Congressional leaders gathered Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to pay tribute to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after being injured during the siege of the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump on January 6. Sicknick’s remains arrived Tuesday at the Capitol in a solemn ceremony featuring dozens of Capitol Police officers, who stood at attention as his urn was carried up the steps to the Rotunda. In remarks during a ceremony Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Sicknick a patriot and said he will never be forgotten. “Each day, when members (of Congress) enter the Capitol, this temple of democracy, we will remember his sacrifice,” she said. Mourners pay their respects during a ceremony memorializing U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, as an urn with his cremated remains lies in honor on a black-draped table at the center of the Capitol Rotunda, Feb. 3, 2021.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also spoke, calling Sicknick “a good, kind man.” Members of the officer’s family attended the ceremony. After their remarks, representatives and senators filed past Sicknick’s remains and paid their respects. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pay their respects to late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.Late Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, also paid their respects to the fallen officer, and Capitol Police were given an opportunity to participate in a viewing period overnight. Later Wednesday, Sicknick’s remains will be taken to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. Pelosi and Schumer announced in a joint statement last week that Sicknick would lie in honor in the Rotunda. They said his heroism on January 6 “helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy and ensure that the Congress was not diverted from our duty to the Constitution.” Thousands of supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol that afternoon as Congress met to confirm Biden’s victory in the November election. Sicnick is only the fifth person to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Others given that honor were civil rights leader Rosa Parks, televangelist Billy Graham, and Capitol Police officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, who died defending the Capitol building in a shooting attack in 1998.
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Month: February 2021
Democrats to Control US Senate Committees
The U.S. Senate is politically split with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, but leaders of the two parties agreed Wednesday that Democrats will hold the majority of the seats on each of the chamber’s issue-related committees where legislation is first drafted.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer announced the agreement with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and said the chamber’s organizing resolution would be approved later in the day.If they vote as a 50-member bloc, Democrats control the Senate because of the tie-breaking vote from Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who presides over the chamber.Schumer and McConnell negotiated for a month over the legislative rules for the next two years before McConnell agreed to Schumer’s demand for control.With Democrats holding the majority of seats on each of the Senate’s 20 standing committees, it could possibly be easier for new President Joe Biden to advance his legislative priorities. But even then, lawmakers sometimes do not agree with the stances adopted by presidents of their own party.In the 100-member Senate, members of the minority party – now Republicans for the next two years — often object to legislation proposed by a president of the opposite party, now the Democrat Biden, who took office two weeks ago.In debate before the full Senate, some minority party lawmakers often filibuster against legislation they don’t favor, forcing at least 60 senators, some from both parties, to join to vote to break the filibuster and then vote on the legislation itself.
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‘Many Questions’ After WHO Team Visits Wuhan Virology Lab
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) international team of investigators Wednesday visited a virology laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, a research center that has been the subject of speculation about the origin of COVID-19.
The team spent about three-and-a-half hours at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. When asked by reporters if they found anything, one off the researchers called from her car as it sped away, “Very interesting. Many questions.”
The institute is the subject of conspiracy theories that speculate a laboratory leak caused the city’s first coronavirus outbreak in the city. Most scientists reject the hypothesis, but some speculate that a virus captured from the wild could have figured into experiments at the lab to test the risks to humans, and then escaped.
Scientists called for the lab to release details of all coronavirus samples studied there to investigate those theories.
The lab visit came on day six of the mission to explore the origins of the virus that first appeared in the central China city at the end of the 2019 and has since killed more than 2.2 million people worldwide.
WHO officials, including members of the team, have tried to manage expectations for the mission and have played down the chances of finding any definitive answers on this trip, including how the virus jumped from animals to humans.
But in an interview Tuesday, with Britain’s Sky News, team member and disease ecology expert Peter Daszak said the investigators have seen data that has not been seen before and the team is “really getting somewhere” in their effort to find the source of the virus.
He said, “We will, at the end of this mission, produce a report, which will have some indications of what you know, what the most likely scenarios are, and also some suggestions and really strong indications of what work needs to be done in the next few weeks and months to really get a grip of that.”
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Inter-Parliamentary Union Condemns Myanmar Coup as Threat to Democracy, Human Rights
The Inter-Parliamentary Union has strongly condemned the military coup in Myanmar, calling it a major setback for democracy and a subversion of the will of the people. IPU membership includes parliamentary bodies from 179 of the world’s 193 countries.The military coup took place on Monday, the day Myanmar’s new 664- member parliament was due to reopen. Military authorities questioned the legitimacy of November’s parliamentary election and have detained the country’s leader, Aung San Su Kyi and members of parliament.Secretary-General of the Inter-parliamentary Union Martin Chungong said he is worried about the fate of members of parliament and the IPU has called on the military to respect their integrity.He said the IPU has invested a lot in Myanmar since 2009. He said it has been engaging with military authorities and helping them along the democratic path.He said Myanmar joined the IPU in 2012. Since then, the IPU has worked with parliament to help it function as a normal democratic body.“As I speak, we do have a team of experts that were working with the Parliament in order to strengthen different components of that Parliament. Now, their work is in jeopardy. Everything has come unraveled. And I think that the international community should rally together to say and prove that what happened in Myanmar cannot be condoned,” he said.Myanmar residing in Japan protest at a rally against Myanmar’s military, after it seized power from a democratically elected civilian government and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, outside Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, Feb. 3, 2021.Chungong urges the rapid restoration of constitutional rule. He said parliament has stopped functioning since the military takeover. He said this has disrupted some important initiatives in which the IPU has been engaged with the MPs. One of particular interest, he said, was an effort begun last year to try to resolve the Rohingya issue.“We had been set to continue this work with the newly elected Parliament when this coup happened. And that is why we say it is a big setback for all of us because we thought we have been making progress along those lines too at a time when the authorities as such were not very comfortable talking about the Rohingya issue,” said Chungong.More than a million Rohingya have fled violence and persecution in Myanmar since August 2017. They live in overcrowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.Chungong said the IPU has not been able to establish contact with parliamentarians in Myanmar. He said his organization is monitoring the situation closely to see how it evolves.He notes the IPU’s governing council is set to meet in regular session next Monday. He said the policy-making body may decide to suspend Myanmar from IPU membership if conditions in the country have not improved.
