The pachyderm dubbed the “world’s loneliest elephant” arrived in Cambodia Monday, following his rescue from a Pakistani zoo. After a seven-hour flight from Pakistan in a custom-built enclosure, Kaavan was welcomed to Cambodia by chanting Buddhist monks and sent on his way to a wildlife sanctuary. Kaavan the Asian elephant is released into his new home in the Kulen Prom Tep Wildlife Sanctuary in Oddar Meanchey Province on Nov. 30, 2020.During his flight, the elephant reportedly ate 200 kilograms of snacks and took a nap. “He behaves like a frequent flier. The flight was uneventful, which is all you can ask for when you transfer an elephant,” Amir Khalil, a veterinarian for the animal rescue group that accompanied Kaavan on the flight, according to AP. The vet works for the Vienna, Austria-based Four Paws animal rescue group, which organized the 36-year-old pachyderm’s rescue. FILE – Volunteers paint an image of Kaavan on a crate to transport him to Cambodia, at the Maragzar Zoo in Islamabad, Pakistan, Nov. 27, 2020.One reason Kaavan may have been somewhat relaxed is that he was trained three times a day for three months on how to enter and exit his special travel crate, AP reported. Kaavan arrived in Pakistan in 1985 as a gift from Sri Lanka. He had been in the Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad. In 2012, his partner, Saheli, died due to a leg infection. FILE – A Four Paws veterinarian is pictured with an elephant named Kaavan at the Maragzar Zoo in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sept. 4, 2020.Campaigners say the heartbreaking image of Kaavan standing above the body of his partner shocked the world. Kaavan was held in chains for years in an insufficient enclosure and was forced to perform in front of visitors in the poorly managed zoo. An initial medical examination in September showed Kaavan’s nails had cracked and were overgrown due to improper care and an insufficient enclosure with flooring that damaged its feet. The elephant also developed a stereotypical behavior because of his loneliness, the cause of his shaking head back and forth for hours. Kaavan was also obese, according to AP, which said he ate 250 kilograms of sugar cane daily. He reportedly lost 450 kilograms before his trip to Cambodia. In addition to Four Paws, American singer Cher and her animal welfare group Free the Wild helped secure Kaavan’s release. Cher was in Pakistan Nov. 27 when she met with Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Cher has arrived and is so grateful for the help and support from the people of Pakistan to allow Kaavan to move to Cambodia and live out the rest of his life in peace and with dignity,” Free the Wild co-founder Mark Cowne said in an email to VOA. Pop singer Cher gestures in front of the crate of Kaavan upon his arrival in Cambodia at Siem Reap International Airport in Siem Reap on Nov. 30, 2020.Kaavan will now be trucked to the animal sanctuary in northern Cambodia and should be out of his crate on Dec. 1.
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Month: November 2020
Botswana to Repatriate Elephants to Angola to Reduce Overpopulation
Botswana, home to nearly half of Africa’s wild elephants, is preparing to repatriate thousands of the giant mammals to neighboring Angola to reduce overpopulation and conflict with farmers. Tens of thousands of elephants fled Angola’s decades-long civil war to Botswana, as Mqondisi Dube reports from Chobe, Botswana.Camera: Reference Sibanda
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Turkey-Backed Rebels Attack Syrian Town, Displacing Residents
Recent attacks by Turkey-backed rebels have caused another round of displacement in Syria, where dozens of families have left their homes in the border town of Ain Issa. The town is held by Kurdish forces that Turkey views as terrorists. VOA’s Reber Kalo reports from Syria.
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US Urges End to Violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday urged a stop to all fighting in Ethiopia, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed lauded his troops for what he termed their victory in the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle. “I spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister @AbiyAhmedAli today and urged a complete end to the fighting in Tigray, a start to dialogue, and free, safe, unhindered humanitarian access,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter.I spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed gestures while addressing the House of Peoples Representatives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Nov. 30, 2020.Authorities have not confirmed whether there were any deaths in a Saturday offensive, which followed a 72-hour ultimatum for the TPLF to surrender to the national government. But the International Committee of the Red Cross noted that the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle was lacking body bags for the deceased. Meanwhile, local hospitals in Mekelle were running out of medical supplies to treat the injured, aid workers said Sunday.According to the ICRC, roughly 80% of patients at the hospital were suffering from trauma injuries. ”The hospital is running dangerously low on sutures, antibiotics, anticoagulants, painkillers and even gloves,” Maria Soledad, head of operations for the ICRC in Ethiopia, was quoted as saying in a Sunday press release from the ICRC.”The influx of injured comes more than three weeks after supply chains were disrupted into Mekelle,” she added. Tens of thousands have fled the area for neighboring Sudan. Some reports say thousands have been killed since the violence broke out. Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency has appealed for $147 million to support the Ethiopians who have fled to Sudan. The agency says some 43,000 people have gone to the neighboring country in recent weeks.
