(LAKE FURNAS, Brazil) — At least five people are dead and as many as 20 are missing after a slab of a cliff broke off Saturday afternoon and crashed down onto three tourists boats in a lake, officials said.
The incident took place at Lake Furnas, a popular tourist spot roughly 260 miles north of Sao Paulo, around 12:30 p.m., according to the Minas Gerais state fire department. The Brazilian Navy and local firefighters were deployed to the scene to help the victims.
Five people were killed, 32 people were hospitalized and 20 people were missing, as of Saturday evening, the fire department told ABC News. Six victims were taken to the hospital in serious condition, officials said.
The fire department told ABC News that 23 of the hospitalized victims could be released soon.
Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais, tweeted updates on the incident during the afternoon and said heavy rains were a factor in the cliff collapse. The rescue efforts were ongoing, Zema tweeted.
“I sympathize with the families during this difficult time,” he tweeted in Portuguese.
The Brazilian Navy is overseeing the investigation into what caused the collapse, according to authorities.
(ALMATY, Kazakhstan) — There are signs Kazakhstan’s president is slowly regaining control in the country, following a bloody clampdown by security forces to end days of mass protests and after Russian-led troops arrived to support the government.
For the second day in a row, Kazakhstan’s biggest city Almaty was eerily quiet and under heavy military control, according to an ABC News reporter there. The city, the former capital, was the epicenter of the protests this week, where mobs stormed key government buildings and overran the airport. But under cover of an internet blackout, security forces using live fire have cleared the streets over the past three days in clashes that have left dozens killed, according to the government.
The streets were mostly deserted on Saturday, but the occasional sound of gunshots could be heard. It was not clear, but some of the shots appeared to be warning shots fired by troops, directing people not to approach police cordons, according to the ABC News reporter, who is not being named for safety reasons. The main square, the key protest site, was occupied by security forces and blocked off with armored vehicles.
A curfew is in effect in the evening and authorities have told people to remain indoors. Military units have set up checkpoints and are controlling access to the city. Most shops are closed and people are struggling to find basic groceries, except for bread that is still being delivered, according to ABC’s reporter. The city center is wrecked, many shops looted and the roads are strewn with burnt-out cars. Several journalists on the ground have reported seeing corpses lying in the street.
The protests began a week ago, triggered by a rise in gas prices, but quickly spread and developed into the biggest uprising against Kazakhstan’s authoritarian government since it gained independence following the fall of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday appealed to Russia for help, asking a Moscow-led military alliance of former Soviet countries to send troops. A few thousand Russian paratrooper units have since arrived in the country, along with several hundred from Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
The internet blackout in the country made it difficult to get a clear picture of the situation in other cities on Saturday, but there were signs protests had faded. Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said police now have “full control” over Aktob, a city that saw major protests. In Aktau, another protest center, a Russian-state news reporter showed police removing a small number of protesters from the central square.
Security forces were engaged in a gun battle for several hours near a village on the outskirts of Almaty, according to a reporter from the Russian state news agency, Sputnik.
Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said police have arrested over 4,400 people during the protests. At least 26 protesters and 18 security forces personnel have been killed, and hundreds of people injured in the unrest, according to the authorities.
Tokyaev on Saturday spoke to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, telling him the situation was “stabilizing” but that “hotspots of terrorism” remained and that he would fight them “with the utmost determination,” according to a readout from Kazakhstan’s president’s office.
Tokayev and the Kremlin have claimed the unrest was carried out by “foreign terrorist” groups. In many places the protests have been largely peaceful, though in Almaty they were overtaken by intense violence, with mobs of men ransacking government buildings and there was widespread looting. Men armed with assault rifles, seemingly organized, have been seen and appear to have fought with the security forces. But peaceful demonstrations appear to continue in the city — as troops advanced on the square on Wednesday, a group of young people stood holding a banner reading, “We are not terrorists.”
Kazakhstan’s security services on Saturday also arrested the former head of the country’s domestic security agency, Karim Masimov, on charges of treason, in a surprise move that fueled speculation in Kazakhstan that an internal struggle has also been going on among the elite during the protests.
