Rubio a "lifelong politician," saying that during her tenure with the police she had helped respond to "some dark, scary places" while he was "home in his bed sleeping," according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. 9. OhioIncumbent: Republican Rob Portman (retiring)The Republican primary field to replace retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman remains unsettled ahead of the May primary as candidates and their allies frantically put out polls to try to shape their own narratives of the race. The Club for Growth's political arm is spending for former state Treasurer Josh Mandel, attacking "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance and former state party Chair Jane Timken. Almost all the candidates, including a couple of big-spending businessmen, are leaning heavily into Trump's rhetoric, creating a sharp distinction from the senator they're hoping to succeed. Vance claimed in a tweet thread on the anniversary of the US Capitol insurrection that many of the rioters in a DC jail are "political prisoners," adding, "They are our people." He also recently secured the endorsement of controversial GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, which he likely hopes will blunt some of his past public criticism of Trump. State Sen. Matt Dolan was the rare candidate to describe January 6 as "an attack on American democracy" in a statement on the one-year anniversary, calling out "fake conservatives willing to sacrifice our most sacred text, the Constitution, in favor of political expedience." He's invested a stunning $10.5 million of his own money into his campaign (mostly in contributions, not loans) but faces a steep uphill battle in a GOP primary that revolves around Trump. On the Democratic side, Rep. Tim Ryan, who raised $2.9 million last quarter, has largely consolidated support, but Ohio, which Trump carried by 8 points, remains a tough state for anyone in his party who's not Sen. Sherrod Brown. 10. MissouriIncumbent: Republican Roy Blunt (retiring)Missouri is different from most of the states on this list in that it really wouldn't be here if it weren't for one man. "Missouri is potentially challenging depending on the outcome in the primary," McConnell told Raju. Former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office following a probe into allegations of sexual and campaign misconduct, threatens to put in play a red state that Trump won by 15 points in 2020. He's trying to align himself with Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of the ex-President's son, is his campaign's national chair. Greitens faces a handful of Republicans also trying to secure Trump's support ahead of the August primary. Rep. Billy Long, for example, ran an ad about Democrats "rigging the election." State Attorney General Eric Schmitt recently announced lawsuits against school districts with masking rules, which is becoming a conservative rallying cry as the third year of the pandemic gets underway. GOP Rep. Vicky Hartzler -- the only woman in the race -- hasn't hesitated to go after Greitens, taking an implicit jab at his extramarital affair in her first ad released last fall. The fear is that Greitens could jeopardize the general election much like GOP nominee Todd Akin did in the 2012 Senate contest. And the more Republicans in the race, the more splintered the primary vote will be, thereby lowering the threshold Greitens would need to win the nomination. Democrat Lucas Kunce raised $710,000 in the fourth quarter -- more than any of the Republicans excluding personal loans. But the Marine veteran will need more than money to make the race go his way. CNN's David Wright contributed to this report.

Fredreka Schouten and Kelly Mena, CNN

2022-03-08 19:53:29

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/08/politics/democrats-congressional-redistricing-fights-ctzn/index.html

How Democrats are winning congressional redistricting fights - CNNPolitics

A version of this story appeared in the CITIZEN BY CNN newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

politics, How Democrats are winning congressional redistricting fights - CNNPolitics

How Democrats are winning congressional redistricting fights

(CNN)A version of this story appeared in the CITIZEN BY CNN newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.We're devoting this newsletter to redistricting -- the once-a-decade process of redrawing the lines for congressional districts to reflect population shifts after the US Census.The main goal, as enshrined in the Constitution, is straightforward: US House seats should be equally apportioned among the states. New maps, then, must be drawn to reflect where the population has grown or shrunk.The process sounds simple -- yet it is anything but that.And gerrymandering -- the practice of drawing maps to benefit a political party or a group of voters -- has helped make American politics more partisan. Districts have grown more homogenous, dominated by Republican voters or Democratic voters. If a congressional seat is safe from any real competition on Election Day, what incentive remains for a member of Congress to negotiate with the opposing party to actually accomplish something?Read MoreWe've turned to three in-house experts who are following the issue closely -- Ethan Cohen and Melissa Holzberg DePalo, who are producers for CNN's Political Unit, and CNN Politics' justice writer Tierney Sneed -- to explain redistricting and to give CITIZEN BY CNN readers the latest developments.Here's Ethan and Melissa:Who draws the maps? When redistricting works like it's supposed to, congressional district maps are drawn by either state lawmakers or by state redistricting commissions. But like many best-laid plans, that's not what has happened in every state. Courts have had to draw or choose the maps in six states, either because the normal processes failed to produce a plan (usually when control of state government is split between the parties) or because the produced maps failed to comply with legal standards. Where do things stand today with redistricting? Is it over yet? We're about eight months from Election Day and the redistricting process still isn't finished, delayed in part by the pandemic-driven late release of the census data required. Four states -- Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire and Louisiana -- still have yet to enact their final maps. In all four of those states, congressional maps are passed just like other legislation. Republicans have full control of state government in the first three states, but they haven't passed maps amid intra-GOP disputes about how aggressively to draw the lines. In Louisiana, the state legislature recently passed a new map, but Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards hasn't announced whether he'll sign it. And as litigation over newly drawn maps continues across the country, it's possible maps in other states will need to be revised as well. What's been the biggest surprise about redistricting? Republicans control most state legislatures across the country, so going into this redistricting process, a lot of analysts believed the GOP would be able to benefit significantly from new maps -- especially since the party is trying to regain control of the House in November. But Democrats have had legal victories in states like Pennsylvania and North Carolina that resulted in more favorable maps. Democrats have also been able to utilize their advantage in states like New York, where they control the redistricting process. They now have a chance to come out better than expected, and perhaps even benefit from the new maps overall. However, Democrats still face an uphill climb to hold the House this November as they deal with President Joe Biden's low approval numbers and the historic trend of poor midterm performance from the party that controls the White House. Two of the strangest terms to arise about drawing congressional maps are "cracking" and "packing." What do they mean and how do they work?In the simplest terms, "cracking" and "packing" are two ways congressional map-drawers gerrymander districts. Cracking is when mapmakers weaken a particular group's influence by spreading those voters throughout several districts. And packing is when specific voters are forced into one district, or as few districts as possible, to condense their influence. Tennessee Republicans gave us a good idea of what cracking looks like this year. For most of Tennessee's history, Nashville has been in one congressional district. And for most of modern political history, in a sea of deep-red Tennessee, Nashville's district consistently sent Democrats to Congress. But this year, Republicans in the state divided Davidson County, where Nashville is, into three congressional districts that are paired with more conservative and rural parts of the state. That split, or crack, will weaken the influence of the more liberal Nashville population. It also should be noted that Republicans aren't the only ones engaged in partisan map drawing. In states like New Mexico, Illinois and New York, Democrats drew lines to benefit their partisan interests. Here's Tierney:Where are the big legal fights happening and what are they about?With each redistricting cycle, the legal fight over partisan advantage in map-drawing seems to get more complicated. And this cycle is no exception. In 2019, the US Supreme Court said that federal courts could not play a role in policing partisan gerrymandering. So, some of the most impactful legal fights this cycle are playing out in state courts, where voters have challenged maps for giving one party too much of an advantage.Federal courts still have the authority to review claims of racial gerrymandering. Depending on the facts on the ground, maps alleged to be racially discriminatory can be challenged under the Voting Rights Act (VRA), under the Constitution or both. However, the Supreme Court has signaled that it may soon scale back the scope of the VRA in redistricting, which would leave voters, political parties and voter rights organizations with even fewer options to challenge unfair maps in court. In the lawsuits that are alleging that the political power of minority voters is being diluted, we are seeing a lot of arguments about how communities of color have grown in places like Texas and Georgia, with cases claiming that the new maps do not adequately reflect that growth. In Texas, for instance, people of color made up 95% of the population growth that led to the state being awarded two additional seats in the US House this decade. Yet both of those districts were drawn to have White voting majorities, as the Justice Department argued in the lawsuit it brought against the state. Americans already have begun to vote in primaries, so how will these court cases affect actual elections? It depends on the state. In some states, like Texas and Georgia, the current lawsuits won't change the maps before this year's election. Part of the issue legal challengers have run into is that maps were drawn much later last year than usual. That is because the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the 2020 Census -- which produces the data for each decade's redrawing of maps -- which, in turn, delayed the release date for the data from that survey. In some states, legislators or courts pushed back their electoral calendars because of coronavirus-created time crunch. But we're still seeing the legal fights over the maps run into election deadlines. In Ohio, for example, local election officials and GOP state leaders are sparring over whether to move the May 3 primary date as the redistricting commission has repeatedly seen its maps rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court. Another complication -- particularly in the federal redistricting litigation -- is a recent move by the Supreme Court that has discouraged lower courts from disturbing the maps for this years' election, even when those courts think the maps violate the law. Alabama earlier this year had been ordered by two federal courts to redraw its congressional map, after the courts found it likely violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of Black voters. But at Alabama's request, the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, intervened to put that order on hold. The full majority didn't explain its reasoning, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote a concurrence that touted a legal principle of avoiding court actions that could cause confusion among voters.Justice Elena Kagan, one of the court's liberal justices, shot back in a dissent: "Alabama is not entitled to keep violating Black Alabamians' voting rights just because the court's order came down in the first month of an election year." Already, a district judge in Georgia has cited the Supreme Court's move in Alabama to explain he would not order Georgia to redraw its state legislative maps for its coming elections, even though the judge believes that they violated the Voting Rights Act. Where's the Supreme Court on all of this? As you may have picked up by now, the Supreme Court -- particularly this current conservative majority -- has generally shown more sympathy to legislators who have drawn potentially unfair or discriminatory maps than they have to the voters seeking to challenge those plans. The Supreme Court's 2015 Shelby County decision set the stage for this trend. In that case, the conservative majority gutted a provision in the Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of racial discrimination in voting practices to get federal approval for their redistricting plans (and any other changes to their election policies).Since then, the court majority gave Texas key wins in a redistricting racial discrimination case stemming from the 2010 census cycle. The 2019 partisan redistricting decision, known as Rucho v. Common Cause put an end to any hopes that federal courts could rein in maps aggressively skewed towards one party or another. Though the court hasn't weighed in on the merits of the Alabama case, its willingness to jump in at the preliminary stage it was in suggests the court is going to scale back the Voting Rights Act's reach in redistricting once again, by making it harder for legal challengers to prove that maps can be drawn in way that don't undermine minority voters. However, in a setback for Republicans, the Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed efforts to disturb maps adopted by state courts in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.While the 2022 elections in Pennsylvania and North Carolina will be conducted with redistricting plans less favorable to Republicans, the Supreme Court's conservative wing has signaled an interest in considering a case down the road that would limit the ability of state courts to rein in partisan gerrymanders.You need to readCNN's interactive that explores Census data to show how America has grown more diverse and more multiracial than ever before.Kaanita Iyer's story for CNN on fears that redistricting battles in Alabama and other states will lead to voter suppression.CNN's Steve Contorno's look at GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' power plays on redistricting.Fredreka's piece on the erosion of Black political power in the South after the nation's high court weakened the Voting Rights Act.On the calendarIn less than a month, voters will decide who will finish out ex-Rep. Devin Nunes' term in California's 22nd congressional district. Nunes left Congress earlier this year to run former President Donald Trump's social media company. The Republican exited office as the contours of his district changed through redistricting. The special election is April 5, with a runoff set for June 7 if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote next month. Whoever wins the seat likely won't have a district to run in come November. The full list of candidates and details on how to vote can be found here from the California Secretary of State. CNN's Maeve Reston took a deep dive into California's redistricting process and how it scrambled the playing field for both political parties.

Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter

2022-03-07 22:23:32

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/07/politics/supreme-court-2022-election-pennsylvania-north-carolina/index.html

Supreme Court denies GOP challenges to congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania - CNNPolitics

The Supreme Court on Monday night denied requests from Republicans challenging congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania that had been approved by state courts, in two rulings that could benefit Democrats in the midterm elections.

politics, Supreme Court denies GOP challenges to congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania - CNNPolitics

Supreme Court denies GOP challenges to congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania

(CNN)The Supreme Court on Monday night denied requests from Republicans challenging congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania that had been approved by state courts, in two rulings that could benefit Democrats in the midterm elections.The North Carolina congressional map drawn by state judges would likely give Democrats at least another seat in Congress next year. The court -- over the noted dissents of Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch -- turned away an emergency request from Republican legislators to use a different map that would be more favorable to their party. Supreme Court declines to revive Bill Cosby prosecutionFor Pennsylvania, the court rejected an emergency request from a group of six Republican voters who wanted to freeze a ruling from the commonwealth's high court that allowed the maps to take effect and altered the general primary calendar. There were no noted dissents from the two-sentence order.Closely watched caseThe North Carolina case especially had been closely followed by election law experts because lawyers for Republican legislators had asked the Supreme Court to adopt a theory that state courts cannot interpret their own state constitutions when it comes to redistricting and rules related to federal elections.Read MoreThe theory is called the "Independent State Legislature claim" in legalese. The Electors Clause of the US Constitution vests "state legislatures" with the power to appoint presidential electors "in the manner" they choose. The Elections Clause gives them control over the "Times, Places and Manner" of holding elections. Under the theory being pushed, "legislature" excludes a role for state courts.Judge shuts down January 6-based challenge to Rep. Madison Cawthorn's candidacyIf a majority of the court were ever to adopt those arguments, it could profoundly change the landscape of election law, upending the power of state courts to rely on state laws in disputes over federal elections. The theory attracted some members of the court's right wing in the past during litigation surrounding then-President Donald Trump's quest to use the courts to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election victory.The North Carolina Supreme Court held that the congressional map was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander under North Carolina law, saying that the General Assembly must not "dilute any individual's vote on the basis of partisan affiliation." The congressional maps are "unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt" under several clauses of the North Carolina Constitution, it added. The state Supreme Court ordered a trial court to prepare new maps.RELATED: Judge shuts down January 6-based challenge to Rep. Madison Cawthorn's candidacyNorth Carolina is divided into 14 congressional districts, having gained an additional seat after the 2020 census due to an increase in the state population.In court papers, lawyers for the legislators said the state Supreme Court's actions "nullify the North Carolina General Assembly's regulations of the manner of holding federal elections in the State and replaces them with new regulations of the judiciary's design." They said the North Carolina Supreme Court's actions "are fundamentally irreconcilable" with the federal Constitution.A coalition of voting rights groups, Democratic voters and the state's board of elections urged the US Supreme Court to stay out of the dispute. They said that if the justices were to intervene now it would cause confusion and delay as well as "severe administrative difficulties."After the order, Neal Katyal, a lawyer for the coalition of groups, praised the court's decision. "By denying this stay, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized in line with many precedents that there is no constitutional basis for attempting to rewrite the North Carolina Supreme Court's decision at the 11th hour," said Katyal. "By leaving intact the decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court has paved the way for elections to proceed with the legislative and Congressional maps as ordered by the state courts," he added.Conservative dissentsAlito, Thomas and Gorsuch would have ruled in favor of the Republican legislators from North Carolina. They said in their dissent that the case presented an "exceptionally important and recurring question of constitutional law" concerning "the extent of a state court's authority to reject rules adopted by a state legislature for use in conducting federal elections." The dissenters said the case at hand had presented a good opportunity to consider the issue, "but unfortunately the Court has again found the occasion inopportune."They said the Republicans will be "irreparably harmed" because they will be deprived of their constitutional prerogative to draw the congressional map in their state, and the public interest will be disserved if the 2022 congressional elections in North Carolina are held using districts that the court eventually determines were "unconstitutionally imposed."Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he agreed with his conservative colleagues that the court should eventually take up the issue of the role of state courts. But he did not dissent and said he agreed with the majority in the case at hand to allow the maps to be used for the next election. "This Court has repeatedly ruled that federal courts ordinarily should not alter state election laws in the period close to an election," Kavanaugh wrote.Pennsylvania district fightLawyers for the Republican voters in Pennsylvania had told the justices that "relief is urgently needed" because candidates are already campaigning for office under an "unconstitutional map" and the statutory deadline for obtaining the needed signatures on nomination petitions falls on Tuesday.Pennsylvania had 18 seats in the US House of Representatives, but the results of the 2020 census left it with one seat fewer due to population shifts. In January, the Republican-led General Assembly approved what the GOP voters argued was a "reasonable non-gerrymandered map" that would have created a 9-8 majority of Democratic-leaning congressional districts. A roadmap to the 2022 midterm electionsBut Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed the map, saying the General Assembly's action "adopts a map selected by politicians to take advantage of the process and choose their own voters."Separately, a group of litigants went to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to impose a map that would have favored Democrats and likely created a 10-7 majority of Democratic-leaning districts. The state Supreme Court ultimately adopted the plan -- dubbed the "Carter Plan." Lawyers for the commonwealth asked the court to reject Republicans' petition, arguing it amounted to an "invitation to chaos" by creating an at-large election."Petitioners ask the Court to scrap the entire congressional map for Pennsylvania and to order the Commonwealth to hold statewide at-large congressional elections for the first time since the 18th Century," Joshua Matz, a lawyer for Pennsylvania, said in court papers.This story has been updated with further details and background.