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Greek Monastery Seeks Return of Stolen Religious Objects from Bulgaria
Leading clerics and monks in Greece are urging the state to take legal action against Bulgaria in a bid to win back hundreds of rare religious relics, including Byzantine manuscripts, that Greece alleges were stolen by Bulgarian guerrillas during World War I.The move comes after the U.S.-based Museum of the Bible, which holds some of the world’s most revered collections of religious manuscripts, agreed last week to return a rare 10th century gospel book to the Monastery of Theotokos Eikosiphinisa in northern Greece.“This return marks a glorious achievement,” said Bishop Pavlos of the northeastern Greek city of Drama, who oversees the monastery. “[But] more manuscripts and relics are out there, around the globe, and they need to be repatriated.”“We plan to get tougher in our fight, potentially taking legal action against Bulgaria. But the bigger question is why isn’t the Greek state – the ultimate keeper of the country’s national treasures and identity – backing this repatriation campaign also.”Greece says there has been no response from the Bulgarian government.Successive Greek governments have long lobbied for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, billing their repatriation a top national priority and insisting the British Museum hand them back after a British aristocrat, Lord Elgin, hacked them off the ancient temple, selling them to the British Museum over 200 years ago.FILE – A woman looks at the Parthenon Marbles, a collection of stone objects, inscriptions and sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, on show at the British Museum in London, Oct. 16, 2014.“There is no difference to what happened in the case of Eikosiphinisa,” the bishop said.Painstakingly written out in Greek and preserved for centuries at the monastery, also known as Kozintsa, the decorated manuscript was stolen in 1917 by Bulgarian separatists who looted some 430 sacred documents from the convent’s library and 470 religious relics.They then sold them to bookshops and collectors across Europe. The documents and relics eventually found their way to art dealers, who allegedly auctioned them off to major institutions or private collectors in Europe and the U.S.These include elite universities such as Princeton and Duke, and the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.Legal action spearheaded by ecumenical Patriarch Batholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s 200 million Christian Orthodox adherents, has already been waged in the United States.But the front line of the battle, Bishop Pavlos said, should be Bulgaria, where the bulk of the booty remains in the hands of the state there.“It is unthinkable that the Greek state has not even submitted a simple petition after so many years,” he says.The Greek Culture Ministry did not respond to repeated requests by VOA for comment.Claims for restitution target the Ivan Dujcev Center for Slavo-Byzantine Studies in Sofia, which holds around 300 of the looted manuscripts, despite the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly which required Bulgaria to return all cultural objects taken during the First World War.In a statement, the Museum of the Bible in Washington said it acquired the 1,000-year-old gospel book from Christie’s auction house in 2011. But details of its provenance remain murky, allowing Patriarch Batholomew to weigh in and insist on its return.FILE – A visitor looks at various Bibles during a preview at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14, 2017.The museum has since then acknowledged that pieces of its collection, originally owned by the Green family in Oklahoma City, founders of the arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby, were looted and smuggled out of their country of origin – an admission that has sparked a thorough in-house investigation.Similar moves led the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago to hand back another priceless manuscript to the Eikosiphinisa monastery in 2016 – a landmark return that adds firepower to Greece’s campaign to win back the Parthenon Marbles.Religion, Bishop Pavlos advises, should not become a factor in cultural restitution.But even if it is, he quips, “Then those in the helm of power should not forget that the Parthenon was once a religious temple too.”
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France Faces Public Resistance to COVID Vaccine
As French authorities prepare to roll out their COVID immunization strategy this week, they face skepticism in a country where surveys show many people do not trust the vaccine.France was among the nations of Europe taking the heaviest hit from the COVID-19 outbreak as more than 50, 000 people died of the virus.Like the rest of the world, hopes are high that vaccines will defeat the virus and enable people to go back to a normal life. The French immunization campaign is scheduled to start by the end of December with the elderly, people living in nursing homes and medical personnel slated to receive the first doses.In an address to the nation, French President Emmanuel Macron said a scientific committee would supervise the immunization campaign and a citizen group would be created to make sure the population is part of the process. Immunization against COVID-19 must be clear and transparent and information must be shared on what is known and unknown, insists Macron, who stressed that immunization will not be mandatory in France.The government is worried that millions of French people will refuse coronavirus vaccine shots due as skepticism grows in the country. Fifty-nine percent of French people surveyed say they would not get vaccinated, according to an IFO poll published on Sunday.Prime Minister Jean Castex recently said his fear is that not enough French people will get vaccinated.Jean Paul Stahl, a French doctor of infectious diseases, said the numbers concern him.The professor explains there is a common fear of side effects for these vaccine.He said there is also skepticism as people see this vaccine as a tool used by the government. Stahl said that nowadays in our societies, more and more people do not trust any authority: political, scientific, and others.France has budgeted more than $1.75 billion to buy vaccines next year.
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Refugees from Ethiopia’s Tigray Region Left Medications Behind
The conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has pushed tens of thousands of people into refugee camps in Sudan, where aid groups are struggling to provide care. One Tigrayan doctor who fled the fighting has set up a clinic in Hashaba refugee camp in Al Qadarif, Sudan, from where Naba Mohiedeen reports.Camera: Naba Mohiedeen
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Supreme Court Seems Skeptical of Trump’s Census Plan
U.S. Supreme Court justices sounded skeptical Monday that President Donald Trump could categorically exclude people living in the country illegally from the population count used to allot seats among the states in the House of Representatives. But it also appeared possible that the justices could avoid a final ruling on the issue until they know how broadly the Trump administration acts in its final days in office and whether the division of House seats is affected. No president has tried to do what Trump outlined in a memo in July — remove millions of noncitizens from the once-a-decade head count of the U.S. population that determines how many seats each state gets in the House of Representatives, as well as the allocation of some federal funding. The court, meeting by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, heard arguments in its second case in two years related to the 2020 census and immigrants. The census is also facing novel questions over deadlines, data quality and politics, including whether the incoming Biden administration would do anything to try to reverse decisions made under Trump. One possibility outlined by acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, Trump’s top Supreme Court lawyer, is that Trump might try to leave out of the count people who are in immigration detention or those who have been ordered to leave the country. FILE – Associate Justice Elena Kagan at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, Novemebr 30, 2018.But under questioning from Justice Elena Kagan, Wall would not rule out larger categories of immigrants, including those who have protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programs. “We can’t be certain at this point, and we don’t know what the president will decide to do with respect to that,” Wall said. FILE – President Donald Trump and Amy Coney Barrett stand on the Blue Room Balcony of the White House in Washington, October 26, 2020. Barrett was confirmed to be a Supreme Court justice by the Senate earlier in the evening.Justice Amy Coney Barrett was among several members of the court who said the administration’s argument for broad discretion in deciding whom to exclude is troublesome because “a lot of the historical evidence and long-standing practice really cuts against your position.” The court decided to hear the case on a fast track, based on the administration’s plea for a decision by early January, when Trump is required by law to transmit census numbers to Congress. The Census Bureau is supposed to send the data to Trump by December 31. But Wall told the court Monday, “We are not currently on pace to send the report to the president by the year-end statutory deadline.” He said census officials told him they hope some data is available in January. A delay of even three weeks would mean the Census Bureau would be turning in the numbers to a new president. President-elect Joe Biden takes office January 20. Several conservative justices suggested that the better course for the court would be to avoid ruling immediately on lawsuits filed by New York and other Democrat-led states, as well as immigration advocates because Trump’s intentions are speculative at this point. FILE – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivers a speech in Atlanta, February 11, 2020.”Mr. Ho, if the additional information would be beneficial in a few weeks, wouldn’t it be beneficial to actually resolving this case? As the questioning seems to suggest, there’s some difficulty in assessing exactly what information will be available and what that information will be,” Justice Clarence Thomas said to Dale Ho, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing immigration groups. The court could simply sit on the case in front of it to see what happens or dismiss it as premature. The second option would allow Trump to move forward with his plan and lead inevitably to a new lawsuit. Trump has a mixed record at the high court on immigration. The justices upheld his ban on travel to the U.S. by residents of some largely Muslim countries. But the court shot down his attempt to end the DACA program and blocked his bid to add a citizenship question to the census for the first time in 70 years.
