The first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Ivory Coast in late February. By March 1, the country started vaccinating people, making it the first in the world to do so through the COVAX initiative, a program co-led by the World Health Organization; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; and UNICEF.“The program plays a crucial role,” said Kouacou Epa, an immunization specialist with UNICEF in Ivory Coast. “We know that the vaccines are being used more in the developed countries, but we know the coronavirus is also here in Ivory Coast and the other developing nations.”Epa continued, “What COVAX is doing is to make sure the vaccines are available in quantity and quality to help countries attain herd immunity, stop the disease and, if possible, go back to the normal lives we knew before.”So far, Epa told VOA, the country has used the more than 500,000 doses delivered through COVAX. Additionally, it was able to secure more vaccines from other nations, including India and France, bringing the total doses to nearly 730,000. FILE – A woman attaches COVAX stickers to a shipment of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from a plane at Felix Houphouet Boigny airport of Abidjan on Feb. 26, 2021.Slow rolloutThe vaccination rollout has not gone without challenges, however. The country’s head of public hygiene, Bi Vroh Joseph Benie, says the average Ivorian went through three stages in their thinking about the vaccine.“In the beginning, most people didn’t want to take the vaccine because there was some fake news in social media that the vaccine was going to go through an experimental phase on Africans first. For those reasons, people were very reluctant,” Benie told VOA.“After that, we went through a second phase, where people were a bit hesitant … and the third phase, where people were engaged and want to take the shot when they saw that people who got vaccinated were not showing any major side effects,” he added.Another hurdle came when many countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns about possible blood clots.Both Benie and Epa said that to ensure people would step out of their comfort zone, the country modified its communication strategy to tackle vaccine hesitancy. Campaigners concentrated not only on the urban center of Abidjan but also developed what has been called the “politics of proximity” — meaning they got closer to communities across the West African nation to spread the word.As of June 9, the Ivory Coast reported over 47,500 COVID-19 cases, with more than 600 deaths, and has vaccinated nearly 607,000 people, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene. “We went from one vaccination center at the Palais des Sports arena in the beginning to now more than over 400 centers across the country,” Benie said. “Additionally, we have a dozen mobile units to get closer to the population.”FILE – A nurse injects a patient with a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, March 19, 2021.Mobile vaccination units At the city hall of Abobo, a northern suburb of Abidjan and one of its 10 communes, people wait in line to get vaccinated. Yao Serge Djezou, the deputy director of communication at the health ministry, is on hand at the ministry-organized event.“In areas where there aren’t many hospitals, these mobile vaccination units are there to fill the void. It also helps to get closer to the communities,” Djezou said.While many Ivorians still said they would not get the shot, some, like Abidjan resident Elhaj Gbane Mour, said they would. “I will get vaccinated 100% because it’s a disease that could kill you,” he said. “We saw it on TV, and we saw that it killed a lot people, so everyone should get the shot.”That’s not the case for Sephora Beugré, a student in Abidjan. “No, no, I will not take the vaccine, because I am afraid that it might be dangerous for (my) health. So I will not do it,” she said. Kouadio Jonas N’guessan, also of Abidjan, said, “I don’t know anyone close to me who died from the virus. So I don’t think the coronavirus exists in Cote D’Ivoire.” Incentives to get vaccinated Meanwhile, like many countries, Ivory Coast is offering incentives for people to get the shot — such as free tickets to the recent soccer match between the Ivorian National team and Burkina Faso. “We just asked all the fans to get vaccinated. And with their vaccination card, they get to see the match for free. It’s a concept we just started, and people have been responsive,” Djezou told VOA.Ivorian health officials say that in addition to providing vaccines, they’ll keep testing for the virus, a task that is also key to controlling the pandemic.They are also ready to receive more shots, including ones that require colder storage temperatures, because they have a cold-chain system ready to handle whatever vaccines come their way.Eric Biantuadi contributed to this report from Ivory Coast.
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Month: June 2021
Jolie Visits Burkina Faso Where Arbitrary Detention of IDPs Happening
Hollywood actress and special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency Angelina Jolie is praising Burkina Faso’s efforts in helping people displaced by Islamist militants. But rights activists say Burkinabe authorities have also been fueling the conflict by detaining hundreds of people without charge, including IDPs, and also by extrajudicial killings.
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Vice President Harris Visits US-Mexico Border
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border Friday as part of her effort to curb the surge in migrants attempting to enter the United States, while examining the root causes of migration from Central America. Her office said Wednesday she would be accompanied to El Paso, Texas, one of the main migrant entry points, by Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas.
