Police in Belgium made 116 arrests after a demonstration in Brussels over the death of a young Black man who collapsed while in police custody turned violent.
Police said most of violence took place after a largely peaceful demonstration Wednesday of about 500 protesters — some holding Black Lives Matter signs — ended in downtown Brussels.
“A group of demonstrators (50-100 people) remained on the spot and caused various incidents and degradations,” police said, adding that several police officers were injured in the clashes.
According to a police statement, protesters threw projectiles, set fires, damaged street furniture and police vehicles. They also smashed a window and a door at a police station. In all, 116 people were arrested, including 30 minors, and one protester was tended to by ambulance services, police said.
“Justice must bring to court those who have vandalized and have injured five policemen, including a policewoman who is hospitalized,” federal police captain Marc De Mesmaeker told broadcaster RTBF on Thursday. “This must be done with care, just as the other aspect of the event, the tragic death of Ibrahima, must be treated with care.”
Belgian prosecutors have requested that an investigative judge be appointed following the death of a 23-year-old Black man identified by authorities only as I.B. The prosecutor’s office said he was arrested on Jan. 9 after he allegedly tried to run away from police who were checking people gathered in the city center despite COVID-19 restrictions on social gatherings. He was taken to a police station where he fainted, and then transferred to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the office said.
The prosecutor’s office said Belgium’s Comité P, an independent body overseeing police services, is investigating and a coroner has been appointed to perform an autopsy as well as toxicology tests. Belgian media reported the man had started to record the police with his phone on Saturday when officers decided to carry out an ID check on him.
The prosecutor’s office said it has seized video surveillance images, both from the police station and at the scene of the man’s arrest.
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Month: January 2021
South Korea’s High Court Upholds Prison Sentence of Ex-President Park
South Korea’s Supreme Court has upheld former President Park Geun-hye’s 20-year prison sentence on corruption charges.
The 68-year-old Park was impeached by lawmakers in 2016 after revelations she and a close confidante received millions of dollars in bribes from South Korea’s powerful conglomerates triggered weeks of massive protests demanding her dismissal.
Her impeachment and removal from office was upheld the next year by the Constitutional Court. She was also separately indicted on charges of illegally taking funds from three former intelligence chiefs that were siphoned from the agency’s budget.
Park has also been convicted in a separate case of illegally meddling in her party’s nomination process ahead of the 2016 parliamentary elections, which added an additional two-year prison sentence, meaning she could remain in prison until 2039.
Park, the daughter of South Korea’s late dictator Park Chung-hee, was elected the country’s first female president in 2013. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Her downfall was the latest in a string of convictions involving former South Korean presidents who were mired in scandals either during or after presidencies.
The head of President Moon Jae-in’s ruling Democratic Party has suggested a pardon for Park and Lee Myung-bak, another jailed former president, as a gesture of national unity.
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As WHO Begins COVID-19 Probe, Speculation, Tensions Abound
After months of negotiations and accusations that China was obstructing an independent investigation, a team of World Health Organization experts has landed in Wuhan, China, where they will try to uncover the origin of the coronavirus that has killed nearly 2 million people globally.Chinese state media on Thursday reported the arrival of the WHO team, composed of researchers from top universities around the world, including experts in animal science and epidemiology. The 15-member team will spend about a month in China. At the insistence of Chinese authorities, the scientists will spend their first two weeks in quarantine.A bus carrying members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic leaves Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Jan. 14, 2021.Its goals are to discover how the virus emerged, how it transferred to humans, and how such outbreaks can be prevented in the future. Those tasks won’t be easy; it has been more than a year since COVID-19 was first detected, with the initial outbreak linked to a Wuhan market selling wild animals for food.FILE – The Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where a number of people fell ill with a virus, sits closed in Wuhan, China, Jan. 21, 2020.Their task will also be tricky from a diplomatic and political perspective. Though China has promised to give WHO officials adequate access, Beijing has often become defensive and sought to deflect blame for the devastation brought by the global pandemic.There have also been repeated delays in the arrival of the WHO experts. Earlier this month, the team was held up because of a visa issue that Chinese officials later attributed to a “misunderstanding.”Those delays continued Thursday. The WHO reported that two of its scientists are still in Singapore completing COVID-19 tests. Although it said all team members “had multiple negative PCR and antibody tests for COVID-19 in their home countries prior to traveling,” two members tested positive for IgM antibodies, which the body produces as its first response to a new infection. It is not clear when the two scientists will arrive in China.More than 120 countries have called for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, with many governments accusing Beijing of not doing enough to contain its spread. Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump has been especially outspoken, frequently speaking of the “China virus” and demanding the United Nations hold Beijing accountable.Won’t assign blameBut several members of the WHO team, as well as other officials in the global health agency, say their mission is not to assign blame.“This is not about finding China guilty or saying ‘it started here, give or take three meters.’ This is about reducing the risk. And the media can help by avoiding Trump style finger-pointing,” WHO team member Fabian Leendertz, a biologist at Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, told The Guardian newspaper.“Let this mission and let other missions be about the science, not about the politics,” WHO Health Emergencies Program chief Mike Ryan said at a Monday press briefing.” We are looking for the answers here that may save us in [the] future — not culprits and not people to blame.”China for months rejected calls for an international probe. In July, China and the WHO finally agreed on a framework for the investigation. As part of that plan, China insisted on allowing its scientists to do the initial research, including testing sewage and blood samples and interviewing the earliest known coronavirus patients.“It’s not like nothing’s been happening for the last 12 months. There’s a lot that’s been happening and a lot of evidence that’s been generated. So one of the tasks of the WHO team is to go to China and meet with the scientists and to look at the evidence,” said professor Archie Clements, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Australia’s Curtin University.So far, China has not revealed publicly what its scientists have found. But many experts hope the WHO team will gain access to that data during the trip.“A big part of this investigation is actually around developing relationships with people. Having that personal contact. Being able to ask questions privately in a safe environment. Building rapport. Having the sort of open-ended conversations that may bring out things that you hadn’t previously anticipated might be important,” Clements said.But WHO officials have cautioned the team may not conclusively trace the exact origin of the virus. That’s in part because, experts say, viruses change very quickly.Virus originThe coronavirus was first discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. Many experts believe the virus had long been present in bats but was transferred to humans via another wild animal sold at the Wuhan food market.FILE – An aerial view shows the P4 laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in Wuhan, China, April 17, 2020.Some U.S. officials, including Trump, have suggested the virus may have accidentally emerged from the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology, one of China’s top research labs that had been studying bat coronaviruses for years. U.S. officials have offered no proof of that hypothesis.China has been criticized for initially downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak and attempting to silence those who tried to speak out.Perhaps most notably, Li Wenliang, a doctor at the Wuhan Central Hospital, was investigated and chastised by police for “spreading rumors” after he tried to warn fellow medical professionals about the disease. Li later died of the virus.FILE – People attend a vigil for Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, in Hong Kong, Feb. 7, 2020. Li, who got in trouble with authorities for sounding an early warning about the coronavirus outbreak, died Feb. 7, 2020, after being infected.China also imposed strict controls on domestic conversation about the outbreak. A recent investigation by The Associated Press found that Chinese scientists have been barred from speaking to reporters and that the publication of any data or research must be approved by a task force managed by China’s Cabinet, under direct orders from President Xi Jinping.In recent months, Beijing has repeatedly suggested the virus did not originate in China. Many state media reports now claim COVID-19 may have emerged in Italy, suggesting it was brought to China via frozen seafood. (The WHO says it is “highly unlikely that people can contract COVID-19 from food or food packaging.”)A team of Chinese scientists recently argued the virus originated in the summer of 2019 in India. In March, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official offered an unfounded theory the U.S. military may have brought the epidemic to Wuhan.With disinformation and speculation abounding, many public health experts hope the WHO team will soon be able to offer some credible answers.“What I would hope is that politicians, global leaders, give the investigative team some space to do their job, which is a scientific task,” Clements said. “It isn’t a political investigation.”