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‘America the Beautiful’ Is White House Theme for Christmas
“America the Beautiful” is this year’s Christmas theme at the White House.Melania Trump says it pays tribute to and showcases the “majesty” of the United States.Ornaments on the official Christmas tree in the Blue Room — a towering Fraser fir from Shepherdstown, West Virginia — were designed by students from across the country who were asked by the National Park Service to highlight the people, places and things that make their states beautiful.First responders and frontline workers, coping with a pandemic that has killed more than 266,000 people in the United States and infected more than 13 million others, are recognized with a tree and other decorations in the Red Room.The annual gingerbread White House — more than 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of dough, gum paste, chocolate and royal icing — for the first time includes the Rose Garden, recently renovated by the first lady, as well as the First Ladies’ Garden.It’s the final Christmas in the White House for the Trump family, although President Donald Trump continues to insist — despite evidence to the contrary — that he won the November 3 election.President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn into office on January 20.Volunteers from around the country helped decorate the executive mansion after Thanksgiving with 62 Christmas trees, 106 Christmas wreaths, more than 1,200 feet (366 meters) of garland, more than 3,200 strands of lights and 17,000 bows. The White House led the news media on a tour of the decor on Monday before a reception for the volunteers.”Over the past four years I have had the honor to travel to some of our nation’s most beautiful landmarks and meet some of the most compassionate and patriotic American citizens,” the first lady said in a written statement. “From coast to coast, the bond that all American’s share is an appreciation for our traditions, values, and history, which were the inspiration behind the decorations this year.”
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Biden Names Top Economic Officials
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday named his top officials to deal with the country’s coronavirus-ravaged economy, including former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its 231-year history.In addition, Biden named Neera Tanden, currently president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington public policy research and advocacy group, as director of the government’s Office of Management and Budget. If confirmed by the Senate, Tanden would be the first woman of color and first South Asian American to head the agency.FILE – Neera Tanden, president of Center for American Progress, speaks during an introduction for New Start New Jersey at NJIT in Newark, Nov. 10, 2014.Biden also named Wally Adeyemo, a longtime economic policy official, to be Yellen’s deputy, the first African American to hold the second-ranking position at the Treasury Department.The president-elect named labor economist Cecilia Rouse, dean of Princeton University’s public and international affairs school, as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She would be the first Black and the fourth woman to hold the job.Biden picked two other economists – Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey – as members of the economic council.”As we get to work to control the virus, this is the team that will deliver immediate economic relief for the American people during this economic crisis and help us build our economy back better than ever,” Biden said in a statement.The coronavirus pandemic has wrought significant damage on the U.S. economy, the world’s largest.Many of the 22 million jobs lost as the virus swept into the United States from China and Europe have been recovered. While the number of layoffs of workers totaled in the millions several months ago, for much of October and November, more than 700,000 newly unemployed workers filed for unemployment compensation, even now a level unseen in records that date to the 1960s.Biden’s latest appointments underscore the incoming president’s promise to create a top rung of officials that demographically “looks like America,” one staffed with numerous female appointees and people of color. Biden’s nominees for top positions contrast the largely white, male-dominated roster of top officeholders in the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump.On Sunday, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris named an all-woman communications team, to be headed by campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield and Jen Psaki as press secretary.FILE – Then-State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stands in on a meeting in Washington, Feb. 27, 2015.Biden received his first President’s Daily Brief on Monday, gaining access to the report prepared by the U.S. intelligence community on national security issues the United States faces.Biden is preparing to take office at his inauguration as the 46th U.S. president on January 20. He holds an unofficial 306-232 vote lead in the Electoral College, which determines the outcome of U.S. presidential elections, not the national popular vote, although Biden leads there, too, by more than 6 million votes.The state-by-state vote in the Electoral College is set for December 14, with Congress certifying the outcome in early January.Biden’s transition to the presidency officially began last week after a government agency declared him the apparent winner of the November 3 presidential election.Trump, however, is continuing his long-shot legal effort to upend Biden’s victory even as the president says he will abide by the Electoral College outcome.Trump has refused to concede defeat while claiming, without evidence, that the election was rigged against him.Trump and his campaign have lost or withdrawn more than 30 lawsuits claiming vote and vote-counting irregularities, but they are appealing at least one of the verdicts against him to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Ethiopian PM Calls Extraordinary Session of Parliament as Tigray Conflict Continues
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called an extraordinary session of the parliament on Monday, while the conflict in the country’s northern Tigray region continues. Late Sunday, Reuters reported that the leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) Debretsion Gebremichael claimed in a text message to the new agency that Tigray forces had shot down an Ethiopian plane and had taken a town form the federal forces. There has not been any immediate comment to such claims from the government or the military. In a related development, the U.S. Embassy in Eritrea said that six explosions were heard overnight in the capital, Asmara. The explosions came hours after Abiy declared victory in the offensive of the government forces against TPLF and the army said it had taken “full control” of the Tigray capital Mekelle. However, government sources said TPLF leaders remained on the run. Abiy said Saturday that Mekelle had been “captured,” after giving forces of TPLF a 72-hour ultimatum to surrender to the national government. Abiy announced a military offensive against the regional government in Tigray on November 4, saying it was in response to an attack by Tigray forces on a federal military base.People who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region arrive on a bus at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, Sudan, Nov. 26, 2020. The Ethiopian army announced Nov. 28 that it had taken full control of Mekelle, Tigray’s capital.Authorities have not confirmed whether there were any deaths in an offensive Saturday, but the International Committee of the Red Cross noted that the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle was lacking body bags for the deceased.Meanwhile, local hospitals in Mekelle were running out of medical supplies to treat the injured, aid workers said Sunday. According to the ICRC, roughly 80% of patients at the hospital were suffering from trauma injuries. “The hospital is running dangerously low on sutures, antibiotics, anticoagulants, painkillers and even gloves,” Maria Soledad, the head of operations for the ICRC in Ethiopia, was quoted as saying in a Sunday press release from the ICRC.”The influx of injured comes more than three weeks after supply chains were disrupted into Mekelle,” she added. Telecommunication and internet services in the Tigray region have been cut for weeks, making it nearly impossible for journalists and aid workers to confirm reports of violence. Tens of thousands have fled the area for neighboring Sudan. Some reports say thousands have been killed since violence broke out earlier this month.
