YouTube channels making money from ads, memberships amplify Trump voting fraud claims

By Paresh Dave NOV 4,2020

© Reuters/Shannon Stapleton Campaign signs for U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris stand with signs for U.S. President Donald Trump on a hillside in Monroeville, Pennsylvania

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - At least nine popular YouTube channels were promoting on Thursday debunked accusations about voting fraud in the U.S. presidential race, conspiratorial content that could jeopardize advertising and memberships revenue they get from the video service.

Reuters found the channels, ranging from ones with 1,000 followers to more than 629,000, endorsing claims that fact-checking units of the Associated Press, Reuters and other organizations have deemed false or inaccurate.YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc's Google , has rules that forbid channels using its revenue-generation tools from making "claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process."

Google said it was reviewing videos from the nine channels as well as others and may suspend ads and membership sales, a penalty commonly known as "demonetization," if violations are found.

Claiming voter fraud is widespread or that mail-in ballots cannot be trusted would be in violation, but highlighting people who say they experienced voter fraud or making hyperbolic statements about a political party "stealing" the election would not, Google said.

With ballot tallying ongoing in a few states whose results will decide the hotly contested race between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump has made unsubstantiated accusations about the Democratic party stealing the election. Trump's supporters have rallied behind the misinformation on social media and in protests outside vote-counting sites.Google, Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc and others have struggled to guard against the misinformation as millions of posts arrive each day.

Researchers who track misinformation say it is fueled by content creators who see an opportunity to profit from it. Over the last few years, they have pressured YouTube and its advertisers to tighten scrutiny.

Some YouTube advertisers now avoid sponsoring political content. But the membership feature, under which fans pay a few dollars monthly for exclusive content and promotional merchandise, has helped offset lost ad sales.

One of the channels seen by Reuters, John Talks, shared two videos on Thursday about alleged voter fraud in Michigan - a key battleground state in the election that Biden has won - generating more than 90,000 views in eight hours.

Among the claims cited was that wagons, suitcases and coolers were used to smuggle ballots into a counting center. At least three news outlets investigated the claim and determined the items carried food for election workers and camera equipment for a local TV station.

John Talks did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The liberal online watchdog group Media Matters for America said in a report on Thursday that it found videos making dubious claims post-election have garnered more than 1 million views collectively.

YouTube's policy on "demonstrably false" election information drew attention on Wednesday when CNBC reported that One American News Network was generating ad revenue from its YouTube video prematurely declaring Trump the winner. YouTube said it would not remove the video, but stopped running ads on it.

Trump's talk of fraud has created opportunity for his critics, too. Some popular YouTube channels, which run ads and sell memberships, have generated hundreds of thousands of views on videos rebutting Trump supporters' claims of voter fraud.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Leslie Adler and Christopher Cushing)

Worker at Blumenort, Man. poultry plant dies of COVID-19: union

NOV 4, 2020

A second employee of Manitoba's largest poultry plant has died after contracting COVID-19, the union that represents most workers at the Exceldor Co-Operative plant in Blumenort said Sunday, after the first case of the novel coronavirus in a worker was declared Oct. 8.

 In this Dec. 12, 2019, file photo workers process chickens at the Lincoln Premium Poultry plant, Costco Wholesale's dedicated poultry supplier, in Fremont, Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

But the company has previously said the virus does not appear to have spread within the cut-and-kill facility.

"We want to offer our sincerest condolences to family, friends and fellow union members working at Exceldor. When someone loses a family member or a close friend, it’s a stark reminder about how devasting this virus can be," United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832 president Jeff Traeger said in a statement.

The employee had previously contracted the virus and had been sent home to self-isolate, the union said, adding it learned of the death Sunday morning.


Read more: Coronavirus: 27 cases at Blumenort, Man., poultry plant related to community transmission

According to the union's figures as of Friday, there were 52 positive cases among its members at the plant, including 35 active cases and 17 recovered cases.

The plant's owner, Quebec-based Exceldor, did not immediately respond to a request for comment over email Sunday.

But previously the company said there was no evidence of the virus spreading within the plant where 650 people work.

“We are dealing with cases of community transmission beyond our walls, therefore out of our control,” an Exceldor spokesperson said in a statement Oct. 21.

“Exceldor investigated every single one of the cases and results show that all the measures in place are effective in avoiding contamination among employees in the workplace.”

At the time, the company said several workers live together or commute together, which may have led to the situation.

Exceldor Co-operative's Blumenort plant, formerly known as Granny’s Poultry, is the largest poultry processing plant in the province. The Quebec-based company and Granny's Poultry merged earlier this year.

Video: 3 more employees at Brandon Maple Leaf hog plant test positive for COVID-19

A look at Myanmar's election and Suu Kyi's expected victory

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar holds national and state elections Sunday in which Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party will be looking to hold on to power  

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Here's a closer look at the vote:


THE BASICS

More than 37 million of Myanmar's 56 million people are eligible to vote. More than 90 parties are fielding candidates for seats in the upper and lower houses of Parliament.

The NLD's landslide victory in the last election in 2015 came after more than five decades of military or military-directed rule. Those polls were seen as largely free and fair with one big exception — the army-drafted constitution of 2008 automatically grants the military 25% of the seats in Parliament, enough to block constitutional changes. That proviso still holds true.