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Hong Kong Police Arrest 11 in Pro-Democracy Activists’ Escape Attempt
Hong Kong police have arrested 11 people on suspicion of helping 12 pro-democracy activists who attempted to flee to Taiwan by speedboat last year.News outlets in Hong Kong said eight men and three women between the ages of 18 and 72 were detained Thursday. Among those arrested were Daniel Wong, a well-known human rights lawyer and pro-democracy supporter. Wong posted on his Facebook page early Thursday morning that police had arrived at his apartment to arrest him.The 12 activists were arrested in August by the Chinese coast guard while trying to escape to Taiwan. During a court hearing in the southern city of Shenzhen late last month, eight of them were sentenced to seven months in prison on a charge of illegally crossing a border, while two others were convicted of organizing an illegal border crossing and sentenced to two years and three years in prison.Two juveniles who were also arrested on the ill-fated journey were sent back to Hong Kong after pleading guilty to illegal border crossing.Many pro-democracy activists have fled to Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by China, out of fear they would be punished for their activities, especially under the harsh new national security law approved by the Chinese central government in June.Thursday’s arrests come a week after more than 50 pro-democracy activists were arrested in the biggest crackdown under the new law, which was enacted in response to the massive and often violent pro-democracy demonstrations that engulfed the financial hub in the last half of 2019.Under the new law, anyone in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted.Western governments and human rights advocates say the measure effectively ends the self-autonomy guaranteed under the pact that switched control of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997.
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US House Impeaches Trump for Second Time
The Democratic-majority US House impeached President Donald Trump Wednesday, charging him with inciting an insurrection attempting to overturn the Electoral College vote count at the US Capitol last week. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, the trial in the US Senate will not start until after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated next week.
Producers: Katherine Gypson and Jesse Oni
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Despite New Guidelines, Massive Challenges in US Vaccine Distribution
Racing against a surging COVID-19 death toll, the United States is releasing all available doses of the coronavirus vaccine and has instructed states to immediately begin vaccinating Americans 65 and older and adults with medical conditions. Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
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UN Urges US to Reverse Houthi Terror Designation
The U.N.’s humanitarian chief warns that if Washington’s new terrorist designation of Houthi rebels in Yemen is not reversed, it could drastically impact aid imports and push the already desperate country into a large-scale famine.“The most urgent priority in Yemen right now is to prevent a massive famine,” Mark Lowcock will tell a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, according to prepared remarks made available ahead of his briefing.U.N. data anticipates 16 million people will go hungry in the war-torn country this year. Another 50,000 already live in famine-like conditions, while 5 million more are right behind them.“Every decision the world makes right now must take this into account,” Lowcock will warn.Late Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he plans to designate the Iranian-backed rebel group a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” or FTO, to hold it accountable for acts such as “cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure, and commercial shipping.”YemenPompeo said the designation, which takes effect Jan. 19, the last full day of the Trump administration, is “intended to advance efforts to achieve a peaceful, sovereign, and united Yemen that is both free from Iranian interference and at peace with its neighbors.”Yemen imports 90% of its food, nearly all via commercial channels. Suppliers, bankers, shippers and others who fear running afoul of U.S. regulations could cease doing business with Yemeni importers. The U.N. says aid agencies cannot replace the commercial import system.Food prices, already inflated beyond most people’s means, could skyrocket even higher if the supply chain collapses. Yemenis have begun stockpiling whatever staples they can afford, fearful that imports will come to a halt.Pompeo said in his statement Sunday that Washington is willing to implement measures to reduce the impact on “certain humanitarian activity and imports” and is ready to work with the U.N. and NGOs to address the implications.But the U.N. and its partners are not the ones importing most of the food. They say they also have no confirmed details yet on how the licenses or exemptions would work and who or what would be eligible, with just days until the designation goes into effect.While the U.N.’s Lowcock will not question the intent of the FTO designation, he will call for its reversal, warning that it could result in “a large-scale famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years.”Some analysts say the incoming Biden administration may not be able to easily undo the designation if it wants to.“The decision will tie the incoming administration’s hands as it will have to try to reverse the decision, which is not an easy thing to do, or to justify to Congress why it wants to deal with the Houthis despite the designation,” Nabeel Khoury, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, said following the U.S. announcement.“Additionally, the decision feeds into the hands of the hardliners within the Houthi organization and makes it difficult for their leadership to engage in peace talks,” he said.More than five years of war between the Saudi Arabian-backed government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels has pushed the Middle East’s poorest country to the brink.
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Former Michigan Governor Charged in Flint Water Crisis
Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with willful neglect of duty after an investigation of ruinous decisions that left the city of Flint with lead-contaminated water and a deadly regional outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.The charges, revealed in an online court record, are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.The charges are groundbreaking: No governor or former governor in the state of Michigan’s 184-year history had been charged with crimes related to their time in that office, according to the state archivist.“We believe there is no evidence to support any criminal charges against Gov. Snyder,” defense attorney Brian Lennon said Wednesday night, adding that state prosecutors still hadn’t provided him with any details.FILE – Michigan Gov. Rick SnyderLennon said Tuesday that a criminal case would be “outrageous.” Snyder and others were scheduled to appear in court Thursday, followed by a news conference by Attorney General Dana Nessel and prosecutors.Besides Snyder, a Republican who was governor from 2011 through 2018, charges are expected against former officials who served as his state health director and as a senior adviser.The date of the alleged offense is April 25, 2014, when a Snyder-appointed emergency manager who was running the struggling, majority Black city carried out a money-saving decision to use the Flint River for water while a regional pipeline from Lake Huron was under construction.The corrosive water, however, was not treated properly and released lead from old plumbing into homes.Despite desperate pleas from residents holding jugs of discolored, smelly water, the Snyder administration took no significant action until a doctor reported elevated lead levels in children about 18 months later.“I’m sorry and I will fix it,” Snyder promised during his 2016 State of the State speech.Authorities counted at least 90 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Genesee County, including 12 deaths. Some experts found there was not enough chlorine in the water-treatment system to control legionella bacteria, which can trigger a severe form of pneumonia when spread through misting and cooling systems.The disaster made Flint a national symbol of government dereliction, with residents forced to line up for bottled water and parents fearing their children had suffered permanent harm. Lead can damage the brain and nervous system and cause learning and behavior problems. The crisis was highlighted as an example of environmental injustice and racism.More than 9,700 lead service lines at homes have been replaced. Flint’s water, which now comes from a Detroit regional agency, gets good marks, although many distrustful residents still use filters.Separately, the state, Flint, a hospital and an engineering firm have agreed to a $641 million settlement with residents over the water crisis, with $600 million coming from Michigan. A judge said she hopes to decide by Jan. 21 whether to grant preliminary approval. Other lawsuits, including one against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are pending.