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Uganda President Quotes Bible in Ominous Message to Opposition
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni Sunday bragged about the army’s strength and appeared to threaten the opposition. Referencing security clashes at opposition protests this month that left 54 people dead, Museveni quoted the Bible, saying wrongdoers deserve death.
In a special address Sunday night, President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 34 years, donned a military jacket and did not mince words. Referring to opposition parties as “criminal gangs,” Museveni said the violent protests that led to the loss of 54 lives will never be repeated. During the address, he reviewed videos of protesters damaging vehicles with his campaign posters and undressing a woman who was clad in a yellow T-shirt. He called the incidents acts of impunity by opposition supporters with foreign support. Ugandan riot policemen fire tear gas canisters to disperse supporters of presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, in Luuka district, eastern Uganda, Nov. 18, 2020.Museveni, who is also the chief of the defense forces, says weak police responses in the past have created a false impression that his security is also weak. “It was definitely a miscalculation for the schemers to imagine that they can use such anti-people techniques in a country led by the original National Resistance Army,” he said. “The overall security posture of Uganda is robust. You have no right to stone Ugandans, to undress them, including women, because they are wearing yellow garments. You have no right to damage property.” Regarding videos of soldiers shooting at civilians, he said they would be investigated and that an explanation as to why they didn’t shoot into the air would be provided. FILE – Riot policemen detain a supporter of presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, in Luuka district, Uganda, Nov. 18, 2020.Museveni said out of the 54 killed, 20 were not rioters and that they would be compensated. Quoting the Bible, Museveni had the following to say to rioters and their supporters: “In the book of Romans Chapter One, Verse 32, it says, ‘Who, knowing the righteous judgement of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.’” Museveni said the opposition National Unity Platform party, led by Bobi Wine, and the Forum for Democratic Change party, led by Amuriat Patrick Oboi, think they are untouchables and would be dealt with. A supporter of Ugandan musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, carries his poster during a protest against the arrest of Kyagulanyi, during his campaign rally in Kampala, Uganda, Nov. 18, 2020.Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, the FDC spokesperson, says Museveni’s message to the opposition is that both they and their supporters are vulnerable. “He wants to prove a point, that the next elections are just another ceremony,” he said. “Even if you remove me by a vote, I am not going to accept and I have military. And that’s why the shooting was random. In arcades, in schools, in taxis. To prove to everybody that it is very costly to protest against Museveni.”
Political analyst Bernard Sabiti says Museveni has come to a point where he knows that he is not a democrat and continues to play a psychological game on Ugandans. “Whenever something very serious happens, he actually either holds an AK-47 or wears military fatigues to public functions, to actually remind people that he is not a civilian president; he didn’t come in because of your vote,” Sabiti said. Ugandans go to the polls January 14 to elect their next president.
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In France, Public Resistance to COVID Vaccine
As French authorities prepare to roll out their COVID immunization strategy this week, they face skepticism in a country where surveys show many people do not trust the vaccine.France was among the nations of Europe taking the heaviest hit from the COVID-19 outbreak as more than 50, 000 people died of the virus.Like the rest of the world, hopes are high that vaccines will defeat the virus and enable people to go back to a normal life. The French immunization campaign is scheduled to start by the end of December with the elderly, people living in nursing homes and medical personnel slated to receive the first doses.In an address to the nation, French President Emmanuel Macron said a scientific committee would supervise the immunization campaign and a citizen group would be created to make sure the population is part of the process. Immunization against COVID-19 must be clear and transparent and information must be shared on what is known and unknown, insists Macron, who stressed that immunization will not be mandatory in France.The government is worried that millions of French people will refuse coronavirus vaccine shots due as skepticism grows in the country. Fifty-nine percent of French people surveyed say they would not get vaccinated, according to an IFO poll published on Sunday.Prime Minister Jean Castex recently said his fear is that not enough French people will get vaccinated.Jean Paul Stahl, a French doctor of infectious diseases, said the numbers concern him.The professor explains there is a common fear of side effects for these vaccine.He said there is also skepticism as people see this vaccine as a tool used by the government. Stahl said that nowadays in our societies, more and more people do not trust any authority: political, scientific, and others.France has budgeted more than $1.75 billion to buy vaccines next year.