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

2022-03-08 23:30:44

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/08/politics/scotus-redistricting-democrats-2022/index.html

The biggest 2022 upset no one is talking about - CNNPolitics

On Monday night, the US Supreme Court rejected Republican-led challenges to congressional district maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, handing Democrats a win in each of the hotly contested states.

politics, The biggest 2022 upset no one is talking about - CNNPolitics

The biggest 2022 upset no one is talking about

(CNN)On Monday night, the US Supreme Court rejected Republican-led challenges to congressional district maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, handing Democrats a win in each of the hotly contested states. The Supreme Court's decision effectively cements a huge story that has been under the radar for months now: Democrats are on track to emerge from the decennial redistricting process in FAR better shape than either party expected even a year ago. "This ruling ensures the 2022 House map will be much less skewed towards Republicans than the current one (and perhaps not skewed towards Rs at all)," tweeted Dave Wasserman, a nonpartisan redistricting expert and House editor at the Cook Political Report, on Monday night.Read More And Wasserman noted that the news could get even better -- if the Ohio Supreme Court invalidates a Republican plan, it could mean two to three more House seats for Democrats. All of that follows on a new map unveiled by New York Democrats last month, which could result in a 22-4 Democratic advantage in the state's delegation. (The current split is 19 Democrats, 8 Republicans.) It's a remarkable upsetting of expectations. Heading into the once-a-decade redraw, the conventional wisdom was that Republicans would have a large edge in redistricting -- one they would use to further position themselves to win back the House in 2022. Wrote FiveThirtyEight, a political analysis and projection site, shortly after the 2020 election: "Joe Biden may have won the White House, but down-ballot races were much better for Republicans. In fact, the GOP's victories in state-level elections could pay dividends long after Biden leaves office, thanks to their influence over next year's redistricting process." The disparity was stark. According to the Cook Political Report, Republicans had full control of the line-drawing process in 20 states that comprised 187 congressional districts, while Democrats had that same full control in just eight states with 75 districts total.So, what happened? The most aggressive Democratic gerrymanders -- like New York and Illinois -- appear to have withstood any potential legal challenges. The same can't be said for similarly over-the-top Republican gerrymanders in places like North Carolina. (For more on this, check out today's CITIZEN by CNN newsletter.) In other states, deadlocks in the main body charged with drawing the lines handed power to a third-party entity, which favored Democrats. The most obvious and important example of that reality is in Pennsylvania. The state's Supreme Court, where Democrats hold a majority, took control of the line-drawing process last month after the Democratic governor and Republican-controlled legislature deadlocked on a map that must reduce the state's House delegation from 18 seats to 17 seats. The Point: Democrats are still underdogs in their quest to hold the House majority come November -- even with the unexpected redistricting boost. But the map looks less unfriendly to the party than even the biggest Democratic optimists could have imagined a year ago.

Steve Contorno, CNN

2022-03-04 16:53:50

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/04/politics/ron-desantis-florida-republican-redistricting/index.html

DeSantis vows to veto latest GOP-proposed congressional boundaries in Florida - CNNPolitics

Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken over the state's new congressional map on Friday, with future control of the US House of Representatives potentially at stake.

politics, DeSantis vows to veto latest GOP-proposed congressional boundaries in Florida - CNNPolitics

DeSantis vows to veto latest GOP-proposed congressional boundaries in Florida

(CNN)Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken over the state's new congressional map on Friday, with future control of the US House of Representatives potentially at stake.Over the objections of DeSantis, a Republican who publicly vowed to veto their work, the GOP-controlled House and Senate passed new congressional boundaries Friday that would reshape the political landscape in Florida for the next decade. In an unusual step, state lawmakers approved two maps: one that draws new boundaries to a more Republican advantage and one that is closer to the status quo. If the first map is not approved by the state Supreme Court, then the second safer map would be implemented. The maps now head to DeSantis' desk, where the governor made clear Friday on Twitter they were "DOA.""What makes you think when I say I'm going to do something that I'm not going to follow through?" DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville. "I don't make declarations lightly.""I don't bluff," he added.Read MoreThe House passed the maps 67-47, with some Republicans voting against the new boundaries. The Senate vote was 24-15.The showdown over the maps is a rare public power struggle between DeSantis and the Florida Legislature, which has almost always ceded to the governor and his agenda during his tenure in office.DeSantis has urged lawmakers in his party to get behind a much more partisan map, one that could give Republicans the advantage in at least 18 of the 28 districts in the state, and as many as 20. His insistence echoes similar calls from Republican operatives that want to see the GOP press its advantage in hopes of helping the party win a majority in the US House this fall.Florida Republicans currently hold 16 seats in the US House to 11 for the Democrats. The state gained a seat in redistricting and will have 28 House seats for the next decade.But Republican state lawmakers have stood by their work, insisting their maps are constitutionally sound."The two-map solution is a creative solution that captures the feedback of all our stakeholders: the public, the members of this chamber and the Governor," said state Rep. Tyler Sirois, the chairman of the House Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee. DeSantis, meanwhile, has pushed for lawmakers to break up two of four Black-access districts in what Democrats say is a violation of the Voting Rights Act and the state's Fair District amendment to its constitution.State Sen. Janet Cruz, a Tampa Democrat, said the governor's threats to lawmakers were "a stain in this whole process."JUST WATCHED'Ridiculous': DeSantis lambasts students for wearing their masks ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'Ridiculous': DeSantis lambasts students for wearing their masks 00:51DeSantis has inserted himself into the state's once-in-a-decade redistricting process far more than any of his predecessors, even going so far as to submit his own maps for consideration. He has repeatedly said he would veto any map that does not reapportion Florida's 5th Congressional District, a Black plurality seat that stretches across north Florida to connect African American communities in Tallahassee and Jacksonville. The district is represented by Democratic Rep. Al Lawson, who is Black. DeSantis would also break up an Orlando-area district represented by Rep. Val Demings, who is also Black.DeSantis believes Lawson's district represents an unconstitutional gerrymander, even though it was approved by the state Supreme Court last decade.If DeSantis vetoes the maps, then the Legislature could override him with two-thirds of the vote. If state lawmakers cannot come to agreement on a map, then they could kick the fight to the state Supreme Court.Florida is one of four states that have yet to finalize their congressional maps.

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

2022-02-08 16:48:59

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/politics/redistricting-congress-2022-midterm-election/index.html

Analysis: This is the big loser in redistricting the country's congressional lines - CNNPolitics

Now that 31 states have finished redrawing their congressional lines in advance of the 2022 midterm elections, one thing is now abundantly clear: Competitive seats are few and far between.

politics, Analysis: This is the big loser in redistricting the country's congressional lines - CNNPolitics

This is the big loser in the redrawing of the country's congressional lines

(CNN)Now that 31 states have finished redrawing their congressional lines in advance of the 2022 midterm elections, one thing is now abundantly clear: Competitive seats are few and far between."Of the 301 new House districts that have now been adopted, just 17 (5.6%) went for [Joe] Biden or [Donald] Trump by five points or less, down from 39 of 301 (13.0%) districts in the same states currently," tweeted Dave Wasserman, House editor at the Cook Political Report, on Monday morning. "Back in 2012, after the last redistricting round, 66/435 districts went for [Barack] Obama or [John] McCain by five points or less."That lack of competition is reflected in the ratings offered by nonpartisan handicapping services like the Cook Political Report. As of today, Cook rates just 13 House races as "toss ups" and another 17 as "leaning" towards one party. Inside Elections, another campaign tip sheet, currently lists a meager 11 House races as pure "toss ups" and 14 as either "tilting" or "leaning" towards one party. That marks a major change from even the 2020 election. According to Cook Political Report calculations, 42 Republicans and 40 Democrats won with 55% or less of the vote that year -- the traditional marker for competitiveness in congressional elections.It also continues a decades-long trend of declining competitiveness as a direct result of the redrawing of the country's 435 congressional districts. Read MoreEvery 10 years, partisans on both sides largely prize creating as many solidly Republican and Democratic seats as possible -- making the vast majority of districts competitive only in primaries. THE POINT -- NOW ON YOUTUBE! In each episode of his weekly YouTube show, Chris Cillizza will delve a little deeper into the surreal world of politics. Click to subscribe! That increasing lack of competitiveness has a clear impact on how the government works -- or, more accurately, doesn't. There is a direct connection between the increasing number of purely partisan districts and the decided dearth of bipartisanship in Congress. It creates a disincentive for candidates to do anything other than throw red meat to their bases as the way to win. And it keeps incumbents forever wary of ever working with anyone outside of their party, for fear of being cast as disloyal and losing in a primary.The incentivizing of pure partisans can be seen in the rise of the likes of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan on the right, as well as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib on the left. These are some of the most prominent faces within their respective parties and each one represents a district that would never elect -- or even consider electing -- someone from the other party.Put simply: There are a series of reverberations from drawing congressional districts where only one party has any realistic chance to win. And none of them are good for what people keep telling pollsters they want -- both sides to work together to solve the big problems facing the country.If you want to change the way politics works, you have to change the people you elect. And increasingly, that decision is taken out of the voters' hands by the map-drawers who create hundreds of non-competitive districts at the start of every decade.

Tierney Sneed, CNN

2022-02-12 10:46:28

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/politics/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-redistricting/index.html

What the Supreme Court's decision on Alabama's maps could mean for the Voting Rights Act - CNNPolitics

A contentious decision from the US Supreme Court in a Voting Rights Act case from Alabama this week previewed what could be a momentous legal battle over the 1965 law, which over the past several years has been repeatedly whittled down by the conservative justices.

politics, What the Supreme Court's decision on Alabama's maps could mean for the Voting Rights Act - CNNPolitics

What the Supreme Court's decision on Alabama's maps could mean for the Voting Rights Act

(CNN)A contentious decision from the US Supreme Court in a Voting Rights Act case from Alabama this week previewed what could be a momentous legal battle over the 1965 law, which over the past several years has been repeatedly whittled down by the conservative justices. After lower courts ordered Alabama to redraw a congressional map that they found diluted the strength of Black voters, the state turned to the Supreme Court with aggressive arguments about the reach of the historic law. Alabama secured a 5-4 ruling on Monday night that will reinstate the disputed map for this year's election. The assertions by Alabama about the role race should play in redistricting are just one of several claims being made by states defending their maps in court that would scale back the scope of the Voting Rights Act -- as Republican-controlled states move to adopt new voting restrictions in key battlegrounds. Some of the GOP states' arguments appear to go beyond even what a 6-3 conservative court would be willing to sanction. At stake is the role that a provision of the law known as Section 2 will play in combating racially discriminatory maps going forward. The provision prohibits voting procedures "not equally open to participation by members" of a protected class, like racial minorities, and it has been used to strike down maps said to dilute the power of voters of colors. In response to lawsuits filed in various GOP-led states challenging their maps under Section 2, the states have made a litany of arguments that would limit the use of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting cases."Republicans are in a mood where they want to throw mud at the wall," said Michael Li, a senior counsel for the Democracy Program at the liberal-leaning Brennan Center. Read MoreThe Supreme Court did not formally endorse Alabama's claims. Some justices said their votes were driven by how redrawing the map would disrupt Alabama's election planning."The court took pains to say that this was not a ruling on the merits, so we will take them at their word," former Attorney General Eric Holder, now the head of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, told reporters Thursday. "We will use Section 2 of the Act in other parts of the country." Still, even the sole conservative justice to dissent from the move, Chief Justice John Roberts, referenced a "wide range of uncertainties" that have arisen in how courts should approach vote dilution claims brought under the Voting Rights Act. Supreme Court rulings that soften the punch of the act in redistricting could decrease the number of representatives of color in Congress and state legislatures, legal experts say. However, some conservatives have argued that the political shifts in who is electing minority candidates -- with White voters helping to propel several people of color to Congress -- will minimize the impact of such a change in the law. "This notion that somehow you have to have a majority Black district to elect a Black representative was probably substantially more true in 1965 than it is in 2022," said Jason Torchinsky, a Republican election lawyer. What role should race play in redistricting Voting Rights Act compliance? The arguments Alabama is making are focused on the technical process that courts use to review Voting Rights Act redistricting claims, but they get at the heart of how race should be used as a corrective under the law. If Alabama can convince the Supreme Court to turn away from race consciousness that has historically been deployed in Voting Rights Act vote dilution cases, it will make those cases more difficult for minority voters to bring. "This comes down to the question of the role of race in drawing districts," Ben Ginsberg, a former Republican redistricting lawyer, told CNN. Under a 1986 Supreme Court precedent in the case Thornburg v. Gingles, redistricting challenges brought under the Voting Rights Act must pass what's commonly known as the Gingles test to get courts to strike down a map. According to the test's first prong, the challengers must prove that there is a relatively compact community of minority voters that could be drawn into a minority-majority district. The second two prongs have to do with racial polarization in voting: Does the minority population vote in a politically cohesive way? And does the racial majority vote as a bloc to defeat the minority voters' preferred candidates? The Alabama dispute before the Supreme Court targets the first prong, by digging into a tension between Voting Rights Act compliance and the Supreme Court rulings limiting the use of race in redistricting under the Constitution. "The court has made clear that partisan gerrymanders are not justiciable," Ginsberg said, referring to the Supreme Court's 2019 decision that said federal courts had no role in policing partisan gerrymanders. "If [the Alabama dispute] portends a race-blind Voting Rights Act, then that restraint on gerrymandering is gone. That would leave little but state law grounds to stop gerrymanderers from implementing their most creative thoughts." Alabama says that under the Voting Rights Act, states should be required to draw majority-minority districts only in circumstances where a race-blind approach to redistricting would have produced those districts. That means challengers could not use race over other redistricting criteria to prove that the first prong of the Gingles test could be met. "Alabama's proposal would turn the VRA into a race-blind statute that only looks into what this hypothetical race-blind process would produce," said Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a Harvard Law professor who specializes in election law. "And so the consequence would be just substantially less minority representation in America." The approach that Alabama is advocating "seems to be reverse-engineered to try to make it harder for plaintiffs to win these cases," said Rick Hasen, an election law professor at University of California-Irvine. Should the Voting Rights Act apply in redistricting? While Alabama is making complicated arguments to the Supreme Court about the technical approach to complying with the Voting Rights Act, Texas is shooting at the moon with its claims about the act's reach. The Lone Star State signaled in briefs filed in the Justice Department's redistricting case that Texas will argue to the Supreme Court that Section 2 of the act should not apply in redistricting. Texas already has Justice Clarence Thomas on its side with its claim, as he wrote in a 2017 concurrence and in other cases that he holds that view. That case was heard before former President Donald Trump's three appointees joined the court, so it is unclear whether any of them would join Thomas. Even if they did, that would still leave Texas one justice short of the five votes it would need for a ruling in favor such an argument. Part of what makes Texas' argument such a stretch is that it ignores the legislative history of the law, legal experts said. When Congress has renewed the Voting Rights Act in the past, its adjustments to Section 2 have been aimed at how courts should apply it in redistricting. "If Justice Thomas was right that Section 2 was never intended to apply to redistricting, Congress certainly seemed to think otherwise every time it renewed the act and tweaked the redistricting standards," Hasen said. Can private parties bring Voting Right Act claims? A similarly radical argument being made by Texas is that the law does not confer a so-called private cause of action. Texas made the claim in response to the redistricting lawsuit it faces from private civil rights groups challenging its maps. Alabama made the claim as well in earlier stages of its case, but it has abandoned the argument in its appeal to the Supreme Court. If that argument, which was also floated by Georgia in Voting Rights Act redistricting challenges brought there, were endorsed, it would mean that private individuals -- who currently bring the bulk of Section 2 case -- would no longer be able to file such challenges, leaving the law's enforcement to civil suits brought by the Justice Department. Texas and Alabama pointed to a line from Justice Neil Gorsuch's concurrence in the Supreme Court's most recent Voting Rights Act case, where he, joined by Thomas, said it was an "open question" whether such a private cause of action exists. Legal experts are deeply skeptical that the argument could gain traction with other justices, given that courts -- up to the Supreme Court -- have routinely heard privately brought Section 2 cases, including the case that produced the Gingles test."The idea that none of these lawsuits could ever have been brought because private plaintiffs can sue runs against, like literally, the entire history of Section 2," Stephanopoulos said. How should multi-ethnic coalitions configure into Voting Rights Act compliance? Unlike some of the other arguments put forward by GOP states, their claims about how multi-ethnic coalitions should be viewed under the Voting Rights Act would not require the Supreme Court to drastically shift its jurisprudence. States like Texas are arguing that their opponents' legal challenges should fail because the challengers are asking for minority-majority districts that would combine racial or ethnic minorities to reach a majority. Many lower courts have OK'd Voting Rights Act districts drawn with multi-ethnic coalitions, but some courts haven't. The Supreme Court hasn't yet confronted the question directly and if the justices rejected the use of multi-ethnic coalitions, the "Supreme Court wouldn't have to adopt total outlier position," Stephanopoulos said.In the Texas case, the state is claiming that the Voting Rights Act does not require Texas to create a minority-majority district by combining Black and Hispanic voters, as the challengers are seeking to do in the state.The impact of such a ruling would be less extreme than one that embraced GOP states' more sweeping arguments. Coalition districts are already tough to assemble under the Voting Rights Act because, under the Gingles test, those different ethnic groups must exhibit shared political preferences. "It's not like the court saying, 'You can't have the rainbow coalition,' would affect a lot of districts and would overturn existing understandings," Hasen said. "I think there's just an uncertainty about that."