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Asia’s Poultry Farmers Battle Bird Flu Outbreak
Asia’s chicken farmers are confronting the region’s worst bird flu outbreak in years, with the deadly virus affecting farms stretching from Japan to India, roiling some poultry prices and showing no signs of easing.More than 20 million chickens have been destroyed in South Korea and Japan since November. The highly pathogenic H5N8 virus last week reached India, the world’s No. 6 producer, and has already been reported in 10 states.While bird flu is common in Asia at this time of year due to migratory bird flight patterns, new strains of the virus have evolved to become more lethal in wild birds, making countries on flight pathways particularly vulnerable, say experts.”This is one of the worst outbreaks ever in India,” said Mohinder Oberoi, an Indian animal health expert and former advisor to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).”There’s a lot of disease in crows and ducks. People are scared of the disease in crows. They know they fly far and think they’ll infect their poultry or even people.”The Asian outbreak comes as Europe suffers its worst bird flu outbreak in years, and follows on the heels of COVID-19, which hurt poultry sales early on in some places amid false disease concerns but is now driving up demand due to more home cooking. Chicken prices in India fell almost a third last week as wary consumers, increasingly nervous about disease since the pandemic, steered clear of the meat.Bird flu cannot infect people through poultry consumption, and the H5N8 virus is not known to have ever infected humans, but consumers are still fearful, said Uddhav Ahire, chairman of Anand Agro Group, a poultry company based in the western city of Nashik.Live chicken prices are already as low as 58 Indian rupees ($0.79) a kilogram, below the cost of production, he said.In South Korea and Japan, no market impact has been seen yet, officials said, with stronger demand for chicken meat for home cooked meals during lockdowns having a greater effect on prices.Virus evolutionThe rapid and wide geographic spread of the latest outbreaks make this one of the worst waves in Asia since the early 2000s.In Japan, where outbreaks have been reported from Chiba near Tokyo to more than 1,000 kilometers away in Miyazaki on Kyushu island in just two months, fresh cases are still occurring.”We can’t say risk of the further spread of bird flu has diminished as the migration season for wild birds will continue till March, or even April in some cases,” said an animal health official in the agriculture ministry.The H5N8 viruses detected in Japan and Korea are very similar to those that spread through Europe in 2019, which in turn evolved from viruses that were prevalent in 2014, said Filip Claes, head of the FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases.A different variant circulating in Europe since late 2020 is also causing significant damage.The new strains are causing more harm now that they are more lethal in wild birds, said Holly Shelton, influenza expert at Britain’s Pirbright Institute.”It’s quite clear that this virus has established itself in the wild bird population and so now there’s a greater propensity for it to spill over back into poultry farms,” she said.A compulsory flu vaccination for poultry in China has protected the region’s top producer, even though the virus has killed wild swans there.Indonesia, Asia’s No. 2 producer, is only a temporary transit point for wild birds, reducing its risk of infection, said Fadjar Sumping Tjatur Rassa, director of animal health at the Agriculture Ministry.Still, the country has banned live bird imports from countries with H5N8 and set up a surveillance system for early detection of the virus, he said.With no major bird flight pathways over Southeast Asia, countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have so far been spared H5N8 outbreaks but face risks from the movement of people and goods.”It will keep spreading until another virus comes along to replace it,” said Shelton.
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Irish PM Issues State Apology for Cruelty to Unmarried Women, Children
Ireland’s prime minister apologized Wednesday after a commission of inquiry released its final report on the harm done to unmarried women and their children in church-run homes in the 20th century.Micheal Martin’s formal state apology followed the release of the final report of a probe into the deaths of 9,000 children in 18 mother-and-baby homes from 1922 to 1998. These homes provided shelter for women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage.In Ireland’s lower house of parliament, the Dail, Martin apologized for the country’s “profound and generational wrong” against women and children who should not have been there in the first place.”The state failed you, mothers and children in these homes,” Martin said Wednesday as he urged the country to show remorse and admit this “dark, difficult and shameful chapter” as part of its history.About 15% of the children born in the homes died from disease and infections, almost double the nationwide infant mortality rate, the report found.The report said, “The very high mortality rates were known to local and national authorities at the time and were recorded in official publications,” according to The Associated Press.”We had a completely warped attitude to sexuality and intimacy,” Martin said Tuesday, ahead of his formal apology. “Young mothers and their sons and daughters paid a terrible price for that dysfunction.”Church-run homes in Ireland accommodated orphans, unmarried pregnant women and their babies for much of the previous century. Many unmarried pregnant women were abandoned by their families out of shame or fear of being judged and stigmatized.Many children were later separated from their mothers for adoption.The commission noted that while mother-and-baby homes were not unique to Ireland, its quota of unmarried mothers at the homes was unmatched.The commission said about 56,000 unmarried mothers and about 57,000 children had lived in the homes it investigated.
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Rebels Attack Central African Republic Capital Amid Election Dispute
Rebels attacked the Central African Republic capital of Bangui on Wednesday, in an escalation of violence following the presidential election last month.President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s army, with the aid of Russian and Rwandan troops alongside U.N. security forces, repelled the attacks, authorities said.The attack is the closest offensive to the capital since Touadera declared victory on December 27 in an election that rebels have called fraudulent. Until Wednesday, attacks carried out by rebels were sporadic and far from the capital.France has thrown its support behind Touadera, rejecting claims that the election was fraudulent.The United Nations confirmed that one Rwandan peacekeeper was killed in Wednesday’s attack.Violence between armed groups since 2013 has displaced nearly 700,000 people inside the Central African Republic and forced over 600,000 to flee — most to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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US House Impeaches Trump for Inciting Deadly Capitol Riot
The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump on Wednesday, declaring that he incited insurrection last week when he implored thousands of his supporters to march to the Capitol to try to overturn his reelection loss, prompting a mob demonstration that turned into deadly mayhem.The 232-197 majority for impeachment, with just a week remaining in Trump’s four-year term as the U.S. leader, was made up of Democratic Party lawmakers joined by 10 of Trump’s fellow Republicans.The House vote made Trump the first of the country’s 45 presidents in its 245-year history to be impeached twice.He was acquitted by the Senate a year ago in the first impeachment case and now will face a new trial in the weeks after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated next Wednesday. A two-thirds vote in the politically divided Senate would be needed to convict him. If convicted, a simple-majority vote could bar him from holding federal office again.Latrice Powell, deputy floor director of the U.S. House, lays down pens and the article of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to sign, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 13, 2021.Damaging, deadly raidThe House impeachment vote came a week to the day after rioters stormed past overwhelmed police into the U.S. Capitol, the worldwide symbol of American democracy, during the congressional certification of the Electoral College vote showing that Biden had defeated Trump in the November election.The throng of Trump supporters stormed into some congressional offices and ransacked them, littered the floors with government documents and scuffled with police. Five people were left dead, with three protesters dying from medical emergencies, another fatally shot by police, and a police officer killed in what authorities are investigating as a homicide.Trump did not comment immediately Wednesday about being impeached again. But amid warnings of more violence surrounding Biden’s inauguration next week, he issued a statement urging that there “must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking, NO vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers.”As Wednesday’s impeachment debate started, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the chamber, called Trump a threat to “liberty, self-government and the rule of law.”But a staunch Trump supporter, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, said impeachment “doesn’t unite the country. This is about politics.” Democrats, he said, “want to cancel the president.”The thin Democratic majority in the House had enough votes on its own to impeach Trump a week before his term ends at noon on January 20 and Biden, a Washington political figure for nearly 50 years, is inaugurated as the country’s new leader.FILE – Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2019.10 Republican votesBut 10 Republicans, including Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the party’s third-ranking House member, joined opposition Democrats in impeaching Trump. In announcing her vote for impeachment Tuesday night, she said there “has never been a greater betrayal” by a U.S. president.The House, with no Republican votes, impeached Trump in late 2019 for trying to get Ukraine to dig up negative information on Biden ahead of the November election. But he was acquitted in February after a 20-day Senate trial.Biden won the presidency in a decisive Electoral College vote that is determinative in U.S. presidential elections. Congress last Thursday certified