Overshadowing the polls is the coronavirus and restrictions to contain it, which are likely to lower turnout despite government plans for social distancing and other safety measures.

___

THE FAVORITE

Suu Kyi’s party is heavily favoured to win again, though probably with a reduced majority. Suu Kyi is by far the country’s most popular politician, and the NLD has a strong national network, reinforced by holding the levers of state power.

Nevertheless the NLD has been criticized for lacking vision and adopting some of the more authoritarian methods of its military predecessors, especially targeting critics through the courts.


THE COMPETITORS

Suu Kyi's party has lost the co-operation of many ethnic minority parties, which are popular in their border-area homelands. In 2015, those parties were tacit allies with the NLD and arranged not to compete strongly where splitting the vote might give victory to the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, or USDP.

Suu Kyi’s failure to come through with an agreement giving ethnic minorities the greater political autonomy they have sought for decades has disenchanted them, and this year they will be working against the NLD rather than with it. There are around 60 small ethnic parties.

The main opposition USDP was founded as a proxy for the military and again is the NLD’s strongest competitor. It is well-funded and well-organized. Whether voters still see it as tainted by its association with previous military regimes is not clear.

___

THE ISSUES

To a large extent, the polls are seen as a referendum on Suu Kyi’s five years in power, just as the 2015 election was seen as a judgment on military rule.

There has been economic growth, but it benefited a tiny portion of the population in one of the region’s poorest countries, and fell short of popular expectations.

Not only were ethnic minority groups disappointed by Suu Kyi’s failure to grant them greater autonomy, but in the western state of Rakhine, the well-trained and well-armed Arakan Army — a group claiming to represent the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group — has risen to become the biggest military threat in years.

The Election Commission’s cancellation of voting in some areas where parties critical of the government were certain to win seats has drawn sharp criticism. The move is estimated to have disenfranchised more than 1 million people. Critics have accused the Election Commission of conspiring to do the NLD’s bidding

The topic that gets the most global attention, the oppression of the Muslim Rohingya minority, is not much of an election issue except for anti-Muslim politicians. A brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign drove about 740,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh, but they have long faced systematic discrimination that denies them citizenship and the right to vote.

The Associated Press

#WW3.0

AP Explains: Why Ethiopia is suddenly on brink of civil war

CARA ANNA,
Associated Press•November 5, 2020




Ethiopian Orthodox Christians light candles and pray for peace during a church service at the Medhane Alem Cathedral in the Bole Medhanealem area of the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. Ethiopia's powerful Tigray region asserts that fighter jets have bombed locations around its capital, Mekele, aiming to force the region "into submission," while Ethiopia's army says it has been forced into an "unexpected and aimless war." 

(AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Suddenly Ethiopia appears on the brink of civil war, threatening the stability of one of the world’s most strategic regions, the Horn of Africa, and the fracturing of one of Africa’s most powerful and populous countries.

But the crisis in Ethiopia, a key U.S. security ally, has been building for months. According to the deputy director of the International Crisis Group's Africa program, Dino Mahtani, “it has been like watching a train crash in slow motion.” An the International Crisis Group said this week. Now Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for sweeping political reforms, faces the sharpest consequences yet of the country’s recent shifts in power.

Here are key reasons for the international alarm:

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Two things occurred early Wednesday morning: Communications were cut in Ethiopia’s heavily armed northern Tigray region, and Abiy announced he had ordered troops to respond to an alleged deadly attack by Tigray’s forces on a military base there. Both sides have accused each other of initiating the fighting.

Both stepped up pressure late Thursday. Ethiopia’s army said it was deploying troops from around the country to Tigray, and the Tigray leader announced that “we are ready to be martyrs.” Casualties were reported on both sides. And on Friday, the prime minister announced his government had carried out airstrikes in the “first round of operation” against the TPLF, while the Tigray region was increasingly cut off.

Some experts have compared the confrontation to an inter-state war, with two large and well-trained forces and little sign of backing down. Ethiopia is one of Africa’s most well-armed nations, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front dominated Ethiopia’s military and government before Abiy took office in 2018. It has plenty of conflict experience from Ethiopia's years-long border war with Eritrea, next door to the Tigray region, and the International Crisis Group estimates that the TPLF's paramilitary force and local militia have some 250,000 troops.

With communications still out, it’s difficult to verify either side’s account of events on the ground.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Ethiopia’s ruling coalition appointed Abiy as prime minister in 2018 to help calm months of anti-government protests, and he quickly won praise — and the Nobel — for opening political space and curbing repressive measures in the country of some 110 million people and scores of ethnic groups. But the TPLF felt increasingly marginalized, and last year it withdrew from the ruling coalition.

The TPLF objects to Ethiopia’s delayed election, blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic, and Abiy’s extended time in office. In September, the Tigray region voted in a local election that Ethiopia’s federal government called illegal. The federal government later moved to divert funding from the TPLF executive to local governments, angering the regional leadership.

On Monday, Tigray leader Debretsion Gebremichael warned a bloody conflict could erupt.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN NOW?

The conflict could spread to other parts of Ethiopia, where some regions have been calling for more autonomy, and deadly ethnic violence has led the federal government to restore measures including arresting critics.