Ethan Cohen, CNN

2022-02-05 00:04:55

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/04/politics/north-carolina-redistricting-struck-down/index.html

North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down redistricting maps - CNNPolitics

The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday blocked the state's new Republican-drawn congressional and legislative maps, ruling 4-3 that they violate the state constitution.

politics, North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down redistricting maps - CNNPolitics

North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down redistricting maps

(CNN)The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday blocked the state's new Republican-drawn congressional and legislative maps, ruling 4-3 that they violate the state constitution. "We conclude that the congressional and legislative maps enacted ... are unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt under the free elections clause, the equal protection clause, the free speech clause, and the freedom of assembly clause of the North Carolina Constitution," the court wrote in an order."To comply with the limitations contained in the North Carolina Constitution which are applicable to redistricting plans, the General Assembly must not diminish or dilute any individual's vote on the basis of partisan affiliation," the order continued."When, on the basis of partisanship, the General Assembly enacts a districting plan that diminishes or dilutes a voter's opportunity to aggregate with likeminded voters to elect a governing majority-that is, when a districting plan systematically makes it harder for one group of voters to elect a governing majority than another group of voters of equal size-the General Assembly unconstitutionally infringes upon that voter's fundamental right to vote."Arizona Republican House speaker effectively dooms GOP bill to allow state legislature to reject election resultsNorth Carolina's new congressional map was passed by its GOP-controlled legislature in November and would likely have helped Republicans gain at least two seats in the state's delegation.Read MoreThe court gave the legislature two weeks to draw new maps and submit them to a lower court, which will select a remedial plan.While the court's four Democrats supported the ruling, the three Republican justices dissented, writing that it "violates separation of powers by effectively placing responsibility for redistricting with the judicial branch, not the legislative branch as expressly provided in our constitution.""By choosing to hold that partisan gerrymandering violates the North Carolina Constitution and by devising its own remedies, there appears to be no limit to this Court's power," Chief Justice Paul Newby wrote for the dissenters.The decision is the latest in a string of positive redistricting developments for Democrats. Courts recently struck down GOP-drawn maps in Ohio and Alabama (the Alabama decision is now before the US Supreme Court), while the Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania Supreme Court just took over the state's process and New York state enacted a map that could net the party several seats in November.Democrats and voting rights advocates hailed the decision."A healthy democracy requires free elections and the NC Supreme Court is right to order a redraw of unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. "More work remains and any legislative redraw must reflect the full intent of this decision."Allison Riggs, co-executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and one of the lawyers challenging the maps, said in a statement that the ruling was "an unequivocal win for North Carolina's Black voters who were most harmed by this extreme partisan gerrymander."Republican state Sen. Ralph Hise, co-chair of North Carolina's Senate Redistricting Committee, reacted to the decision by criticizing the court itself."Democratic judges, lawyers, and activists have worked in concert to transform the Supreme Court into a policymaking body to impose their political ideas," he said in a statement."This perverse precedent, once set, will be nearly impossible to unwind, as monied interests line up to buy their own justices to set law favorable to them. I'm certain Democrats will come to regret it," Hise added later.This story has been updated with additional details Friday.

Ethan Cohen and Gregory Krieg, CNN

2022-02-04 01:58:26

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/politics/new-york-congressional-redistricting-democratic-seats/index.html

New York completes congressional redistricting, likely netting Democrats several seats - CNNPolitics

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the state's new congressional map into law Thursday, a source familiar with the matter said, enacting a map that will likely net Democrats several seats in the US House of Representatives in this fall's midterm elections.

politics, New York completes congressional redistricting, likely netting Democrats several seats - CNNPolitics

New York completes congressional redistricting, likely netting Democrats several seats

(CNN)New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the state's new congressional map into law Thursday, a source familiar with the matter said, enacting a map that will likely net Democrats several seats in the US House of Representatives in this fall's midterm elections.The Empire State's current delegation includes 19 Democrats and eight Republicans. Because of reapportionment, the state is dropping to 26 seats. Under the new map, as many as 22 of them could favor Democrats. The map was immediately challenged by a group of Republican-aligned voters, who claim in a new lawsuit that the state didn't follow the correct procedure in enacting the map and that it's a partisan gerrymander that violates the state's constitution. How Democrats may actually pull off a *major* redistricting upsetThe legislature took over the redistricting process after the state's bipartisan commission failed to agree on maps.New York is the 30th state to complete congressional redistricting. Fourteen states still need to compete the process, including Alabama and Ohio, where maps were overturned by courts. Six states will have only one congressional district.CNN's Shawna Mizelle contributed to this report.

Maeve Reston, CNN

2021-12-22 00:15:10

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/21/politics/california-congressional-redistricting-maps/index.html

California's new congressional maps produce a scrambled playing field - CNNPolitics

California will stand as a notable exception across the country because its maps are expected to yield at least seven competitive seats -- as well as a wild scramble for incumbents as they try to figure out what districts to run in.

politics, California's new congressional maps produce a scrambled playing field - CNNPolitics

California's new congressional maps produce a scrambled playing field for 2022

(CNN)The heavily partisan process of redrawing congressional districts ahead of the 2022 elections has resulted in a drop in competitive seats nationwide as the parties in power draw lines to protect their incumbents. But California will stand as a notable exception as the final maps drawn by an independent commission are expected to yield at least seven -- and as many as 10 -- competitive seats as well as a wild scramble for current House members to figure out what districts they will run in.CNN spoke to more than a dozen political strategists, redistricting experts and campaign aides from both parties as California's congressional maps were being revised and refined over the past few weeks to gather their perspectives on how the state's most competitive races are shaping up.The Golden State's redistricting commission approved final maps late Monday night, drawing a total of 52 districts -- one fewer than in the past because of slower population growth. Overall the map still favors Democrats, who hold 42 of the state's current congressional seats, compared to 11 held by Republicans. Independent redistricting panels aim to draw fairer maps but still invite controversyBut Republicans are bullish about their prospects for pickups in 2022 because of the difficult political climate Democrats are facing. In 2020, Republicans flipped four of the state's congressional districts, including the special election win of GOP Rep. Mike Garcia in the 25th District, which covers portions of northern Los Angeles County and is anchored by Santa Clarita. Republican strategist and redistricting expert Matt Rexroad said his assumption is that "2022 is going to be a very good year for Republicans overall," but he noted the GOP may have a more uphill struggle with the new maps in the cycles that follow. "There's several seats in here that I think are seats that Republicans might even be favored in in 2022, but I don't know how that would look in, like 2028, as they continue to change," he said. Read MoreCalifornia's independent commission largely ignored existing congressional lines and the home addresses of the state's politicians, which more partisan processes have been criticized for taking into account, as they created the new maps. After Monday night's initial vote, the commission plans to leave the maps untouched for several days for public review, before giving final approval to the new districts as soon as December 26 and turning the maps over to the secretary of state.But California's battlefield for the 2022 elections is still taking shape, with a complex game of musical chairs expected over the next few weeks. Recent iterations of the maps placed as many as three incumbents in the same district and some of them may leapfrog into different districts if it improves their odds of winning. Members of Congress are not required to reside in the districts where they run, although running outside of their home districts sometimes opens candidates up to attacks on the campaign trail. Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who is running for Los Angeles mayor, is one of nearly two dozen House Democrats not running for reelection next year. Members of California's delegation account for four of the 23 retirements in the House Democratic Caucus so far, opening up some opportunities for newcomers. Rep. Karen Bass is leaving Congress to run for Los Angeles mayor. Other members heading for the exits include Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard, who represents portions of south and east Los Angeles; Alan Lowenthal who represents Long Beach; and Jackie Speier, who represents southern San Francisco and San Mateo County. Sam Oh, a Republican strategist who is the general consultant for Orange County GOP Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel -- two members who won some of the toughest 2020 congressional races in California, predicted that there would be "a lot of campaign calls over the holidays to discuss every possible option" on both the Republican or Democratic sides. "Each campaign will do their due diligence to ensure that whatever seat they run for gives them the best long-term viability," Oh said. "They'll be polling, looking at demographic trends and having very interesting team discussions in the next couple of weeks here as people start announcing for seats."A competitive field in Orange CountyCalifornia's redistricting commissioners made major changes to the highly competitive areas of Orange County that will affect the fortunes of Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, as well as Steel, Kim and the Democratic contenders who had been lining up to challenge them.Commissioners essentially drew Porter, Steel and former Rep. Harley Rouda -- the Democrat vying for a rematch with Steel -- into the same seat, creating a long coastal district that encompasses Seal Beach and Huntington Beach to the north, continuing south through Costa Mesa and Newport Beach to an area south of Laguna Beach, while folding in much of the Democratic-leaning city of Irvine, where Porter lives.Porter intends to run in that new 47th District and Democratic strategists view it as a solid opportunity for her given her popularity and huge war chest, and the fact that President Joe Biden won by double digits in that area. But in an unusually pointed statement Wednesday, Rouda said that the new coastal district includes 70% of the area that he represented while serving in Congress between 2018 and 2020 (before he was defeated by Steel). He added that he "learned via Twitter that Representative Porter has left the district that includes 70% of her constituents, and is now running in my coastal district."Rouda said he believes he is the "most electable Democrat" in that new district but said that he would spend the holidays with his family and "evaluate all the options laid before us." Porter campaign spokesperson Jordan Wong said she would be running in that district because it "includes her home city of Irvine, where she lives, and where her three children attend public school." But Wong hinted at challenges ahead, noting that "roughly two-thirds of voters in the 47th District have not previously been represented by Congresswoman Porter" and said "she looks forward to introducing herself to these voters and running a positive and spirited campaign, as she did to win close races in 2018 and 2020."Rexroad cautioned that no one should count out Republicans in that new district, noting that his analysis shows former Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox won just under 49% of the vote in that area in 2018 and that GOP candidates often overperformed former President Donald Trump in Orange County. Democratic Rep. Katie Porter intends to run in the new 47th District. Though Steel, a first-generation American who immigrated from South Korea as a young adult, lives in that coastal district, she announced Wednesday that she would run in a new Orange County district just to the north that looks more favorable to Republicans. That newly created 45th District encompasses much of Little Saigon, an area with a high concentration of Vietnamese voters where Steel campaigned heavily and did well in 2020.Several GOP strategists noted that Steel has built strong relationships with the diverse Asian communities in areas like Westminster and Garden Grove that are part of that new district and she has deep roots beyond her current district, because of her service on the California State Board of Equalization and as a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Nearly 37% of the eligible voters in that district are Asian -- which is on the higher side for southern California -- creating a diverse battlefield for both parties."Californians today are facing so many challenges -- from high taxes to concerns over affordability, crime, and the quality of education our children receive," Steel said in a statement Wednesday. "Although the district lines have changed, my mission has not. I have spent my entire career as a public servant fighting to protect California taxpayers, to lower crime rates, and to hold government accountable when it fails the people, and I will continue to do that work."Democrat Jay Chen, a small business owner and lieutenant commander in the US Naval Reserves who is one of the party's top recruits, had announced that he would challenge Kim. But he plans to run in the new 45th District, creating a highly competitive matchup with Steel.Kim's current 39th District -- which had encompassed pieces of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties -- was also sliced and diced under the new lines. She announced Wednesday that she will run in a new, geographically larger inland Orange County district to the south and east, which looks as though it will be far more favorable to Republicans. That new 40th District includes communities that Kim currently represents like Yorba Linda and Chino Hills as well as a large swath of territory in Porter's current district, including parts of Orange and Tustin, continuing farther south through Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo and Rancho Margarita."From day one, I have been committed to serving Southern California and that commitment does not change with updated district lines. The out-of-touch policies we see from Nancy Pelosi and Washington politicians are hurting our communities and I'll continue to fight to combat inflation, lower taxes on Californians, and bolster our national security," Kim said in a statement. A boost to Latino power in the Central Valley Three of the most competitive seats in the Central Valley have been those held by Democratic Rep. Josh Harder and Republican Reps. David Valadao and Devin Nunes, who announced earlier this month that he is leaving Congress to head up Trump's social media venture. Under the new lines, territory that had been held by both Nunes and Democratic Rep. Jim Costa ended up in the new 21st District, which is more Democratic than Nunes' current seat. Costa announced Tuesday that he will run in that new seat.The commission made some dramatic changes to Harder's seat, essentially splitting it in two with a dividing line in and around the population center of Modesto, where Harder went to high school. But later in the process, the commission spent much of its time trying to boost the percentages of eligible Latino voters in three of the Central Valley districts to increase Latino influence in future elections in keeping with the Voting Rights Act. Democratic Rep. Josh Harder represents one of the most compeitive seats in the Central Valley under the existing map.During that process, Harder's fortunes improved as greater portions of Modesto were added back in to his district, which is the new 13th District. The competitive seat now runs farther south through the Central Valley, sweeping up large portions of Costa's district, which is making it unclear how they will sort out their home turf. Rexroad noted that there may also be an opportunity for the GOP in a newly created 9th District just to the north, which encompasses Stockton and San Joaquin county. Rob Pyers, research director with the California Target Book, a comprehensive guide to the state's political data, noted that the commission essentially moved many Republican voters in the Central Valley into the current district of House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy as they were boosting the influence of Latino voters in other districts, creating more difficult contests for some of McCarthy's neighboring Republicans in 2022.The consolidation of GOP areas made Valadao's district more competitive by a couple of points, Pyers said, by dismembering his Kings County home territory -- where his family farms alfalfa, almonds corn and wheat -- while splitting up the Republican vote in a number of towns and cities."The seats objectively get worse for Republicans in the Central Valley versus 2020, but the national environment" -- which favors the GOP -- "could counteract that," Pyers said.Valadao, who lost his perennial swing seat to Democrat TJ Cox in 2018 and then won it back last year -- will face a tougher race in 2022, both because of the way the commission has drawn the new lines and because he is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Rudy Salas, a California assemblyman and former member of the Bakersfield City Council, as well as from several others.Redistricting commissioners shifted Valadao's district farther south from an area near Hanford -- where he was born and raised -- so that his new district encompasses less of the areas around Fresno and more of the bluer areas around Bakersfield. Allies of Salas hope that shift will give the Democratic challenger an edge since he is best known in the Bakersfield area.GOP Rep. David Valadao won his seat back in 2020 after being defeated in 2018. But Robert Jones, a Republican strategist who advises Valadao, said the congressman is not daunted by the challenge even if the district ends up looking more Democratic. He noted that Valadao won in 2020 in a district Biden won by about 10 points and has historically done better with Latino voters than other GOP candidates. "The Hispanic communities are going to be put together in districts that are going to be really competitive (with voters) really evaluating candidates outside of party labels," Jones said. "We win a good share of votes, and have cross-over votes, all over the district. There's no part of the district that we don't compete in, and if it goes a little bit in one direction or another from the current lines, I think we're going to be competitive."Swing seats in northern Los Angeles and San Diego countiesThe redistricting commission also made some major changes to the Republican seat held by Garcia, a Santa Clarita native and former Navy fighter pilot. Garcia managed to flip California's current 25th District -- which Republicans had lost in 2018 -- back to the GOP in a 2020 special election after Democrat Katie Hill resigned from Congress amid controversy. Trump endorsed Garcia in that race. In 2022, Garcia is facing a rematch with Democrat Christy Smith, as well as a challenge from Democratic newcomer Quaye Quartey, a former Navy intelligence officer, among others. Smith, a former member of the state assembly, only lost to Garcia by 333 votes in the 2020 general election, underscoring the competitiveness of the area.Garcia faces some challenges under the new lines in what will now be the 27th District. The commission has removed conservative portions of the Simi Valley from his district and added bluer areas of the San Fernando Valley. Despite Garcia's conservative voting record, however, he has not shied away from running in areas that have typically been challenging for Republicans and political observers on both sides believe the seat will remain competitive.GOP Rep. Mike Garcia participates in a ceremonial swearing-in on Capitol Hill in 2020 after flipping a blue seat red in a special election.The most competitive seat in San Diego county will be the coastal district of Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, who also represents part of the southern Orange County coast. Though there were some territory swaps, the redistricting commission appears to have essentially maintained the status quo in San Diego County, preserving two Democratic seats in the city of San Diego and along the San Diego coast that are held by Democratic Reps. Sara Jacobs and Scott Peters, although their residences were drawn into the same district).Republican Rep. Darrell Issa's seat covering parts of East County, San Diego had looked more competitive at various points during the process, but now looks fairly safe for the GOP. A win for voters who sought competition Paul Mitchell, a redistricting expert with the Sacramento-based firm Redistricting Partners, said for all the complaints that have emerged with California's tedious process -- and the line-drawing that unfolded over hundreds over hours on videoconference -- the state's voters will at least have confidence that partisanship did not play a central role.When they passed two ballot measures to create the independent commission in 2008 and 2010, voters "didn't want politicians drawing districts to advantage political parties and incumbents, and they've completely won in that regard," Mitchell said. "None of this reflects where politicians want these lines to be drawn. None of this reflects where the political parties want these lines to be drawn.""People might not like where their city is drawn with another city, or they might not like the political implications of the lines," he added. "But they can't say that they don't know why a line was drawn where it was, because it's all done on video."This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.