the Electoral College outcome, but not before the pro-Trump mob delayed the certification for hours before authorities restored order.As the House debated the ground rules for the impeachment proceeding, Democratic Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the president of the United States,” adding that “the cause of this violence resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” the White House address.At a rally a week ago, Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight” to overturn his election loss.U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaks during debate ahead of a House of Representatives vote on impeachment against President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Trump had “brought shame and disorder to the presidency” and had “weaponized hate.”But Representative Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, opposed Trump’s impeachment, saying, “I can think of nothing that would cause further division more than the path the majority is now taking. Rather than looking ahead to a new administration, the majority is again seeking to settle scores against the old one.”’Reckless’ actionRepresentative Jason Smith of Missouri, another Republican, said, “Let’s put people before politics. This is a reckless impeachment.”House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, a close Trump ally, said, “Impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together.” But the Republican leadership said it would not try to pressure party members to vote against impeachment.On a visit Tuesday to the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump said the push to impeach him again was “causing tremendous anger and division and pain far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time.”He urged “peace and calm” and said now was a “time for law and a time for order.”FILE – President Donald Trump reacts after speaking near a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Jan. 12, 2021, in Alamo, Texas.Trump, who in a video last week told the mob of his supporters, “We love you. You’re very special,” did not answer questions from reporters.It was unclear whether House leaders would immediately send the impeachment resolution to the Senate, given that Trump’s term ends in a week.The impeachment resolution cites Trump’s unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of a second term by voting and vote-counting irregularities; his pressure on election officials in the Southern state of Georgia to “find” him more than 11,000 votes to overtake Biden’s margin of victory in the state; and his statements at a rally last Wednesday urging thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to overturn the election outcome.Trial, appointments, COVID aidBiden said it was his “hope and expectation” that the Senate could simultaneously hold an impeachment trial and confirm his Cabinet appointments after he takes office, while also approving more aid for the U.S. economy that has been weakened by the coronavirus pandemic.“It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable,” he said Monday of the rioters.Dozens of rioters already have been arrested, and federal authorities are investigating many more, scouring security videos at the Capitol to identify wrongdoers and searching social media videos the rioters posted of themselves in the building.
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Advocacy Group Urges Biden to Strengthen US Role on Human Rights
Human Rights Watch is urging President-elect Joe Biden to strengthen human rights in the United States in a way that his successors will not be able to reverse, while also prioritizing them in his administration’s foreign policy.“Donald Trump was a disaster for human rights,” HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said Wednesday at the virtual launch of the organization’s World Report 2021. But he cautioned that while the election of Joe Biden presents “an opportunity for fundamental change,” it is not a panacea.Roth said four years of Trump’s transactional foreign policy, reverence for autocrats, general indifference and “often hostility” to human rights have hurt U.S. government credibility on the issue.
“Even though there was an occasional condemnation of human rights in Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, sometimes China, these rang hollow when there was parallel praise bestowed on the likes of Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Israel,” Roth said.
The HRW report also criticizes the Trump administration for domestic policies, including those that separated undocumented migrant children from their parents, restricted access to women’s reproductive health services and set back LGBTQ rights.
“Biden’s big challenge is not simply to reverse Trump’s damage to human rights — important as that is,” Roth said. “But also to change the narrative on human rights in a more fundamental way, so that way it can better survive future changes in administration.”
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to the criticism but has portrayed itself in the past as a leading defender of human rights around the world.
“At home and abroad, we continue to advocate for the universal freedoms of religion, speech, including for members of the press; and for the rights of individuals to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Andrew Bremberg said at a meeting in November.
At a separate meeting in November, Bremberg said, “We remain committed to advancing human rights worldwide, as well as accountability for those who abuse those rights.”FILE – Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth speaks during an interview in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 16, 2019.Roth said the incoming Biden administration should enshrine human rights measures in domestic legislation to make them harder to reverse, while reshaping public appreciation of human rights. Roth also urged Biden to make human rights a “guiding principle” in foreign policy, including not giving security assistance or selling arms to countries that abuse rights or engage in conflicts that are harming civilians, such as Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
The rights report did credit the Trump administration for imposing sanctions on senior officials in China, Syria, and Uganda for serious human rights abuses.HRW also had strong criticism in its more than 700-page annual report for several systemic rights abusers, including China, for its repression of Uighur Muslims and its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.Roth also pointed to the censoring of Chinese doctors who tried to warn of the seriousness of the coronavirus when it first appeared in Wuhan province in 2019.“That shows what happens when a government prioritizes its own political interests, self-preservation, over public health,” Roth said.HRW rebuked Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his government’s weakening of environmental laws that protect the Amazon and its indigenous population. HRW condemned his government’s use of intimidation and violence against advocates who seek to protect the forest.In Turkey, HRW says President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to hold tight to power, sidelining opposition parties and interfering in the judiciary. His government has targeted journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, activists and opposition politicians.
Uganda, which holds presidential elections on Thursday, has seen President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power since 1986, exploit coronavirus restrictions as a pretext to stifle his election competition. HRW says authorities have beaten and arbitrarily detained people for allegedly failing to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. They have also broken up candidate rallies while letting Museveni’s go ahead, and arrested and harassed journalists.
“Museveni is clearly terrified that he is going to lose,” Roth said.
Roth also called on the world’s top diplomat, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to use the full influence of his position to name and shame rights abusers.“He rarely identifies a particular perpetrator, so nobody feels the heat,” Roth said. “He says he prefers behind the scenes diplomacy, but public commentary doesn’t preclude behind the scenes diplomacy; it’s as if he’s abandoning half the powers of his office.”The annual report looks at the situation of human rights in more than 100 countries.
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US Bans Imports of Cotton, Tomato-Based Products From China’s Uighur Region
The U.S. said Wednesday it would stop importing cotton and tomato-based food products from China’s Uighur region as part of a pressure campaign against the Communist Party for allegedly using forced labor from detained Uighur Muslims. The ban, announced by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at a Washington news conference, applies to raw fibers, apparel and textiles made from cotton grown in the Xinjiang region of northwest China.The area is a major supplier of cotton worldwide, so the ban could have significant effects on global commerce. The Trump administration previously banned imports from individual companies linked to forced labor in the region. The Worker Rights Consortium, which includes labor and human rights groups, estimates the U.S. ban affects about 20% of the global cotton supply.Some manufacturers have expressed opposition to a region-wide order, contending it can penalize legitimate producers and because it can be difficult to ensure tainted raw materials do not enter the supply chain.About $9 billion worth of Chinese cotton goods were imported into the U.S. last year, according to the Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade. The office said only about $10 million in tomato products entered the U.S. last year from China.In a joint statement, the American Apparel & Footwear Association, National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association, and the United States Fashion Industry Association applauded the move.“The companies we represent remain outraged by the reports of forced labor in the XUAR – and reports that Uyghurs are being trafficked to other regions – and have long made eradicating forced labor in our supply chains a top operational and public policy priority,” the statement said.“Today’s announcement matches our members’ accelerated commitment in this region,” the statement continued. “We look forward to working with the new Congress and new administration to build on today’s announcement by developing and implementing a holistic approach that provides all stakeholders a clear, effective, and enforceable path forward on reaching our shared goal – ending forced labor and the larger campaign of oppression it fuels.”