The vice president is expected to be met by local Democratic congresswoman Veronica Escobar. She also is scheduled to talk with faith-based leaders and organizations involved in sheltering and providing legal services to the migrants.
Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico earlier this month, pointedly telling migrants, “Do not come” to the U.S.
But thousands of migrants from those two countries, along with those from Honduras and El Salvador, have been making the long trek to the border, many on foot, escaping poverty and crime in their homelands, they say.
U.S. border agents are facing the biggest number of undocumented migrants in two decades. They caught more than 180,000 at the border in May, mostly single adults. The figure was up slightly from the 170,000-plus numbers in both March and April.
Most of the migrants are coming from Latin America, but many also are from Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and some African nations.
The surge has grown since President Joe Biden and Harris took office in January, with Biden saying he was adopting what he called a more humane stance on migration than the Trump administration. Biden picked Harris to oversee efforts to curb the migration by addressing the root causes in Latin America for people to leave their homelands.
Biden has ended construction of former President Donald Trump’s border wall, and unlike his predecessor, who expelled the migrants to their home countries, he is allowing unaccompanied children to enter the U.S. But like Trump, Biden is refusing to allow families and single adults to enter.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the average daily number of children in its custody has now dropped to 640. Another 16,200 migrant children are being held by U.S. health authorities though, while the government attempts to place them with relatives already living in the U.S. or with vetted caregivers willing to take them into their homes.
Republicans have blamed Biden for the border surge. Before meeting with Harris in early June, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei also told CBS News that when Biden took office, “the very next day, the coyotes were here organizing groups of children to take them to the United States.”
Harris faced frequent questions on her foreign trip, her first as the U.S. second-in-command, about why she had not visited the border. Frustrated at the questions, she told NBC News she also had not visited Europe since taking office.
Opposition Republicans have criticized her lack of a visit to crowded migrant holding facilities at the border, at one point posting a mock-up of a milk carton with her picture that was captioned “Missing at the border.”
After the Harris trip was announced, Trump, who is weighing another run for the presidency in 2024, said in a statement, “After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they’ve created—a direct result of Biden ending my very tough but fair border policies.”
Trump said that if he and Texas Governor Greg Abbott were not planning to visit the border themselves next week, “she would have never gone!”
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US Could Quit Iran Nuclear Deal if Talks Do Not Advance
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Friday that the absence of an interim agreement to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities could prompt the United States to abandon efforts to rejoin a nuclear deal. “This remains a serious concern,” Blinken said at a news conference in Paris. “The concern has been communicated to Iran and needs to be resolved.”The International Atomic Energy Agency has said a three-month interim monitoring agreement reached on Feb. 21 expired Thursday after it was extended by one month. The agency said it is negotiating with Tehran on a second extension. Blinken, who is visiting Paris as part of a multi-nation European tour, acknowledged the U.S. could eventually decide not to rejoin the agreement if negotiations in Vienna continue without progress.’There will come a point, yes, where it will be very hard to return back to the standards set by the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action),” a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and major powers to curb its uranium enrichment program in exchange for lifting sanctions imposed by the U.S., the European Union and the United Nations. Negotiating parties have held talks for six weeks, and a sixth round of indirect talks ended last Sunday with major issues still unresolved. Iran Says Nuclear Talks to be Adjourned for Consultations in Capitals It was unclear when formal negotiations would resumeFrench Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian underscored Blinken’s warning, saying at the Paris news conference Friday it is up to Iran to move the talks forward. “We’re waiting for Iranian authorities to take the final difficult decisions to allow for the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal,” he said. Blinken meets with French President Emmanuel Macron later Friday. The top U.S. diplomat arrived in France from Germany, where on Thursday he and German leaders said the U.S. and Germany were partnering to counter Holocaust denial and antisemitism, an effort the secretary of state said will “ensure that current and future generations learn about the Holocaust and also learn from it.” Speaking at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Blinken said Holocaust denial and antisemitism go hand in hand with homophobia, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination, and have become “a rallying cry for those who seek to tear down our democracies.” US, Germany Launch Effort to Counter Holocaust Denial US Secretary of State Tony Blinken says partnership will ‘ensure that current and future generations learn about the Holocaust and also learn from it’ Earlier Thursday in Berlin, the secretary of state and Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba held talks on the heels of an international conference focused on supporting Libya’s transition to a permanent, stable government. Wednesday’s conference, hosted by Germany and the United Nations, included officials from 17 countries and reinforced support for national elections in Libya scheduled for late December. Libya Conference Focuses on Elections, Security Attendees agree on the need to support December vote and for foreign fighters to leave the countryA senior U.S. State Department official told reporters Wednesday that the elections are important “not just to legitimize a long-term, credible Libyan government,” but also to help achieve the goal of carrying out an existing call for all foreign fighters to leave the country. Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days. At a news conference following Wednesday’s conference, Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush said there was progress toward the exit of the foreign fighters and that “hopefully within the coming days mercenaries from both sides are going to be withdrawn.” A senior U.S. State Department official told reporters that achieving that goal is an important step that now “has to be made operational.” Defeating Islamic State will be the focus of a conference co-hosted by Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in Rome. The top U.S. diplomat will also participate in a ministerial meeting in Italy to discuss Syria and the humanitarian needs in that country. Blinken is also scheduled to visit the Vatican, where Reeker said the agenda includes combating climate change and human trafficking. This report includes information from Reuters and AFP.