Dianne Gallagher, CNN

2022-03-18 16:35:51

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/18/politics/mark-meadows-trump-aide-voter-north-carolina/index.html

Mark Meadows' voter registration under investigation by state officials in North Carolina - CNNPolitics

State investigators in North Carolina are looking into the voter registration of Mark Meadows, the former Republican congressman and White House chief of staff who pushed baseless claims of voter fraud to try to overturn the 2020 election results.

politics, Mark Meadows' voter registration under investigation by state officials in North Carolina - CNNPolitics

Mark Meadows' voter registration under investigation by state officials in North Carolina

(CNN)State investigators in North Carolina are looking into the voter registration of Mark Meadows, the former Republican congressman and White House chief of staff who pushed baseless claims of voter fraud to try to overturn the 2020 election results. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation confirmed to CNN Thursday that its Special Investigations Unit is investigating allegations that Meadows registered to vote in 2020 at a home where he never resided. The investigation is being carried out in conjunction with the North Carolina State Board of Elections. A long list of investigations and lawsuits involving Donald TrumpThe state attorney general's office agreed to ask the SBI to investigate Meadows' voter registration after a local district attorney referred the matter to the North Carolina Department of Justice's Special Prosecutions Section, Nazneen Ahmed, spokesperson for Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, said in an email to CNN. "We have asked the SBI to investigate and at the conclusion of the investigation, we'll review their findings," Ahmed said.The investigation comes after The New Yorker magazine reported that Meadows registered to vote weeks before the 2020 election at a mobile home in Macon County, where he allegedly never lived or even visited.Read MoreThe article quoted the unnamed former owner of the McConnell Road property in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina, as saying that Meadows' wife "reserved the house for two months at some point within the past few years -- she couldn't remember exactly when -- but only spent one or two nights there" and that Meadows himself had never even "spent a night in there."North Carolina voter records show Meadows registered at the Scaly Mountain address on September 22, 2020. He voted absentee by mail in the 2020 general election. That registration is still active.Records show Meadows voted early in person in Transylvania County in the 2020 March primary, as well as in the 2018 primary and general elections. Before that, he was registered and voted in Jackson County.The North Carolina voter registration form instructs a person to provide their residential address -- "where you physically live" -- and to check a box indicating whether they have lived at the address for 30 or more days. If not, a person must list the date they moved to that residence.A spokesman for Meadows declined to comment to CNN.Macon County District Attorney Ashley Welch, a Republican, sent a letter Monday asking the attorney general's office to "handle both the advisement of law enforcement agencies as to any criminal investigation as well as any potential prosecution of Mark Meadows."Welch said she was "unaware of any allegation of voter fraud surrounding Mark Meadows" until she was contacted by several news media outlets last week. Republican leaders face threat of revived Freedom Caucus in GOP-led HouseIn the letter, Welch said she was recusing herself because Meadows made a 2014 contribution to her campaign and had appeared in advertisements endorsing her candidacy for district attorney. "The allegations in this case involve potential crimes committed by a government official. Historically I have requested the attorney general's office to handle prosecutions involving alleged misconduct of government officials. It is in the best interest of justice and the best interest of the people of North Carolina that the attorney general's office handles the prosecution of this case," Welch wrote.Welch's office had no further comment beyond releasing the letter. CNN's Gabby Orr contributed to this story.

Eric Bradner, CNN

2022-03-17 11:00:36

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/politics/michigan-republican-voting-restrictions-petition-whitmer-veto/index.html

GOP push for new voting restrictions in Michigan ramps up ahead of June 1 deadline - CNNPolitics

Michigan Republicans' effort to get around Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's vetoes and implement new voting restrictions via a petition drive is set to ramp up this weekend, with a new push to gather signatures in time to meet a late-spring deadline and make the changes ahead of November's midterm election.

politics, GOP push for new voting restrictions in Michigan ramps up ahead of June 1 deadline - CNNPolitics

GOP push for new voting restrictions in Michigan ramps up ahead of June 1 deadline

(CNN)Michigan Republicans' effort to get around Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's vetoes and implement new voting restrictions via a petition drive is set to ramp up this weekend, with a new push to gather signatures in time to meet a late-spring deadline and make the changes ahead of November's midterm election.As warmer weather arrives in the Upper Midwest, "Secure MI Vote," the group behind the petition drive, is starting to dispatch hundreds of signature-gatherers across the state to festivals, parades, farmer's markets and outdoor sporting events. A roadmap to the 2022 midterm electionsIt's the beginning of a sprint to a June 1 deadline. And "Secure MI Vote" is the highest-profile petition out of several being circulated head of summer deadlines -- including one backed by progressive groups and dubbed "Promote the Vote" that effectively seeks to undo the Republican effort.The petition drive is the latest in a years-long effort by Michigan Republicans, seizing on former President Donald Trump's lies about widespread election fraud being responsible for his 2020 election loss, to halt what had been a Democratic-led march toward more expansive mail-in voting, early voting and more there. "This is an easy sell," said Fred Wszolek, a veteran Republican operative who is working on the petition drive. "There are some folks out there circulating really complicated proposals that need explanation. If you tell folks that this is a proposal to require photo ID to vote, it's super simple."Read MoreRepublicans in Michigan have been eager since early last year to implement new voter identification requirements and restrictions on mail-in ballots -- steps that other GOP-led states, including Florida, Georgia and Texas, have taken. However, in Michigan -- a state more favorable to Democrats in recent elections -- they face two obstacles: Whitmer, the Democratic governor who vetoed a raft of GOP voting bills in 2021, and a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018 that guarantees everyone in the state the right to vote by mail. Those hurdles have led Republicans to pursue an unusual quirk in Michigan law: If a petition for changes to the law is signed by 340,047 people, all that's required to implement those changes is the state legislature's approval -- effectively sidelining Whitmer and her veto pen. The elections police are comingRepublican Party officials and right-leaning organizations across the state have broadly coalesced behind the "Secure MI Vote" petition. It would require voters to present their IDs to vote in person and to request absentee ballots, and remove an exemption that allows those without IDs to submit affidavits. It would also require partial Social Security numbers for voter registration, prohibit clerks from taking money from groups such as grants funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and prohibit the Michigan secretary of state or local elections clerks from "sending or providing access to" mail-in ballots unless they are specifically requested by voters. The petition comes after Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, mailed absentee ballot request forms to all Michigan voters in 2020 -- a decision she said was fueled by the coronavirus pandemic. Wszolek would not disclose how many signatures the group has gathered to date, but said that due to the number of different petition drives taking place at the same time in Michigan this spring and summer and the possibility of confusion among residents who might be asked to sign the same petition twice, organizers are aiming higher than the minimum number of signatures.GOP pushes past Whitmer vetoesMajority Republicans in the Michigan House and Senate last year passed a series of bills that would have implemented new restrictions that largely mirror what other GOP-led states have done, but those bills were vetoed by Whitmer. Before the first-term Democratic governor who is up for reelection in November had even rejected the bills, though, Republicans were eyeing the petition process as a way to circumvent her veto. Democrats say the changes Republicans want to make would impose unnecessary burdens in an effort to appease Trump and the former President's supporters. How Democrats are winning congressional redistricting fights"Their plan is to take away people's access to voting, in particular the rights of women and people of color," said Lavora Barnes, the chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party. "Their obsession with the former president is clouding their judgment when it comes to ensuring that our elections in Michigan remain fair and transparent."Still, among Republicans, the desire to impose new voting restrictions remains strong. The Michigan House last week again passed bills that Whitmer had already vetoed in 2021. It was a show of force, underscoring the reality that the GOP has the votes to green-light the changes to state law contained in the "Secure MI Vote" petition if organizers collect the necessary signatures. "Michigan elections are vulnerable," Republican state Rep. Andrew Beeler said during the House's floor debate, the Detroit Free Press reported. "Now we're all here to vote yes on good policy. What we're not here to do is to vote on supposed motivations of bill sponsors. Yet whenever an election bill is brought before this House, it's been decried as racist or voter suppressionist."Earlier this month, two Republicans who had embraced Trump's lies about the 2020 election won surprising victories in the primaries in special elections for state House seats. Robert "RJ" Regan, an entrepreneur who has backed Trump's lies and made troubling comparisons that led to his daughters urging people not to vote for him, won one primary. Terence Mekoski, a retired law enforcement officer who has said that auditing the 2020 election should be a top priority, won another. "It's always been my message from Day One to give the government back to 'We The People,'" Mekoski told Bridge Michigan. "A forensic audit is nothing more than a full criminal investigation." Democrats, meanwhile, are countering the "Secure MI Vote" petition drive with one of their own: "Promote the Vote." Because Democrats don't have the votes in the state legislature to enact a new law using the same process as Republicans, they are instead using a different petition process -- attempting to gather 425,059 signatures ahead of a July 11 deadline in order to place a referendum on the ballot that would amend Michigan's constitution. That amendment would guarantee a series of voting rights, including allowing voters to join a permanent absentee voting list and mandating nine consecutive days of early voting. It would effectively undo the GOP "Secure MI Vote" measure. Other petitions being circulated by progressive groups include two from "MI Right to Vote," an Ypsilanti-based group that is seeking constitutional amendments to effectively bar new restrictions on voting and halt the use of petitions to change voting laws.

Fredreka Schouten and Kelly Mena, CNN

2022-03-15 16:00:46

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/election-police-forces-ctzn/index.html

The elections police are coming - CNNPolitics

A version of this story appeared in the CITIZEN BY CNN newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

politics, The elections police are coming - CNNPolitics

The elections police are coming

(CNN)A version of this story appeared in the CITIZEN BY CNN newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.A measure moving through the Republican-controlled Georgia legislature would hand new election policing powers to the state's bureau of investigations.The bill under consideration in the Georgia House would give the Georgia Bureau of Investigations the power to probe election fraud allegations -- supplementing the work currently overseen by state election officials.If the proposal becomes law, the Peach State would become the second state in recent weeks to beef up enforcement of election fraud -- a crime that federal and state officials say is exceedingly rare.Last week, the Florida legislature created a scaled-back version of a new election police force that had been sought by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is on the ballot for reelection this year and has presidential ambitions for 2024.Read MoreThe measure, headed to DeSantis' desk for his signature, would establish an Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State with a staff of 15 to conduct preliminary investigations of election fraud. In addition, the measure calls for DeSantis to appoint up to 10 law enforcement officers to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to probe election crimes.The Florida measure also makes it a felony to return more than two mail-in ballots on behalf of other voters.The stepped-up fraud-detection efforts in these states are part of a wave of bills moving through Republican-controlled state legislatures aimed at rewriting election procedures, following President Joe Biden's 2020 victory. Former President Donald Trump and his allies have falsely attributed his loss in Georgia and other key states to election fraud.In Georgia, which has a Republican governor and secretary of state, Biden's narrow 2020 victory was certified after three counts of ballots. And judges have tossed out several lawsuits claiming fraud.Voting rights advocates say the enhanced policing is unnecessary and could chill participation in elections, if voters, election workers or third-party groups fear prosecution for honest mistakes.An Associated Press review last year of every potential fraud case in six key battleground states found fewer than 475 cases -- too few disputed ballots to have made any difference in the outcome of the 2020 election.But proponents of the bills say any fraud is too much -- and are committing millions of taxpayer dollars to root it out. (Florida state Rep. Daniel Perez, a Republican who guided the election police force bill through the Florida House, said both components of the law-enforcement package had a $3.7 million price tag.)In Florida, DeSantis is expected to sign the bill. His aides say having a team dedicated to investigating election fraud allegations will serve as a deterrent to wrongdoing.The obscure legal theory that could upend US electionsWarning: We're about to wade into some wonky legal territory here. But it's sort of important to the future of US elections.Last week, Democrats scored a big win when the Supreme Court rejected Republican-led challenges of congressional district maps in two key states, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.(As we noted in last week's newsletter, Democrats are faring better than expected in the once-in-a-decade redraw of congressional maps.)But the court's action also set off alarm bells for those on the left because four of the court's conservative justices expressed openness to an untested theory advanced by North Carolina's GOP leaders: that the US Constitution leaves decisions about elections -- including redistricting -- to state legislatures, with no role for state courts to interpret state laws.Some conservatives argue that this so-called "independent state legislature doctrine" gives state lawmakers unbridled power to decide election procedures -- unchecked by their own state constitutions or state courts.The idea has gained currency among Trump allies. Some argue the theory bars any deviation from long-established state practices without the explicit approval of state lawmakers. That included decisions by courts and election administrators to ease mail-in voting rules during the 2020 pandemic.Keep in mind that the former President's allies also sought to have some legislatures ignore Biden's popular-vote victories their states in 2020 and install pro-Trump slates of electors instead.Taken to its extreme, the doctrine could even prohibit state governors from vetoing election bills, Ian Millhiser wrote recently for Vox. In the last year, Democratic governors in key battleground states, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, have vetoed voting restrictions approved by Republican-controlled legislatures.As Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a 2020 dissent: "The Constitution provides that state legislatures — not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules."Critics of the theory, such as University of California law professor Rick Hasen, say it could block a state court from protecting voters' rights enshrined in a state constitution.It "could upend any rules that state courts — relying on state constitutions — put in place that affect federal elections, such as striking down voter ID laws under state constitutions," Hasen recently told CNN Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue.Of course, should another case testing the doctrine land at the high court, five justices would need to agree before the court dramatically changed how US elections are run.But, right now, at least four of them appear ready to listen.20%That's the percentage of local election officials who say they are likely to leave their jobs before the 2024 presidential election, according to a new survey.You need to readA new survey, referenced above, from the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, which offers a snapshot of the real-world consequences of the year of harassment and threats endured by election officials.Kelly's story on the thousands of Texans who tried to vote by mail and ended up disenfranchised amid the confusion over the state's new voting law.CNN's Jeremy Harlan on the indictment last week of a county elections clerk in Colorado in a security breach investigation. The clerk, Republican Tina Peters, also recently declared a bid for Colorado secretary of state.