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Netherlands Begins Mass Testing to Isolate COVID-19 Variant
Dutch authorities began a mass testing program Wednesday in a coastal town after 30 cases of the new, more easily transmissible strain of COVID-19 was discovered at a grade school. Authorities set up a testing center in a sports hall in Bergschenhoek, part of the municipality of Lansingerland, near the port city of Rotterdam. While testing is mandatory, officials sent notices to the roughly 60,000 residents of the municipality requesting that anyone over the age of two be screened. Doctors say they want to learn as much as they can about a new COVID-19 variant first identified in Britain last month. They want to determine just how fast it is spreading and if it is spreading from children to adults. Health officials confirmed the variant virus does appear to be more easily transmissible, though it has not shown to lead to more severe infections.On Tuesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte extended his country’s five-week lockdown amid concerns that infection rates are not falling quickly enough. Rutte also expressed concern about the new variant. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports the Netherlands has seen a total of 895,543 cases and 12,664 deaths.
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WATCH: Democrats, Republicans Make Case For and Against Trump Impeachment
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday started debating the unprecedented second impeachment of President Donald Trump, with the majority Democrats accusing him of inciting insurrection by encouraging what became a deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol.
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WATCH LIVE: House floor proceedings on Trump ImpeachmentHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump a threat to “liberty, self-government and the rule of law.”
But a staunch Trump supporter, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, said impeachment “doesn’t unite the country. This is about politics.” Democrats, he said, “want to cancel the president.”
The thin Democratic majority in the House has enough votes on its own to impeach Trump a week before his four-year term ends at noon January 20 and Democrat Joe Biden is inaugurated as the country’s new leader.
A small number of Republicans, however, also is expected to join in a vote that will brand Trump, a Republican, with a singular distinction in U.S. history — the first of the country’s 45 presidents to be impeached twice.
If he is impeached, Trump would be tried by the Senate, likely after his term ends, and a two-thirds vote in the politically divided chamber would be needed to convict him. The outcome there is uncertain, but if it convicts him, the Senate in a second vote requiring only a simple majority could ban him from ever again holding federal office.
Chief Justice John Roberts, followed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., left, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., leaves the Senate chamber after presiding over the impeachment trial and the acquittal of President Donald…First impeachment
The House, with no Republican votes, impeached Trump in late 2019 for trying to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden ahead of the November election. Trump was acquitted in February after a 20-day Senate trial.
Biden won the presidency with a decisive majority in the Electoral College that is determinative in U.S. presidential elections. Congress early last Thursday certified the Electoral College outcome but not before a pro-Trump mob stormed into the Capitol, occupying and ransacking some congressional offices and scuffling with police.
As the House debated the ground rules for the proceeding, Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said the impeachment debate was occurring at “an actual crime scene” — the House chamber occupied by some of the rioters before police regained control.
“We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the president of the United States,” McGovern said, adding that “the cause of this violence resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” the White House address.
Capitol police officers in riot gear push back demonstrators who try to break a door of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)’Incitement of insurrection’
At a rally a week ago, Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight” to overturn his election loss. But with security officials warning of more possible violence surrounding next week’s inauguration ceremony, Trump issued a statement Wednesday imploring his supporters to remain peaceful. “In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank You,” the statement said.
Nevertheless, Congressman Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader, said during Wednesday’s floor debate that Trump had “brought shame and disorder to the presidency” and “weaponized hate.”
Congressman Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, opposed Trump’s impeachment a week before leaves office, saying, “I can think of nothing that would cause further division more than the path the majority is now taking. Rather than looking ahead to a new administration, the majority is again seeking to settle scores against the old one.”
Congressman Jason Smith of Missouri, another Republican, said, “Let’s put people before politics. This is a reckless impeachment.”
FILE – Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2019.Republican support
Still, several Republicans said they would join the majority Democrats in voting for impeachment.
Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a member of the Republican Party’s House leadership team, in explaining her support for impeachment Tuesday night, said there “has never been a greater betrayal” by a U.S. president.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, a close Trump ally, said “impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together.” But the Republican leadership said it would not try to pressure its party members to oppose impeachment if they chose not to.
President Donald Trump speaks near a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Alamo, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Trump digs in
On a visit Tuesday to the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump said the push to impeach him again is “causing tremendous anger and division and pain far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time.”
He urged “peace and calm” and said now is a “time for law and a time for order.”
Trump, who in a video last week told the mob of his supporters “we love you, you’re very special,” did not answer questions from reporters.
Impeachment managers
Late Tuesday, Pelosi announced her choice of Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland to lead a group of nine impeachment managers.
“It is their constitutional and patriotic duty to present the case for the President’s impeachment and removal,” Pelosi said in a statement. “They will do so guided by their great love of country, determination to protect our democracy and loyalty to our oath to the Constitution. Our managers will honor their duty to defend democracy for the people with great solemnity, prayerfulness and urgency.”
It is unclear whether House leaders would immediately send the impeachment resolution to the Senate, given that Trump’s term ends in a week.
The impeachment resolution cites Trump’s unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of a second term by voting and vote-counting irregularities, his pressure on election officials in the southern state of Georgia to “find” him more than 11,000 votes to overtake Biden’s margin of victory in the state, and his statements at a rally last Wednesday urging thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to overturn the election outcome.
Biden on impeachment
Biden said it is his “hope and expectation” the Senate could simultaneously hold an impeachment trial and confirm his Cabinet appointments after he takes office, while also approving more aid for the flagging U.S. economy weakened by the soaring coronavirus pandemic.
He said Monday of the rioters, “It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage—that they be held accountable.”
Dozens of rioters already have been arrested and federal authorities are investigating many more, scouring security camera recordings from the Capitol to identify wrongdoers and searching social media videos the rioters posted of themselves in the building.
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Rights Group Urges Lifting Ugandan Social Media Ban
Amnesty International is calling for Ugandan officials to lift bans on social media imposed ahead of Thursday’s election.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced on Tuesday that the government had shut down social media. On Jan. 9, Facebook deleted dozens of pro-Ugandan government accounts, saying they were “fake.” Museveni characterized Facebook’s action as arrogant.
“It is alarming that the Ugandan authorities have suspended social media networks including Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp and restricted people’s right to freedom of expression and access to information,” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, in a press release.
Amnesty International said the move was intended to silence journalists, election observers and opposition politicians.
“Such shutdowns are a violation of the right to freedom of expression and access to information,” Jackson said. “Ugandan authorities must immediately lift all blanket restrictions, and end their wave of political repression ahead of the general election.”
Amnesty International alleged that some Ugandan officials were “circumventing” the bans.
Ugandans head to the polls Thursday to cast ballots for the country’s next president. Musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine is the most prominent of 11 candidates challenging Museveni, who has led the country since 1986.
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Capitol Riot Optics Seen as Reason Behind Scrapping of Two High-Profile State Department Trips
The abrupt cancelation of all State Department travel this week has upended two high-profile trips — a precedent-breaking visit to Taiwan by Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and a final visit to Europe by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Ambassador Craft was due to arrive in Taiwan Wednesday on a three-day visit that included meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen and other senior officials. Chinese officials had demanded the cancelation of the trip, which would have ended Washington’s self-imposed ban on such high-level contacts with the self-governing island which is claimed by Beijing.
Pompeo, meanwhile, had been scheduled to travel to Luxembourg and Brussels, where he planned meet with EU leaders.
All that was abruptly halted Tuesday when State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus announced the department was canceling all official travel this week, citing the transition to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office next week.