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Biden, Economic Realities Spur Turkey-Saudi Rapprochement
Turkey’s relations with Saudi Arabia appear to be thawing after years of regional rivalry, with both countries’ leaders pledging to improve bilateral ties. Analysts suggest factors that are leading to the improvement in ties could be economic matters as well as an incoming Joe Biden presidency. “President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and King Salman agreed to keep channels of dialogue open to improve bilateral ties and overcome issues,” a Turkish presidency statement said after the two leaders spoke by phone earlier in November. The leaders’ conversation has been followed by similar warm statements by the Turkish and Saudi foreign ministers who met in Niger on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting. “A strong Turkey-Saudi Arabia partnership will be beneficial not just for our countries, but for the whole region,” Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted. FILE – Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Saudi King Salman attend a ceremony in Ankara, Turkey. Apr. 12, 2016.Erdogan and Saudi Crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman have been bitter rivals in the past, frequently exchanging angry barbs while pursuing regional dominance. “Saudi Arabia and MBS [Mohammed Bin Salman] in particular, he tries to be the leader of the Arab world.” said professor of international relations Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “Saudi Arabia is a close ally to the U.S., and Donald Trump gave them a free hand without conditions. Turkey was also trying to be the leader of the Arabs and the Islamic world, which was opposed by Saudi Arabia,” Bagci said. Observers blame the bilateral rivalry for worsening conflicts across the Middle East and North Africa. But Biden’s apparent election victory over Trump is forcing the Turks and Saudis to reassess. FILE – Then-US. Vice President Joe Biden (L) meets with Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, Nov. 22, 2014.”One of the impetus [for Saudi Turkish rapprochement] is the arrival of Joe Biden,” said former Turkish Ambassador to Qatar, Mithat Rende, now a regional energy analyst. “The Saudis should be prepared [for] a different treatment by the Biden administration, so the Saudis and also the Turks, they came to understand this worsening of relations, this crisis in bilateral relations is not sustainable.” Analysts also cite economic factors in the push for Turkey’s rapprochement with Riyadh. “Turkey has economically terrible conditions at the moment, and Saudi Arabia has always been a life-breath for Turkey,” said Bagci. “In the past, they invest and bring money into the country, so probably this also try by Turkey to renew the relations, and to make some concessions,” he added. FILE – A Saudi woman looks at the dairy products in a supermarket, after Saudi Arabia’s retail stores urged customers to boycott Turkish products, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 18, 2020.Riyadh is reported to have imposed an unofficial trade embargo on Turkish goods. The Turkish Exporters Assembly said exports to Saudi Arabia fell 16% until October this year to $2.23 billion. But Ankara appears optimistic of a breakthrough.”We expect concrete steps to solve problems in our trade and economic relations,” Turkey’s Sabah newspaper quoted trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan as saying. “Our counterparts told us there was no formal decision that there were some exceptional issues.” In a possible gesture to Riyadh, analysts suggest Ankara is toning down its rhetoric over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. FILE – People hold pictures of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a gathering to mark the second anniversary of his killing at the Saudi Consulate, in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 2, 2020.Khashoggi’s murder inside Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate in 2018 saw Erdogan take a leading role in international condemnation of Riyadh for the slaying, which was widely blamed on prominent members of the Saudi regime.An Istanbul court is currently trying Saudi officials in absentia for Khashoggi’s killing. Ankara had been drawing publicity to the case, until now. Last week’s hearing drew no comment by Erdogan or any of his senior party officials, and the case is adjourned until March. “Turkey has stopped making this an international issue,” said Emre Caliskan of Britain’s University of Oxford. “It seems Erdogan has lowered his tone over Khashoggi case; this would also be an indication Erdogan wants to have a better relationship with Riyadh.” However, Ankara’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood remains a major stumbling block to any reset in Turkish-Saudi ties.”Turkey has supported the Arab Spring and the Saudis they were not happy about it. The support of the Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] movement, in particular, it was considered by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Gulf kingdoms as a threat to their rulers and systems,” said Rende. Riyadh lists the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, a designation Ankara strongly rejects. “I don’t think Erdogan will break its position with Muslim brotherhood at least in near future because this support has a direct impact on Turkey’s policy in Libya, Syria, and Qatar,” said Caliskan. History and pragmatism will be critical to any rapprochement, predicts Caliskan. “We should not forget that these two countries had a very good relationship before the Arab spring. Turkey and Saudi Arabia must learn to work together with their different agendas and baggages. But when it comes to pragmatism Erdogan is the champion of pragmatism; I am confident Erdogan would establish a dialogue with the Saudi leadership and vice versa would be true,” Caliskan said.
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Source: Pennsylvania Lawmaker Gets Positive COVID Test at Trump Meeting
A Pennsylvania state senator abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Donald Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press.
Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano had gone to the White House last Wednesday with like-minded Republican state lawmakers shortly after a four-hour-plus public meeting that Mastriano helped host in Gettysburg — maskless — to discuss efforts to overturn president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Trump told Mastriano that White House medical personnel would take care of him, his son and his son’s friend, who were also there for the Oval Office meeting and tested positive. The meeting continued after Mastriano and the others left, the person said.
The person spoke to the AP on Sunday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private session because the matter is politically sensitive.
Positive coronavirus cases are surging across the United States and the nation’s top infectious disease expert said Sunday that the U.S. may see “surge upon surge” in the coming weeks. The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the United States topped 200,000 for the first time Friday.
Everyone who will be in close proximity to the president must take a rapid test. Trump was himself hospitalized in October after he contracted the virus. Dozens of White House staffers and others close to the president have also tested positive, including the first lady and two of the president’s sons.
All participants in Wednesday’s meeting took COVID-19 tests, but the positive results were not announced until they were in the West Wing of the White House, the person said.
“The president instantly called the White House doctor in and he took them back to, I guess, the medical place,” the person said. The meeting with Trump was to strategize about efforts regarding the election, the person said.
After Mastriano and the others left, the discussion with Trump continued for about a half-hour. Mastriano did not return to the meeting.
Mastriano sought the meeting of the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Policy Committee earlier Wednesday that drew Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, a second Trump lawyer, several witnesses and a crowd of onlookers. Only a few of them were masked.
The committee let Giuliani and others, for several hours, air their beliefs that there had been problems with how the Pennsylvania vote was conducted and counted. All claims were baseless; no evidence was presented to support any of the allegations they made.
Trump even participated, calling from the White House while one of his lawyers held a phone up to a microphone. He reiterated the same unfounded claims of fraud he’s been tweeting about for weeks.
Those beliefs have persisted despite Trump losing repeatedly in state and federal courts, including a Philadelphia-based federal appeals court’s decision Friday that said the Trump campaign’s “claims have no merit,” and a state Supreme Court decision Saturday that threw out a legal challenge to the election and effort to stop certification of its results.
Mastriano, a conservative from a rural district in central Pennsylvania and outspoken Trump supporter, did not return several messages left Sunday seeking comment.