Fredreka Schouten and Kelly Mena, CNN

2022-03-15 20:17:59

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/georgia-house-election-fraud-bill/index.html

Georgia House passes sweeping bill with new election policing powers - CNNPolitics

A measure moving swiftly through the Republican-controlled Georgia legislature would hand new election policing powers to the state's bureau of investigations and restrict nonprofit funding of elections.

politics, Georgia House passes sweeping bill with new election policing powers - CNNPolitics

Georgia House passes sweeping bill with new election policing powers

(CNN)The Republican-controlled Georgia state House on Tuesday night passed a sweeping elections bill that would hand new election policing powers to the state's bureau of investigations and restrict nonprofit funding of elections.The 40-page bill would give the Georgia Bureau of Investigations the power to initiate election fraud allegations, work that is currently overseen by state election officials. The investigations bureau also would have the authority to subpoena election records with signoff from the state attorney general.It also would allow public inspection of original paper ballots and make other changes to election procedures in this key battleground state.The sweeping measure, which now heads to the Georgia Senate, is part of a wave of bills moving through Republican-controlled state legislatures this year that are aimed at rewriting election procedures, following President Joe Biden's 2020 victory. Former President Donald Trump and his allies have falsely attributed his loss in Georgia and other key states to election fraud.Voting rights activists denounced the measures proposed in Georgia as erecting new hurdles to voting in a state that will host marquee races for governor and a US Senate seat this year. As currently written, the changes would take effect in July -- ahead of November's general election.Read MoreKey states making moves to change election laws and voting optionsAnd voting rights groups warned that the involvement of state law-enforcement in policing election fraud could chill participation in elections."It makes people think there's a chance they could be investigated," said Xakota Espinoza of Fair Fight Action, a group established by Stacey Abrams, who is running for the Democratic nomination in the governor's race."What is the need for this? They are pushing this bill to appease conspiracy theorists."During committee debate last week, GOP state Rep. Alan Powell said lawmakers are "trying to get to the point that everything is uniform -- no matter what county it is."Doing so, he said, would "dispel any of the anxiety and the concerns that there's something that's been done wrong."Republicans in the Georgia House moved swiftly in recent days to advance the measure before the state legislature's internal deadline Tuesday for bills to clear at least one chamber. The bill, which passed on a 98-73 vote, was the final piece of legislation considered on the deadline day and passed the House shortly before 11 p.m. ET.Republican legislators in the Georgia House unveiled the sweeping proposal last week -- just as the GOP-controlled legislature in neighboring Florida gave final approval to an elections security office sought by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Milton Kidd, who oversees elections in Douglas County, west of Atlanta, said the more direct involvement by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations could deter poll workers and voters from participating."Poll workers ... have told me that they have moved away from the election space because they feel like these are actions that are going to come against them," Kidd said at a recent hearing on the bill. "It's going to have a chilling effect on voters participating in the process because, in most cases, the election issues that the secretary of state has found have been administrative issues. They're issues that the current mechanism can actually deal with."Florida state legislature leads the charge on a number of GOP prioritiesGeorgia and Florida both are among the states that enacted new voting restrictions last year.Georgia's sweeping 2021 election overhaul established new voter ID requirements to cast ballots by mail, restricted the use of ballot drop boxes and allowed state takeovers of local election boards.During a news conference Tuesday morning, Nichola Hines, president of the League of Women Voters of Atlanta-Fulton County, the proposal would complicate matters for election workers and voters already scrambling to navigate the changes brought by Georgia's 2021 election law and recent redistricting."Adding another round of voting changes at this late date," she said, "is a recipe for disaster and will likely cause confusion and suppress the votes of voters of both parties."The new proposals that Georgia lawmakers are weighing focus more on election administration than on ballot access.One proposal, for instance, establishes elaborate chain-of-custody procedures for handling absentee ballots. Another would prevent nonprofits from providing any funding directly to local election administrators. Instead, those groups first would have to seek approval from the State Elections Board, which would then distribute the grants to prevent funding inequities across the state.Republican officials have taken aim at donations funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan to local election offices during the height of the pandemic in 2020. Conservatives say the grants helped make it easier to vote in Democratic areas -- giving the party an unfair advantage.The grant administrators have denied any partisan bias in distributing the money, which topped $340 million. GOP gubernatorial candidate David Perdue calls for new election police unit in GeorgiaBiden's narrow 2020 victory in Georgia -- the first for a Democrat in the state in nearly three decades -- was certified after three counts of ballots. And judges have tossed out several lawsuits claiming fraud. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating what actions Trump or his allies may taken in their efforts to overturn Biden's victory. The probe began last year following Trump's call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he pushed the Republican to "find" the votes to overturn the election results.This headline and story have been updated to reflect House passage of the bill.CNN's Dan Berman contributed to this story.

Fredreka Schouten, CNN

2022-03-10 00:10:17

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/politics/florida-bill-election-police-force/index.html

Florida House passes bill creating election police force - CNNPolitics

The Republican-controlled Florida House on Wednesday night passed a voting overhaul bill that would create a new security office to investigate election crimes and increase penalties for violating the state's elections laws.

politics, Florida House passes bill creating election police force - CNNPolitics

Florida House passes bill creating election police force

(CNN)The Republican-controlled Florida House on Wednesday night passed a voting overhaul bill that would create a new security office to investigate election crimes and increase penalties for violating the state's elections laws.The legislation would establish a scaled-back version of an elections police force first proposed last year by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. The House vote completes legislative action on the measure, which is now headed to DeSantis for his signature.The bill would establish an Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State with a staff of 15 to conduct preliminary investigations of election fraud. In addition, the measure calls for DeSantis to appoint up to 10 law enforcement officers to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to probe election crimes.The combined effort would have a budget of about $3.7 million, said state Rep. Daniel Perez, the Republican lawmaker guiding the bill through the House. DeSantis, who is up for reelection this year and is weighing a 2024 presidential bid, had initially proposed a 52-member force with a $5.7 million budget.Florida would become one of the first states to have a unit focused on election fraud.Read MoreElection fraud is exceedingly rare, and Democrats and Republicans in the state previously described the 2020 election as smoothly run. DeSantis last year said Florida passed its automatic post-election audits with "flying colors."Perez said the new election crimes investigations unit would serve as an "extra resource" for local election supervisors to ensure "there are absolutely no cases falling through the cracks.""The more resources we have to attack the bad people, the bad actors who are committing fraud, the better for the state of Florida," Perez said during floor debate Tuesday night. "The more the merrier."DeSantis strategizes for his future while Trump obsesses over his election lossThe legislation that passed the Florida House on Wednesday marks the second elections overhaul in two years to tighten voting laws in the state -- as supporters for former President Donald Trump clamor for further reviews of the 2020 election.Trump won the state by a comfortable margin, but he has spread baseless claims that election fraud contributed to his loss in other battleground states.The bill passed Wednesday would make it a felony to collect and submit more than two vote-by-mail ballots on behalf of other voters. It's currently a misdemeanor to do so. It also increases the fine from $1,000 to $50,000 on organizations that violate election registration laws.Critics said it was overreach."We're going to convict people of a felony because they helped three instead of two elderly neighbors?" Democratic state Rep. Joseph Geller said, as he argued against the bill on Wednesday evening.The new elections security force and increased penalties could "deter people from participation in the democratic process," said Daniel Griffith, policy director at Secure Democracy USA, a nonprofit organization that works to boost access to the ballot.Why Ron DeSantis wants to form an election security police forceGriffith said there appear to be few guardrails on the activity of the new elections investigations unit. "We don't know exactly what they are investigating: Are they investigating election officials? Are they investigating voters?"Democrats in the Florida House raised concerns during this week's debate that increased penalties could ensnare voter registration groups for making mistakes, such as misplacing a voter's registration card, and chill their activity in the state.Responded Perez: "If the third-party voter organization doesn't commit fraud, they're never going to have to be concerned about paying fines or fees."Cecile Scoon, the president of the Leagure of Women Voters of Florida, called the new $50,000 fine a "direct threat" to her organization. "When you couple the increased fines with the new election investigators, it doesn't give you a warm or cozy feeling," she told CNN.The bill also mandates that election supervisors conduct maintenance of voter lists more frequently and expands a ban on private funding of election administration to include "the cost of any litigation."

Maegan Vazquez, CNN

2022-03-06 13:09:40

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/06/politics/harris-selma-bloody-sunday/index.html

Bloody Sunday anniversary: Harris walks across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama - CNNPolitics

Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday called on Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation before walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a key moment in the civil rights moment.

politics, Bloody Sunday anniversary: Harris walks across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama - CNNPolitics

Harris calls for voting rights legislation before walking across Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday anniversary

(CNN)Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday called on Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation before walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a key moment in the civil rights moment. "A record number of people cast their ballots in the 2020 elections. It was a triumph of democracy in many ways. But not everyone saw it that way. Some saw it as a threat," Harris said, lamenting the raft of what she called "un-American" laws enacted in GOP-led states across the country that make it more difficult to vote. The vice president said she and President Joe Biden "have put the full power of the executive branch behind our shared effort" while criticizing Republican lawmakers for voting to block passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. "If we all continue to work together, to march together, to fight together, we will secure the freedom to vote," Harris said. Harris advocated for filibuster reform in her remarks after Senate Democrats failed earlier this year to change filibuster rules to get around GOP opposition to advancing voting rights legislation.Read MoreShe called on those gathered at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge "to continue to push the Senate to not allow an arcane rule to deny us the sacred right."Bloody Sunday commemorates when, in 1965, 600 people began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, demanding an end to discrimination in voter registration. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state and local lawmen attacked the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas, driving them back to Selma. Seventeen people were hospitalized and dozens more were injured by police.Harris said Sunday that those who marched across the bridge in 1965 did so not only to ensure the right to vote, but "to ensure all the people of our nation, no matter where they start, have the opportunity to succeed." The vice president also met with civil rights leaders while in Alabama, according to the White House. She was joined by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, and Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Donald Remy. At the top of her remarks, Harris made note of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, calling it "a reminder that freedom and democracy can never be taken for granted, by any of us."The first Black and first South Asian woman to hold the vice presidency, Harris has attended previous anniversary events in Selma. During virtual remarks at a commemoration service last year, she recalled joining the late Rep. John Lewis -- a civil rights icon who helped lead the 1965 march -- during the annual walk across the bridge three years earlier. "I was with him on what would be his final walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. And I will hold that memory forever in my heart," Harris said at the time. Biden signed an executive order aimed at expanding voting access on last year's Bloody Sunday anniversary.During his State of the Union speech last Tuesday, the President reiterated his call for Congress to pass and send several key pieces of voting rights legislation to his desk to be signed into law, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bill is aimed at fighting voter suppression and updating portions of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law in the summer of 1965, months after Bloody Sunday. However, despite the White House's efforts, Senate Democrats' failure to change the chamber's filibuster rules essentially dashed their hopes of passing any federal legislative interventions on voting rights before the 2022 midterm elections.This story has been updated on Sunday with remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris. CNN's Donald Judd contributed to this report.

Kaanita Iyer, CNN

2022-02-16 23:07:22

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/16/politics/alabama-redistricting-black-voters/index.html

GOP redistricting battles in Alabama and other states raise concerns about voter suppression - CNNPolitics

Legal challenges are expected to continue in this case, and similar lawsuits have been filed in Texas and Georgia, which will bring the issue of voting rights, racial gerrymandering and discriminatory election practices to the forefront ahead of the midterm elections.

politics, GOP redistricting battles in Alabama and other states raise concerns about voter suppression - CNNPolitics

'Devastating implications': GOP redistricting battles in Alabama and other states raise concerns about voter suppression

(CNN)Kenya Goodson, a 46-year-old Black woman from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has voted in every election since she was 19. But last week's Supreme Court decision to allow Alabama's new congressional map -- which voting rights advocates say dilutes the power of Black voters -- to remain in place has left Goodson, who volunteers to register voters, discouraged about casting a ballot herself. "I was really very hurt, you know, and angry really by the decision by our Supreme Court," said Goodson, an adjunct professor at the University of Montevallo. "There are people that are making decisions, not because it's the law, but they're making decisions to uphold White supremacy by diluting my vote." "It is discouraging because I don't know what I could do as a citizen to change anything," she added. Kenya Goodson registers voter and assists with the Census count at the Government Plaza in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.Legal challenges are expected to continue in this case, and similar lawsuits have been filed in Texas and Georgia, which will bring the issue of voting rights, racial gerrymandering and discriminatory election practices to the forefront ahead of the midterm elections. Read MoreThe Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments over the Alabama map, which could determine the fate of the landmark Voting Rights Act.Goodson said she is still going to vote, and will encourage others to do so, because "our ancestors ... helped us to get this right," but community organizers worry there could be "devastating implications" that marginalize Black voters and could, in turn, impact turnout and faith in the democratic process. LaTosha Brown, an Alabama native and founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, said this ruling is "really rubber-stamping voter disenfranchisement." "But it's not just about Alabama," Brown added. "It has implications for voter protections around the country." What is redistricting?Felicia Scalzetti, a redistricting organizer for the Alabama Election Protection Network and the Ordinary People Society, told CNN, "The problem with redistricting is that ... it changes who you can vote for." "You can encourage people to turn out all you want," Scalzetti said. "But if the slate of people on the ballot do not actually represent your community because your community is cut six ways to Sunday, there's no amount of turning out that's going to fix that." Redistricting is the process of reallocating congressional seats every 10 years based on population changes reflected in the US Census and then redrawing the boundaries of the congressional districts so each has an equal population. In 35 states, the legislature has control over the redistricting process, which raises concerns about the incumbent party manipulating the process in its favor, also known as partisan gerrymandering. In this election cycle, 20 of the 35 states are controlled by Republicans, compared with 11 favoring Democrats, according to the Pew Research Center. Four states have divided governments. 'They know where Black voters live': Challengers say 'race blind' redistricting maps are anything butSimilarly, redrawing in terms of race is known as racial gerrymandering. Since voters of color tend to favor Democrats, redistricting driven by party interests or fueled by racial motivation -- whether to curb voters of color or amplify their influence -- go hand in hand. Alabama's Republican-drawn map gives Black voters the majority in only one of seven districts despite them making up 27% of the population. Thus, the Alabama lawsuit argued that it had been drawn based on race, and used the "cracking" and "packing" tactics to specifically dilute the power of Black voters. The map lumped areas with high concentrations of Black people together in one district where they could be the majority -- known as packing -- and split up other Black voters in the state so they remain a minority in all other districts -- known as cracking. It will remain in place for the state's primaries in May. "The thinking that we could just disenfranchise people at the state level is still here and it still operates a large part of the state's attitude toward our voting structure," Dev Wakeley, policy analyst at Alabama Arise, a nonprofit public policy advocacy organization, told CNN.Wakeley and others say the map is a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits any practice that denies or curtails the right to vote based on race. The law included a provision that mandated states with a history of discriminatory practices, which included Alabama, to obtain federal approval before changing electoral practices, but it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. In fact, a lower court unanimously ruled that the new congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act, and the three-judge panel -- which included two judges appointed by former President Donald Trump -- ordered the state to draw another district where Blacks made up a majority of voters or close to it. What the Supreme Court's decision on Alabama's maps could mean for the Voting Rights Act"No one had any faith that the state of Alabama was going to have voters' best interests at heart," Wakeley said. "We expected a little more of an attempt at a fig leaf by the Supreme Court." But with a conservative majority and in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court allowed the new map to stay in place while the case plays out, and experts say the highest court's decision "sends a very strong signal." David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who focuses on redistricting, told CNN, "It'll be harder for states to follow what we thought was settled law when it comes to creating minority-majority districts or even influence districts." "It's going to be more of an uphill climb now for anyone to win a voting rights challenge," he added. Similar battles nationwide "The sort of anti-democratic ideas that have infested a lot of Alabama decision makers are much more widespread," Wakeley said. "While we might be the sort of sandbox where these terrible policies come into play," he added, "we're far from alone." Other states have also been accused of intentionally suppressing the vote of communities of color in their redistricting plans. A short history of the long conservative assault on Black voting powerMark Gaber, who litigates redistricting cases for the Campaign Legal Center, told CNN, "It just seems, you know, that wherever the folks in power want to retain their power, they'll, you know, have no sort of shame about violating voting rights of minorities." The Campaign Legal Center is a non-profit legal advocacy organization that has filed lawsuits against multiple states for racial and partisan gerrymandering. Texas faces multiple lawsuits, including one filed by the Biden administration in December, for its congressional map, which the Justice Department says does not reflect the state's growth in minority population. The state was awarded two additional congressional seats due to minority communities, who made up 95% of the state's overall population growth, but the Justice Department said Texas had drawn the map in a way that the two new seats would be decided by majority-White voting populations. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit against Georgia last month on behalf of multiple advocacy groups, saying the state's new congressional map is "its latest assault on the rights of Black voters and other voters of color to participate meaningfully in the democratic process and elect candidates of their choice."The lawsuit alleges that Georgia, similarly to Alabama, packed voters of color into one district and spread out remaining voters of color to ensure they are the voting minority in two other districts. "We're in a very sort of unstable time in this landscape of voting rights law, and also just generally about elections in the country," Gaber said. "And I think the last decade of experience in America proves that now more than ever we need protections for Black and Latino voters."