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Death of Britain’s ‘Captain Tom’ Triggers National Outpouring of Grief, Admiration
People across Britian have been paying tribute to Tom Moore, the 100-year-old British Second World War veteran who raised millions for health workers and offered hope to Britons and others around the world during the pandemic.Moore died Tuesday. He was being treated at a hospital for breathing difficulties after contracting pneumonia and had also been diagnosed with the coronavirus last week.In April 2020, as Britain entered lockdown at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, former army Captain Tom Moore set out to raise 1,000 pounds for the National Health Service by walking a hundred laps of his garden, inspired by the treatment he’d received for a broken hip and cancer. People took Moore to their hearts and donations poured in for the humble 99-year-old, who became affectionately known as ‘Captain Tom.’The Wembley Stadium is illuminated in commemoration of Captain Sir Tom Moore, after his family announced that the centenarian fundraiser died, in London, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.“The first two laps it’s a bit hard, after that I’m thinking what I’m doing and I just keep on doing it. Once I’ve started it’s fine and that’s why I keep on going,” Moore told reporters as he approached his target of 100 laps.Moore had served for the British Army in Myanmar, India and Sumatra during WWII. Troops from his home Yorkshire Regiment formed an honor guard for what was supposed to be the final lap, by which time Moore had raised more than £12 million (U.S.$16 million) for the NHS.“It’s unbelievable that people could be so kind to give that sort of money to the National Health Service. And maybe I was responsible for starting it, but not deliberately. It was purely… shall we say gratitude for what they’ve done for me,” Moore said.He decided to keep on walking. By the time he closed the donation page on April 30, his 100th birthday, Moore had raised a staggering £38 million (U.S.$53 million). He received some 150,000 birthday cards from around the world. Others took inspiration for their own fundraising endeavors, raising millions more for charity.FILE – British World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore, 99, walks a lap of his garden in the village of Marston Moretaine, 50 miles north of London, April 16, 2020.Moore scored a number one hit on the British singles chart with a rendition of the 1963 Gerry and the Pacemakers’ hit ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’In July, Captain Moore was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. The British Army promoted him to ‘Honorary Colonel.’ In September, he released an autobiography, the title taken from his iconic words: ‘Tomorrow will be a good day.’ “Always be optimistic whatever you’re talking about, be optimistic because it’s a good day, I mean things will get better,” Moore said at the book launch.Moore had contracted pneumonia and was diagnosed with the coronavirus on January 22. He was unable to be vaccinated due to the medication he was taking. The 100-year-old passed away Tuesday after a short stay in Bedford hospital in central England, with his family by his side.His death has triggered a national outpouring of grief and admiration.“I think everyone is sort of feeling it because so many people have lost someone that they’re connecting with that,” said 30-year-old London teacher Charlotte Turnbull.John Karssiens, an NHS Doctor, said: “Thank you so much, Captain Tom. It’s a massive, massive thing you’ve done for the country.”The royal family’s Twitter account posted the following message: ‘The Queen is sending a private message of condolence to the family of Captain Sir Tom Moore. Her Majesty very much enjoyed meeting Captain Sir Tom and his family at Windsor last year. Her thoughts and those of the Royal Family are with them.’FILE – Captain Sir Thomas Moore receives his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, July 17, 2020.Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a televised statement Wednesday. “Captain Sir Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. In the dark days of the Second World War he fought for freedom and in the face of this country’s deepest post-war crisis he united us all, he cheered us all up, and he embodied the triumph of the human spirit,” Johnson said.In a statement, Moore’s family said: “The last year of our father’s life was nothing short of remarkable. He was rejuvenated and experienced things he’d only ever dreamed of.”Moore will be remembered most for his messages of hope. “To all those people who are finding it difficult at the moment,” he once said, “the sun will shine on you again, and the clouds will go away.”
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Malawi Setting Up Field Hospitals to Cope with Virus Surge
Malawi faces a resurgence of COVID-19 that is overwhelming the southern African country where a presidential residence and a national stadium have been turned into field hospitals in efforts to save lives.
President Lazarus Chakwera, just six months in office, lost two Cabinet ministers to COVID-19 in January amid a surge that led him to declare a state of national disaster in all of Malawi’s 28 districts.
Chakwera declared three days of national mourning over the deaths of the ministers of transport and local government, which shocked the nation and inspired a raft of new measures aimed at stemming the spread of the virus in a country with a poor health system. A more contagious strain of the coronavirus first reported in South Africa has since been confirmed in Malawi.
“Our medical facilities are terribly understaffed, and our medical personnel are outnumbered,” Chakwera said in a recent address.
Malawi has seen its number of confirmed cases of the disease go above 23,000, including a total of 702 deaths as of Monday, according to Dr. John Phuka, co-chair of the presidential task force on COVID-19.
The numbers appear relatively small in a country of 18 million, but the 14,000 active cases are many times more than the number of established hospital beds. Officials are setting up makeshift facilities to increase the number of treatment units from 400 to at least 1,500, sometimes erecting tents on the lawns of hospitals.
The presidential residence State House in the southern city of Zomba soon will be turned into a 100-bed treatment facility, according to officials.
A 300-bed field hospital at Bingu National Stadium has begun admitting patients. Another 300-bed field hospital has been opened at a youth center in Blantyre, the country’s largest city. And a 200-bed facility for emergency care has been set up in the northern city of Mzuzu.