Republican state Sen. Dave Argall, who chairs the policy committee, declined Sunday in a text message to discuss Mastriano’s medical condition and the White House visit.
“I’ve received some conflicting information that I’m trying to resolve,” Argall said in the text. “It’s my understanding a Senate statement later today will help us all to understand this better.”
Argall said he would not talk publicly about the matter “until I know more.”
Senate Republican spokeswoman Kate Flessner declined comment, describing it as a personnel matter.
The person with knowledge of the White House visit said several people rode in a large van from Gettysburg, where the policy committee met in a hotel, to the White House. Mastriano, his son and his son’s friend drove in another vehicle.
It’s not clear why Mastriano’s son and his friend accompanied the state senator to the meeting, which the person said was also attended by Trump and the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who tested positive in early November.
Mastriano has aggressively opposed policies under the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and keep people safe.
He has led rallies where he advocated to reopen businesses despite the risk of infection and he has repeatedly and sharply denounced Wolf’s orders. Mastriano also spoke to a few thousand Trump supporters who gathered outside the Capitol on Nov. 7, hours after Democrat Joe Biden’s national win became evident.
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Australia Clashes With China Over Fake War Crimes Post
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is demanding the Chinese government delete a “repugnant” tweet of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The doctored image appears to shows an Australian soldier murdering a child. It follows a report last week that found Australian special forces had committed at least 39 unlawful killings in Afghanistan. The image is confronting. It was posted by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao and shows a doctored image which portrayed an Australian soldier with a bloody knife next to a child. The child is seen holding a lamb. The text beneath the photo reads: “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!” Australian media reported the Twitter post appeared to be a reference to unsubstantiated rumors that elite Australian soldiers used knives to murder two Afghan teenagers. An inquiry into misconduct by special forces found no evidence to support the hearsay. It did, however, find “credible evidence” of unlawful killings by Australian forces in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016. Last week Zhao said China “strongly condemned” the soldiers’ actions, and that the four-year inquiry “fully exposed the hypocrisy of the human rights and freedom these Western countries are always chanting”. The fake picture posted online has infuriated Australia. “The Chinese government should be totally ashamed of this post. It diminishes them in the world’s eyes,” said Prime Minister Morrison. “Australia is seeking an apology from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Chinese government for this outrageous post. We are also seeking its removal immediately and have also contacted Twitter to take it down immediately. It is a false image and a terrible slur.” Relations between the two nations were already frosty over allegations of Chinese interference in Australia’s domestic affairs, cyber-espionage and differing views on Beijing’s military expansion in the South China Sea and democracy in Hong Kong. Canberra’s call for a global investigation into the origins of the new coronavirus, which was first detected in China, angered the Chinese government. It insisted Australia was unfairly targeting China. China now appears to be using trade to pressure Australia. Last week, Beijing announced sweeping tariffs on Australian wine exports, which are likely to inflict huge losses on parts of the industry. China has also imposed restrictions on other agricultural commodities and coal from Australia. Analysts say the dispute over a fake photo posted by a Chinese official on Twitter will only enflame tensions further.
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Merriam-Webster’s Top Word of 2020 Not A Shocker: Pandemic
If you were to choose a word that rose above most in 2020, which word would it be?
Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster on Monday announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year.
“That probably isn’t a big shock,” Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told The Associated Press.
“Often the big news story has a technical word that’s associated with it and in this case, the word pandemic is not just technical but has become general. It’s probably the word by which we’ll refer to this period in the future,” he said.
The word took on urgent specificity in March, when the coronavirus crisis was designated a pandemic, but it started to trend up on Merriam-Webster.com as early January and again in February when the first U.S. deaths and outbreaks on cruise ships occurred.
On March 11, when the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic, lookups on the site for pandemic spiked hugely. Site interest for the word has remained significantly high through the year, Sokolowski said.
By huge, Sokolowski means searches for pandemic on March 11 were 115,806% higher than lookups experienced on the same date last year.
Pandemic, with roots in Latin and Greek, is a combination of “pan,” for all, and “demos,” for people or population. The latter is the same root of “democracy,” Sokolowski noted. The word pandemic dates to the mid-1600s, used broadly for “universal” and more specifically to disease in a medical text in the 1660s, he said.
That was after the plagues of the Middle Ages, Sokolowski said.
He attributes the lookup traffic for pandemic not entirely to searchers who didn’t know what it meant but also to those on the hunt for more detail, or for inspiration or comfort.
“We see that the word love is looked up around Valentine’s Day and the word cornucopia is looked up at Thanksgiving,” Sokolowski said. “We see a word like surreal spiking when a moment of national tragedy or shock occurs. It’s the idea of dictionaries being the beginning of putting your thoughts in order.”
Merriam-Webster acted quickly in March to add and update entries on its site for words related to the pandemic. While “coronavirus” had been in the dictionary for decades, “COVID-19” was coined in February. Thirty-four days later, Merriam-Webster had it up online, along with a couple dozen other entries that were revised to reflect the health emergency.
“That’s the shortest period of time we’ve ever seen a word go from coinage to entry,” Sokolowski said. “The word had this urgency.”
Coronavirus was among runners up for word of the year as it jumped into the mainstream. Quarantine, asymptomatic, mamba, kraken, defund, antebellum, irregardless, icon, schadenfreude and malarkey were also runners up based on lookup spikes around specific events.
Particularly interesting to word nerds like Sokolowski, a lexicographer, is quarantine. With Italian roots, it was used during the Black Death of the 1300s for the period of time a new ship coming into port would have to wait outside a city to prevent disease. The “quar” in quarantine derives from 40, for the 40 days required.
Spikes for mamba occurred after the January death of Kobe Bryant, whose nickname was the Black Mamba. A mass of lookups occurred for kraken in July after Seattle’s new National Hockey League franchise chose the mythical sea monster as its name, urged along by fans.
Country group Lady Antebellum’s name change to Lady A drove dictionary interest in June, while malarkey got a boost from President-elect Joe Biden, who’s fond of using the word. Icon was front and center in headlines after the deaths of U.S. Rep. John Lewis and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
The Merriam-Webster site has about 40 million unique monthly users and about 100 million monthly page views.