Addressing those fears, Ethiopia's deputy army chief Birhanu Jula late Thursday said of Tigray, "The war will end there.”

Some governments and experts are urgently calling for dialogue over Tigray, but a Western diplomat in the capital, Addis Ababa, says “the message from the Ethiopians is, if you talk about a dialogue you equate the two parties, but ’This is a legitimate government, that’s a renegade group.'” The objective as put forward by Ethiopia is to crush the TPLF, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity, and “if I say I’m going to crush you, then is there really scope for any negotiation?”

The TPLF before the fighting said it's not interested in negotiating with the federal government, and it has sought the release of detained leaders as a precondition to talks. An inclusive dialogue must occur, observers say, but a statement late Thursday by a panel of former U.S. diplomats and military experts for the United States Institute of Peace warned it won’t go far “while many of the country’s most prominent political leaders remain in prison.”

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN BEYOND ETHIOPIA?

Few regions are more vulnerable than the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia’s neighbors include Somalia — Ethiopian forces have reportedly begun withdrawing from that country to return home — and Sudan, facing its own huge political transition. Neighboring Eritrea has shown little sign of opening up after making peace with Ethiopia in 2018, and its government and the Tigray one don’t get along.

A region in which Abiy has played high-profile peacemaker is now at risk.

Observers warn that a conflict could suck in these countries and others not far from the most strategic military outpost in Africa, tiny Djibouti, where several global powers including the U.S. and China have their only military bases on the continent. The Horn of Africa is also a short water crossing away from Yemen and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.

Ethiopia already was drawing concern over a dispute with Egypt over a huge dam Ethiopia is completing on the Blue Nile. While there have been worries about military action, “I would like to think Egypt is a responsible enough actor to realize that fragmentation of Ethiopia is fundamentally so damaging to regional security,” former U.S. diplomat Payton Knopf, a senior advisor with the United States Institute of Peace, said this week.



4

Ethiopian Orthodox Christians light candles and pray for peace during a church service at the Medhane Alem Cathedral in the Bole Medhanealem area of the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. Ethiopia's powerful Tigray region asserts that fighter jets have bombed locations around its capital, Mekele, aiming to force the region "into submission," while Ethiopia's army says it has been forced into an "unexpected and aimless war." (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)

PM; NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER
Ethiopia parliament dissolves Tigray leadership

BBC• November 7, 2020

These Tigray special forces seized a national army base earlier this week

Ethiopia's parliament has voted to dissolve the government of the northern Tigray region, amid a dispute which has escalated into armed conflict.

In an emergency session, parliament declared the Tigray administration illegal and voted to replace it.

On Friday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said air strikes had been carried out on military targets in Tigray.

There are fears the conflict could lead to civil war, which could also destabilise neighbouring countries.

The leaders of Tigray dominated Ethiopia for many years until Mr Abiy came to power in 2018 on the back of anti-government protests and curbed their influence.

They say they have been unfairly targeted by purges and allegations of corruption, and say Mr Abiy is an illegitimate leader, because his mandate ran out when he postponed elections due to coronavirus.

The UN has called for a "de-escalation in the fighting".


Why there are fears of civil war in Ethiopia


Abiy Ahmed: The man changing Ethiopia


Bold reforms expose Ethiopia's ethnic divides

What did parliament say?

The House of Federation - one of Ethiopia's parliamentary chambers - said the Tigray leadership had "violated the constitution and endangered the constitutional system", according to the state-owned broadcaster EBC.

It said a new caretaker administration would hold elections and "implement decisions passed on by the federal government".

The simmering row boiled over in September after Tigray's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), defied the nationwide ban on elections, and held a vote which was declared illegal by the central government.

Ethiopia to replace Tigray region leadership as forces clash


NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethiopia moved Saturday to replace the leadership of the country’s defiant northern Tigray region, where deadly clashes between regional and federal government forces are fueling fears the major African power is sliding into civil war. Tigray's leader told the African Union that the federal government was planning a “full-fledged military offensive.”

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Neither side appeared ready for the dialogue that experts say is needed to avert disaster in one of the world’s most strategic yet vulnerable regions, the Horn of Africa.

The upper house of parliament, the House of Federation, voted to set up an interim administration, giving Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed the power to carry out measures against a Tigray leadership his government regards as illegal. They include appointing officials and facilitating elections.

The prime minister, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, asserted that “criminal elements cannot escape the rule of law under the guise of seeking reconciliation and a call for dialogue.”

Experts and diplomats are watching in dismay as the two heavily armed forces clash. Observers warn that a civil war in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country with 110 million people, could suck in or destabilize neighbours such as Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia.

“It’s a very, very bad situation,” Audrey Van der Schoot, head of mission for aid group Doctors Without Borders in Ethiopia, told The Associated Press. Heavy shelling resumed Saturday morning, for the first time since Wednesday, near the group's outpost in the Amhara region by the Tigray border. It was so close, Van der Schoot could hear it over the phone.

The clinic has seen six dead so far and some 60 wounded, all combatants from Tigray and Amhara, she said, adding that shelling came from both sides.

A statement posted Saturday on the Facebook page of the Tigray government, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, asserted that it will win the “justified” war, adding that “a fighter will not negotiate with its enemies.”