Masimov had headed the powerful KNB security service until he was removed this week by Tokayev, when the president dismissed his government as a concession to the protests.
A statement published on the security agency’s website, said Masimov and other unnamed individuals, were suspected of “state treason” and that he has been held in a detention center for the past two days. The charge against him carries a maximum sentence of 15 years prison.
Masimov was a key ally of Kazakhstan’s long-time ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev, the ex-Communist party boss who has dominated the country for three decades.
Nazarbayev, who is 81, in 2019 passed the presidency to Tokayev, but had retained considerable power behind the scenes as chairman of the national security council and has the honorary title “leader of the nation.”
This week, amid the unrest, Tokayev announced he was replacing Nazarbayev as chairman of the security council, a move seen as signaling an end to Nazarbayev’s power.
Nazarbayev’s removal now combined with the arrest of his key ally in Tokayev’s government has prompted some to claim Tokayev is using the upheaval to put an end to his former patron’s influence in the government and cement his own.
Nazarbayev’s whereabouts — as has not been seen in public since the protests began — have become a subject of interest among Kazakhstanis. Nazarbayev’s spokesperson on Saturday denied multiple reports that Nazarbayev had left Kazakhstan with his daughter. The spokesperson said Nazarbayev was in the capital Nur-Sultan — named after him — and was in regular contact with Tokayev.
A journalist working with ABC News contributed to this report from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
(LONDON) — Duchess Kate is starting 2022 with a milestone birthday.
The Duchess of Cambridge turns 40 on Jan. 9, a birthday she is expected to celebrate privately with her family.
Kate, the wife of Prince William and a mother of three, appears to be starting her new decade with a renewed focus on her royal role.
In the nearly 11 years since she wed Prince William at Westminster Abbey, she has become one of the most popular members of Britain’s royal family.
And in recent years, Kate has taken on an increasingly high-profile role in the royal family amid family changes.
At age 95, Queen Elizabeth II has scaled back her public engagements, particularly since a brief hospitalization in October. And Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s decision to step back as senior working royals has left William and Kate, now the only working royals of their generation, to pick up more duties.
The growing public profile has been a “significant transformation” for Kate, who was thrust into the public spotlight when she started dating William while in college, according to ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy.
“I think her desire to do a good job, be liked by the public and respected by the family was palpable in the beginning, and she was clearly very nervous when the spotlight was on her over public speaking,” said Murphy. “She built up her workload very gradually, taking on only a small number of patronages initially and taking time before making solo appearances and speeches.”
“But over the years, Kate has grown hugely in confidence, and is now a driving force behind how she and William work and the causes they take on,” she said.
It was Kate, for example, who had the idea to focus on mental health as a cause, according to Murphy, resulting in the very successful Heads Together campaign that launched in 2016 and continues to be a focus of William and Kate’s work to this day.
As the Cambridges prepare to one day become king and queen consort, Murphy says the public can expect to see Kate grow even more in her role as she zeroes in on causes close to her heart.
“I’ve always thought that Kate is a team player, cool-headed and a good listener, and that these things have stood her in good stead over the year,” said Murphy. “I think she also very much has the ability to compartmentalize, as it has been said the queen does, which is an important quality in handling the pressures of the public role.”
Since becoming a mom eight years ago, Kate has focused much of her attention on supporting new parents and young children.
In early 2020, just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Kate launched a nationwide survey to explore what people in the U.K. think about raising children, with a focus on kids under age 5.
Then in June of last year, the duchess launched the Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood, which she said is designed to “raise awareness of why the first five years of life are just so important for our future life outcomes, and what we can do as a society to embrace this golden opportunity to create a happier, more mentally healthy, more nurturing society.”
At the same time, Kate and the Royal Foundation, William and Kate’s charitable arm, released “Big Change Starts Small,” a research report on early childhood development.
Kate has also focused much of her work on making sure the outdoors are included in kids’ early development. She helped design a “Back to Nature” garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2019, and the next year was named joint president of the U.K. Scout Association, marking the first time a royal woman has held the title of president or joint president of the Scouts.