Despite the official explanation, senior EU officials are suggesting Pompeo’s trip was canceled for other reasons. They say Brussels had communicated behind the scenes that the trip would be awkward and inappropriate, coming so soon after the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.
“We were not comfortable with the timing of the trip,” a senior EU official told VOA. He asked for his identity to be withheld for this article. “It would have been awkward even if last week’s violence hadn’t occurred, but with that factored in as well, the optics for the visit would have been wrong for us,” the official added.
On Tuesday, before the State Department announced the trip would be scrapped, the European Commission said that no top EU official would meet Pompeo. EU officials declined to elaborate on record.
Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn had been scheduled to see Pompeo during his stop there. But also ahead of the State Department statement, officials in Grand Duchy said that meeting would not take place.
Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, tweeting hours after the Capitol riot: “The violence against the #Capitol is a heinous attack on the foundations of democracy and the freedom of press. We trust in the strength of the American people and institutions to overcome these times of division & look to President-elect @JoeBiden to take on this task.”
Days ahead of Craft’s scheduled departure, Pompeo had issued a statement easing restrictions on contacts between U.S. diplomatic officials and their Taiwanese counterparts. The visit would have been the first major test of the new policy — and of Beijing’s reaction.
Zhu Fenglian, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters Wednesday that it strongly opposes all official contacts between the United States and Taiwan.
Beijing considers the island as part of its territory even though it has been self-governing since the end of China’s civil war in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communists.
Washington officially switched formal diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but the Trump administration has angered China as it increasingly embraced Taiwan both diplomatically and militarily since taking office in 2017.
China stepped up military flights into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar traveled to Taiwan in August and State Department Undersecretary Keith Krach arrived a month later.Jamie Dettmer contributed to this story.
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VOA Reporter Recounts His Fight With COVID at a Russian Hospital
The symptoms came on almost laughably textbook.
One morning in late November, my sense of smell suddenly disappeared. Soon my muscles ached and I developed a headache that resembled a spike dancing on my head.
Then there was the hacking cough, the nausea, the sweats, the chills.
It took a few days before tests confirmed what was already obvious to me: I had contracted the coronavirus.
After unsuccessfully convalescing at home for the better part of a week, city paramedics came to my Moscow apartment and insisted I was overdue for a CT scan of my lungs.
The ambulance brought me to a nearby clinic retrofitted for assessing coronavirus patients. Medics in now standard PPE “spacesuits” manned a cavernous reception area full of worn-out benches with scattered X’s taped to them to encourage social distancing.
Everyone looked sad. I probably did too.
Whether you think the coronavirus is dangerous or not — there’s a deep-seated belief in everyone, I suspect, that you can outrun it. Or that it can’t hurt you. Or that you’ve been careful enough.
But here we all were. On the benches. Our turn had come.
A CT scan showed “up to” 49% damage to my lungs — a number that, combined with a preexisting condition, was enough to convince my examiner, Olga, that I should be under more steady observation in a hospital.
Noticing that I was an American, Olga mentioned she had worked in a COVID ward in New York during the first wave of the epidemic in the U.S. last spring. She had been granted an emergency medical license allowing her to treat Americans with the coronavirus.
“Thanks for doing that,” I said. I meant it. Like many, I had followed the news as New York was overtaken by the virus last spring — killing thousands.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
She also confessed she’d never been paid so much in her life.
I could understand why.
Health care worker salaries are shamefully low by even Russian standards — a fact that prompted President Vladimir Putin to rightly offer danger pay bonuses to frontline staff amid the pandemic.
Let me be clear: The vast majority of Russian health care workers are dedicated professionals. But why else should they risk their lives for next to nothing? And those of their families?
Why would anyone?
Under the new Putin rules, doctors in the “red zone” collect just over $1,000 a month, with pay scaled down for nurses, EMTs, and other personnel.
In Russia’s current economic climate, that has made caring for COVID patients a dangerous but fairly lucrative profession — at least for those who’ve managed to collect. And survive.
Complaints about money gone missing abounded in the early days of the pandemic. Meanwhile, an informal In Memoriam list of health care workers felled by the virus sits at 1,000 and counting.
The kitchen debates
I was transferred to a makeshift hospital in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park — a location that struck me as comically appropriate given its history with the U.S.
The park was host to the so-called American National Exhibition in 1959 — a moment made famous by the impromptu so-called ‘kitchen debate’ between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and then Vice President Richard Nixon over which society was more advanced: the United States or the USSR.
Today, that competition is playing out in the realm of vaccines. Russia was quick — too quick, international health experts ague — to claim it had won the race to develop a COVID vaccine with its “Sputnik V.”
The U.S. has since green-lighted the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Russia says it has alternatives nearly ready for approval. Moscow and Washington have been dueling with efficacy rates for months.
Given the state of U.S.-Russian relations, it feels like a new front in the new Cold War. Only this one fought with needles.
Pop-up hospitals
To some, I imagine, the idea of a stay in a Russian hospital conjures up images of horror.
Frankly, my own impressions haven’t been great, either.
Russian friends have come out of city clinics even before the epidemic with little good to say about the experience.
Even as a foreigner I’d been in Moscow hospitals that were dilapidated and filthy.
Only that wasn’t the case here.FILE – A general view of a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients set up at the Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Center in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 9, 2020.My bed was in a large exhibition pavilion hangar that authorities converted into a makeshift COVID ward as the pandemic surged in Moscow. It was a massive building organized open office-style, with waist-high dividers between beds, with separate sections for men and women.
But each patient cubby was equipped with an oxygen feed and a small dresser. There was even a flight attendant-style buzzer should you need anything. (It seemed to work the one time I did).
There was WIFI — along with rules to not photograph patients or staff, which I respected. The common areas and toilets were clean.
The food? Not great but decent enough. And there was plenty.
Another amenity: a lounge area with soft-cushioned couches and a TV. It usually sat empty.
While I’m on comforts: I’d been admitted to the hospital without warning — and, accordingly, hadn’t had time to bring any personal items. When I told them so, a nurse gave me a dock kit with toothpaste and other essentials to tide me over until Russian friends could deliver the rest at a drop off point outside the park.
Less pleasant: patients were told not to wear masks, a concept I found hard to understand as I watched and listened to those around me.
And that is what we all did.
The clinic wasn’t a chatty place. I got to know my neighbors mainly through observing.
The patient opposite me listened to endless sitcom sketches and the news from the recent cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh on his phone — without headphones.
Given that he seemed to have relatively minor symptoms, he was the first of ‘us’ to be released. (I swore if we ever met again, I’d gift him a set of earbuds.)
Kitty corner: a pudgy gentleman who wheezed like a carburetor in need of deep repair. I felt badly for him. But when he started coughing, I felt badly for me, too. I quickly turned in the other direction and slipped on my oxygen mask.
There was also an older couple in their 80s — a husband and wife, if I was to guess — whom I’d see meeting daily in the corridor to take a slow walk, holding hands.
Treatment-bound
The ward was staffed by medical students in their early 20’s — their youth underscored by how they’d written their names in abbreviated form on their uniforms. Names like ‘Polya’ (Polina) ‘Sasha’ (Alexander) and ‘Dima’ (Dmitry).
The staff I met all seemed to be from southern Russia — cities like Makhachkala, Krasnodar, and Rostov — who said they’d volunteered to work in Moscow for the experience and higher pay.
But what they lacked in years they made up in enthusiasm.
“Good morrrrrning!” chimed ‘Vova’ (Vladimir), who greeted me in English followed by an anticoagulant shot to my gut every morning at 7 am.