The government also has recruited 1,128 medical professionals, just short of 1,380 that health authorities have said are needed.
The government of Chakwera — a retired pastor who was a relative political newcomer when he was elected in June — has already spent more than $38 million in tackling the pandemic. Last month he ordered the finance minister to release another $22.6 million as soon as possible to meet the demands of the crisis.
Among the measures imposed by Chakwera, who began broadcasting a virus-related address to the nation every Sunday night following the deaths of his ministers, is the closure of schools for at least 15 days until Feb. 8. A nighttime curfew is being enforced and all gatherings are restricted to no more than 50 people.
“The situation is quite desperate,” Chakwera said in a recent address, referring to the shortage of health infrastructure. “Although in my six months in office we set up 400 national treatment units, the current wave of infections has completely overwhelmed these facilities.”
Malawi has secured enough doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to vaccinate 20% of its people, with the first consignment set to arrive at the end of February, he said. Front-line workers, the elderly, and those with underlying conditions will be prioritized, Chakwera told the nation, appealing for outside help to combat the pandemic.
The international aid group Doctors Without Borders has also responded to the crisis, opening a 40-bed COVID-19 ward entirely staffed and managed by its employees. The group noted, however, that setting up more hospital beds may not be enough.
“Malawi urgently needs access to vaccination – which unfortunately is unlikely to happen before April 2021, and even then, only for a portion of its people,” the organization said in a statement. “By that time, the pandemic might have already peaked, and killed many who could have been protected by vaccination.”
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GM 2035 Pledge Promotes Shift to Electric Vehicles
The recent pledge by General Motors to produce all electric vehicles by 2035, except for heavy duty trucks, is expected to give a huge boost to the move away from gasoline-fueled cars. Mike O’Sullivan reports on what analysts say is a global trend.
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Pentagon Chief Purges Defense Boards; Trump Loyalists Out
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered hundreds of Pentagon advisory board members to resign this month as part of a broad review of the panels, essentially purging several dozen who were appointed last-minute under the Trump administration.
During the last two months of his tenure, former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller removed a number of longtime members from several defense policy, health, science and business boards and replaced many with loyalists of former President Donald Trump. More than 30 of those replacements will now be forced to resign, including former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
“I am directing the immediate suspension of all advisory committee operations until the review is completed unless otherwise directed by myself or the deputy secretary of defense,” Austin said in a memo released Tuesday. And he ordered all committee members who were appointed by the defense secretary to resign no later than Feb. 16.
Austin said the review will assess whether each board provides value and make sure its focus aligns with “our most pressing strategic priorities and the National Defense Strategy.”
Tata, a former Fox News commentator, failed to get through Senate confirmation for the top Pentagon policy job early last year because of offensive remarks he had made, including about Islam. In November, however, Trump appointed him to that same post, just days after firing then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and putting Miller in the job.
Miller appointed Tata to the Defense Policy Board on Jan. 19, his last full day on the job. Gingrich was appointed to that same board. Lewandowski was appointed to the Defense Business Board.
A senior defense official said Austin’s decision was driven by the frenetic activity of Miller to remove dozens of board members and replace them in such a short amount of time between Trump’s election loss and the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Of the 42 advisory panels listed in Austin’s memo, 31 will have their members removed, six will be part of the review but their members will be retained, and five others have either no members at this time or have concluded their business. Among the 31 are some of the department’s most well known boards, including those with purview over defense policy, science, health, innovation, Arlington National Cemetery and women in the military.
All together there are more than 600 members on the 42 boards. Defense officials said they don’t know exactly how many are being asked to resign, but it will be hundreds.
The boards of visitors for the Army, Navy and Air Force academies will keep their members, because those are presidential appointments that Austin does not have the authority to overturn. Among the Trump appointees who will remain on those boards are his former press secretary Sean Spicer and longtime adviser Kellyanne Conway. Those boards, however, will be subject to the review.
One new congressionally mandated commission is also being purged of the four members that Miller appointed in early January. The panel hasn’t started its work yet, but will be responsible for figuring out how to go about renaming military bases and property that honor Confederate leaders. The panel is not subject to Austin’s broader review, but he intends to appoint four new members.
In a letter to Austin this week, U.S. Reps. Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, called for the removal of the four Miller appointees on the renaming board. Trump had opposed the renaming of bases, and cited that as a reason for vetoing the defense bill, which included a provision setting up the panel to handle the process.
“Those who are called to serve their nation in this matter must have a deep understanding of and expertise in the history of Confederate monuments and their role in the white supremacist movement,” Brown and Beatty wrote to Austin.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Austin believed that stopping the activity of all the boards and doing a more intensive review was the fairest and most consistent process.
Officials said the review will look at whether the boards have overlapping jurisdictions and whether they should be realigned or if money could be saved by trimming some of them. It also will make recommendations on the membership balance, size and mission of all the boards.
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Myanmar Charges Aung San Suu Kyi With Violating Import-Export Law
Authorities in Myanmar have filed charges against detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi for violating import-export laws. A press officer for her National League for Democracy party said Wednesday on his official Facebook page that Aung San Suu Kyi was ordered to be held for two weeks. She was detained along with other leaders, including President Win Myint, on Monday as the military seized power. The NLD party also said in a statement Wednesday authorities had raided its offices in multiple regions of the country. Foreign ministers from the G-7 group of nations on Wednesday condemned the coup. “We are deeply concerned by the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and targeting of the media,” the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said in a statement. G-7 Condemns Myanmar Coup Foreign ministers add to calls for military to release detained political leaders They called on Myanmar’s military to end its declared state of emergency and to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to support the most vulnerable people in the country. “The November election results must be respected and Parliament should be convened at the earliest opportunity,” the G-7 ministers said. Medical workers protest coup
Wednesday also brought a work stoppage by staff at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns to protest the coup.