“I think what has changed in the last few years is that it has become really clear what Kate’s main areas of work are in a way that feels much more focused and immersive,” said Murphy. “She has always been interested in the outdoors and in young people, but the fact that she is making those areas cornerstones of her work have become a lot more obvious.”
Murphy said Kate’s commitment to the cause of early childhood education is particularly striking, noting, “It’s a challenging and very broad area but she has shown a real and serious commitment to it over a long period of time that I think has earned her a lot of respect from people who work in this field.”
During the pandemic, Kate offered support for parents and students and teachers, and spoke about the experience of quarantining with and leading virtual learning for her own children, Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3.
The glimpse Kate provided into her and William’s home life is just one example of how the duchess’ growing confidence has allowed her to be more at ease, according to Murphy.
Kate and William launched a YouTube channel last year, where they share more behind-the-scenes content. And in 2020, Kate gave a rare interview to a motherhood-focused podcast, where she opened up about experiencing mom guilt.
“The [podcast] was a brave move because it could have backfired if people had been critical of the fact she has access to a lot more help than most,” said Murphy. “But it ended up being one of the best things she could have done because it really made it clear how hands-on a mother she is and the relatable way she is raising her three children.”
Kate has also been more public in recent years about her own passions, whether that is participating in sports, like the tennis game that Kate, an avid fan, played with U.S. Open winner Emma Raducanu last year, or photography.
Kate, a college art major who is often the photographer behind family photos shared with the public, last year launched a photography project, “Hold Still,” to capture life during the coronavirus pandemic.
The photographs were compiled in a book in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, of which Kate is a patron.
More recently, in December, Kate hosted her first Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey, honoring people and organizations who supported their communities during the pandemic.
During the concert, Kate delivered a surprise performance, showing off one of her unknown passions, piano playing, when she accompanied singer Tom Walker.
“These things show a willingness to put herself out there and to let us see more of who she is and what she enjoys,” said Murphy.
And while Kate seems to be most in her element when outdoors or with kids, she is also happy to embrace the “glamorous side of royal life,” according to Murphy.
She stunned in a gold evening gown at the world premiere of the latest James Bond movie in September, and won praise the next month for wearing a recycled Alexander McQueen gown at the inaugural Earthshot Prize Awards.
“Over the years there has been much excitement when she has worn tiaras from the queen’s collection,” said Murphy. “And even a decade into her public role, she still easily commands all the front pages whenever she makes a red carpet appearance.”
(MOSCOW) — Russian paratroopers have arrived in Kazakhstan to help its government end mass protests that are gripping the former Soviet country.
The Russian troops are deploying to Kazakhstan as part of a joint force from a Russian-led military alliance of several former Soviet countries, after Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jopart Tokayev appealed late Wednesday it for help in supressing the protests. The unrest was triggered by a hike in fuel prices, but has escalated into an unprecedented uprising against Kazakhstan’s authoritarian regime, with thousands of people storming government building across the country, including the largest city, Almaty.
The Russian-led alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), has said the force is part of a “peacekeeping” mission to help Kazakhstan’s government restore order. The Russian paratroopers landed Wednesday morning close to Almaty and would begin completing tasks immediately, the alliance told Russian news agencies. Contingents from Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will also deploy, according to the alliance.
The Russian troops arrived as Kazakhstan’s security forces moved to try to regain control in Almaty, the former capital where protesters yesterday stormed and set fire to key government buildings and overran the airport. Local police said overnight they had killed dozens of protesters in the city, accusing them of attacking government and police buildings.
Video published by the Russian news agency TASS showed Kazakhstan government soldiers advancing in a line and firing at protesters in Almaty. That shooting took place at the main square in front of Almaty’s mayor’s office, according to the agency, that was the center of the protests on Wednesday and was gutted by fire after a crowd stormed it. Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said Thursday that police had now arrested 2,000 people during raids in Almaty and that officers were now moving “to clear” two main streets.
Almaty’s police department said 8 police and security personnel were killed and 353 injured during Wednesday’s protests.