In a letter to the AU chairman, South Africa's president, Tigray leader Debretsion Gebremichael alleged that Ethiopia's federal government and neighbouring Eritrea have mobilized their forces near the Tigray border “with the intention of launching a full-fledged military offensive.”

The letter dated Friday, seen by The Associated Press, called Abiy's behaviour “unconstitutional, dictatorial and treasonous.” It said the African Union was well-placed to bring parties to dialogue to “avert an all-out civil war.”

The conflict is playing out between former allies in Ethiopia's ruling coalition who now regard each other as illegal. The TPLF long dominated the country's military and government before Abiy took office in 2018 and introduced sweeping political reforms that won him the Nobel. The changes left the TPLF feeling marginalized, and it broke away last year when Abiy sought to turn the coalition into a single Prosperity Party.

Clashes began early Wednesday when Abiy accused the TPLF forces of attacking a military base in Tigray. In a major escalation Friday, Abiy asserted that airstrikes in multiple locations around the Tigray capital “completely destroyed rockets and other heavy weapons."

The military operations will continue, the prime minister said, and he warned the Tigray population: ”In order to avoid unexpected peril, I advise that you limit group movements in cities.”

Tigray is preparing for a “major offensive to come tomorrow or the day after from the federal government,” Kjetil Tronvoll, a professor at Bjorknes University College in Norway and a longtime Ethiopia watcher, told the AP. “That's my estimate. Abiy has promised a quick delivery of victory, so he has to move fast.”

Ethiopia's decision to replace the Tigray leadership leaves the region with essentially two options, he said: pursuing a “full-out war” with the aim of toppling Abiy's government or declaring independence.

Encircled, the TPLF can't afford a drawn-out conflict and might fight its way to the capital, Addis Ababa, or toward the Red Sea for an outlet, Tronvoll said.

He described one published estimate of Tigray having nearly a quarter-million various armed forces a “serious underestimate” and said they outnumber the federal army “by at least two or three multiples." Addis Ababa has called for reinforcements from other regional forces, he said.

Communications remain almost completely severed with Tigray, making it difficult to verify the rivals' assertions and leading aid groups and human rights groups to warn of a brewing humanitarian disaster.

A new United Nations assessment lists eight “recent military confrontations” across Tigray, most near its southern border with the Amhara region. The blockage of air and road networks significantly affects aid to more than a half-million people, the assessment said, and an escalation of fighting could “seriously increase” that number and send millions fleeing.

What’s more, “there is a concern that the vacuum left by security forces re-deployed from other critical areas may incite more ethnic violence including attacks on ethnic minorities” in other parts of Ethiopia, the U.N. report said.

Dino Mahtani with the International Crisis Group, in comments posted Friday, said that if the Tigray forces come under pressure they may "punch into Eritrea, which would then internationalize this conflict." The TPLF and Eritrea have a bitter history of a long border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea before the countries made peace in 2018.

The TPLF's only other real avenue out of Ethiopia is Sudan, which finds itself “in a very delicate position,” Mahtani said.

Sudan's eastern al-Qadarif province has closed its border with Ethiopia’s Tigray and Amhara regions, the Sudan News Agency reported Saturday.

The Tigray drama dominates conversation in Ethiopia, and many people commenting on social media appear to support the government’s move to get rid of the region's leadership. Some cite abuses by the TPLF while it was in power for well over two decades, or echo the federal government's accusation that it incited recent violence across the country.

Those sympathetic to the TPLF are mostly silenced due to the communications blackout in Tigray, but those able to comment describe the federal government's actions as an aggression that will lead to further escalation of the conflict.

___

Elias Meseret in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

Cara Anna, The Associated Press

Military conflict may not be over quickly

By Kalkidan Yibeltal, BBC News, Addis Ababa

Parliament's move signals that the crisis is deepening even though international calls for restraint and de-escalation are increasing.

In a tweet on Saturday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the military operation he ordered in the state "aims to end the impunity that has prevailed for far too long" and "to hold accountable individuals and groups under the laws of the land".

For its part, the TPLF, in a statement posted on Facebook, said that "through their capacity and in the just war they are engaged in, the Tigray people will win".

Such statements suggest solving the crisis without further military confrontation is increasingly becoming unlikely.

Both the TPLF and the federal government say they will win the conflict in a short period of time but that might not happen.

Prime Minister Abiy has said that there were airstrikes on Friday to destroy missiles, radar equipment and rockets, and that these will continue. The TPLF respond that they have modern weapons.

So, it appears that the conflict is intensifying and it's possible that it might spill over to other parts of the country - and the region.
What's the latest on the fighting?

It's hard to get much detail because the internet and phone lines to Tigray have been cut and the national government is not saying much.

But there are reports that the fighting is spreading along Tigray's border with the Amhara region, which is backing the federal government. There have also been reports of clashes near the border with Eritrea and Sudan, which has partially closed its frontier with Ethiopia.


While Mr Abiy said various military targets had been destroyed, officials in Tigray have denied to the BBC that an air attack took place on Friday.

In a statement earlier on Friday, Mr Abiy, who won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end a long-standing conflict with Eritrea, insisted that the military operation in Tigray had "clear, limited and achievable objectives".