A statement from the newly formed Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement said the army had put its own interests above a population facing hardships during the pandemic that has killed more than 3,100 people in Myanmar. Medical workers wearing red ribbons pose during a protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon General Hospital in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2021.A U.S. State Department official told reporters Tuesday the government had officially declared the military takeover earlier this week a coup, a designation that “triggers certain restrictions on foreign assistance to the government.” The official said the United States “will take action against those responsible,” but will continue programs that help the country’s citizens, including humanitarian assistance and democracy support initiatives. Myanmar’s military stand guard at a checkpoint manned with an armored vehicles blocking a road leading to the parliament building Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.Year-long state of emergency
The Myanmar military said its seizure, set to last one year, was necessary because the government had not acted on claims of voter fraud in November elections that were overwhelmingly won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party. A new session of parliament had been due to begin Monday. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday the United States will need “the help of our friends and allies” to pressure Myanmar’s military. “It is time for freedom-loving nations to stand up for democracy and impose their own meaningful costs on the military junta,” McConnell said. I’ve had good conversations with People walk at a market after the army seized power in a coup in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 2, 2021.Myanmar history
A British colony until 1948, Myanmar was ruled by dictators backed by the military from 1962 to 2010. An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the NLD party won in a landslide, but the elected members of parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. In 2010, Senior General Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the National League for Democracy, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected in a 2012 by-election and later became the state counsellor of Myanmar. FILE – Aung San Suu Kyi attends a hearing in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar alleging genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya population, at the International Court of Justice, Dec.10, 2019.But Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, while popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. In 2017, an Army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state, led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity. State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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UK Study Finds AstraZeneca Vaccine Cuts COVID Transmission by 2/3
A coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds, according to a study released by the university Wednesday.
The study has not been peer-reviewed, but Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the findings are “good news.”
“It does show the world that the Oxford jab works, it works well,” Hancock said.
The vaccine has come under criticism from other nations in Europe in recent days with officials expressing concerns about the lack of data regarding its effectiveness in older people.
France’s top health advisory body recommended the vaccine only be used in those under the age of 65.
In Belgium, the government said it would only give the vaccine to those under the age of 55.
“We don’t have enough info to be sure to say that it is good for the elderly,” Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said.
Oxford’s vaccine trial chief Andrew Pollard told the BBC on Wednesday that despite the lack of data about its exact effectiveness, the vaccine provides good immune responses in older people.
“We have good immune responses in older adults very similar to younger adults, the protection that we do see is in exactly the same direction, and of a similar magnitude,” Pollard said.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, regulators on Wednesday gave approval for the provisional use of a vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech. The first vaccinations are expected to begin by the end of the first quarter of 2021, with a priority on border workers in the country that has strict quarantine measures in place for those arriving from abroad.
Wednesday also brought the start of a vaccination campaign in Pakistan, which is using a vaccine from China’s Sinopharm.
Asia
Like many countries, the first people to get the vaccine are frontline health workers. Pakistan’s minister for planning and development said at a ceremony in Islamabad that the workers are the “real heroes” as they put their own health at risk to help those infected with COVID-19.
Pakistan has received 500,000 doses of the vaccine, and it plans to vaccinate 70% of its high-risk population by the end of the year.
In South Korea, officials are limiting travel and gatherings during next week’s Lunar New Year holidays and urging people to stay home to combat a rise in coronavirus cases.
Health officials also said Wednesday they have detected the first local transmissions of virus variants first identified in Britain and South Africa.
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More than 30 People Killed in Multi-Vehicle Accident in Uganda
Five vehicles crashed on a highway in western Uganda Tuesday night, killing at least 32 people and injuring five others, according to multiple accounts of the accident. Irene Nakasiita, communications officer of Uganda Red Cross Society, said Wednesday the accident occurred on Fort Portal-Kasese highway, a narrow roadway under construction in the Kasese district. Initial reports indicate a speeding truck carrying a coffin for a burial collided with another car before a third vehicle carrying several people slammed into the pile up and two other drivers lost control and rammed into the wrecked vehicles. Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper spoke with one witness who also described the crash as a chain reaction accident. Police are still sorting out the circumstances of the accident in Uganda, which has more than 2,000 road accident deaths annually, ranking it among the countries with the most traffic fatalities.
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Puerto Rico to Receive More than $6 Billion in Aid for Storm Preparedness
Puerto Rico is scheduled to receive more than $6 billion in federal funds for hurricane preparedness and other disasters. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, the administration is releasing $1.3 billion in aid allocated by Congress to help the U.S island territory protect itself against future climate disasters. Psaki said the Biden administration, in partnership with the Puerto Rico Department of Housing, is also working to remove onerous restrictions put in place by the last administration on nearly $5 billion in additional funds. Governor Pedro Pierluisi said funds assigned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will go toward improvements, including infrastructure projects and economic development. According to the Associated Press, Pierluisi, who praised the speedy help from the Biden administration said some $3.2 billion is now available to Puerto Rico to continue rebuilding from hurricanes Irma and Maria. So far, Puerto Rico has only received $18 billion of the $43 billion Congress committed to the island over concerns how the money would be used.
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Mexico Grants Emergency Use of Russia Vaccine to Fight Coronavirus
Mexico’s regulatory agency approved emergency use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, shortly after Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell announced Tuesday the country’s plan to combat the novel coronavirus would involve use of the vaccine. The Associated Press reports Mexico is launching its vaccination program as its capital, Mexico City, is struggling to accommodate a growing number of coronavirus patients and provide adequate oxygen to hospitals. Meantime, Lopez-Gattel said the first batches of the 7.4 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will arrive this month through April. The Sputnik V vaccine’s credibility was elevated Tuesday after late-stage clinical trial results published in The Lancet international medical journal revealed it was 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19. Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about purchasing 24 million doses of the vaccine. Argentina joins Mexico in ramping up its efforts to secure an ample supply of the Sputnik V vaccine. Lopez Gatell said on Monday Mexico would receive between 1.6 million to 2.75 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX global vaccine sharing program this month. Mexico has one of the highest coronavirus tallies in Latin America with about 159,100 confirmed deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University COVID Resource Center.
