BERLIN: Germany has agreed to officially recognize the colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of people in Namibia as genocide and to spend a total of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), largely on development projects.
The accord with Namibia announced Friday is the result of more than five years of talks on the events of 1904-1908, when Germany was the southern African country’s colonial ruler.
Historians say German Gen. Lothar von Trotha, who was sent to what was then German South West Africa to put down an uprising by the Herero people in 1904, instructed his troops to wipe out the entire tribe. They say that about 65,000 Herero were killed and at least 10,000 Nama.
“In the light of Germany’s historical and moral responsibility, we will ask Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement.
“Our aim was and is to find a joint path to genuine reconciliation in remembrance of the victims,” he said. “That includes our naming the events of the German colonial era in today’s Namibia, and particularly the atrocities between 1904 and 1908, unsparingly and without euphemisms.”
“We will now officially call these events what they were from today’s perspective: a genocide.”
Germany says that representatives of the Herero and Nama were involved in the negotiations, though Berlin’s direct dealings have been with the Namibian government.
Talks between Germany and Namibia opened in 2015, more than a decade after a 2004 visit to Namibia in which then-Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul offered Germany’s first apology for the killings, which she said were “what today would be labeled as genocide.”
Maas said that “as a gesture of recognition of the incalculable suffering,” Germany plans to support Namibia and the descendants of the victims with a 1.1 billion-euro “rebuilding and development” program in whose design and implementation “the communities affected by the genocide will take a decisive role.”
At the same time, he said that “legal claims to compensation cannot be derived from this.”
That reflects Germany’s position that the Genocide Convention of 1948 cannot be applied retroactively, and that its liability is political and moral rather than legal.
The projects Germany agreed to fund are expected to stretch over a 30-year period and will cover areas such as land reform, including land purchases, agriculture, rural infrastructure, water supply and vocational training. They will be separate from continuing development aid to Namibia.
The two countries’ foreign ministers are expected to sign the agreement, but there was no immediate announcement of when that will happen.
“We are thankful that these long-running negotiations on how to deal with this dark chapter of our joint history could be brought to a good conclusion for both sides,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin.
Germany gained control of the desert country in the 1880s and surrendered the territory to South Africa in 1915. Namibia gained independence in 1990.
In 2018, Germany returned more than a dozen skulls and other human remains taken from Namibia by colonial forces over a century earlier for pseudo-scientific racial experiments. They had been stored in German hospitals, museums and universities for decades.
Germany recognizes colonial killings in Namibia as genocide
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Germany recognizes colonial killings in Namibia as genocide
- German FM Heiko Maas: In the light of Germany’s historical and moral responsibility, we will ask Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness
- Germany gained control of the desert country in the 1880s and surrendered the territory to South Africa in 1915 — Namibia gained independence in 1990
France to ban smoking outdoors in most places: minister
The freedom to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts“
PARIS: France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, like beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister said in an interview published on Thursday.
“Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” Catherine Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France daily on its website.
The freedom to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts,” she said.
The restrictions will enter into force on July 1 and will include all places where children could be, such as “beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues,” she said.
Violators could be fined up to 135 euros ($154), she said.
Cafe terraces will be excluded from the ban, which will also not extend to electronic cigarettes, she said.
Some 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.
According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62 percent) favor banning smoking in public places.
Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas
- China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the US
- This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University
HONG KONG: Chinese students studying in the US are scrambling to figure out their futures after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that some students would have their visas revoked.
The US will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields,” and “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party,” according to the announcement.
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the US
This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University, who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation. He was referring to a 19th-century law that prohibited Chinese from immigrating to the US and banned Chinese people already in the US from getting citizenship. He said Wednesday was the first time he thought about leaving the US after spending one third of his life here.
Chinese international students are point of tension between US and China
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, called the US decision unreasonable.
“Such a politicized and discriminatory action lays bare the US lie that it upholds the so-called freedom and openness,” she said Thursday, adding that China has lodged a protest with the US
The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the bilateral relationship. During Trump’s first term, in 2019, China’s Ministry of Education warned students about visa issues in the US, with rising rejection rates and shortening of visas.