President Tokayev has vowed to use force to put an end to the protests, after concessions earlier Wednesday, including dismissing his government and reversing the fuel price rise, failed to quell them. Tokayev claimed the protests were being led by foreign terrorists groups, using the claim to justify his call for the Russian-led alliance to send troops.
It was not clear how many Russian troops were being sent, though the force appeared to be relatively small. Tajikistan has said it will send 200 soldiers, Belarus 500 and Armenia around 70.
It was unclear whether the Russian troops would take part directly in operations against the protesters, which could see them fire on Kazakh civilians, an inflammatory scenario Moscow likely wants to avoid. The CSTO alliance said the “peacekeeping” force’s main tasks would be “to secure important state and military facilities” and to assist Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies “stabilise the situation.”
An internet blackout made it difficult to access the state of the protests on Thursday, although connection was restored later in the day. In Almaty, the center of the protests, the streets were largely empty and eerily quiet on Thursday, according to an ABC reporter in the city. The reporter said overnight they had heard distant gunshots but that on Thursday there was little sign of protesters in most of the city, as security forces moved to try to clear the central square.
Authorities announced all banks were temporarily closed Thursday due to ongoing “counter-terrorism operations” and because of problems with the internet. In the capital, Nur-Sultan, local residents reported lines for bread and other foods.
Videos posted by local independent media showed crowds of protesters in some cities, including the western oil hub Zhanozen, where the protests over the fuel prices began five days ago.
The protests started there after the price of liquified natural gas used in vehicles almost doubled overnight. But by Tuesday the protests had spread across Kazakhstan and were challenging the regime created by Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former Communist party boss who has dominated the country since it gained independence during the Soviet Union’s fall.
Nazarbayev, who is 81, in 2019 handed power to Tokayev as his handpicked successor, but he retained substantial power behind the scenes by moving to become chair of the national security council and he was granted the honorary title of “leader of the nation.” Under Tokayev, Nazarbayev’s cult of personality has continued, with the capital city, Nur-Sultan, named after him.
Protesters pulled down a statue of Nazarbayev on Wednesday in Taldyrkurgan, the Almaty regional capital. And demonstrators in many places chanted a Kazakh slogan meaning “Go away, old man!”
Tokayev on Wednesday announced he was taking over from Nazarabayev as head of chairman of the security council, in what appeared as a concession to the protests meant to signal a final end to Nazarbayev’s rule. Tokayev himself was named president in an election criticised by international observers as flawed.
Nazarbayev’s regime has been a close ally of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, which considers Kazakhstan a crucial part of Moscow’s sphere of influence. The intervention to help Kazakhstan’s government was the second time in a year and a half, that the Kremlin has had to come to the aid of a former Soviet authoritarian leader in a key neighbor, after mass protests in 2020 threatened to topple Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko.
(WASHINGTON) — With Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy derailed, the United States and Europe have issued a stark warning to the Sudanese military against appointing a new government “without the involvement of a broad range of civilian stakeholders.”
“Unilateral action to appoint a new Prime Minister and Cabinet would undermine those institutions’ credibility and risks plunging the nation into conflict,” Norway, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and the European Union said in a joint statement Tuesday. “In the absence of progress, we would look to accelerate efforts to hold those actors impeding the democratic process accountable.”
Sudan has been seen as a powerful example of democratic hope after a 2019 revolution forced the military’s overthrow of the Islamist regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, an alleged war criminal and former military officer who seized power of the North African nation in 1989. The popular uprising was marked by iconic images of protesters, especially women, going viral on social media and garnering support from celebrities around the world. After al-Bashir was ousted, Sudanese military and civilian leaders came together to form a transitional government and agreed on a 39-month process to return to democratic, civilian rule.
That progress came to a grinding halt on Oct. 25, 2021, when the military took power, dissolved the transitional government and expelled the civilian members. Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was appointed by the transitional government in 2019, was placed under house arrest along with a number of other senior politicians. Mass protests as well as pressure from the international community, including the U.S. government withholding $700 million in economic aid, ushered in a deal that reinstated Hamdok as prime minister on Nov. 21, 2021.
But Hamdok resigned on Sunday, after the military refused to loosen its grip on power.