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G-7 Condemns Myanmar Coup
Foreign ministers from the G-7 group of nations on Wednesday condemned the coup in Myanmar and expressed deep concern about the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders. “We are deeply concerned by the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and targeting of the media,” the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said in a statement. They called on Myanmar’s military to end its declared state of emergency and to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to support the most vulnerable people in the country. “The November election results must be respected and Parliament should be convened at the earliest opportunity,” the G-7 ministers said. Wednesday also brought a work stoppage by staff at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns to protest the coup. A statement from the newly formed Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement said the army had put its own interests above a population facing hardships during the pandemic that has killed more than 3,100 people in Myanmar.A metal basin is used by a resident to hit the window grill to make noise during a noise barrage campaign in Yangon, Myanmar, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021.A U.S. State Department official told reporters Tuesday the government had officially declared the military takeover earlier this week a coup, a designation that “triggers certain restrictions on foreign assistance to the government.” The official said the United States “will take action against those responsible,” but will continue programs that help the country’s citizens, including humanitarian assistance and democracy support initiatives. The Myanmar military said its seizure, set to last one year, was necessary because the government had not acted on claims of voter fraud in November elections that were overwhelmingly won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party. A new session of parliament had been due to begin Monday. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday the United States will need “the help of our friends and allies” to pressure Myanmar’s military. “It is time for freedom-loving nations to stand up for democracy and impose their own meaningful costs on the military junta,” McConnell said. The NLD has called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other party leaders.A child holds a picture of leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Bangkok, Feb. 3, 2021.U.S. officials have “not been able” to speak with NLD members, the State Department official said, and added that “most of the senior officials are under house arrest.” Myanmar, also known as Burma, has long struggled between civilian and military rule but until the coup had been enjoying a hopeful transition to democracy. A British colony until 1948, Myanmar was ruled by dictators backed by the military from 1962 to 2010. An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the NLD party won in a landslide, but the elected members of parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. In 2010, Senior General Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the National League for Democracy, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected in a 2012 by-election and later became the state counsellor of Myanmar. But Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, while popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. In 2017, an Army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state, led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity. Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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US Officials Silent on Iran’s Rights Record Early in Biden Term as They Focus on Nuclear Threat
A group of Iranian dissidents has urged U.S. President Joe Biden to support their demands for secular democracy and respect for human rights in Iran, issues on which Biden’s administration has been silent early in its term as it focuses on curbing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. In an open letter to Biden dated February 1, written in English and shared with VOA Persian, the 38 Iran-based activists wished him success following his January 20 inauguration and appealed to his administration to consider incorporating several of their political goals in its Iran policy.Iranian Dissidents’ Feb. 1, 2021 Open Letter to President BidenThose goals include replacing Iran’s theocratic government with a secular democracy in a non-violent process involving a “free and fair” referendum; maintaining “maximum political, diplomatic and financial pressure” on the clerics ruling Iran until they are replaced; and pressing those Islamist rulers to respect human rights by releasing all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in the country.Screen grab of video message sent by Iranian dissident Zartosht Ahmadi Ragheb to VOA Persian from his home in Tehran suburb of Shahriar on Feb. 1, 2021. (VOA Persian)“We sent this letter to the U.S. president because the U.S. is a democratic and powerful nation, while Iran is an important country because of its strategic location, resources and history,” said one of the signatories, Zartosht Ahmadi Ragheb, in a Monday video message to VOA Persian. “A dialogue and agreement between the two countries can benefit them and the world,” he added. The State Department did not respond to a VOA request for comment on the Iranian dissidents’ letter. The issues of Iran’s poor human rights record and its Islamist ruling system also did not come up in Tuesday’s State Department press briefing, the first by spokesman Ned Price. Secretary of State Antony Blinken similarly has not addressed the issues since being sworn in on January 26. When asked about Iran’s executions of people for homosexuality in his January 19 Senate confirmation hearing, Blinken denounced them as “egregious actions” but said the United States would be in a “much better position” to deal with such actions if it prioritizes preventing Iran from potentially developing a nuclear weapons capability in the near future. Then-presidential candidate Biden promised in a September 2020 CNN op-ed to work on “calling out the (Iranian) regime for its ongoing violations of human rights … and wrongful detention of political prisoners.” Biden cited Tehran’s September 12 execution of Iranian wrestler and anti-government protester Navid Afkari for a murder confession that Afkari said was tortured out of him, and its imprisonment of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh since 2018.Iran’s cruel execution of Navid Afkari is a travesty. No country should arrest, torture, or execute peaceful protestors or activists. Iran must free its other political prisoners, including Nasrin Sotoudeh, and release unjustly detained Americans. https://t.co/Jj9QZbyQL7— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 12, 2020Biden called Afkari’s execution a “travesty” in a September 12 tweet. He tweeted two other times about Iran’s rights record since leaving office as vice president in 2017: expressing sympathy for Iranians killed in Tehran’s violent crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests in November 2019; and calling Iran a “bad actor that abuses human rights and supports terrorist activities throughout the region” in June 2019.Make no mistake: Iran continues to be a bad actor that abuses human rights and supports terrorist activities throughout the region.— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 20, 2019Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump was relatively more vocal about Iran’s poor rights record during his four years as president, tweeting about the issue 27 times including six times in Farsi, according to a VOA Persian review of the Trump Twitter Archive, an online resource cited by U.S. news outlets. Trump won praise from some exiled Iranian rights and opposition activists for urging Iran to spare the lives of dissidents facing execution and for repeatedly calling on the nation’s Islamist rulers to stop killing anti-government protesters. Other exiled activists criticized Trump for not making an improvement in Iran’s rights record one of his demands for a proposed agreement to end objectionable Iranian behaviors. The former president’s administration also pursued what it called a “maximum pressure” campaign of tightening U.S. sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to stop such behaviors, including its alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. The Iranian dissidents’ appeal for Biden to consider “maintaining maximum … pressure” on Iran echoed the language of the Trump administration, which began tightening sanctions in 2018 when it withdrew from a 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief from world powers. Trump said the deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was not tough enough on Iran. Biden has pledged to take a different approach, offering to revive diplomacy with Iran by returning to the JCPOA and easing nuclear-related U.S. sanctions if Tehran first agrees to resume strict compliance with the deal. Iran has been escalating its violations of JCPOA nuclear curbs since 2019 in retaliation for Trump’s 2018 pullout and has insisted that Biden make the first move toward renewed diplomacy by lifting all sanctions imposed by the former president. Speaking at Tuesday’s press briefing, State Department spokesman Price expressed concern about recent reports of Iran making or planning further JCPOA violations that could shorten the time it would need to make a nuclear bomb. “This is a challenge we have to tackle immediately,” he said. The Iranian dissidents who wrote to Biden include 11 of the 28 activists who signed 2019 letters urging the resignation of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the replacement of Iran’s Islamist constitution with a democratic one. Most of the signatories of the 2019 letters were arrested for doing so. At least 21 of the 38 signatories of the new letter to Biden have been arrested or imprisoned in Iran for peaceful political and social activism, according to the letter itself and to a VOA Persian review of names in the Iran Prison Atlas of U.S. advocacy group United for Iran. This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Ramin Haghjoo and VOA State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributed. Click here for the original Persian version of the story.
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Study: China’s New Coal Power Plant Capacity in 2020 More Than 3 Times Rest of World’s
China put 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity into operation in 2020, according to new international research, more than three times the amount built elsewhere around the world and potentially undermining its short-term climate goals. The country won praise last year after President Xi Jinping pledged to make the country “carbon neutral” by 2060. But regulators have since come under fire for failing to properly control the coal power sector, a major source of climate-warming greenhouse gas. Including decommissions, China’s coal-fired fleet capacity rose by a net 29.8 GW in 2020, even as the rest of the world made cuts of 17.2 GW, according to research released on Wednesday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a U.S. think tank, and the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). “The runaway expansion of coal-fired power is driven by electricity companies’ and local governments’ interest in maximizing investment spending, more than a real need for new capacity,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, CREA lead analyst. The country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) didn’t immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. China approved the construction of a further 36.9 GW of coal-fired capacity last year, three times more than a year earlier, bringing the total under construction to 88.1 GW. It now has 247 GW of coal power under development, enough to supply the whole of Germany. A team of central government environmental inspectors delivered a scathing assessment of China’s energy regulator last Friday, accusing officials of planning failures and focusing too much on guaranteeing energy supply. The NEA had allowed plants to be built in already polluted regions, while projects in less sensitive “coal-power bases” had not gone ahead, they said. China has been criticized for pursuing an energy-intensive post-COVID recovery based on heavy industry and construction, and experts say new coal plants could end up becoming heavily-indebted “stranded assets.” Christine Shearer, GEM’s coal program director, said China needs to ensure its short-term development plans align with long-term climate goals. “Hopefully as the Chinese government determines its coal power capacity targets for the next five-year plan (for 2021-2025), it will severely restrict if not end new coal plant builds and accelerate retirements,” she said.
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US Condemns Russian Court Imprisonment of Kremlin Critic
The United States on Tuesday condemned a Russian court’s decision to sentence the Kremlin’s most outspoken critic, Alexei Navalny, to 3.5 years in prison. State Department officials says the U.S. is reviewing what actions it will take in the matter. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
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Biden Reviewing Trump’s Immigration Policies
President Joe Biden signed a series of immigration actions on Tuesday to reunite migrant children with their parents, reform the asylum process for Central American migrants and review Trump’s immigration policies. Pro-immigration activists were pleased but said they will press for even more dramatic steps. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
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WHO Team Visits Chinese Virus Lab in Wuhan
World Health Organization inspectors visited a laboratory in China’s Wuhan city on Wednesday that American officials suggested could have been the source of the coronavirus. The inspection of the Wuhan virology institute, which conducts research on the world’s most dangerous diseases, will be one of the most-watched stops on the team’s probe into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sensitive mission, which China had delayed throughout the first year of the pandemic, has a remit to explore how the virus jumped from animal to human. But questions remain over what the experts can hope to find after so much time has passed. The convoy of cars drove past security to enter a virology institute shrouded in mist Wednesday morning, with the first car pausing briefly to take questions from journalists. Peter Daszak and Thea Fischer, members of the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease, sit in a car arriving at Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, Feb. 3, 2021.WHO team member Peter Daszak said the team was “looking forward to a very productive day and to asking all the questions that we know need to be asked.” Scientists think COVID-19 — which first emerged in Wuhan and has gone on to kill more than two million people worldwide — originated in bats and could have been transmitted to people via another mammal. But there are no definitive answers so far. There was speculation early in the pandemic that the virus could have accidentally leaked from the biosafety lab in Wuhan, although there was no evidence to back up that theory.Lab theories Then-U.S. President Donald Trump and his supporters seized on those rumors and amplified them with conspiracy theories that China deliberately leaked the virus. Then-U.S.-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted last year that there was “significant evidence” that the virus came from the lab, while releasing no proof and acknowledging that there was no certainty. Members of the World Health Organization team, tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease, don personal protection suits during a visit at the Hubei Animal Epidemic Disease Prevention and Control Center in Wuhan, Feb. 2, 2021.Chinese state broadcaster CGTN said the WHO team would “visit the national biosafety laboratory and exchange ideas with experts of the institute on their daily work, international scientific cooperation, anti-epidemic efforts and contribution.” China has faced criticism at home and abroad for playing down the initial outbreak and concealing information when it first emerged in Wuhan in December 2019. But Daszak told journalists on Tuesday the mission was proceeding “very well,” as the group was driven into an animal disease control center. China is also determined to put the focus on its recovery from the outbreak, and the WHO team toured a propaganda exhibition celebrating China’s recovery from the pandemic in Wuhan on Saturday. On Sunday the team went to the market in Wuhan where one of the first reported clusters of infections emerged over a year ago, which Daszak tweeted was a “critical” stop. Shi Zhengli, one of China’s leading experts on bat coronaviruses and deputy director of the Wuhan lab, raised some eyebrows in a June 2020 interview with Scientific American magazine in which she said she was initially anxious over whether the virus had leaked from the research facility. But subsequent checks revealed that none of the gene sequences matched the viruses held by the lab, Shi said, adding: “I had not slept a wink for days.” She later said she would “bet her life that [the new coronavirus] had nothing to do with the lab,” according to Chinese state media.