Last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry protested that a number of Chinese students have been unfairly interrogated and sent home upon arrival at US airports.
Chinese state media has long hyped gun violence in the US and violent protests during the pandemic, and portrayed the US as a dangerous place that wasn’t safe for its citizens. The tense bilateral relationship has also meant that some Chinese students are opting to study in the UK or other countries over the US after the pandemic.
Zou Renge, a 27-year-old public policy master’s student at the University of Chicago, said she had planned to take some time off and work in humanitarian aid programs abroad after graduating at the end of this year.
But now, she will refrain from leaving the US and will look for jobs in the meantime. “In a very uncertain environment, I’ll try my best to find myself a solution,” she said.
Hong Kong seeks to draw in talent amid uncertainty
Some were eager to capitalize on the uncertainty facing international students in the US Hong Kong’s leader John Lee told lawmakers on Thursday that the city would welcome any students who have been discriminated against by American policies to study in the city.
“The students who face unfair treatment can come from different countries beyond the US I think this is an opportunity for Hong Kong,” he said. “We will work with our universities to provide the best support and assistance.”
That followed a widely shared post by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) inviting Harvard students to “continue their academic pursuits” there after Trump said he would revoke the university’s ability to accept international students.
Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, is a popular destination for mainland Chinese students to pursue their university degrees because of its international image and relative freedoms.
The city launched a new visa scheme in 2022 to counter the exodus of expatriates and local professionals that occurred after Beijing imposed a national security law to quell dissent and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multiple Hong Kong universities including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKUST, and City University of Hong Kong said they would streamline or facilitate applications for international students coming from top universities in the US
Will Kwong, managing director at Hong Kong’s AAS Education Consultancy, said his company was helping students with offers from American universities to apply to other institutions, predominantly in Britain and Australia, so that they had alternative choices.
US was known for diversity and this will hurt it, students say
“Having fewer international exchanges is definitely not good for America’s development,” said Zhang Qi, a postdoctoral fellow in Beijing. “This could be a positive change for China’s development. More talented individuals may choose to stay at Tsinghua or Peking University, or with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other top institutions in China, which would benefit the development of domestic science and technology.”
For many, there is little they can do as they now wait for the fallout from the move.
Chen, an incoming Chinese student at Purdue University who only gave his last name out of concern for retaliation by the Trump administration, has been waiting anxiously for his visa approval. But he was also angry. Currently in China, he said this was the exact opposite of what he thought the US stood for.
“I was expecting freedom and tolerance. The US was known for its diversity which allows international students to fit in, but it is a pity to see such kind of change,” he said.
Russia says no response from Ukraine on Istanbul talks
- Moscow has shown no signs of easing its bombardment of Ukraine while rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire
- “We need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” Peskov said
MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday said it was still waiting for Ukraine to say whether it would attend peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, after Kyiv demanded Moscow send its peace terms before agreeing to the meeting.
Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have gained pace in recent months, but Moscow has shown no signs of easing its bombardment of Ukraine while rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Moscow has offered to hold a second round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, where it wants to present a so-called “memorandum” outlining its conditions for a long-term peace settlement.
But Ukraine said the meeting would not yield results unless it saw a copy of the memorandum in advance, a proposal that the Kremlin dismissed.
“As far as I know, no response has been received yet... we need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, calling Kyiv’s demand that Russia provide peace conditions up front as “non-constructive.”
Ukraine said it had already submitted its peace terms to Russia and demanded Moscow do the same.
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Russia and Ukraine not to “shut the door” on dialogue ahead of the anticipated meeting in Istanbul.
The warring sides previously met in Istanbul on May 16, their first direct talks in over three years.
Those talks failed to yield a breakthrough, but the two sides did agree to trade 1,000 prisoners each — their biggest POW swap since the beginning of the conflict.