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Security Chief Named Hong Kong No. 2 Official Amid Clampdown
China on Friday promoted Hong Kong’s top security official to the territory’s No. 2 spot as Beijing looks to the government of the Asian financial hub to clamp down on free speech and political opponents to restore stability following anti-government protests.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Secretary for Security John Lee would replace Matthew Cheung as the city’s chief secretary, while police chief Chris Tang would take over Lee’s role. Raymond Siu Chak-yee, Tang’s deputy, will be the new head of the police force.
Hong Kong’s government has long been lauded for its professionalism and efficiency, but its image has been battered in recent years by its banning and suppression of pro-democracy protests and its hard-line enforcement of Beijing’s security policies. The U.S. and other Western democracies have imposed visa bans and other sanctions on Lam, Lee and other members of the administration.
Violent clashes between police and pro-democracy demonstrators in 2019 prompted the central government to adopt a firm line against political concessions, a policy seen through by Lam, Lee, Tang and Siu, who made restoring public order their top priority.
“They have had distinguished performance in the government over the years and possess proven leadership skills,” Lam said of those promoted. “I am confident that they are competent for their new posts and would rise to the challenges in serving the community.”
Cheung, the former No. 2, will be retiring from government service.
The leadership changes come a year after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the former British colony and one day after Hong Kong’s last remaining pro-democracy newspaper, the Apple Daily, published its final edition.
Police froze $2.3 million of the newspaper’s assets, searched its office and arrested five top editors and executives last week, accusing them of foreign collusion to endanger national security. Its founder, Jimmy Lai, is facing charges under the national security law of foreign collusion and is currently serving a prison sentence for involvement in the 2019 pro-democracy protest movement.
On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden said it was a “sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world,” and accused Beijing of having “insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views.”
“People in Hong Kong have the right to freedom of the press. Instead, Beijing is denying basic liberties and assaulting Hong Kong’s autonomy and democratic institutions and processes, inconsistent with its international obligations,” Biden said in a statement on the White House website.
Apple Daily continues to be published online in Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory.
Beijing promised Hong Kong could maintain its civil liberties for 50 years after the former British colony was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997, but has essentially abandoned that commitment to impose total political control and end what it sees as undue foreign influence on the semi-autonomous city’s institutions.
China effectively ended multiparty democracy in Hong Kong by having the ceremonial Chinese legislature in Beijing impose the national security law without debate or a vote in the city’s Legislative Council. It then moved to pack the Legislative Council with Beijing loyalists while radically reducing the proportion of legislators directly elected by voters.
Opposition legislators earlier resigned as a group after four colleagues were barred on national security grounds.
In recent months, police have arrested most of the city’s pro-democracy activists. Most are still in police custody, while others have sought asylum abroad, under threat from Lam’s administration for past statements and actions seen as disloyal to China or in violation of Hong Kong law as it now stands.
Despite the overwhelming emphasis on security, Lam told reporters that the role of the chief secretary in helping oversee the city’s daily administration, including dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, had not changed.
Yet she appeared to acknowledge Beijing’s increasingly assertive role in managing the city’s affairs and the central government’s demand for absolute loyalty from Hong Kong officials and members of the Legislative Council.
“Now today as chief executive, I am responsible not only to Hong Kong but also to the central government, performing national duties, particularly in safeguarding national security,” Lam told reporters. “So for people with commitment, integrity, leadership and spirit to serve the nation and Hong Kong … we will put in our best.”
China has dismissed foreign sanctions and criticism as interference in its internal affairs, and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Friday defended the national security law as focused on “cracking down on a small group of anti-China elements in Hong Kong who have seriously endangered national security, and which protects the rights and freedoms enjoyed by the vast majority of Hong Kong residents in accordance with the law, including freedom of the press.”