“Damn I wish I could speak English,” he added switching back into Russian. “Moscow has all these foreigners and I can’t say a word to them.”
He asked to look through my passport. “I would love to go sometime,” he said.
I hope he will. After all, he’s only 21.FILE – A general view of a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients set up at the Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Center in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 9, 2020.Doctor Anatoly’s therapy
The senior doctor in our ward was “Doctor Anatoly” — whose few wrinkles I could see through his goggles I found oddly comforting.
He made his rounds among the patients every morning in a whirl — his impending arrival announced by the rapid sounds emanating nearby.
‘Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!’
‘Thump! Thump! Thump!
Instructing patients to lie on their stomachs — a common practice —- Doctor Anatoly would proceed to pound them with blows to the back in an effort to dislodge the virus as patients heaved and sucked for oxygen.
And it seemed to work. At least with me.
I hacked and coughed and slept and read. Read and slept and coughed and hacked. It was a routine that after a week had me feeling…if not good, then certainly not as bad as when I’d come in.
No doubt administered medication — a combination of antivirals (triazavirin), antibiotics (amoxicillin) and three doses of the rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib (until they ran out) helped, too.
On Day 6, I was invited to take part in a group exercise class. I took it as acknowledgment of my progress.
We gathered near the pavilion windows and proceeded to mimic our doctor’s motions — bad ballerinas all. Simple movements taxed our lungs. We fell over given easy balancing exercises.
But I could tell: I was clearly feeling better.
“You should be grateful,” Doctor Anatoly said quietly when he came to check on me the next day. “Look around you.”
I had. I’d taken walks around the pavilion enough to see the ICU ward of patients on ventilators.
It was time for me to go home,
Besides, Russia has 20,000-plus new cases daily — with a nearly a quarter of them in Moscow. Others would surely need my bed.
Road to recovery
Over the past month I’ve recuperated at home and thought about my experience.
Of course, I realize the care I was getting isn’t typical for everyone. But it was typical for Moscow. I’ve seen pictures of similar makeshift COVID wards from around the city that looked identical.
The capital is the epicenter of the virus and demands resources. Yet the pandemic has again highlighted how the city benefits from lavish funding the rest of the country lacks.
The evidence is everywhere — streets and sidewalks immediately shoveled when it snows, in holiday decorations to mark the New Year, and in seemingly having enough beds to treat the sick amid a pandemic.
Even one for me.
If that sounds overly rosy, let me add: I’ve done enough reporting on the Russian fight against the coronavirus to know the picture is far from ideal.
There’s more than enough evidence to suggest the infection numbers — and deaths — are worse than official statistics would suggest.
I’ve also spoken to medical professionals in the regions fighting for the same heightened pay doled out in Moscow. The situation has improved but hardly resolved.
And there were other negative moments.
My experience with Russia’s ‘social monitoring’ system — rightfully launched to prevent those with the virus from leaving their homes and infecting others — raises legitimate concerns of abuse by the state security apparatus.
But I’ve had health crises before and one thing I know is they provoke is a terrible sense of sentimentality and gratitude. So bear with me.
For those who cared for me under difficult circumstances — thank you. Stay healthy and good luck with your lives and careers.For those who were ill with me — I hope you’ve since recovered and are home with your families and loved ones.
For friends who gave (and the many others who offered) help — my eternal gratitude. You’re family to me. (Whether you want to be is another issue…).
And for those who are nervously waiting for a vaccine — Sputnik? Pfizer? Moderna? AstraZenica? Who cares?
Let’s hope they all work.
Wherever you are.
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Aid Groups Warn of COVID-19 Outbreak at Ethiopian Refugee Camp in Sudan
Aid workers this week confirmed several cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s camps for refugees who fled the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. The United Nations refugee agency and aid group Mercy Corps say an urgent intervention is needed to avoid a humanitarian disaster.Aid organizations reported four confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s Um Rakouba camp for Ethiopian refugees this week. The camp houses 25,000 people who have arrived since November, living in very basic, overcrowded conditions that present an opportunity for the coronavirus to easily spread.FILE – Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, wait to receive aid at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Nov. 24, 2020.Mercy Corps is running a health clinic in the Um Rakouba camp and has treated nearly 5,000 refugees. The group’s regional director Sean Granville-Ross called for swift and decisive action to prevent further spread of the virus.“It’s a matter of great concern for all of us — the conditions of the camp, the vulnerability of the people, the population density which make social distancing very difficult,” said Granville-Ross. “And the lack of materials, PPE and equipment to enable us to really mange this outbreak and take care of people.”The four people confirmed to have COVID-19 have been quarantined, says UNHCR officer Guilia Raffaelli.“The confirmed positive cases undergo isolation and have contact tracing primary contacts pending their test results. Other activities are being stopped, like communications with communities and office relations centers, and more funding is needed in order to respond,” said Raffaelli.IRC Works With Sudanese Authorities to Expand Aid Delivery to Ethiopian Refugees Hundreds continue to flee Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region despite government assurances of safety back home Sudanese authorities received aid from UAE and other Arab countries to help the Ethiopian refugees in December. Health observers say more money is needed due to the increasing influx and the growing risk of COVID-19.Sudan has registered more than 23,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since late October, with more than 2,000 deaths.Meanwhile, Sudan’s government and aid organizations have finished preparations to move the refugees to a new camp west of Al-Qadarif. The government says the move will take refugees away from the tense border area and improve security.
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Indonesia Suspends Dive Search for Crashed Jet’s Cockpit Recorder
Indonesia on Wednesday temporarily suspended a search by divers for the cockpit voice recorder of a Sriwijaya Air that crashed with 62 people on board shortly after takeoff.The search in the Java Sea had to be halted due to bad weather that whipped up waves of up to 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) in height, officials said.Earlier on Wednesday, divers retrieved more debris and a damaged Identity card of one of the victims, Navy official Abdul Rasyid told reporters on board the Indonesian navy ship Rigel.Indonesia Retrieves ‘Black Box’ from Crashed Sriwijaya PlaneBlack box found off coast of Jakarta; officials say cockpit recorder will likely be found soon; plane went down Saturday with 62 people on board Divers retrieved the plane’s flight data recorder (FDR) from the seabed on Tuesday and officials said they had also found the beacon that was attached to the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).A remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) will be deployed to scour the seabed on Wednesday, Abdul said, adding that the search had been made more complicated because no pings were now being emitted after the beacon detached from the CVR.”We have the ROV that will confirm the location again and tomorrow we will dive and comb that location again,” he said.Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said on Tuesday he had “high confidence” of finding the recorder soon.The Boeing 737-500 jet crashed into the Java Sea on Saturday four minutes after takeoff from Jakarta’s main airport.Investigators will rely heavily on the two black boxes to determine the cause of the crash.Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) expects to download the FDR data within two to five days.The FDR contains about 25 hours of data on eight tracks and the CVR has 30 minutes of conversation, according to the final report on a similar model of a Boeing 737 which crashed in 2008.A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will be traveling to Jakarta in coming days to help with the investigation.The KNKT’s initial findings showed the plane’s engine was running when it hit the water, based on the damage seen on jet parts retrieved from the sea.Indonesia’s transport ministry said on Tuesday the plane, which was grounded during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, had passed an airworthiness inspection on Dec. 14 and had returned to service shortly after.