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Senate Confirms Mayorkas As Biden’s Homeland Security Chief
The Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday as President Joe Biden’s Homeland Security secretary, the first Latino to fill a post that will have a central role in the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a sweeping Russia-linked cyber hack and domestic extremism.Mayorkas was confirmed by a 56-43 vote, the narrowest margin yet for a Biden Cabinet nominee. The first immigrant to serve in the job, he is expected to lead a broad policy overhaul of an agency that was accused of being deeply politicized as it carried out President Donald Trump’s initiatives on immigration and law enforcement.Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to be director of Homeland Security, speaks as President-elect Biden announces his national security nominees and appointees.Mayorkas is a former federal prosecutor who previously served as a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official. His nomination was stalled in the Senate by Republicans who wanted to question him further on Biden’s plans for immigration policy. He also faced questions over his management of an investor visa program under President Barack Obama.Biden’s team had hoped to have Mayorkas confirmed by January 20, but Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri placed a hold on the nomination on January 19, forcing a delay in the confirmation vote.Democrats bristled at the delay.”My friends on the other side don’t have to agree with Mr. Mayorkas on the finer points of every policy, but surely we can all agree that he knows the department, he understands the threats to our nation’s security and has what it takes to lead DHS,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he called for a vote to lift a Republican filibuster on the nomination.Even some Republican senators who had expressed reservations about the nomination conceded DHS needed a confirmed secretary with the nation facing so many challenges, including the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the election.FILE – This Oct. 26, 2020, file photo shows Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, speaking during a news conference in Washington.”I drove through the National Guard again to get here this morning. We’ve got some real issues,” Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said as he voted to send the nomination from the committee to the full Senate for the vote.Mayorkas, whose family came to the United States from Cuba as refugees in 1960 and whose mother had fled the Holocaust, was a federal prosecutor in Southern California before he joined the Obama administration, first as the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and then as deputy secretary of DHS.”Mr. Mayorkas is uniquely qualified to make sure the Department of Homeland Security is working to protect people from all backgrounds, all communities and all walks of life,” Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said from the Senate floor.Under Trump, the department was frequently in turmoil and mired in controversy. The agency carried out heavy-handed immigration enforcement initiatives, most notoriously separating migrant children from their families as part of a zero-tolerance campaign in 2018.Over the summer, the department was widely condemned, including by some former secretaries, for deploying tactical agents without nametags and insignia to protests in Portland, Oregon, against the wishes of local authorities.In September, a senior official filed a whistleblower complaint accusing Homeland Security leaders of downplaying threat warnings that Trump might find objectionable, including information about Russian election interference and the rising threat posed by white supremacists. And the president ousted the widely respected head of the DHS cybersecurity agency in November for his defense of the integrity of the 2020 election.Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, who spent more than a year in the post without Senate confirmation, and other senior officials turned routine news conferences into what to many appeared to be Trump campaign events, touting relatively minor enforcement actions as major policy achievements.Mayorkas, who rejected a proposal to separate families when he served under Obama, has pledged to “end the inhumane and unjust treatment of immigrants,” but also to maintain border enforcement.”We are a nation of immigrants, and we are also a nation of laws,” he said during his confirmation hearing.Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents U.S. Border Patrol agents and others, said in a recent interview with the Fox Business Network that migrant smugglers have increased their attempts to bring people, including children, into the country because of a perception that the Biden administration will be less hostile. But he said he was “optimistic” about the new president’s choice of Mayorkas.”He has nominated a very good secretary for DHS, a secretary that understands that policies affect border security,” he said.Judd predicted Mayorkas would get rid of some Trump policies but look for others that would “effectuate the same thing” as was done under the previous administration. “And if he can do that, then we can still maintain border security.”At Mayorkas’s confirmation hearing, senators raised the 2015 report by the Office of Inspector General that criticized him for his management of a program that granted U.S. residency to foreign investors. The investigation found he created an appearance of favoritism and political interference by directing the approval of three projects backed by prominent Democrats, overruling staff recommendations when he ran the immigration services agency under Obama.Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell denounced him on the Senate floor Tuesday, saying Mayorkas should be kept from even a lower post for providing special treatment to prominent figures such as Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother, Anthony Rodham, and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.”Mr. Mayorkas did his best to turn U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services into an unethical favor factory for Democratic Party royalty,” he said.Mayorkas disputed the IG report’s conclusion and told senators he intervened in decisions on behalf of both Republicans and Democrats, to correct what he considered wrong actions.”When a leader enters federal service with the authority to fix problems, that leader has the responsibility to fix problems. And that is what I did,” he said.Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, another Republican member of the Homeland Security Committee who voted to send the nomination to the Senate floor for a vote, said he discussed the report at length with Mayorkas in private and was satisfied he considered his action an “error” that he would not repeat.”We just endured a president over four years that I’ll say generously had a relaxed relationship with the truth, and I think we want the highest level of integrity in positions of government,” Romney said.