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Australia Develops ‘Revolutionary’ Electric Air Ambulance
An electric “aero-ambulance” that is estimated to be faster, safer and quieter than a helicopter has been developed by researchers in Australia. The aero ambulance is called Vertiia. It is an electric, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft designed to get patients to the hospital quicker and more safely. It is set for commercial release in 2023, and developers say it will be the world’s most efficient aircraft of its type for passenger and “aeromedical transport.” The transfer of patients in remote parts of Australia can be slow. Often, they must be driven to an airport by ambulance, transferred onto a plane, and then back into another ambulance for delivery to the hospital. Vertiia aims to take them from door to door. It is built to cruise at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour and travel 250 kilometers powered by electric batteries before needing to recharge. It is also designed to travel nonstop for more than 800 kilometers using hydrogen as an alternative fuel. The project is a collaboration between the University of Sydney, the startup company AMSL Aero and the charity CareFlight. Associate Professor Dries Verstraete is an aerospace engineer from the University of Sydney. His team is working to increase the aircraft’s efficiency through its aerodynamic and structural design and reduce its operating costs. “Aero ambulances work by taking off vertically and tilting the wing to horizontal, to tilt it back before they land,” he said. “The advantage of this concept is that they are flying efficiently like an aircraft, but they can still take off like a helicopter, and this allows us to reach more people in a shorter time and do that in a way that is safer than helicopters and also significantly quieter.” The project has received federal government funding of U.S. $2.2 million. Michael McCormack, Australia’s deputy prime minister, said it was “a revolution in aeromedical support.” Vertiia is currently flown by pilots, but researchers want to be able to fly it by computer in bad weather and other hazardous conditions.
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Ethiopian PM Calls Extraordinary Session of Parliament Over Tigray
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called an extraordinary session of the parliament on Monday, while the conflict in the country’s northern Tigray region continues. Late Sunday, Reuters reported that the leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) Debretsion Gebremichael claimed in a text message to the new agency that Tigray forces had shot down an Ethiopian plane and had taken a town form the federal forces. There has not been any immediate comment to such claims from the government or the military. In a related development, the U.S. Embassy in Eritrea said that six explosions were heard overnight in the capital, Asmara. The explosions came hours after Abiy declared victory in the offensive of the government forces against TPLF and the army said it had taken “full control” of the Tigray capital Mekelle. However, government sources said TPLF leaders remained on the run. Abiy said Saturday that Mekelle had been “captured,” after giving forces of TPLF a 72-hour ultimatum to surrender to the national government. Abiy announced a military offensive against the regional government in Tigray on November 4, saying it was in response to an attack by Tigray forces on a federal military base.People who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region arrive on a bus at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, Sudan, Nov. 26, 2020. The Ethiopian army announced Nov. 28 that it had taken full control of Mekelle, Tigray’s capital.Authorities have not confirmed whether there were any deaths in an offensive Saturday, but the International Committee of the Red Cross noted that the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle was lacking body bags for the deceased.Meanwhile, local hospitals in Mekelle were running out of medical supplies to treat the injured, aid workers said Sunday. According to the ICRC, roughly 80% of patients at the hospital were suffering from trauma injuries. “The hospital is running dangerously low on sutures, antibiotics, anticoagulants, painkillers and even gloves,” Maria Soledad, the head of operations for the ICRC in Ethiopia, was quoted as saying in a Sunday press release from the ICRC.”The influx of injured comes more than three weeks after supply chains were disrupted into Mekelle,” she added. Telecommunication and internet services in the Tigray region have been cut for weeks, making it nearly impossible for journalists and aid workers to confirm reports of violence. Tens of thousands have fled the area for neighboring Sudan. Some reports say thousands have been killed since violence broke out earlier this month.
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At Least 110 People Feared Dead in Attack on Farmers in Nigeria
At least 110 people are feared dead in a weekend attack on farmers in the northeast part of Nigeria blamed on Islamic jihadists that are active in the area. United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the African country, Edward Kallon, said in a statement he was “outraged and horrified by the gruesome attack against civilians” in the village of Koshobe near Borno State capital Maiduguri. “At least 110 civilians were ruthlessly killed, and many others were wounded in this attack,” Kallon said, adding that it was the most violent attack on innocent civilians this year. He called “for the perpetrators of this heinous and senseless act to be brought to justice.” Late Sunday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spokesperson issued a statement in which he strongly condemned the “horrific attack on rice farm workers in Koshobe village.”United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., Nov. 20, 2020.Guterres extended “his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and to the people of Nigeria,” Stéphane Dujarric said in the statement, wishing “a swift recovery to the injured and calls for the immediate and safe return of the abductees and those still reported missing.” Guterres reaffirmed the UN commitment “to support the Government of Nigeria in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism and in its response to pressing humanitarian needs in the northeast of the country.” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari issued statement condemning the killings, in which he also said that “the entire country is hurt by these senseless killings.” Buhari said the government had equipped the armed forces with everything needed “to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory.” Although, there is no group to have claimed the responsibility for the weekend massacre on Nigerian farmers, such attacks have been carried out in the past by Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa Province, which are both active in northeast Nigeria, where Islamic jihadists have killed at least 30,000 people.