He previously declared a six-month state of emergency in the region and gave a new military taskforce the powers to "restore law and order".

Tigrayan leader Debretsion Gebremichael previously accused Mr Abiy's administration of plotting to invade the state.
What's this all about?

Tension has been mounting for some time as relations between the TPLF and the federal government have deteriorated.

Abiy Ahmed gave a speech to the nation to announce the start of military operations

Although Tigray represents just 6% of Ethiopia's population of more than 100 million, the TPLF used to be the dominant force in Ethiopia's ruling coalition but its power has waned since Mr Abiy became prime minister.

Last year, he dissolved the ruling coalition, made up of several ethnically-based regional parties, and merged them into a single, national party, the Prosperity Party, which the TPLF refused to join.

A statement from the prime minister's office on Friday said that some members of the TPLF were "fugitives from justice" and suggested they opposed Mr Abiy's attempts to reform the way Ethiopia was run.

This week, after TPLF leaders accused the government of preparing to invade, they seized a federal army base in Tigray's capital, Mekelle, prompting Mr Abiy to mobilise the army.

Nations long targeted by US chide Trump’s claims of fraud

BOGOTA — Demands to stop the vote count. Baseless accusations of fraud. Claims that the opposition is trying to “steal” the election.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Kenyan cartoonist Patrick Gathara tweeted that Trump “has barricaded himself inside the presidential palace vowing not to leave unless he is declared the winner,” 

Across the world, many were scratching their heads Friday — especially in countries that have long been advised by Washington on how to run elections — wondering if those assertions could truly be coming from the president of the United States, the nation considered one of the world’s most emblematic democracies.

“Who’s the banana republic now?” Colombian daily newspaper Publimetro chided on the front page with a photo of a man in a U.S. flag print mask.

The irony of seeing U.S. President Donald Trump cut off by major media networks Thursday as he launched unsubstantiated claims lambasting the U.S. electoral system was not lost on many. The U.S. has long been a vocal critic of strongman tactics around the world. Now, some of those same targets are turning around the finger.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro laughed as the vote dragged on past Tuesday, briefly breaking into the hymn of his nation’s annual beauty contest on state TV, singing, “On a night like to night, any of them could win.”

In Africa — long the target of U.S. election guidance — one Kenyan commentator spun out satiric tweets, drawing freely from clichés that long have described troubled elections and questioning the strength of democracy in the U.S.

Kenyan cartoonist Patrick Gathara tweeted that Trump “has barricaded himself inside the presidential palace vowing not to leave unless he is declared the winner,” with a mediator “currently trying to coax him out with promises of fast food.”

Along with the mockery comes dismay. Many people in Africa see the U.S. as a bellwether for democracy and, after troubled votes in Tanzania and Ivory Coast in recent days, they looked to what Washington might say.

“We are asking ourselves, why is the U.S. democratic process appearing so fragile when it is meant to be held up to us in the rest of the world as a beacon of perfect democracy?” said Samir Kiango, a Tanzanian out in his country’s commercial capital Friday.

For decades, the U.S. has been an advocate for democracy abroad, using diplomatic pressure and even direct military intervention in the name of spreading the principles of a pluralistic system with a free and fair vote for political leaders. These tactics have generated both allies and enemies, and this year’s presidential vote perhaps more than any other is testing the strength of the values it promotes around the world.

And the world is paying close attention.

Few places on Earth have been on the receiving end of U.S. election advice as the African continent, where the U.S. has encouraged nations to have independent electoral commissions, a uniform voters’ roll and other standards aimed at ensuring an equitable vote.

“The U.S. electoral system has none of these. Not a single one,” Sithembile Mbete, a commentator and senior lecturer on political science at the University of Pretoria, said at an online event last month.

“Some African elections are actually better-run,” added Nic Cheeseman, professor and author of a book on democracy in Africa.

Denis Kadima, executive director of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, said he sees Trump’s approach to democracy as an exception, but “we should not use that as a way of allowing our own governments to do bad things.”

In Mexico, some commentators called on the media to follow the lead of U.S. colleagues in cutting off transmissions when their own country’s president begins spreading falsehoods.

Yet there also was concern that a region where many democracies are still on fragile ground — or in the throes of outright autocratic rule — that Trump’s behaviour could set a bad precedent.

“If we resort to violence or loud demonstrations or political leaders trying to do their best to skew the results before it’s finalized, that will provide a different example for countries in Latin America,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice-president of the Council of the Americas, a New York-based organization promoting business in the region.

Still, despite all the ruckus in the U.S., many said they see it as a blip, unlikely to damage the country’s reputation as a champion of democracy.

Kadima, in the Ivory Coast, said he sees Washington as retaining its ideals, though he admitted confusion over the persistence of the electoral college system.

“I’m not very impressed by the college system, which I don’t find terribly democratic,” he said.

His colleague, Grant Masterson, noted that the U.S. election system has “50 different ways in 50 different states,” something he said works for the American people but “certainly not the system that other countries are charging toward to embrace.”

What he finds “fantastic for American democracy,” however, is the ritual of the concession speech after a bitterly fought vote, signalling that it’s time to “take off your partisan hats and put on your national hat” and move on.