“I tried as much as I could to avoid our country slipping into a catastrophe, and now our country is going through a dangerous turning point that may threaten its entire survival if it is not remedied soon,” Hamdok said in a televised national address. “The major crisis today in the homeland is primarily a political crisis, but it is gradually changing to include all aspects of economic and social life and is on its way to becoming a comprehensive crisis.”
“The key word towards a solution to this dilemma that has persisted for more than six decades in the history of the country is to rely on dialogue at a round table in which all groups of Sudanese society and the state are represented to agree on a national charter and to draw a roadmap to complete the civil democratic transformation,” he added.
Thousands of pro-democracy protesters have taken to the streets of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and other cities across the country to denounce the military takeover and demand civilian rule. Sudanese security forces have used violent means to disperse protesters, killing at least 57 of them and injuring hundreds of others since October, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has expressed grave concern about reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment against women and girls by Sudanese security forces during protests in December.
The U.S. government has repeatedly called for accountability in the wake of the reported atrocities but has yet to penalize the Sudanese military. When asked why the Sudanese military hasn’t been sanctioned, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Tuesday: “We don’t preview sanctions designations, but we are exploring all available options to support Sudan’s transition.”
However, some analysts argued that now is the time for action, not more warnings and threats.
Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, a think-tank in Washington, D.C., said the U.S. government “must move beyond tired bromides claiming to ‘stand with the people of Sudan’ and unabashedly throw its weight behind the country’s pro-democracy movement in tangible and meaningful ways that will begin to swing the balance of power more in the protesters’ favor.”
“Sudan’s formal transition to democracy is over, even though its revolution lives on in the hearts of millions of peaceful pro-democracy protesters,” Hudson wrote Monday in a post for the Atlantic Council’s blog. “Washington and its international partners have now lost the final pretense of what allowed them — for too long — to frame their engagement in terms of supporting a ‘civilian-led transitional government.'”
“With no political agreement or civilian leader left to undermine, Washington and its allies should now pursue a more hardline approach toward the military that holds it accountable for the October coup and the deadly response to peaceful protests since then,” he added before noting “that should mean sanctions.”
It remains unclear whether freezing the assets of Sudanese military leaders would have any impact, especially since allies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates continue to back them and Sudan previously found a way to manage under nearly 20 years of U.S. sanctions.
Some analysts argued that regional allies have little to gain from an unstable Sudan. Camille Lons, a Bahrain-based research associate for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank in London, said the “spill-over effects — such as economic repercussions, refugee flows, terrorism threats and arms smuggling — are perceived as highly problematic.”
“Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as Egypt, continue to favour the military in Sudan. But that does not mean that they view the coup positively,” Lons wrote in an analysis posted on Nov. 16. “Several Gulf and Egyptian diplomats and officials have privately expressed their surprise and concern over what they see as a reckless move.”
“But as the US shows growing signs of disengagement in the region,” she added, “Arab Gulf countries will increasingly have to take care of their own regional security and stability, albeit with more pragmatism.”
In the absence of assertive pressure from the international community, the situation in Sudan is becoming dark and uncertain. In the war-torn Darfur region, where a genocide sparked global outrage, escalating violence has displaced thousands of people since November. There have also been “alarming reports” of villages being destroyed, sexual violence and livestock rustling, according to the United Nations.
Moreover, Sudan under al-Bashir had concerning ties to terrorism that include giving safe haven to al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden and being implicated in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, for which al-Qaida claimed responsibility. But Hudson said the Sudanese military “appears intent” to keep the country off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. After being added in 1993 over its links to al-Qaida, Sudan was officially removed from the list in 2020.
“The military, for all its faults and abuses, has been a reasonably reliable ally in the fight against terrorism and has its own reasons to be concerned by jihadists taking up residence in Sudan,” Hudson told ABC News on Wednesday.
But diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and others to pressure Sudanese military leadership may be complicated by the departure of a senior U.S. diplomat.
Reuters, citing sources, reported Wednesday that the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, is leaving his post at the end of the month amid the growing chaos in Sudan and neighboring Ethiopia, and that he will be replaced by David Satterfield, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Turkey. The U.S. Department of State declined ABC News’ request for comment.