“Since the enforcement of the Hong Kong national security law, Hong Kong society has returned to stability, the rule of law and justice has been upheld, and the legal rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents and foreign citizens have been better protected in a safer environment,” Zhao said at a daily briefing.
“Accusing China of suppressing press freedom just because the organization involved in the case is a news outlet and the individuals punished are working in the field of journalism is an attempt to confuse the public out of ulterior motives,” Zhao said.
“The U.S. should respect the facts, stop using excuses of any form to obstruct law enforcement in (Hong Kong), stop shielding suspects and interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs in any way,” he said.
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Experts: Severe Droughts, Fires Signal Environmental Shift
Parts of the western United States are seeing record high temperatures in the midst of drought — signaling, experts say, long-term changes in the weather. With dozens of fires now burning in Western states, President Joe Biden will convene a meeting of Western governors, emergency officials and others to talk about the problem in coming days.
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Airlines Say New UK Travel Rules Cause Vacation Uncertainty
Airlines and holiday providers on Friday expressed frustration with the U.K.’s plans to ease travel restrictions, saying uncertainty about how and when the new rules will be implemented make it difficult for people to book summer vacations.
The government on Thursday expanded its “green list” of safe travel destinations, allowing people to visit without having to self-isolate for 10 days after returning to Britain. However, all but one of the new additions were also placed on a watchlist, meaning the quarantine requirement may be re-imposed at short notice.
Transportation authorities also said they intend to relax travel restrictions by allowing fully vaccinated travelers to visit higher-risk destinations, including the U.S. and most of the European Union, without having to self-isolate. They expect to implement this change “later in the summer.”
“The U.K. has already fallen behind the EU’s reopening, and a continued overly cautious approach will further impact economic recovery and the 500,000 U.K. jobs that are at stake,” said Shai Weiss, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, which offers mainly long-haul flights to destinations such as New York, Los Angeles and Barbados.
Airlines and hospitality companies have pressured the government to ease travel restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19 following the U.K.’s successful vaccination program. The pandemic has devastated Britain’s travel industry, with the number of people flying through London’s Heathrow Airport, the nation’s busiest, plunging 73% last year.
The government has created a traffic light system to manage the reopening of air travel.
Destinations with low levels of COVID-19 and high levels of vaccination are placed on the “green list,” which allows pleasure trips and doesn’t require self-isolation on return to Britain. Only essential travel is permitted to “amber list” countries, but travelers must self-isolate for 10 days when they return home. The government has banned most travel to destinations on the “red list,” and anyone arriving from one of these countries faces a 10-day quarantine in a government-approved hotel at their own expense.
The lists are updated every three weeks.
The Department for Transport said Thursday night that the expansion of the green list and plans to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated travelers were the result of the successful vaccination program. Almost 61% of U.K. adults are fully vaccinated, and 83% have received at least one dose.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said caution was still required.
“It won’t be quite like it was in 2019 and the old days, but we are moving in a positive direction,” Shapps told Sky News.
Public health authorities are concerned about the possibility that travelers may spread potentially more dangerous variants of COVID-19 to the U.K. from countries with low vaccination rates. The delta variant, first identified in India, has already become the dominant version of the virus in Britain.
Regardless of U.K. policy, officials in the European Union are considering imposing a quarantine on British travelers because of their concerns about the delta variant which is 40% to 60% more transmissible than previous versions of COVID-19. In minutes released from government meetings earlier this month, experts said the delta variant also may be linked to a higher risk of hospitalization, although “numbers are still small” and there is no evidence the variant is more deadly.
Diana Holland, assistant general secretary of the Unite union, said the government needs to change its approach to provide greater certainty for the travel industry and consumers.
“The traffic light system is simply not fit for purpose,” she said. “It is impossible for a multibillion-pound industry to make plans for the future when the rug can be pulled from under them every three weeks.”
The government on Thursday added more than a dozen countries and territories to its green list, including the popular holiday destinations of Malta, Madeira and the Balearic Islands. All of the destinations except Malta were placed the watch list.
The changes, which take effect at 4 a.m. June 30, will expand the green list to 27 countries and territories.
The newly added countries are: Malta, Madeira, the Balearic Islands, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua, Barbuda, Dominica, Barbados and Grenada.
Britain also added six countries to the red list, including the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Uganda. That brings the number of countries covered to 56.