Kelly Mena and Fredreka Schouten, CNN

2022-02-08 17:33:11

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/politics/redistricting-election-laws-voting/index.html

Key states making moves to change election laws and voting options - CNNPolitics

The Supreme Court's move on a redistricting case this week comes against a backdrop of Republican-controlled states moving to adopt new voting restrictions in key battlegrounds.

politics, Key states making moves to change election laws and voting options - CNNPolitics

Key states making moves to change election laws and voting options

A version of this story appeared in the CITIZEN BY CNN newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. (CNN)The Supreme Court took action this week in one state's redistricting case that could have broad repercussions for the voting rights of African Americans and other minorities across the country.The court on Monday reinstated an Alabama congressional map that a lower court had said diluted the political power of Black voters.But the justices also announced they would revisit a portion of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act in the months ahead -- sparking fears among voting rights activists that the court could erode a key provision of the law ahead of the next presidential election in 2024.The court's move comes against a backdrop of Republican-controlled states moving to adopt new voting restrictions in key battlegrounds.Policing electionsRead MoreRepublicans in states such as Florida and Arizona have launched their new legislative sessions by pressing for changes to election laws.In Florida, for instance, a catchall bill introduced last week includes plans for a new office to investigate election crimes. It's a slimmed-down version of an elections police force sought by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.Keep in mind: There's no evidence that widespread fraud tainted the results of the 2020 election in Florida -- a state former President Donald Trump won handily. But Trump's supporters in the Sunshine State have clamored for GOP officials to investigate his falsehoods about election fraud.Similar ideas for election police units have cropped up from Trump allies in Arizona and Georgia.Other states to watchBills under consideration in Arizona would prohibit the use of unmonitored ballot drop boxes, require additional identification to vote and mandate that the state auditor general carry out "election integrity audits" of county election operations.Arizona, a state that flipped blue in the 2020 presidential election, has been at the red-hot center of battles over voting. The GOP-led Senate last year authorized a widely panned "audit" of the election results in Maricopa County that failed to uncover fraud. This year, the battleground state will host one of the marquee Senate races of the midterms as Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly seeks reelection.But one controversial bill that would have empowered the legislature to reject election results was effectively killed last week after a bit of parliamentary maneuvering by the House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican.In another political battleground, a Pennsylvania state court recently struck down as unconstitutional an election law that allowed no-excuse mail-in voting. Gov. Tom Wolf immediately appealed, and as of this writing, voters can still request mail-in ballots for the May 17 primary.A new look at an old lawA bipartisan group of senators is working behind the scenes on an update of an arcane 19th century law, known as the Electoral Count Act, that governs how Congress counts the Electoral College votes for president.A bit of recent history: On January 6, 2021, then-Vice President Mike Pence resisted calls by Trump and his allies to insert himself into the vote-counting process to toss out Joe Biden's slate of electors.Pence, of course, refused to go along. And last week, the former Vice President issued his strongest rebuke yet of those efforts, saying Trump "is wrong" to claim Pence had the power to overturn the election results.Among other things, lawmakers working on the re-write want to clarify a future Vice President's role before the next presidential election. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican helping to lead the talks, say lawmakers also may add stiffer penalties for threatening or interfering with election workers -- following a raft of death threats and harassment since the 2020 election.You need to readCNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic on why the Supreme Court's move in an Alabama redistricting case could hollow out the country's landmark voting rights law.CNN's Sara Murray and Devan Cole on the Atlanta DA investigating Trump's election interference.Zachary Wolf of CNN's "What Matters" newsletter breaking down the 1887 Electoral Count Act.CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein on why states' rights are having a Republican revival.CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale debunking a false claim that Wisconsin voted to withdraw its electoral votes for President Joe Biden.Dates to watchIt's hard to believe, but the nation's first primary of the congressional midterms is just weeks away. Voters head to the polls in Texas on March 1. Early voting starts February 14.February 18, meanwhile, is the deadline for election clerks to receive applications from voters who want to cast absentee ballots by mail.Only certain categories of voters can vote by mail in Texas. They include people who are 65 and older, those who are sick or disabled and those who will be out of the county and unable to vote in person. The full list of eligible folks and instructions on how to apply can be found here via the Texas Secretary of State's website.

Fredreka Schouten and Kelly Mena, CNN

2022-02-22 17:01:44

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/politics/arizona-election-changes-ctzn/index.html

Arizona is ground zero for election changes - CNNPolitics

A version of this story appeared in the CITIZEN BY CNN newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

politics, Arizona is ground zero for election changes - CNNPolitics

Arizona is ground zero for election changes

(CNN)A version of this story appeared in the CITIZEN BY CNN newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.You've probably never heard of Republican Rep. Rusty Bowers, but the Arizona House speaker has quietly made a name for himself in the state as the stealth killer of his party's most extreme election ideas.First up was a bill that would have ripped up most voting rules in this battleground state and handed the state legislature the power to reject election results it didn't like. In a bit of parliamentary jiu jitsu, Bowers assigned the bill to 12 committees at once, ensuring it would go nowhere. Its sponsor, GOP state Rep. John Fillmore, called it a "12-committee lynching."Arizona Mirror journalist Jeremy Duda offered a colorful take -- describing Bowers' takedown as "killing the bill, chopping it up, setting the pieces on fire, then digging up the ashes and throwing them into the ocean."Read MoreThen came Rep. Mark Finchem's resolution this month on Arizona's 2020 election results. Finchem, a Republican running for secretary of state this year with Trump's endorsement, makes mostly debunked claims of fraud to call for the results to be set aside in three counties. It includes Maricopa, the state's most populous county, targeted last year in a problem-plagued ballot review ordered by Republicans in the state Senate.Bowers' response to the proposal, per The Arizona Republic: "Mr. Finchem's obviously unconstitutional and profoundly unwise proposal will receive all of the consideration it deserves."Bowers, a professional painter and sculptor who represents a district east of Phoenix, has a contrarian history -- at least when it comes to some of his party's most outlandish maneuvers in recent years.He has described Trump and the then-President's lawyer Rudy Giuliani calling him after the 2020 election, asking Bowers to somehow inject the legislature into the certification process before the state sent its slate of 11 presidential electors to Congress.Bowers told CNN's Dianne Gallagher that he voted and campaigned for Trump but rebuffed that. "I said, 'No, I won't,'" Bowers recounted in a CNN interview last year, adding, "'3.5 million people voted here, I'm not gonna unilaterally do that.'"Bowers is term-limited in the Arizona House, and last week announced plans to run for the state Senate.Arizona at ground zeroEven as headline-grabbing election bills falter in Arizona, Republican lawmakers still are weighing a raft of proposals that could alter voting practices in a battleground state that President Joe Biden won by fewer than 11,000 votes.They include bills that would:Allow a third-party to scour the voter registration database for ineligible votersMake it a crime to misplace a ballotRestrict the use of ballot drop boxesMake it a felony for a public official to register someone to vote on the same day as election dayCreate a new election integrity unit to investigate voter fraudA database maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that Arizona accounts for nearly 10% of all the election-related bills in states this year.Alex Gulotta, a voting rights activist who runs the Arizona branch of All Voting is Local, said he credits Bowers with "holding the line" to block some of the most blatantly undemocratic ideas floated in the state.But, he said, "there are actually a lot of bad things" moving through the legislature "that people are being silent about."Dates to watchThe stakes are high in Arizona this year.Voters will fill an open gubernatorial seat, now held by term-limited Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, and decide whether to return one of most vulnerable Senate incumbents, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, to Congress.The filing deadline for candidates in Arizona is April 4. The primary election for legislative and statewide offices is slated for August 2.The deadline to register to vote in that primary is July 5.The state's full calendar, along with information on how to check your voter registration status if you live in Arizona, can be found here at the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.Lone star on the horizonControl of both chambers of Congress and a slew of governorships are on the line in upcoming primaries around the country. Our colleagues Gregory Krieg and Ethan Cohen have the full rundown of key primary dates here.The first statewide primary of the year is just a week away in Texas. The governor's seat, six other statewide offices and an array of congressional and state legislative races are on the ballot.The last day of early, in-person voting in the Lone Star State is Friday, February 25. Election day is March 1.You need to readMaine Sen. Susan Collins' recent op-ed in The New York Times, making the case for an overhaul of the arcane 1887 law that sets out procedures for Congress to count presidential electors. The process was disrupted temporarily when pro-Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Republican senator recounts the terror and chaos of that day as she argues for shoring up the Electoral Count Act.CNN's Jamie Gangel and Jeremy Herb's "Anatomy of a tweet" piece, looking at how a retired judge and Twitter newbie strung together tweets to try to stop an insurrection.Our colleague Chris Cillizza's take on an election denier announcing a run for Colorado secretary of state.A look from the New York Times at how the Wisconsin Republican party is being torn apart by election deniers in the party who still believe former President Donald Trump can be reinstalled in the White House.

Kelly Mena, CNN

2022-02-09 22:18:53

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/09/politics/restrictive-voting-laws-2022/index.html

State lawmakers continue drive for restrictive voting bills - CNNPolitics

The Republican-led push to restrict voting continues this year as lawmakers around the country set their sights on changing election laws.

politics, State lawmakers continue drive for restrictive voting bills - CNNPolitics

Lawmakers in 12 states have introduced bills to restrict voting so far this year

(CNN)The Republican-led push to restrict voting continues this year as lawmakers around the country set their sights on changing election laws. Lawmakers in 12 states have already introduced or pre-filed 96 bills that would make changes to voting laws for the 2022 session, according to an analysis from the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school. That represents a 39% increase in bills from the same time last year, a sign that legislators have not let up on their efforts ahead of the midterms. The bills are part of a concerted effort by Republicans nationwide, who continue to cling to false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election to clamp down on access to the ballot box. "It demonstrates that the trend of this being sort of a hot button and top political issue in state legislatures is continuing. And also gives us reason to worry that the passage of these new restrictive laws may also continue," said Sean Morales-Doyle, acting director of voting rights and elections at Brennan. Of the total bills this year, more than half aim to make changes to mail-in voting, an option that became popular amid the pandemic as election officials balanced health precautions with ballot access. The bills also deal with increasing or imposing voter ID requirements for in-person voting and registration. Virginia is leading the push this year, with 34 pre-filed or introduced bills as of mid-January. Last year it was one of a handful of states that moved to expand access to voting, including restoring voting rights to 69,000 former felons, under its then-Democratically controlled state legislature and then-Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat.Read MoreBut in November, Republicans took back the state House and the executive office, a move that has since led to dozens of voting-related bills being proposed. Additionally, 13 states have pre-filed and introduced 41 bills that undermine the electoral process, according to Brennan. This includes bills like one in Arizona that would have given the state legislature the power to reject election results. The extreme measure was effectively killed last week by Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers. And, Brennan says, 16 bills have been introduced in eight states that would impose new criminal or civil penalties on election officials for making unintended errors, a trend that some critics of the legislation argue is leading to officials leaving their positions. Morales-Doyle said it's early in the year and more bills could still be introduced as legislative sessions progress, but that because of this year's elections, the bills could have more of a partisan motivation. "It could be that there's a lot of political reasons why a legislature might want to introduce a restrictive bill and sponsor it. But that doesn't mean that the bill is going to go anywhere," Morales-Doyle told CNN on Wednesday. "There's more this year than there were last year so we at least have reason to be concerned about what might happen next."

Shawna Mizelle, CNN

2022-02-16 04:54:39

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/15/politics/jim-clyburn-voting-laws-texas-midterms-cnntv/index.html

Clyburn: 2022 elections are 'going to be chaotic' in wake of new state voting laws - CNNPolitics

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Tuesday said voting in this year's midterm elections will be "chaotic" in the wake of a raft of new election laws passed by GOP-controlled legislatures.

politics, Clyburn: 2022 elections are 'going to be chaotic' in wake of new state voting laws - CNNPolitics

Clyburn: 2022 elections are 'going to be chaotic' in wake of new state voting laws

Washington (CNN)House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Tuesday said voting in this year's midterm elections will be "chaotic" in the wake of a raft of new election laws passed by GOP-controlled legislatures."It is going to be chaotic, no question about that. I've been on the phone earlier today as well as some virtual meetings with the clergy all over the country," the South Carolina Democrat said on CNN's "Don Lemon Tonight" when asked about the potential impact of the new laws. "We are organizing now to fight this kind of suppression. We know what they are doing in Texas is designed to be able to deny voters the right to vote. We know that." Clyburn's comments underscore frustrations and confusion expressed in Texas over the state's new restrictive election law as early voting in Texas' March 1 primary is underway. Texas is one of 19 states that passed a total of 33 laws in 2021 that make it harder to vote, according to a tally by the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law.The first test of new state voting laws is not going wellLargely Republican-controlled legislatures last year raced to establish new voting rules amid false claims by former President Donald Trump that widespread voter fraud contributed to his election loss in 2020. New restrictions contemplated in other states this year could bring another wave of changes ahead of the midterm elections.Texas' early voting -- which kicked off Monday for US congressional seats, governor and six other statewide offices -- positioned the state as one of the first to test the new laws, and as CNN reported, it has already left election officials and voters grappling with its requirements.Read MoreThe Texas law imposes a raft of changes in a state that already had some of the strictest voting regulations in the country.Among its provisions, the law establishes ID requirements to vote absentee and makes it a crime for a public official to mail absentee ballot applications to voters who haven't requested them. As a result, there have been higher-than-usual rejection rates for absentee ballot applications. And some counties have begun to report new problems, like hundreds of mailed ballots flagged for rejection over ID requirements.Clyburn told Lemon on Tuesday that "anybody that's throwing up roadblocks to the right to vote are trying to destroy this democracy.""The Republican Party seems to be hellbent on establishing an autocracy in this country," he said. "And I would hope that the people of goodwill would come together and do what is necessary to stop this in its track so that this country can continue its pursuit of a more perfect union."CNN's Fredreka Schouten and Kelly Mena contributed to this report.

Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer

2022-02-08 15:20:51

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politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/politics/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-2024-election/index.html

The Supreme Court may completely hollow out the Voting Rights Act by 2024 - CNNPolitics

The Supreme Court's action late Monday in an Alabama redistricting case foreshadows a new threat to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and electoral opportunities for Blacks and other racial minorities nationwide.

politics, The Supreme Court may completely hollow out the Voting Rights Act by 2024 - CNNPolitics