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Ugandans About to Head to Polls as Singer Challenges Museveni’s Rule
Ugandans head to the polls Thursday to cast ballots for the country’s next president. Musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine is the most prominent of 11 candidates challenging President Yoweri Museveni, who has led the country for nearly 35 years. Stability, security and peace have been President Museveni’s key selling points to Ugandan voters with a campaign themed, “Secure your future.” Bobi Wine, on the other hand, has directed his campaign at young voters, promising freedom from Museveni’s heavy-handed rule, and pledging to create five million jobs should he assume power. Sarah Birete, a pro-democracy political activist, says for many Ugandans, these elections are not about economic issues, but about redeeming the soul of the nation. “If you see Ugandans coming on the streets, they are simply saying they are tired of people that have hijacked the state,” she said. “We have rising levels of impunity by duty bearers. These are an example of things that have made citizens of this country angry and hungry for change. So, it’s not about issues that this candidate is speaking. Well, no. Can we have our country back, then we shall redefine how we will be governed.” A supporter of Ugandan opposition Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi also known as Bobi Wine, carry his electoral campaign poster ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections, in Kampala, Uganda, Jan. 12, 2021.Political analyst Morrison Rwakakamba believes many Ugandans, especially the elderly and women, still see Museveni as the commander-in-chief who will ensure peace and stability. “In this crowd of presidential contenders, Bobi Wine has the charisma. He has more star power especially because of his music to galvanize young people. But there’s nothing new that in my view he’s saying. But at the national level, President Museveni remains much stronger, especially because of the constituency of the Ugandans who have had experience before, of instability,” said Rwakakamba. A staff member gestures towards a screen displaying how a ballot paper should be marked during the upcoming elections at the electoral commission headquarters in Kampala, Uganda, Jan. 2, 2021.Ordinary Ugandans such as Ibrahim Walugembe agree that while Wine is appealing to them, they still would like a peaceful and stable country. Walugembe says the person who has talked about issues that affect him has been the president, his excellency. Walugembe adds that even if the old man has been able to achieve much, he should retire, so Uganda can get a new leader, because it’s been such a long time. With a population of close to 42 million, about 70 percent are young Ugandans struggling to survive. Motorcyclist Tamale Juma says he believes Wine is the only leader who will deliver the peace they desire. Tamale says, “We don’t have any peace in this country” and that “because we are so poor, we work under a lot of hardships with no medicine in hospitals. The education standard is so low.” He also says the poverty level is high and because of that, people would like to see a new leader. Tamale says Museveni has failed for the 35 years he has been in power, adding, “We want to see if Bobi Wine will bring us better development.” About 17.6 million Ugandans are eligible to vote in Thursday’s election. Polling begins Thursday at 6:00 a.m. local time, ending at 4 p.m. According to the electoral commission, all 134 districts in Uganda have received polling materials.
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British Lawmakers Demand ‘Coherent’ Policy Toolkit to Counter China
The world’s leading democracies should form a coalition to counter China’s human rights abuses at home and its support for authoritarianism overseas, according to a prominent group of British lawmakers.Several members of parliament from Britain’s ruling Conservative Party have formed the “China Research Group” to monitor Beijing’s influence. They say Britain is in desperate need of a coherent policy on China and recently published a self-styled “policy toolkit” of recommendations.Tom Tugendhat, chairman of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, is co-founder of the group. “What we’re trying to do is to change China. We’re not trying to cut it off,” Tugendhat told VOA in a recent interview. “We’re trying to encourage it to change within a rules-based international system, so that the people of China have the opportunity they deserve and so the rest of the world is not threatened.”Analyst Steve Tsang, who is director of the China Institute at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said it is a battle with global implications.“China under (Chinese leader) Xi Jinping is interested in exporting and supporting authoritarianism in the world. So, there is a bit of a contest of two different ideas: liberal democracies and Chinese-supported authoritarianism,” Tsang told VOA. Among the policy recommendations from the China Research Group are the formation of a coalition of 10 leading democracies to counterbalance Chinese influence, and sanctioning Chinese individuals accused of human rights abuses.Tugendhat said a growing catalogue of atrocities carried out by Beijing must be confronted. “We know about the mass sterilization and detention and indeed enslavement of Uighur Muslims; we know about the persecution of Mongols in Inner Mongolia; we know about the persecution of Tibetans; and we now know very clearly about the repression of democratic rights in Hong Kong. And all of these should be met with sanctions.”Ben Chung, 2nd right, of a pro-democracy political group is arrested by police in the Central district after as many as 50 Hong Kong opposition figures were arrested in Hong Kong, Jan. 6, 2021.In a speech to parliament Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stopped short of calling for sanctions on individuals in the Chinese government, instead outlining new regulations for businesses to prevent any links with forced labor practices in China.“Here in the U.K., we must take action to make sure that U.K. businesses are not part of the supply chains that lead to the gates of the internment camps in Xinjiang, and to make sure that the products of the human rights violations that take place in those camps don’t end up on the shelves of supermarkets that we shop in here at home week in, week out,” Raab told members of parliament. The China Research Group’s recommendations include forcing greater legal obligations on foreign banks and financial institutions to prevent the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy by Beijing.But the West has limited leverage, said Tsang. “We are looking at some of the leading Western banking and financial institutions. So, they will be the ones that will be hurt much more than the Chinese party state itself.”China is both the United States’ and Europe’s biggest trading partner.“Trade relationships normally do get ahead of political ones, that’s the entrepreneurial nature of business; it’s a good thing,” said Tugendhat. “But sometimes we need to remember that there are other challenges that need to be reined in or changed or tweaked. Because actually, what we’re seeing is not fair trade; it may be intellectual property theft. It may be effectively asset stripping.”Any “policy toolkit” will have a limited impact – and global democracies must instead win the battle of ideas, said Tsang. “If we cannot win the argument with the reality of democracies, then we will not be able to outcompete China’s approach to supporting authoritarianism.”China has reacted angrily to Western accusations that it is curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong and committing human rights abuses. “The relevant countries should face up to the reality that Hong Kong has already returned to China,” Foreign Ministry spokersperson Zhao Lijian told reporters at a press conference Monday.“They should abide by the basic principles of international law and international relations, discard double standards, earnestly respect China’s national sovereignty, respect Hong Kong’s rule of law, and immediately cease all forms of interference in Hong Kong’s internal affairs, and China’s domestic affairs,” he added.Britain handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997.Meanwhile, China has denied accusations that it is incarcerating millions of ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang province and conducting forced sterilizations, despite widespread evidence that such practices are taking place.
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British Health Secretary Hopes Current Situation is Peak of Pandemic
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday he is hoping the nation’s current situation is the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as infection rates and hospitalizations are at or near record levels.
In televised interviews. Hancock said Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is facing intense pressure due to the high number of COVID-19 cases, treating 55 percent more people than during the first pandemic peak in April, with more than 30,000 patients across the country.
He said the government is considering many options to ease the strain on the NHS. Authorities have reopened temporary field facilities – known as “Nightingale Hospitals” in London and elsewhere and are even considering using hotels for patient overflow.
The health secretary said if hotels were used it would only be “for step-down patients… who no longer need full hospital care.”
Britain on Monday launched an ambitious program to vaccinate 14 million people by the middle of next month. Hancock said that program is still on track to meet that goal, but as of now, it difficult to determine when enough people will be vaccinated to lift some of the COVID lockdown restrictions that are in place. He said they would remain “long as they are necessary.”
The government opened seven mass vaccination centers Monday as it moved into the most perilous moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, with exhausted medical staff reeling under the pressure of packed hospitals and increasing admissions.
Hancock said the single most important thing people can do to ensure the situation does not get worse is to stay home.
Britain has so far had at least 3,180,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and more than 83,000 deaths the world’s fifth-highest official toll.
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