“That’s really been an exceptionally good example for the rest of the world to emulate,” he said — though he has doubts about such a speech this time.

As restless Americans awaited voting results from the few remaining states not yet colored red or blue, millions across the world joined them. And however it turns out, many hoped that ultimately America’s humbled democracy comes out stronger.

Gathara, the Kenyan cartoonist and commentator, said he is optimistic there will be a more honest discussion about democracy as a result.

“I really don’t know how it ends,” he said of his running commentary. “We’re all trying to figure this democratic thing out.”

___

Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela, and David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, contributed to this report.

Christine Armario And Cara Anna, The Associated Press

Puerto Rico votes in favor of statehood. But what does it mean for the island?

As Puerto Ricans voted on Tuesday for their local leaders, there was another decision they had to make: Whether or not the island nation should be admitted as the newest U.S. state.

© Joe Raedle/Getty Images, FILE

 In this June 30, 2015, file photo, an American flag and Puerto Rican flag fly next to each other in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The non-binding referendum was not expected to change Puerto Rico's status anytime soon but was still seen as a barometer of Puerto Ricans' appetite for statehood.

At Tuesday’s plebiscite, residents narrowly favored statehood with 52% of the vote while about 47% of voters were against it, according to the election commission's website.

This was actually the sixth time Puerto Ricans had a choice to make on statehood.

In past plebiscites, independence and Commonwealth have been included as options for Puerto Rican voters to choose.

Puerto Rico has been a U.S. territory since 1898. In 1952, the island's governor at the time, Luis Muñoz Marín, proclaimed the establishment of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with the idea that the island would have a relationship with the U.S., while still having some independence.

For years, groups in favor of breaking the relationship with the U.S. have tried to push for Puerto Rico to become independent and self-sufficient without success.

Puerto Rico has been unincorporated territory since then, something that will likely not change, experts say.

“It is unlikely that the question of Puerto Rico as a state will be taken up by the Congress,” says political scientist and researcher Carlos Vargas Rsamos.

Although the U.S. mainland still sees Puerto Rico as a commonwealth, many Puerto Ricans, including the island's Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González, a Republican, say the island is constantly treated as a colony.

"Sometimes it's a little bit ironic that the beacon of democracy in the world, which is the United States, is fighting for equality and fighting for democracy and yet you get it in your own backyard -- the oldest colony, with more than 120 years without allowing Puerto Ricans to vote for president, to vote in Congress or to even have federal laws apply equally to American citizens on the island," said González, who was reelected as commissioner last Tuesday.

The resident commissioner is Puerto Rico's sole representative in Congress, but does not have a vote.

In the 2012 and 2017 referendums, statehood prevailed. But the legitimacy of the results were questioned due to the confusing configuration of the status question and voter turnout.

The Republican commissioner said she is ready to take this year's referendum results to Congress.

"We're gonna push for this now, but we're gonna push for this in January, as well. ... It doesn't matter who is the president-elect," Gonzalez told ABC News on Wednesday. "We're gonna move with Republicans and Democrats as well, because it's a bipartisan issue in law."

The commissioner, who actively supported Donald Trump for reelection, recently reacted on Twitter to Joe Biden's victory as President Elect of the United States saying that she is ready to work with him and "find common goals & reach bipartisan solutions" for Puerto Rico.

Although González said she is ready to start working with Congress to push statehood forward, Ramos Vargas is sure Congress will not act on this referendum.

"Congress is just looking for any pretext not to have to take up the question of the status for Puerto Rico," said political scientist and researcher Carlos Vargas Rsamos.

Aside from being a nonbinding referendum, Ramos said voter turnout in this referendum could still be an issue for Congress.

As of September 2020, there were around 2.3 million eligible voters on the island, according to the election commission's website. From those eligible voters, nearly 1.2 million people answered the statehood plebiscite.

"It's gonna be difficult for advocates of statehood to argue that this is a clear mandate to push for statehood, particularly when you have a Congress that is reluctant to take up the question," added Vargas Ramos.

Democratic New York Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez recently raised the issue of Puerto Rican statehood in Congress. In August 2020, the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act 2020 was introduced in the House of Representatives.

This bill would allow Puerto Ricans to "exercise their natural right to self-determination" through a status convention created by the island's legislature and with delegates chosen by residents.

Some Puerto Ricans believe that becoming a state should be the No. 1 priority on island politicians' agenda. But it's still an open debate as Puerto Rico grapples with several internal issues: the recovery from Hurricane Maria, devastating earthquakes on the island's southern coast and the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have to solve our internal issues first," said 26-year-old voter Natasha Doble, who was driven to the polls not for the referendum, but looking for a change at a local level. "This referendum is not valid. ... It doesn't matter if we vote it's not going to be taken into consideration."

While the final decision of adding Puerto Rico as a state resides in Congress, Ramos Vargas said that until there is clear proof that a vast majority supports statehood it is unlikely there will be a change.

"Because there hasn't been a conclusive plebiscite in Puerto Rico, that indicates convincingly that Puerto Ricans favor one option over another, the Congress of the United States can continue kicking the can down the road," Vargas Ramos said.