The Supreme Court may completely hollow out the Voting Rights Act by 2024

(CNN)The Supreme Court's action late Monday in an Alabama redistricting case foreshadows a new threat to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and electoral opportunities for Blacks and other racial minorities nationwide. The justices announced they would revisit a key section of the landmark law in upcoming months and in a 5-4 vote reinstated an Alabama congressional map that a lower court found had diluted the voting power of Blacks in the state. Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court's conservative majority in 2013 eviscerated a key section of the Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of discrimination to obtain federal approval before changing election rules.Supreme Court lets GOP-drawn Alabama congressional map that critics say dilutes power of Black voters stay in placeThe new controversy could lead to a further hollowing out of a separate provision -- known as Section 2 and barring practices that racially discriminate -- specifically in the context of redistricting maps. Combined, the court's actions could mean the reach of the Voting Rights Act is dramatically limited by the 2024 presidential election. Read MoreThis latest voting rights controversy arises against a broader erosion in America of democratic norms and a polarized electorate. States have increasingly adopted new restrictions for the polls, and federal legislation to safeguard voting rights has stalled in Congress. The conservatives who control today's court have consistently enhanced states' control over election practices, while diminishing opportunities for federal oversight and judicial safeguards. In a case from Arizona last year, the justices narrowed the reach of Section 2 as they upheld policies requiring ballots cast by people at the wrong precinct to be wholly discarded and criminalizing third-party collection of absentee ballots, such as at nursing homes. The three liberal justices dissented Monday and warned that if the Supreme Court fully accepts Alabama's legal rationale for opposing a second majority-Black district in the state, it "would rewrite decades of this Court's precedent" that has given racial minorities an equal opportunity to participate in elections. Alabama's population is 27% Black, and the state legislature created a map that would provide Blacks the opportunity to elect their preferred candidate in only one of the state's seven congressional districts. By allowing the state to use that map, Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, the court "does a disservice to Black Alabamians who under that precedent have had their electoral power diminished -- in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy." The surprising liberal consensus emerging about Biden's Supreme Court decisionThe court's acceptance of the Alabama dispute means the justices will begin the 2022-23 session next October with two racially charged controversies on its agenda. The justices recently announced they would hear lawsuits against race-based affirmative action practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. RELATED: The 3 Supreme Court justices to watch after Breyer retiresToday's Supreme Court majority is plainly exerting its right-wing muscle with three new appointees of former President Donald Trump. In the current 2021-22 session that will run through June, the court already has signaled a willingness to plow through precedent related to abortion rights, gun control and religious liberties. A test of the Clean Air Act will be heard later this month as well. Voting rights pattern under Roberts The scope of the historic Voting Rights Act has been a recurring agenda item for the high court under Roberts' leadership. In earlier decades, the high court upheld the sweep of the law, passed by Congress in the wake of the "Bloody Sunday" violence in Alabama. On March 7, 1965, state troopers with clubs and bullwhips attacked civil rights demonstrators crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. In a significant departure from prior court rulings, the justices in 2013 ended the VRA Section 5 requirement that states and other localities with a history of race discrimination obtain federal approval for any electoral changes. Taking the lead for a 5-4 majority, Roberts wrote that the problems that so-called Section 5 was designed to correct no longer existed. The 3 Supreme Court justices to watch after Breyer retires "Our country has changed," Roberts wrote. That 5-4 decision in Shelby County v. Holder left intact Section 2, related to direct government discrimination, but the majority now appears poised to curtail its coverage in redistricting. Monday's paired cases, Merrill v. Milligan and Merrill v. Caster, involved Section 2 challenges to a congressional map drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature. After Black voters and civil rights advocates challenged the seven-district congressional map as discriminatory, a US three-judge district court ruled that it diluted the votes of the Black votes under Section 2's prohibition on practices that deny a person the right to vote on account of race. The three-judge court said a second majority-Black district was possible, based on traditional redistricting criteria tied to the size of a population and their geographical compactness. The judges concluded in their decision that, "under the totality of the circumstances, including the factors that the Supreme Court has instructed us to consider, Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress." New York completes congressional redistricting, likely netting Democrats several seatsAs the Supreme Court on Monday restored the original map with only one Black-majority district and agreed to hear the legal merits of the case next session, the majority declined to explain its rationale. Roberts separately dissented, saying he believed the lower court's map, and a second-Black majority district, should have permitted for the 2022 election cycle while the justices resolved the larger questions and set standards for future elections. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote a concurring statement saying he believed it was too close to the upcoming midterm congressional elections in Alabama to replace the legislature's map. He warned of possible "chaos and confusion" leading up to the May primary and November general election. Also in the majority were Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. Regarding the timing of the case, Kagan countered for the three liberal dissenters, "Alabama is not entitled to keep violating Black Alabamians' voting rights just because the court's order came down in the first month of an election year." In his dissent, Roberts referred to the comprehensive lower court decision: "In my view," he wrote, "the District Court properly applied existing law in an extensive opinion with no apparent errors for our correction." Based on the standards of a 1986 case, Roberts said, the Blacks and advocacy groups challenging the Alabama map demonstrated the need for the second Black-majority district. But Roberts also said that the 1986 precedent governing the dispute, Thornburg v. Gingles, and related rulings "have engendered considerable disagreement and uncertainty regarding the nature and contours of a vote dilution claim." As a result, Roberts endorsed the majority's decision to hear the Alabama controversy. "(S)ubsequent elections," the chief justice wrote, "would be governed" by the Court's final decision in the dispute, likely to handed down in 2023. Alabama state lawyers have advocated for a greater use of race-neutral criteria in redistricting. Kagan and the other liberal dissenters said their arguments were "premised on an entirely new view of what the law requires" and would likely lead to fewer districts where minority voters are able to elect their preferred candidates. Takeaways from the $2.3 million Ruth Bader Ginsburg library auction"The District Court here did everything right under the law existing today," she continued. "Staying its decision forces Black Alabamians to suffer what under that law is clear vote dilution." On the special US district court that ruled on January 24 in the case were US appellate Judge Stanley Marcus, appointed by President Bill Clinton, and US District Court Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer, appointed by President Donald Trump. In concluding that Blacks merited a second majority-Black congressional district because of their population and location, the judges also took account of another element for a Section 2 violation, "that voting in the challenged districts is intensely racially polarized." "This," the judges added, "is not genuinely in dispute."

Eric Bradner and Ethan Cohen, CNN

2022-03-12 02:09:35

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/11/politics/dnc-iowa-nevada-presidential-nominating-process/index.html

DNC officials discuss demoting Iowa and changing early-voting state mix in presidential nominating calendars - CNNPolitics

Democratic Party officials charged with setting the presidential nominating calendar argued Friday for major changes that would move more diverse and competitive states earlier in the process and would favor primaries over caucuses.

politics, DNC officials discuss demoting Iowa and changing early-voting state mix in presidential nominating calendars - CNNPolitics

DNC officials discuss demoting Iowa and changing early-voting state mix in presidential nominating calendars

(CNN)Democratic Party officials charged with setting the presidential nominating calendar argued Friday for major changes that would move more diverse and competitive states earlier in the process and would favor primaries over caucuses. Such changes would likely upend Iowa's long-standing status as the first state to vote. The party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which sets the presidential nominating calendar, met Thursday and Friday during the Democratic National Committee's annual winter meeting in Washington. The committee is deciding whether Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- the four states that have begun every contest since 2008 -- will remain at the front of the nominating process. The committee faces a deadline of this summer to make a decision, and it did not vote on specific proposals Friday. Members made plans to meet once a month as they consider changes ahead of the DNC's summer meeting. But there appeared to be a growing consensus that the calendar needs to change. "Every now and then we've got a moment where we can take stock of where we are as a party and as a country and make adjustments," said Mo Elleithee, a veteran Democratic operative who's a Rules and Bylaws Committee member. "This is one of those moments. Not four years from now. Now." Read MoreElleithee said Democrats should move presidential battleground states into earlier phases of the nominating process and that the party should favor primaries over caucuses because they are more inclusive. Iowa holds caucuses; Nevada has held caucuses in the past but in 2021 it shifted to primaries for future contests.Elleithee said he could foresee Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina playing a role in the early portion of the presidential nominating process but that Iowa has a harder case to make."I have a harder time seeing it with Iowa. But Iowa should have the opportunity to make that case to us," he said. Maria Cardona, another veteran Democratic operative and DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee member, said that "tradition is not a good reason to keep doing something that has passed the moment by." She pointed to the inroads Republicans have made in recent years with Latino voters, and said Democrats are "sitting on our laurels and not doing anything about it." "You have to evolve and match what the reality is of the situation that you're in if you want to continue to be competitive," said Cardona, who is a CNN contributor. "And we are at a point in our country where all of the demographic changes are passing us by from the standpoint of our presidential nominating process. And it's going to hurt us." Lee Saunders, a labor leader and Rules and Bylaws Committee member, echoed Elleithee and Cardona. "We should be talking about being more inclusive and not disenfranchising states, especially those with a diverse population. And that is something we have to grapple with," he said.The meeting started hours after the Des Moines Register reported that Rules and Bylaws Committee members were considering a draft resolution that would create avenues for the party to change which states go first in the presidential nominating process. James Roosevelt, the longtime co-chair of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, opened the meeting by criticizing that report. "Contrary to what one reporter may think, there is no prepared resolution floating around out there," Roosevelt said. Still, Scott Brennan, a committee member from Iowa, fumed over the Register's report and the draft resolution. "I feel like I got whipsawed today," he said, complaining that the draft did not reflect the Rules and Bylaws Committee's previous discussions. He was particularly critical of the draft's call to remove caucuses from the nominating process. "It's not fair to the people of Iowa. It's not fair to the four early states. And if we want to have a process, that's fine, but let's do it in sunlight, not in darkness," Brennan said. "By putting that on paper the way it was done, you set parameters. ... We're going to have a fulsome discussion, but I believe that that process came about backwards." Rules and Bylaws Committee co-chair Lorraine Miller said the draft had been prepared by staff and was merely for discussion. "The press will interpret things the way they want to interpret it," she said. "That was just notes." Cardona shot back that Democrats are serious about eliminating caucuses, though."Conversation in this committee has certainly, certainly, undoubtedly, been about moving toward primaries and going away from caucuses," Cardona said. "People should not think that that came out of left field."Friday's meeting was just the latest step toward overhauling a primary calendar that senior Democrats criticize as being too heavily focused on less diverse states and less accessible caucuses. Iowa especially has been under pressure in recent years. Ahead of 2020, the Iowa Democratic Party proposed adding "virtual caucuses," which would've allowed caucusgoers to participate without needing to be at a physical caucus site on the traditional Monday evening. That plan was rejected by the DNC over security concerns, though the party did hold a series of satellite caucuses for Iowans in different states or countries.Caucus night itself was beset with chaos. A new mobile app for reporting results from the nearly 1,700 caucus sites across the state didn't work properly, and phone lines backed up as organizers tried to call in their results. The outcome was confusion and delayed results, which blunted the bounce that Iowa often gives to candidates who perform well. Artie Blanco, a Rules and Bylaws Committee member from Nevada, made a pitch for her own state that was an implicit contrast with Iowa, which committee members appeared poised to demote. She noted Nevada's shift to a primary, its diversity and its status as a competitive state and one allowing same-day voter registration and permanent mail ballots. "The four early states have actually done our work historically to represent, and I think to test, future presidential candidates. But at the end of the day, Nevada really does check off every step of that process," Blanco said. "Our voters are diverse, not only in race, in economic diversity. We both have urban and rural communities that participate in our process. And we have really opened up the ballot to reach everyone." David McDonald, a committee member from Washington state, said Democrats should make changes that don't "create a new tradition" that forces similar conversations in future decades, and should instead begin with a new calendar of early-voting states each presidential cycle to avoid "the presumption that once you're in the window, you will likely stay in the window." DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison opened the meeting with brief comments that echoed the arguments of those who say Democrats should begin their nominating process with more diverse states. "Our party is best when we reflect the people we are trying to serve. And it's just plain as that. This process will be guided by that North Star," he said. Committee members also broadly supported changes the party had made before the 2020 primary to so-called superdelegates, party leaders who get to vote at the convention by nature of their position and are free to support any candidates they choose. The party reduced the power of superdelegates by preventing them from voting on the first ballot if they'd be able to swing the nomination. "I thought it was great. It took away a major issue that had raised distrust with the Democratic Party," said Frank Leone, a Rules and Bylaws Committee member from Washington, DC. "I thought it was terrific." "I also support it and agree that it was great. I got a lot less hate mail and hate tweets and insults," Cardona said.

Opinion by Jeffrey Toobin, CNN

2022-03-14 10:10:44

news

opinions

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/opinions/primaries-new-hampshire-iowa-toobin/index.html

Opinion: Iowa and New Hampshire's preposterous reign over the Democratic primaries may soon end - CNN

Jeffrey Toobin writes that it's time for Iowa and New Hampshire to be ousted as the first states to launch the presidential primaries. Instead, he argues, President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware is an excellent candidate to take their place

opinions, Opinion: Iowa and New Hampshire's preposterous reign over the Democratic primaries may soon end - CNN

Iowa and New Hampshire's preposterous reign over the Democratic primaries may soon end

Jeffrey Toobin is chief legal analyst for CNN and the author of "The Nine" and "The Oath." The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN)The Democratic Party is finally considering an end to the preposterous reign of Iowa and New Hampshire as the first states to vote for the party's presidential nominee. A better alternative is right under President Joe Biden's nose ... in his home state of Delaware! The New Hampshire primary began in 1920, but it first took on real significance in February 1968, when Sen. Eugene McCarthy's powerful showing led President Lyndon Johnson to withdraw from the presidential race the following month. The Iowa caucuses started four years later, but the race there first drew broad notice in 1976, when Jimmy Carter, a previously obscure former Georgia governor, surprised the political world by finishing second ("uncommitted" won.) Ever since, the political and media worlds have descended in force on these two states and spent months cultivating their voters and investing their judgments with outsized importance. Enough!Read More Why? For starters, the demographics of Iowa and New Hampshire are very different from the rest of the country -- and especially from those of the Democratic Party. (This is why Tom Perez, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, also wants to end New Hampshire and Iowa's hegemony.) As Vox's Dylan Matthews pointed out some time ago, 89 percent of Iowans and 92 percent of New Hampshirites are non-Hispanic whites; only 64 percent of Americans are. Likewise, the Democratic electorate is about 60 percent white and 40 percent minority. Specifically, only 3 percent of Iowans are black; 13 percent of Americans are. Notably, too, Iowa's contest is a caucus, not a primary. All caucuses, not just Iowa's, are affronts to democracy. Caucuses require voters to commit hours of time to standing around on a single evening, which limits the number of people who can participate. Likewise, many caucuses, notably the one in Iowa, have nearly incomprehensible vote-allocation systems; Iowa's bizarre rules led to the fiasco of 2020, when Democratic officials took several weeks to count the votes. Elections are simpler and fairer. Supporters of the Iowa and New Hampshire contests claim their relatively small sizes work in their favor -- and they have a point. Beginning the presidential race in less populated states gives underfunded outsiders a chance to make their cases without spending a great deal of money. Trump's stance on Russia haunts the GOP Iowa and New Hampshire do have admirable traditions of candidates meeting with handfuls of voters in living rooms and coffee shops. If the first primary began, say, in California or Texas, it simply wouldn't be possible for an outsider to make her case door-to-door; there are too many doors. Big states require big money. So, if the Democrats are looking for a relatively even playing field, it does make sense to begin with a small state. But which state? Yes, the answer is Delaware -- the President's home state. Biden himself is well-positioned to make this case, not least because he probably has little fondness for the Iowa and New Hampshire political traditions. In 2020, Biden finished fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire (when Biden ran for President in 2008, he finished fifth in Iowa with 0.9 percent, and withdrew from the race shortly thereafter.) But Biden's failures in these states are not the reason they should lose their privileged position. Iowa and New Hampshire should be jettisoned because they have had their turn, and Delaware is a better choice. Of course, if the Democrats under Biden were to make this change, the President would be open to the charge of rigging the system in his favor. But at the moment, since the odds favor the 79-year-old incumbent either running unopposed for re-nomination or not running at all, he's unlikely to be in a position to need home-field advantage. The case for Delaware is clear. Delaware is also small -- the 45th biggest state, with 965,000 people. (New Hampshire, with 1.3 million, is number 41; Iowa, with 3.1 million, is 32.) So, Delaware is intimate enough for a candidate to make a retail case to the voters. More importantly, though, Delaware looks a lot more like America than do Iowa and New Hampshire. According to the latest Census figures, Delaware is 62 percent white, 23 percent black, 10 percent Hispanic, and 4 percent Asian. Wilmington, Delaware's biggest city, is not very big, with a population of just 70,000, but it has its share of urban ills, which is one reason why its population has fallen by half since World War II. Overall, Delaware is usually described as a mid-Atlantic state, but its central location lends it flavors from the Northeast (from its New Jersey border), Pennsylvania (a bridge to the Midwest), and even the South, which the southern part of the state somewhat resembles . Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook Back in 1996, some Delaware officials had the idea of moving their primary up to just four days after New Hampshire's. After the haughty Granite State vowed to punish any candidates who dared to campaign in Delaware, the officials backed off and kept their primary well back in the pack of states. But by 2024 and certainly by 2028, Iowa and New Hampshire will have had their day, and then some. With a native son in the White House and its primary moved to the head of the line, Delaware can give new meaning to its nickname -- the First State.

Fredreka Schouten, CNN

2022-03-14 20:25:27

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/politics/democratic-group-files-complaint-against-donald-trump/index.html

Democratic group alleges Donald Trump is breaking campaign finance law - CNNPolitics

A Democratic super PAC alleges Donald Trump is breaking campaign finance law by raising and spending big sums to promote a likely presidential campaign in 2024 without formally declaring his candidacy.

politics, Democratic group alleges Donald Trump is breaking campaign finance law - CNNPolitics

Democratic group alleges Donald Trump is breaking campaign finance law

(CNN)A Democratic group says it filed a complaint Monday with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that former President Donald Trump is breaking federal law by raising and spending big sums to promote a likely presidential campaign in 2024 without formally declaring his candidacy.The group, American Bridge, cites Trump's statements to argue that he is running for the presidency while skirting federal campaign finance laws that require those who raise or spend more than $5,000 to register as a candidate. Candidates also are barred from coordinating their activities with super PACs.Among the statements highlighted by the Democrat group: Trump's comments last month to the Conservative Political Action Conference that appeared to allude to a third presidential bid. "We did it twice and we'll do it again ... we're going to do it a third time," Trump told attendees, the group said in its filings.Fundraisers and rent payments: Federal political spending at Trump businesses topped $1.4 million in his first year out of officeAnd last fall, American Bridge noted, Trump said this when asked about his 2024 plans: "I know what I'm going to do, but we're not supposed to be talking about it yet from the standpoint of campaign finance laws."It's not clear that the FEC, which often deadlocks along partisan lines, will take any action in this case. The agency moves at a slow pace, often rendering judgment years after a complaint is first lodged. Read MoreTrump's network of political groups started the year with $122 million in cash reserves -- an unheard of sum for an ex-President. And American Bridge noted that his leadership PAC, Save America, has spent heavily -- pumping as much as $100,000 a week into Facebook advertising.In a statement, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said the complaint had "zero merit." "Our country is spiraling into disaster because of the Democrats' failures, and instead of reversing course to provided needed relief to American families, they are busy filing frivolous complaints that have zero merit," Budowich said in an email."The Democrat Party has become a dumpster fire that's void of solutions and substance - all they have is cheap gimmicks."The 47 wildest lines from Donald Trump's South Carolina speechAdav Noti, vice president and legal director of the Campaign Legal Center watchdog group, said the FEC should investigate. "The standard for whether someone has become a candidate under federal law is whether they have decided to run," Noti, a former top lawyer with the FEC, told CNN on Monday. "The evidence that the FEC looks at is their actions and what they say."Given Trump's statements and his fundraising activity, "there is a strong argument that, under the law, Trump has triggered candidacy for 2024."But, "even in the best of circumstances," Noti added, "the FEC generally doesn't enforce the law at all, and when it does, it is always years after the fact."