Hudson told ABC News that Feltman’s departure would not be “particularly surprising, as he was only there as a stopgap to help the administration respond early on to the unfolding crises in Ethiopia and Sudan.”
“Most critical now is that the U.S. maintain a strong and consistent level of diplomatic engagement in the region at this critical moment,” he added, noting that an announcement of a replacement for Feltman would suggest that “this will be the case and should be welcomed.”
(LONDON) — Kazakhstan’s president has appealed to a Russian-led military alliance for help in quelling the mass protests gripping the Central Asian country, promising to use force to put down the unrest.
President Kassym-Jopart Tokayev in a televised speech Wednesday said he had appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a security alliance of former Soviet countries dominated by Russia, to assist Kazakhstan with suppressing the protests which he claimed were being led by foreign terrorists.
The alliance has agreed to send a joint force of “peace-keepers” to Kazakhstan to help restore order, according to Armenia’s prime minister, which is part of the alliance. Prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said the force would deploy to Kazakhstan for a “limited period,” with the goal of “stabilising and normalising the situation in the country.” The CSTO includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan’s two neighbors, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The announcement raises the prospect that foreign and potentially Russian troops may now help violently put down the unprecedented protests that have spread across Kazakhstan. First triggered by anger over a hike in fuel prices, they have escalated into a unprecedented challenge to the authoritarian regime of Nursultan Nazarbayev, that has dominated the former Soviet country for three decades and is a key ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin” target=”_blank”>Vladimir Putin.
Thousands of protesters on Wednesday stormed government buildings in several cities, including the largest city and former capital Almaty. There, protesters broke into the city administration office, set fire to other key buildings, and overran the airport. Security forces trying to violently disperse the crowds there and in several other cities appeared overwhelmed, with videos posted by local media showing protesters forcing military armored vehicles to flee and riding in police vehicles. Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said at least eight police officers had been killed.
Authorities have declared a state of emergency in the country and internet access for the country was shut down on Wednesday.
Tokayev on Wednesday tried to calm the protests with concessions, reversing the fuel price rise, dismissing his cabinet and announcing he would take over from Nazarbayev as head of the national security council. But after the protests continued, late Wednesday Tokayev announced he was now seeking assistance from the Russian military alliance.
Tokayev claimed “international terrorist groups” had seized parts of Almaty, saying that should be considered an “act of aggression” and he was therefore invoking the CSTO’s collective security guarantees.
“Considering the given terrorist groups are in essence international — they’ve undergone serious training abroad — their attack on Kazakhstan can and must be considered as an act of aggression. In connection with that, as set out by the treaty on collective security, I today am appealing to the heads of state of the CSTO for help,” Tokayev said in his speech to officials.
The CSTO alliance also includes Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Tajikistan, but its driving force is Russia. The alliance’s treaty guarantees assistance to members when their security or stability is threatened.
Tokayev made the announcement after calls with Putin and Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko.
After Tokayev spoke, authorities in Almaty said security forces were conducting a “counter-terrorist operation” in the city, warning residents to remain indoors.
Kazakhstan is a major energy exporter and its authoritarian government is an important ally for the Kremlin, which has a stable and productive relationship with Tokayev’s government.
It is the second time in a year and a half that a long-time former Soviet leader of one of Russia’s key neighbors has faced a massive uprising after the failed protests in Belarus year.
Before Tokayev’s request for help on Wednesday, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia believed the crisis could resolved internally and warned others against outside intervention.
Dissatisfaction has been growing in Kazakhstan in recent years over worsening living standards and rising prices, and resentment at corruption among its ruling elite. The coronavirus pandemic has worsened those economic problems. The protests began four days ago in the Western oil region of Mangystau, sparked by a sharp rise in the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) widely used in vehicles. But since Tuesday, unrest has spread across the country and broadened into a movement calling for an end to the regime built around Nazarbayev.