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French Police Charged in Beating, Racial Abuse of Black Man
Four French police officers have been charged in connection to the beating and racial abuse of a black music producer, a judicial source said Monday, days after the incident in Paris that intensified controversy over a proposed security law. The beating of music producer Michel Zecler — exposed in video footage published last week — has become a focus of anger against the police, who critics accuse of institutionalized racism and targeting black and Arab people. Tens of thousands protested Saturday against a security bill, which would restrict the right to publish images of on-duty police. Police said 81 people were arrested at the protests, with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin saying the violence was unacceptable. An investigating magistrate ruled early Monday morning to charge the officers with “willful violence by a person holding public authority” and forgery, a judicial source told AFP. Two remain behind bars, while the other two were put on conditional release, the source added. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz on Sunday had called for the officers to be charged specifically with using racial abuse.Fire-fighters pull off a fire on a burning car during a demonstration against a security law that would restrict sharing images of police, Nov. 28, 2020 in Paris.Racial abuse chargesAhead of the charges, the four officers had been questioned by the police’s National Police Inspectorate General on suspicion of using violence and racial abuse. Heitz said three of the officers should remain in custody “to avoid the perpetrators communicating or putting pressure on witnesses.” He also called for charges of intentional violence, racial abuse and posting a false police report. The fourth officer, who arrived on the scene later and fired a tear gas canister, should be freed under conditions and charged with intentional violence, he said. The four officers had a good service record before the incident, he said, and claimed they had acted “out of fear.” Zecler had been stopped for not wearing a mask and because of a strong smell of cannabis. But only a tiny quantity of the substance was found, he said. Lawyers representing three of the officers declined to comment Monday on the charges. Law controversyCommentators say that the images of the beating, first published by the Loopsider news site, might never have been made public if the contentious Article 24 of the security legislation was made law. The bill would criminalize publishing images of on-duty police with the intent of harming their “physical or psychological integrity.” It was passed by the National Assembly although it is awaiting Senate approval.
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New Zealand Charges 13 in Volcanic Eruption that Killed 22, Injured Dozens
New Zealand’s workplace regulator has filed charges against 13 parties following an investigation into a volcanic eruption on White Island in 2019 that killed 22 people. A surprise eruption on the White Island, also known by its Maori name of Whakaari, on December 9, 2019, killed 22 people and injured dozens. The majority of the casualties were tourists from countries such as Australia, the United States and Malaysia who were on a cruise ship vacation, traveling around New Zealand. There were 47 people on the island when the volcano erupted. WorkSafe, New Zealand’s primary regulator for workplace related incidents, said at a news conference its investigations found 13 parties had not met their health and safety obligations in taking the tourists to the White island. “This was an unexpected event, but that does not mean it was unforeseeable and there is a duty on operators to protect those in their care,” WorkSafe Chief Executive Phil Parkes said. WorkSafe charged 10 organizations under the Health and Safety at Work Act with each charge carrying a maximum fine of NZ $1.5 million ($1.06 million). Three individuals were charged as directors or individuals who were required to exercise due diligence to ensure the company meets its health and safety obligations. These charges each carry a maximum fine of $300,000. WorkSafe did not name those charged because they may seek suppression orders in their first appearance in court December 15. The agency did not investigate the rescue and recovery following the eruption, because that is the subject of a coronial inquest that is under way. At the time of the eruption, questions were raised about why people were allowed on the island, a popular destination for day trips, given there was reportedly a heightened risk of an eruption.
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Fauci Warns of COVID ‘Surge Upon a Surge’
The top U.S. infectious disease expert warned Sunday of a possible, upcoming spike of the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaking on “This Week” on ABC-TV, said the infection rate would not “all of a sudden turn around” and in the coming weeks, following the recent Thanksgiving holiday, “We may see a surge upon a surge.” Also Sunday, Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said on “Face the Nation” on CBS-TV, that people who traveled during the holiday “have to assume that you were exposed, and you became infected and you really need to get tested in the next week.” She also called on people who had traveled during the holiday to avoid people older than 65 or who have an underlying disease.In this Nov. 19, 2020, file photo, healthcare workers process people waiting in line at a United Memorial Medical Center COVID-19 testing site in Houston.The U.S. has 13.3 million of the world’s 62.7 million COVID-19 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. has more cases of the virus than any other country in the world. India and Brazil follow the U.S. in case numbers with 9.3 million and 6.3 million respectively. India recorded nearly 42,000 new COVID infections Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins. In Europe, some countries are hoping for a continent wide agreement to shut down ski resorts during the Christmas holidays to help prevent spreading the coronavirus. No unified pact, however, has yet been reached. The World Health Organization warned Monday that malaria deaths will likely exceed COVID deaths in Africa because of the health care disruptions caused by the pandemic.
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UK Inquiry Looks into Role of Air Pollution in Death of Girl
A public inquiry opens Monday in London to determine the role played by air pollution in the death of a girl living near a busy London street, a case that could set a precedent. Then 9 years old, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died February 15, 2013, of a serious asthma attack after nearly three years of repeated attacks and more than 30 hospitalizations related to the disease. An initial investigation, in 2014, determined that she died of acute respiratory failure caused by severe asthma. But those findings were overturned in 2019 and a new investigation was ordered because of new evidence regarding air pollution risks, highlighted in a report in 2018. This second investigation, which begins Monday and will last two weeks, will examine the levels of pollution to which Ella had been exposed and determine whether they caused her death. If the coroner, charged with identifying the reason for death, concludes that air pollution directly caused Ella’s death, that would set a precedent. The girl is believed to be the first person in the United Kingdom to have air pollution as the cause of death. ‘Striking link’Ella lived less than 30 meters from the South Circular, a busy and regularly congested route in South London. In 2018, Professor Stephen Holgate, a British air pollution expert, noted a “striking link” between Ella’s emergency hospitalizations and the recorded peaks of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and airborne particles, the most harmful pollutants. The investigation will examine possible failures by the authorities to take measures to reduce pollution and inform the public about the health risks. Officials from the British Ministries of Transport, Environment and Health will be heard, as well as Holgate. Ella’s mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, will testify during the second week of the investigation. “It has been almost eight years since Ella passed away and it has been a long and difficult struggle to get this investigated, with obstacles in the way. I want justice for Ella and the true cause of her death written on her death certificate,” Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said in a statement, before the opening of the second investigation. “She was the life and soul of our home, always playing music, dancing with my other daughter, Sophia. She had a lot of influence on her younger siblings, encouraging them to succeed, their doing sports,” she said. According to figures from the city of London, 99% of the city exceeds the limits recommended by the WHO in terms of air pollution. Last month, the executive director of the Clean Air Fund, Jane Burston, noted “that children in London age 4 were .2% more likely to be hospitalized with asthma on days when nitrogen dioxide pollution is high.” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said last month, citing supporting figures, that air quality had improved since 2016. He highlighted the measures put in place since his election, including enforcement last year of an “ultra-low emission zone” (ULEZ) that forces the drivers of the most polluting vehicles to pay a daily tax on entry.
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