Erdogan’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, was expected to travel to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
US President Donald Trump, who has been pushing for a peace deal, has become increasingly frustrated with Moscow’s apparent stalling and warned Wednesday he would determine within “about two weeks” whether Putin was serious about ending the fighting.
Moscow’s offensive, launched in February 2022, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukraine on Thursday criticized Russia’s refusal to provide the memorandum.
“The Russians’ fear of sending their memorandum to Ukraine suggests that it is likely filled with unrealistic ultimatums,” foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said.
The Kremlin has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year while pushing its demands for peace, which include Ukraine abandoning its NATO ambitions and ceding territory it already controls.
Local authorities in Ukraine said Thursday that Russia had fired 90 drones overnight, killing at
least five people across the country.
In southern Ukraine, a drone strike killed two civilians in the Kherson region, while a ballistic missile attack claimed the life of a farm worker in the Mykolaiv region.
In the eastern Donetsk region, shelling killed one civilian, according to a 24-hour tally from the National Police.
A 68-year-old man was killed by a drone strike on his home in the northeastern Sumy region, which borders Russia.
In his comments on Wednesday, Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed” at Russia’s deadly bombardment during the negotiating process, but rebuffed calls to impose more sanctions on Moscow.
Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately stalling the peace process to pursue its offensive.
Zelensky said Russia was “amassing” more than 50,000 troops on the front line around Sumy, where Moscow’s army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Putin has called a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.
On Thursday, the Russian army said it captured three villages in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and had repelled 48 Ukrainian drones, including three over the Moscow region.
A retired Russian commander who led air strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol died in a blast early Thursday in Stavropol in southern Russia, authorities said, adding that they did not rule out Ukrainian involvement.
US signals it may use administrative process against Harvard
- Harvard has 30 days to respond
- The notice came ahead of a scheduled court hearing
NEW YORK: The Trump administration signaled on Thursday it might back off plans to immediately revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students because of several concerns, including its alleged failure to police antisemitism on campus, and would instead employ a lengthier administrative process.
According to a court filing, the US Department of Homeland Security sent Harvard a notice of intent on Wednesday to withdraw the university’s certification under the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Harvard has 30 days to respond.
The notice came ahead of a scheduled court hearing on whether to extend a temporary ban on the revocation announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration last week.
Pope Leo XIV visits Vatican’s hilltop summer residence that Francis turned into museum
- The center is located in the gardens of the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo property on Lake Alban
- Pope Urban VIII built the palace on the northern end of town in 1624
ROME: Pope Leo XIV visited the papal summer palace south of Rome on Thursday as questions swirled whether he will use it himself to escape the heat or follow in Pope Francis’ footsteps and keep the hilltop estate as a museum and environmental center.
Leo paid a visit to the Borgo Laudato Si, an educational sustainability project that grew out of Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be,” the Vatican said. The center is located in the gardens of the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo property on Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome.
Pope Urban VIII built the palace on the northern end of town in 1624, to give popes an escape from the sweltering Roman summers. It was enlarged over succeeding pontificates to its present size of 55 hectares (136 acres), which is actually bigger than Vatican City itself.
Popes past used it regularly in summer, and Pope Benedict XVI famously closed out his papacy in the estate on Feb. 28, 2013. But Francis, a homebody who never took a proper vacation during his 12-year pontificate, decided to remain in Rome in summer.
In 2014 he decided to open Castel Gandolfo’s gardens to the public, and later turned part of the palazzo itself into a museum, in part to help offset the economic downturn the town experienced with no popes holding weekly Sunday prayers there in summer.
Leo, a former missionary priest who spent the bulk of his priesthood in Peru, hasn’t said where he will live full-time in Rome, much less whether he will use the palace as a summer getaway.
The sustainability project, which is open to the public, has taken over operations of the working farm in the gardens of the estate, which includes 20 hectares (50 acres) of agricultural and farming land, greenhouses and service buildings.
The farm, which provides dairy and fresh produce to the Vatican, aims to create a “circular economy” in keeping with the call of Francis’ encyclical to better care for God’s creation.