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

2022-03-15 17:24:32

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/biden-reelection-2024-poll/index.html

A *majority* of voters don't think Joe Biden will run again - CNNPolitics

Here's a shocking stat: A majority of registered voters -- 52% -- don't think that President Joe Biden will run for a second term in 2024. Less than 1 in 3 (29%) expect him to run again.

politics, A *majority* of voters don't think Joe Biden will run again - CNNPolitics

A *majority* of voters don't think Joe Biden will run again

(CNN)Here's a shocking stat: A majority of registered voters -- 52% -- don't think that President Joe Biden will run for a second term in 2024. Less than 1 in 3 (29%) expect him to run again.Those numbers come courtesy of a new Wall Street Journal poll, which suggests the electorate has serious doubts as to whether Biden, who be 81 in two years, will seek another four years in office. Asked whether he was planning to run again during an interview with ABC News in December, Biden responded this way: "Yes. But look, I'm a great respecter of fate -- fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I'm in the health I'm in now -- I'm in good health -- then, in fact, I would run again."That leaves some wiggle room! White House press secretary Jen Psaki had done the same when asked about the prospect of a Biden reelection bid in November. "Yes, that's his intention," Psaki replied.Read MoreWhich, of course, is FAR short of definitive. For example, I intend to finish my book by Labor Day. That is, without question, my intent. But it is not a guarantee that the book will be handed into my publisher on Labor Day. THE POINT -- NOW ON YOUTUBE! In each episode of his weekly YouTube show, Chris Cillizza will delve a little deeper into the surreal world of politics. Click to subscribe! Same goes for Biden. And Psaki, a veteran communicator who knows exactly what she's doing. She's telling the truth -- it is Biden's intent to run again right now -- without foreclosing on the possibility that he ultimately decides against running.In the past, Biden has talked about himself as a link between the older generation of Democrats and the younger one, which includes the likes of Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg."Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else," Biden said on the campaign trail in March 2020. "There's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country." (Among them were Harris, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.)Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, have repeatedly sought to raise questions about Biden's age and health."We have a president representing our country at the most important time in history, who is physically and mentally challenged," Trump said, without evidence, at a rally in South Carolina over the weekend.In the midst of the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan last summer, Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said that it had "created doubt not only in my mind, in the mind of many, many Americans, but also doubt in the minds of our allies" as to whether Biden was mentally equipped to do the job.And, as the Wall Street Journal noted, former Iowa Rep. Greg Ganske, a physician, wrote in August 2021 that "it pains me greatly to see a decline in President Biden, and it worries me."Of course, the question of whether Biden should run for a second term is different than the question of whether he will. And, on that latter question, it's worth noting that even Democrats are somewhat divided in the Wall Street Journal poll.Four in 10 (41%) Democrats said they believed that Biden will run again, while 1 in 3 (32%) said they didn't think he would ultimately seek a second term. Another 26% said they were unsure what he would do.That level of uncertainty within the party suggests that Biden will have to say something definitive about his plans in the not-too-distant future. What's less clear is whether his party's performance in the midterm election will have any bearing on Biden's decision. The political winds -- as well as history -- suggest Democrats are in for a bruising fall campaign that could cost them control of the House and potentially the Senate.If that scenario comes to pass, the second half of Biden's first term will be far more contentious -- and likely less productive from a legislative standpoint -- than his first two years. Might that tip the scales for the President?

Fredreka Schouten, CNN

2022-03-10 10:04:48

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/politics/local-election-officials-polling-threats-survey/index.html

1 out of 5 local election officials say they could quit before 2024 presidential election, new report finds - CNNPolitics

About 1 in 5 local election officials included in a new survey say they are likely to leave their jobs before the 2024 presidential election, with a third of that group citing false political attacks on the election system as the top reason for their departure, according to a report released Thursday.

politics, 1 out of 5 local election officials say they could quit before 2024 presidential election, new report finds - CNNPolitics

1 out of 5 local election officials say they could quit before 2024 presidential election, new report finds

(CNN)About 1 in 5 local election officials included in a new survey say they are likely to leave their jobs before the 2024 presidential election, with a third of that group citing false political attacks on the election system as the top reason for their departure, according to a report released Thursday.And more than half of the election workers who responded -- 54% -- said they were concerned about the safety of their colleagues in future elections, according to the survey of nearly 600 local election officials done on behalf of the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's Law School.The report, the second recent survey of election officials by Brennan, underscores how much the harassment and threats surrounding the 2020 election have affected local election officials and could shape the workforce in the years to come."To me, election officials were really the heroes of the 2020 election," said Lawrence Norden, Brennan's senior director for elections and government. And, he said, the survey indicates "we're going to have some significant difference in who's running elections in 2024."Other reasons people plan to depart these positions before the next presidential election: stress associated with the job (30%) and reaching retirement age (29%).Read MoreSome states have begun to make moves to further protect election officials from threats. Earlier this month, Oregon legislators passed a bill that makes it a crime to harass an election official, punishable by up to a year in jail and a possible $6,250 fine.This week, a Colorado legislative panel advanced a bill that would provide extra security to the state's election chief and other statewide elected officials. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, has been vocal about the avalanche of death threats she's faced since the 2020 election. She pushed for the new law. Around the country, legislators in at least eight states have introduced bills recently to better protect election workers or more harshly punish offenders. Federal officials also have begun to take action, through a Justice Department task force established last year.About 17% of the local officials surveyed for the Brennan Center said they had been threatened because of their jobs. More than half of them said they had not reported the threats to law enforcement.The survey by the Democratic-aligned Benenson Strategy Group was conducted between January 31 and February 14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.95%. The Brennan Center used a list of 9,252 county/parish election officials in the United States for survey purposes. The Brennan Center purchased the list from the U.S. Vote Foundation. There were 9,117 election officials on the list who had deliverable email addresses, and the Brennan Center contacted everyone on the list with a deliverable email address and invited them to participate in the survey.In the end, 596 local election officials of all political affiliations from across the country completed the survey, Brennan officials said.

Michael Warren, CNN

2022-03-17 14:07:25

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/politics/rnc-2024-finalists-nashville-milwaukee/index.html

RNC narrows 2024 convention finalists down to Nashville and Milwaukee - CNNPolitics

The Republican National Committee has narrowed down the sites for its 2024 national convention to two cities, Milwaukee and Nashville, according to two people familiar with the decision.

politics, RNC narrows 2024 convention finalists down to Nashville and Milwaukee - CNNPolitics

RNC narrows 2024 convention finalists down to Nashville and Milwaukee

(CNN)The Republican National Committee has narrowed down the sites for its 2024 national convention to two cities, Milwaukee and Nashville, according to two people familiar with the decision.RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel traveled to Milwaukee on Wednesday for an official site visit, according to one of those people.Two other contenders, Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh, have been ruled out, this person added. Salt Lake City's main arena will be under renovation and unavailable in 2024, the person said."The RNC is very appreciative of the overwhelming interest and competitive bids from cities across the country, especially Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh, to host the 2024 Republican National Convention," RNC senior adviser Richard Walters said in a statement Thursday. "We look forward to entering the final stages of the selection process and delivering an incredible convention for our Party."Politico first reported the two finalists.Read MoreWhile Nashville is the capital of Tennessee, a reliably Republican state, selecting Milwaukee would put the GOP's 2024 convention in a key swing state. Republican nominee Donald Trump narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016 but lost it in 2020.Milwaukee was the planned site of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. But due to the pandemic, Democrats scrapped nearly all of the events in that city, opting for a "virtual" convention. The 2020 RNC, meanwhile, was held partly in Charlotte, North Carolina, although the state's Covid-19 restrictions limited some of the events. The prime-time addresses at that convention were instead conducted in Washington, DC.

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

2022-03-11 23:30:19

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/11/politics/trump-presidential-bid-odds-2024/index.html

Yes, of course, Donald Trump can win in 2024 - CNNPolitics

When I meet people and they find out I am a political reporter, they inevitably -- and immediately -- ask some version of this question: "Is he going to run again? And can he win?"

politics, Yes, of course, Donald Trump can win in 2024 - CNNPolitics

Yes, of course, Donald Trump can win in 2024

(CNN)When I meet people and they find out I am a political reporter, they inevitably -- and immediately -- ask some version of this question: "Is he going to run again? And can he win?"The "he" there -- just in case you've spent the last six years on another planet -- is Donald Trump.And the answers to those questions are "probably yes" and "definitely." As in, yes, Trump is probably going to run for president again in 2024. And, yes, he would have a very real chance of winning.Let's take the second half of that question first. A new Wall Street Journal poll shows Trump and President Joe Biden each at 45% among registered voters in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, results that are largely unchanged since the last time WSJ asked the question in November.The simple fact is that if the 2020 presidential race was re-run today, it would effectively be a pure toss up. Read MoreWhich, if you think about it, makes sense. While Biden took more than 300 electoral votes, his margins in a series of swing states -- like Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania -- were decidedly narrow. And had those states gone for Trump, he would have almost certainly been reelected.Now, that is putting the cart before the horse. So, let's return to the first question: Will Trump run?If you believe him, then yes."We've already won two presidential elections," Trump told a group of Republican donors in New Orleans recently. (Fact check: he won the 2016 election and lost the 2020 election.) "And now I feel obligated that we have to really look strongly at doing it again. We are looking at it very, very strongly. We have to do it. We have to do it."At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida late last month, Trump sounded a similar note. "On November 2024, they will find out like never before," he said. "We did it twice and we'll do it again, we're going to be doing it again a third time." (Trump won a 2024 straw poll at CPAC with ease.)It may be hard to believe given all Trump has said and done since leaving office -- repeatedly pushing a false conspiracy about the 2020 election, praising Russian President Vladimir Putin as a genius -- that he is a) an overwhelming favorite for the Republican nomination and b) a coin toss, at worst, to win the 2024 general election.But, it's true.The Point: Trump is the least predictable politician, well, ever. Which means that you can never bank of anything with him -- including another run for president. But, man does it look and sound like he is going to run again. And, yes, he can win.

Gabby Orr and Michael Warren, CNN

2022-03-16 10:00:33

politics

politics

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/politics/pence-trump-putin-republicans/index.html

Pence seeks to distinguish himself from Trump by speaking out against Putin - CNNPolitics

The days of Mike Pence defending Donald Trump's controversial praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin are over, sources close to the former vice president told CNN.

politics, Pence seeks to distinguish himself from Trump by speaking out against Putin - CNNPolitics

Pence seeks to set himself apart from Trump by speaking out against Putin

(CNN)The days of Mike Pence defending Donald Trump's controversial praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin are over, sources close to the former vice president told CNN. Days after Pence condemned "apologists for Putin" in reference to Trump and other Republicans who have made positive comments about the Russian dictator amid his devastating invasion of Ukraine, the former vice president's allies said he feels compelled to share his own long-held opinions on the matter, which he refrained from doing publicly during his time as Trump's second-in-command. As Pence prepares for a possible White House bid in 2024, the Russian invasion has provided him with a new opportunity to distinguish himself from Trump and underscore the foreign policy chops he's developed over two decades in government. That separation is also coming at a time when Pence is ramping up his political activities through his Advancing American Freedom group -- from raising money for Republican candidates in the 2022 midterm elections and launching TV ads targeting vulnerable Democrats to releasing a "freedom agenda" for conservatives to utilize in upcoming elections. Pence has been looking for opportunities to denounce what he perceives to be an alarming trend inside the GOP of Trump-aligned figures expressing adulation for the Kremlin leader, according to one person familiar with his thinking. "When you are vice president, there is an obligation to support the president's policies and when you disagree, to share those disagreements in private. Now, there isn't that same constraint, so [Pence] can be more vocal about his viewpoints," this person said. Read MoreThose around Pence say his stepping out on Ukraine reflects that the Indiana Republican has his "own voice" and a distinct political brand from the former President he served.That was on display last week during his visit to the Ukraine-Poland border with Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical international relief agency run by Franklin Graham. And his long-standing party loyalty gave Pence a prime speaking spot at this month's Republican National Committee donor retreat in New Orleans, where he plainly declared, "There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin. There is only room for champions of freedom." Pence advocacy group launches $10 million ad campaign hitting Biden on Ukraine and energyThen, on Wednesday, Pence again took aim at the Russian leader in an interview with Fox News, saying that Putin is fully responsible for the devastation and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. "There is one person to blame for this invasion. It's Vladimir Putin, and Putin must pay for the violence," Pence told the network shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a virtual address to members of Congress. Though Pence declined to mention Trump by name in his New Orleans appearance, his sharp rebuke came on the heels of the former President calling Putin "savvy" and "genius" as the Russian leader launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Those comments have left Trump isolated from other Republican leaders -- including many of his own allies -- who have refused to echo his praise and instead unambiguously denounced Putin's actions. "I do not think anything's savvy or genius with Putin," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has remained close to Trump since the former President left office, told reporters last week. "I think Putin is evil. He is a dictator. And I think he's murdering people right now." One person close to Pence, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said his team felt the donor retreat in early March presented "the right opportunity" for him to address Trump's comments at a moment where "the vast majority" of Republicans disagree with his take on Putin. This person said Pence will continue to speak out against those who praise the Russian leader within the GOP "to the extent that it continues to be an issue." "The nation has coalesced around the idea that Putin is a thug, that he is evil and that what he is doing is reprehensible," this person said.Recent polling supports that assessment, including a CNN poll in late February that found overwhelming support among Americans for economic sanctions against Russia, including from 84% of Republicans. A Quinnipiac poll from the same time found that just 6% of Republicans have favorable views of Putin."It's a smart move, because the former President is completely out of step with the party and the country when it comes to Putin, and it's one of the few issues everyone is willing to push away from Trump on," said David Kochel, a veteran Republican strategist.Pence 'has his own voice' Although he has taken issue with Trump's recent positive comments about Putin, Pence has echoed the former President's criticism of his successor. In the same speech to GOP donors, Pence accused President Joe Biden of squandering "the deterrence that our administration put in place to keep Putin and Russia from even trying to redraw international boundaries by force." And like Trump, the former vice president has called on the Biden administration to sanction Russian oil exports. Still, Pence's recent comments mark a far cry from how he had typically weighed in as Trump's running mate and vice president when he would comment on Putin or Russia. For years, as Trump lavished praise on Putin, his fiercely loyal vice president would surface soon afterward to reframe Trump's comments to make them more palatable. For instance, when Trump said during a 2016 campaign appearance that Putin had been "a leader far more than" then-President Barack Obama, Pence quickly insisted it wasn't an endorsement of the Russian autocrat. Addressing the matter during his vice presidential debate against Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Pence recast Trump's comments as "an indictment of the weak and feckless leadership of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama," while describing Putin as "small" and "bullying." Then, when Trump appeared to equate US actions with Putin's authoritarian regime during a Fox interview early in his presidency, Pence assured Americans that Trump was not drawing "a moral equivalency.""There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?" Trump said during the interview in response to a question about why he respects Putin even though the Russian leader is a "killer."Pence rebuked Trump -- and received an outpouring of GOP support in responseAnd when the then-President sided with Putin over US intelligence officials during their 2018 joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland -- suggesting at the time that he didn't "see any reason why" Russia would have interfered in the 2016 US presidential election despite widespread evidence to the contrary -- Pence rushed to defend the "historic trip" and lauded Trump's commitment "to put the prosperity and security of America first."Pence allies say he has always bristled at praise of Putin inside the GOP but is now in a place where he can share long-held opinions publicly without breaching decorum. So far, these allies said Pence hasn't received any blowback for crossing Trump on the Putin matter and noted that he has been in regular contact with a range of foreign policy and national security experts as he decides how and when to weigh in on the Ukraine-Russia crisis. "Mike Pence does have his own voice, his own opinions and his own views," said one of the people close to the former vice president.Ukraine is not the first area where Pence has sought to draw a contrast with Trump. At the top of the list are their divergent views of the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and Pence's refusal to halt certification of the 2020 election. In recent weeks, Pence has been increasingly vocal in defending his refusal to delay the counting of electoral votes, as Trump and some of his top allies pressured him to do.Speaking at the Federalist Society Florida Chapters conference near Orlando last month, Pence called Trump's efforts to challenge the results of the election "un-American" and warned against conservatives who continue to insist that the vice president can alter an election. He has periodically said that he and Trump will never see "eye to eye" on January 6. Afterward, Pence fielded calls from donors, Republican lawmakers and top conservative leaders eager to privately applaud him.