Pedro Pierluisi wins gubernatorial race in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico’s 

pro-statehood New Progressive Party won a majority of votes to become the U.S. territory’s next governor, according to official preliminary results released late Saturday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Pierluisi received nearly 33% of votes compared with nearly 32% obtained by Carlos Delgado of the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the current territorial status, with 100% of precincts reporting.

The results come four days after Puerto Rico held general elections, an unusual delay blamed on a record number of early and absentee votes that overwhelmed officials. It's also the first time that Puerto Rico's two main parties fail to reach 40% of votes.

“These are times to unite wills and purposes,” Pierluisi said in a statement.

Pierluisi had claimed victory the night of the election as Delgado refused to concede, noting that his opponent was leading by a very slim margin and that thousands of votes still had not been counted.

On Saturday, he congratulated Pierluisi: “The island needs consensus, dialogue and convergence so that we can face the great challenges of the future.”

Saturday's results were released hours after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden won the election in the U.S. mainland, a victory that Pierluisi said would help Puerto Rico finally gain statehood. He congratulated Biden and said he looked forward to working with him and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris “for the benefit of all Puerto Ricans in their fight for progress and equality.”

Voters in Puerto Rico participated in a non-binding referendum the day of the local general election that asked, “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the union as a state?” More than 52% of voters approved, but any changes to the island’s political status needs approval from U.S. Congress. It is the island's sixth such referendum.

Biden has promised to work with local government officials who support a variety of political status for Puerto Rico to “initiate a just and binding process” for the island to determine its own status.

Biden also promised to fight against austerity measures sought by a federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances amid an economic crisis; accelerate the disbursement of federal funds for hurricane and earthquake reconstruction; and push for equal funding of Medicaid, Medicare and Supplemental Security Income, since Puerto Rico receives less than U.S. states.

Other results released late Saturday included those of a tight race for the mayor of Puerto Rico's capital. New Progressive Miguel Romero received more than 36% of votes, compared with more than 34% obtained by third-party candidate Manuel Natal of the Citizen Victory Movement. Natal rejected the results and said not all votes have been counted.

DáNica Coto, The Associated Press

Protect BAME people hit financially by Covid, says UK thinktank

Haroon Siddique 

A leading race equality thinktank has called on the government to do more to protect black, Asian and ethnic minority communities, after a poll added to the growing well of data suggesting their finances have suffered more than those of white Britons due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The poll from YouGov found that BAME people are about a third more likely than the white British population to say that their finances have suffered as a result of Covid.

BAME respondents to the survey were more likely than white people to say they had been negatively affected with respect to every financial metric they were asked about. While 45% of people from BAME communities said their personal finances had suffered as a result of the pandemic, the figure among white respondents was 34%.

© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

 The YouGov poll found that BAME respondents were more likely than white people to say they had been negatively affected in every financial metric they were asked about.

BAME people were also more likely to be worried about their job security (54% against 47%) and prospects for career progression (56% against 45%).

Alba Kapoor, policy Officer for the Runnymede Trust, said: “This data is yet more evidence that black, Asian and ethnic minority communities are being left defenceless whilst bearing the brunt of Covid-19.

“We already know that black, Asian and ethnic minority people are more likely to work in low-paid, precarious jobs and to live in poverty. It is extremely alarming to see how the pandemic is worsening these pre-existing inequalities.

“The government can’t turn a blind eye on this any longer. We urgently need more to protect black, Asian and ethnic minority communities, who face profound financial uncertainty during this time.”

The poll of 2,665 people (including 519 BAME) adds to a substantial body of evidence that people from ethnic minorities are being hit disproportionately hard economically by the pandemic. Several studies have shown different ethnicities to be more at risk of contracting and dying from coronavirus than the white British population. An Office for National Statistics analysis published last month linked the greater risk of death to socioeconomic factors, including occupations.

Kapoor added: “The Runnymede Trust is clear that immediate action must be taken to strengthen the social security safety net and increase statutory sickness pay, as well as to address the underlying economic injustices in our society.”

Analysis by the Guardian has previously found that BAME workers are overrepresented in the sectors hit worst by the economic crisis caused by Covid. Research by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, published in June, showed that ethnic minority workers who had seen a drop in their hours during the pandemic were more likely than their white counterparts to have lost their jobs as opposed to being furloughed.

The YouGov poll showed people from BAME backgrounds were more likely to be concerned about being able to cope with unexpected expenses such as the boiler breaking down (43% to 34%), affording rent and mortgage payments (29% to 17%), finding the money for council tax (29% against 17%) and bills (28% against 19%).

Additionally, 28% of people from BAME communities feared not being able to afford food and clothes, compared with 21% of white people.

Matt Palframan, director of financial services research at YouGov said: “While the pandemic has created uncertainty for so many, our data suggests that there are some groups who are feeling the impact more than others.”

A Treasury spokesperson said: “We’re doing everything we can to ensure our coronavirus support reaches those who need it the most, across all backgrounds.

“We have extended our financial support across the UK to help millions of people continue to provide for their families, and to provide certainty and stability to businesses through the winter.”

Thai police use water cannon to stop pro-democracy march to palace

AFP 

Thai police on Sunday fired water cannon on pro-democracy protesters who were trying to march to the royal palace to deliver letters demanding reform to the unassailable monarchy.