Kazakhstan has been dominated by Nazarbayev since it became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union, thirty years ago. In 2019, the ailing 81-year-old handed the presidency to the younger Tokayev, but Nazarbayev retained power behind the scenes by moving to become chairman of Kazakhstan’s national security council.
Tokayev on Wednesday announced he was now heading the council, in an apparent concession. Tokayev did not mention Nazarbayev by name or refer to him, and it was unclear what it meant for Nazarbayev’s future role in the country.
“And so I, as head of state and from today chairman of the Security Council, am determined to act with maximum harshness,” Tokayev said in the address broadcast on state news channels. “Whatever happens I will stay in the capital,” he said.
(LONDON) — One child died and eight others were injured after a bouncy castle overturned near the Spanish port city of Valencia on Tuesday evening, authorities said.
The accident occurred at a fairground in the town of Mislata, just west of Valencia. Several children became trapped inside a bouncy castle as a gust of wind lifted the inflatable structure into the air, local officials told ABC News.
Two children — an 8-year-old girl and a 4-year-old girl — suffered serious injuries after they were ejected from the overturned castle, local officials said.
Both were rushed to La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital in Valencia. The 8-year-old girl died about 12 hours after she was admitted, a hospital spokesperson told ABC News. The 4-year-old girl remains hospitalized, the spokesperson said. Her condition was unclear.
An investigation into the fatal incident is ongoing, but preliminary evidence did not indicate foul play, according to local officials.
The tragedy in Spain comes less than a month after a similar accident left five children dead in Australia.
(LONDON) — Mass protests have broken out in Kazakhstan, triggered by a sharp rise in fuel prices in the Central Asian country.
Videos posted on social media show thousands of people gathering in cities across the country on Tuesday, in some places clashing violently with police and trying to storm government buildings, as authorities deployed security forces to try to disperse them and a state of emergency was declared in two parts of the country.
The internet was reportedly partially shut down in parts of the country, including in the former capital, Almaty, as Kazakhstan’s president appealed for calm and pledged his “government will not fall.”
The scenes on Tuesday were extraordinary in the repressive former Soviet country, where opposition is tightly controlled. For most of its independent history, Kazakhstan was ruled by the same authoritarian leader.
The protests began three days ago in the western region of Mangystau after the price of liquified natural gas, used in vehicles, roughly doubled overnight. But on Tuesday, the demonstrations swelled, spreading to cities across the country.
The government on Tuesday promised to reverse the fuel price rise, but the protests continued to grow, appearing to escalate Tuesday night as protesters in some cities sought to storm administrative buildings.
In Almaty, videos showed dozens of riot police using tear gas and stun grenades to clear demonstrators who reportedly tried to seize the mayor’s office.
Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency in Almaty and the Mangystau region.
In a video address, Tokayev called for dialogue, saying the government would address the protesters’ legitimate demands but warned it would not fall.
“Calls to attack government and military offices are absolutely illegal,” Tokayev said. “The government will not fall, but we want mutual trust and dialogue rather than conflict.”
He said the government would hold a working meeting Wednesday to discuss the issues raised by the protesters.
Tokayev was hand-picked by Kazakhstan’s long-time ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev to be his successor in 2019, when Nazarbayev stepped aside after ruling the country since it gained independence from the USSR in 1991. Nazarbayev, 81, stood down as president to become chairman of Kazakhstan’s security council but is still believed to have retained significant power.
A major energy exporter, Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest countries and a key neighbor for Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Unrest in the country is likely to alarm the Kremlin, which maintains strong influence in the region.
Large protests are very rare in Kazakhstan, where political opposition is barely tolerated and demonstrations must receive permission from authorities to take place legally.
The western city where the fuel protests were initially focused, the oil hub Zhanaozen, saw Kazakhstan’s last major protests in 2011. Those protests ended then in a massacre when security forces opened fire on demonstrators.
(NEW YORK) — A research station in Antarctica is battling a COVID-19 outbreak despite being located in one of the most remote corners of the world.
Since mid-December, 16 of the 25 workers at Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have tested positive for the virus.
According to the French-language magazine Le Soir, the first positive COVID-19 case was confirmed on Dec. 14 in a worker who had traveled to Antarctica with a group via Belgium and South Africa.