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US Designates Myanmar Military Takeover a Coup
The United States is calling Myanmar’s military arrest of civilian leaders a coup, which triggers a review of U.S. assistance to the country formerly known as Burma. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington.
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COVID-19 Pop-up Tents Become a Common Sight in Paris
COVID-19 testing tents are popping up in the French capital as extensions of local pharmacies that allow people to walk in and get a free COVID screening. More with VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo.
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US Cool to Iranian Idea of Synchronized Steps on Nuclear Deal
The United States reacted coolly on Tuesday to an Iranian suggestion that Washington and Tehran take synchronized steps to return to the Iran nuclear deal, saying the U.S. was some ways from talking to the Iranians or entertaining their proposals.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday had said one way to bridge the impasse with Washington was for an EU official to choreograph their steps to restore the 2015 pact abandoned in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump.It was the first time Zarif had hinted Iran might relent in its demand that the United States ease its economic sanctions before Tehran would resume compliance.”We haven’t … had any discussions with the Iranians, and I wouldn’t expect we would until those initial steps go forward,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said, referring to the Biden administration’s consultations with allies, partners and the U.S. Congress.”There are [many] steps in that process … before we’re reaching the point where we are going to engage directly with the Iranians and willing to entertain any sort of proposal,” he added.Under the 2015 accord struck by Iran and six major powers, Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program to make it harder for it to develop nuclear weapons in return for relief from U.S. and other economic sanctions. After abandoning the deal, Trump reimposed prior U.S. sanctions and placed new ones on Iran.
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Sources: Suspected Chinese Hackers Used SolarWinds Bug to Spy on US Payroll Agency
Suspected Chinese hackers exploited a flaw in software made by SolarWinds Corp to help break into U.S. government computers last year, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a new twist in a sprawling cybersecurity breach that U.S. lawmakers have labeled a national security emergency.Two people briefed on the case said FBI investigators recently found that the National Finance Center, a federal payroll agency inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was among the affected organizations, raising fears that data on thousands of government employees may have been compromised.Software flawThe software flaw exploited by the suspected Chinese group is separate from the one the United States has accused Russian government operatives of using to compromise up to 18,000 SolarWinds customers, including sensitive federal agencies, by hijacking the company’s Orion network monitoring software.Security researchers have previously said a second group of hackers was abusing SolarWinds’ software at the same time as the alleged Russian hack, but the suspected connection to China and ensuing U.S. government breach have not been previously reported.Reuters was not able to establish how many organizations were compromised by the suspected Chinese operation. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing investigations, said the attackers used computer infrastructure and hacking tools previously deployed by state-backed Chinese cyberspies.’Complex technical issue’The Chinese foreign ministry said attributing cyberattacks was a “complex technical issue” and any allegations should be supported with evidence. “China resolutely opposes and combats any form of cyberattacks and cyber theft,” it said in a statement.SolarWinds said it was aware of a single customer that was compromised by the second set of hackers but that it had “not found anything conclusive” to show who was responsible. The company added that the attackers did not gain access to its own internal systems and that it had released an update to fix the bug in December.In the case of the sole client it knew about, SolarWinds said the hackers only abused its software once inside the client’s network. SolarWinds did not say how the hackers first got in, except to say it was “in a way that was unrelated to SolarWinds.”USDA admits to breachA USDA spokesman acknowledged a data breach had occurred but declined further comment. The FBI declined to comment.Although the two espionage efforts overlap and both targeted the U.S. government, they were separate and distinctly different operations, according to four people who have investigated the attacks and outside experts who reviewed the code used by both sets of hackers.While the alleged Russian hackers penetrated deep into SolarWinds network and hid a “back door” in Orion software updates that were then sent to customers, the suspected Chinese group exploited a separate bug in Orion’s code to help spread across networks they had already compromised, the sources said.’Extremely serious breach’The side-by-side missions show how hackers are focusing on weaknesses in obscure but essential software products that are widely used by major corporations and government agencies.”Apparently SolarWinds was a high value target for more than one group,” said Jen Miller-Osborn, the deputy director of threat intelligence at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit42.Former U.S. chief information security officer Gregory Touhill said separate groups of hackers targeting the same software product was not unusual. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a nation-state actor surfing in behind someone else, it’s like ‘drafting’ in NASCAR,” he said, where one racing car gets an advantage by closely following another’s lead.Second set of attacksThe connection between the second set of attacks on SolarWinds customers and suspected Chinese hackers was only discovered in recent weeks, according to security analysts investigating alongside the U.S. government.Reuters could not determine what information the attackers were able to steal from the National Finance Center (NFC) or how deep they burrowed into its systems. But the potential impact could be “massive,” former U.S. government officials told Reuters.The NFC is responsible for handling the payroll of multiple government agencies, including several involved in national security, such as the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security Department and Treasury Department, the former officials said.Records held by the NFC include federal employee social security numbers, phone numbers and personal email addresses as well as banking information. On its website, the NFC says it “services more than 160 diverse agencies, providing payroll services to more than 600,000 Federal employees.”Customers notifiedThe USDA spokesman said in an email: “USDA has notified all customers (including individuals and organizations) whose data has been affected.””Depending on what data were compromised, this could be an extremely serious breach of security,” said Tom Warrick, a former senior official at the U.S Department of Homeland Security. “It could allow adversaries to know more about U.S. officials, improving their ability to collect intelligence.”
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