© Mladen ANTONOV Sunday's confrontation was the second time Thai police have used water cannon against protesters

Student-led rallies have rocked the kingdom since July, with protesters calling for the removal of Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha -- a former army chief who came into power through a 2014 coup -- and a rewrite to the military-scripted constitution.

© Jack TAYLOR Pro-democracy protests have rocked Thailand since July

The boldest in the leaderless movement have also demanded reforms to the monarchy -- a once-taboo issue -- sending shockwaves through Thailand's arch-royalist establishment.

On Sunday, nearly 7,000 protesters -- a police estimate -- attempted to march from Bangkok's historic Democracy Monument to the Grand Palace to deliver letters to King Maha Vajiralongkorn, with security forces calling for them to stop.

As the marchers got closer, police briefly fired water cannon at them. The protesters reacted angrily, shouting: "Why did you use the water cannons against us?"

Authorities had warned earlier in the day that protesters were banned from breaching a 150-metre radius around the palace, and some 9,000 officials were deployed.

Police defended their brief use of water cannon late Sunday night, saying it was just "a warning".

"Authorities had no intention to cause any harm," deputy police spokesman Colonel Kissana Phathanacharoen said in a press briefing, adding that only "clean water" was used.

Sunday's confrontation was the second time police have deployed water cannon against protesters.

Last month, a peaceful rally in downtown Bangkok saw protesters blasted with chemical-laced liquid as police bore down -- images that shocked many in Thailand.

Since then, demonstrators have appeared prepared for any retaliation from authorities, bringing along umbrellas, goggles, and even hard hats.

The movement has also borrowed tactics from Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters, who shared tips on Twitter using trending hashtags on how to react to police crackdowns.

The youth-led movement's direct challenge to the monarchy is unprecedented in Thailand, where King Maha Vajiralongkorn sits at the apex of power supported by a coup-happy military and its billionaire clans.

Among the students' demands are the abolition of a royal defamation law -- which shields the monarch from criticism -- a clear accounting of the palace's finances, and for the king to "stay out" of Thailand's turbulent politics.

The king last week addressed a reporter's question on the non-stop protests across the capital, declaring "love" for all Thais and saying that "Thailand is the land of compromise".

But a protest leader Sunday said the use of water cannon on marchers was not acceptable.

"We came to submit our letters," Jutatip Sirikhan told reporters after the confrontation.

"No matter what, we will not step back," she said as protesters chanted "slaves to dictatorship" at security forces who watched on.

Organisers had brought along crimson-coloured homemade mailboxes -- with the words "Royal Household Bureau" emblazoned across them -- for protesters to submit their letters to the king.

Police allowed them to leave the mailboxes outside the Supreme Court, and most protesters dispersed around 9 pm (1400 GMT).

Before the march to the palace, the rally at the Democracy Monument was peaceful with protesters chanting "Prayut, get out" and holding up a three-finger salute -- a symbol of the movement.

They also threw flowers into a makeshift cardboard coffin carrying a life-sized mannequin with Prayut's face. Some scrawled messages on it, including "go to hell".

Earlier Sunday, prominent pro-democracy figures called on the king to listen to the protesters.

"We hope you will change your behaviour once and for all and become a King of all people," wrote lawyer Anon Numpa, one of the most recognisable faces in the movement.

"I hope Your Majesty will open your mind and reach out to dialogue with us to solve the crises together."

The unprecedented demands to Thailand's ultra-wealthy monarch have infuriated pro-royalist groups, and they have retaliated with counter-rallies.

On Sunday, a smaller group of the king's supporters came out to the Democracy Monument holding portraits of King Vajiralongkorn, but they left after they were outnumbered by the protesters.

bur-dhc/qan

EASTERN EUROPE
Georgian police fire water cannon at protesters who claim polls were rigged

By Margarita Antidze 

© Reuters/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE 

Opposition supporters protest against results of a parliamentary election

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian police fired water cannon and tear gas against hundreds of protesters outside the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Sunday to support a call by opposition parties for a rerun of Oct. 31 parliamentary elections which they say were rigged.

© Reuters/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE 

Opposition supporters protest against results of a parliamentary election

Small groups of protesters started throwing stones at the police. The demonstrators had moved to the CEC building from the capital's main Rustaveli avenue, where thousands of people held a peaceful rally.

Police said that protesters tried to storm the CEC building.

"As the protesters used violent methods and did not obey the instructions of the police, the Interior Ministry used proportional force within its powers," the ministry said in a statement.

The opposition is demanding the resignation of the CEC chief, Tamar Zhvania, and the calling of fresh elections.

According to official results, the ruling Georgian Dream party won 48.23% of the vote, with the largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), taking 27.18%.

After the result gave the ruling party the right to form a government, eight opposition parties, including the UNM, said they would boycott parliament.

The opposition accuses the ruling party and its supporters of vote buying, making threats against voters and observers and of violations during the counting process. Georgian Dream leaders have denied the accusations.

Protesters moved to the CEC building after the 8 p.m. deadline to dismiss the electoral commission head and to start talks on a fresh vote passed without a response from the government.

The economy of the South Caucasus country has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. The government said on Saturday it would impose an overnight curfew from Monday between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in the largest cities due to a sharp rise in cases since early September.

(Reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Mike Harrison and Nick Macfie)