Before arriving in South Africa, the workers were required to have a negative PCR test at least two hours prior to the flight. The employees then had to quarantine in South Africa for 10 days before taking another PCR test.
The group was again tested five days after arriving in Antarctica.
After the first infection was confirmed — seven days following arrival at the station — two more workers from the travel group tested positive.
The three patients were evacuated on Dec. 23, but the virus continued to spread throughout the station, according to Le Soir.
The workers had all been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least one having received a booster shot.
All of the cases have been mild so far, Joseph Cheek, a project manager for the International Polar Foundation, which manages the outpost, told the BBC.
There are two emergency doctors on site with equipment necessary to treat patients if their symptoms become severe.
All of the scientists at the station were given the option to evacuate but they decided to stay to continue their research, according to Cheek.
“While it has been an inconvenience to have to quarantine certain members of the staff who caught the virus, it hasn’t significantly affected our work,” he said.
According to a virologist consulted by the Belgian Polar Secretariat — which manages administrative matters for the Princess Elisabeth station — it is likely that the workers were infected with the omicron variant, which makes up 99% of all COVID cases in South Africa, Le Soir reported.
All new arrivals to the Princess Elisabeth, which is the first zero emission polar station, are suspended until further notice.
The International Polar Foundation did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
This is not the first time that a COVID-19 outbreak has been reported in Antarctica.
In December 2020, Chile announced that 36 cases of the virus had been confirmed at its Bernardo O’Higgins research station on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Despite Antarctica’s remote location, research and military stations have taken strict measures to prevent the spread COVID-19, including limiting the number of tourists and locking down bases.
(NEW YORK) — A document Prince Andrew claims should prevent him from being sued by an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein was unsealed Monday by a federal judge in New York.
The document, a 2009 settlement agreement between Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, had been under seal for two years as part of related litigation.
It indicates that Giuffre and Epstein agreed to end her lawsuit against him filed earlier that year for $500,000.
Giuffre, who claims she was sexually assaulted by both Epstein and Prince Andrew starting when she was 17, filed a civil lawsuit against the prince in August of 2021.
Prince Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations and said he never had sex with Giuffre and has sought to dismiss the lawsuit, on several grounds, including claims that Giuffre has told various inconsistent stories.
Prince Andrew’s attorneys have also argued the settlement agreement precludes Giuffre from suing the royal because it covers “potential defendants” from all legal actions taken by Giuffre.
Whether that argument will be successful depends on the definition of the agreement’s intended beneficiaries.
According to Giuffre’s 2009 lawsuit, which she filed as “Jane Doe 102,” she alleged that she was required to have sexual contact with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and also several of their adult male friends and associates, “including royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen, and/or other professional and personal acquaintances.”
The inclusion of the word “royalty” is, in the view of the prince’s attorneys, a clear reference to Prince Andrew, which, they argue, would make him, in effect one of the “potential defendants’ covered by the settlement agreement and is evidence that Giuffre and Epstein intended to release the prince from any future liability.
Giuffre’s lawyer argues the royal was not named in the agreement and could not be released as a beneficiary of the settlement, which defines “second parties” as Epstein’s “agent(s), attorney(s), predecessor(s), successor(s), heir(s), administrator(s), assign(s) and/or employee (s).” That would not appear to qualify Prince Andrew.
On the other hand, the agreement does “forever discharge the said Second Parties and any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant from all, and all manner of, action and actions of Virginia Roberts,” which the prince argues does apply to him as Giuffre had previously claimed, though he continues to deny wrongdoing and that he was one of the perpetrators.
There is a hearing on the prince’s motion to dismiss via video conference Tuesday.
Epstein was a prominent financier and registered sex offender. He died by suicide in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while he awaited trial on federal charges for the sex trafficking on minors in Florida and New York.
Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and associate, was convicted on Dec. 29 on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls. Giuffre did not testify in the case, but the government argued she was a victim of an alleged conspiracy to sex traffic individuals under 18.
Maxwell’s sentencing date has not yet been set and she faces decades in prison.