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WHO Says Africa Experiencing Third Wave of COVID-19 Infections
“Africa is facing a fast-surging third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, with cases spreading more rapidly and projected to soon overtake the peak of the second wave the continent witnessed at the start of 2021,” according to the World Health Organization’s regional office in Africa. WHO said in a statement the pandemic is resurging in 12 African countries. Meanwhile, the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India, has been detected in 14 African countries.“The third wave is picking up speed, spreading faster, hitting harder. With rapidly rising case numbers and increasing reports of serious illness, the latest surge threatens to be Africa’s worst yet,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said.The third wave comes as Africa is experiencing a vaccine shortage. WHO says just slightly more than 1% of Africans have been fully vaccinated. While approximately 2.7 billion COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered globally, WHO says just under 1.5% of those shots have been administered on the African continent. FILE – Kenyan tour guide, Daniel Ole Kissipan, receives the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine in Nairobi, Kenya, April 27, 2021.The Associated Press reports that its analysis of recent COVID-19 deaths reveals that nearly all the deaths occurred in people who were unvaccinated. The news agency said the results of its assessment are “a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been.” In addition, AP said the deaths per day “could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine.”Workers and residents in several neighborhoods in Sydney, Australia, have been told to stay home as officials attempt to bring a COVID-19 outbreak under control. Authorities say they believe they outbreak started with a limousine driver who transported an international flight crew to a quarantine hotel in Sydney. The directors of the WHO, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization say they met earlier this month to determine how they can collectively “tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and the pressing global challenges at the intersection of public health, intellectual property and trade.” The three organizations said in a statement that their initiatives will include: a series of “capacity-building workshops to enhance the flow of updated information on current developments in the pandemic and responses to achieve equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies.” the creation of a “joint platform for tripartite technical assistance to countries relating to their needs for COVID-19 medical technologies, providing a one-stop shop that will make available the full range of expertise on access, IP and trade matters provided by our organizations, and other partners, in a coordinated and systematic manner.” The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Friday that global count of COVID-19 infections has reached more than 180 million. The three countries with the most cases are the U.S. with 33.6 million cases, India with more than 30 million infections and Brazil with 18.2 million. The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
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Australian Study Links Racism to Poor Health Among Aborigines
The first national study of its kind has found “consistent links” between racism and poor mental and physical health of Aboriginal Australians. The study has found that discrimination is associated with elevated rates of depression, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.This is the first time Australian researchers have found a connection between discrimination and health. Racism has been linked to higher rates of depression, heart disease and diabetes in Indigenous communities.Almost 60% of respondents to the Australian National University study said they have faced prejudice in their everyday lives. It corrodes self-belief and their “cultural wellbeing,” the study said.Alcohol dependence is another visible symptom of racism, according to the academics.They analyzed data from more than 8,000 Indigenous Australians between 2018 and 2020.One of the authors, associate professor Raymond Lovett, said the impact of discrimination on health is profound.“If people experienced even a small amount of discrimination and racism, then we saw a very high reporting of those poorer outcomes,” he said. “And then, when we looked at the really severe end about experiencing a lot of this kind of discrimination, those outcomes were multiplied even further, which tells us that, you know, the more you experience the more of an impact it has.”Life expectancy for Aboriginal Australians is about eight years less than non-Indigenous people. Rates of unemployment and imprisonment are also disproportionately high.Campaigners also claim racism is one reason why large numbers of Aboriginal children are removed from their families by child protection officials. Reports have said they are almost 10 times more likely to be taken into state care than nonAboriginal children.Indigenous activist Ray Minniecon said parents are invariably bereft when judges order their children be taken away.“The hardest and most harrowing thing that you can feel is, you know, when our mothers and fathers come out of that particular court and then their kids are gone and they cannot get them back, and they have got no power,” he said. “They are just powerless, and they are just sitting in the streets there on the gutter and we just can sit there and cry with them and that is all we can do.”The Australian government has said there have been “heartening improvements” in “key areas” of First Nation health and education, but it has acknowledged that much more needs to be done.Australia’s original inhabitants make up about 3% of Australia’s population and have a history dating back an estimated 65,000 years.
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Lava Streams From Crater as Indonesia’s Mount Merapi Erupts
Indonesia’s most volatile volcano erupted Friday, releasing plumes of ash high into the air and sending streams of lava with searing gas clouds flowing down its slopes. No casualties were reported.Clouds of hot ash shot 1,000 meters into the sky and an avalanche of lava and searing gas spilled down Mount Merapi’s trembling slopes up to 3 kilometers at least six times since the morning as the volcano groaned and rumbled, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.A series of strong pyroclastic flows were released from the actively growing lava dome in the inner summit crater of the 2,968-meter-high volcano, Humaida said.Pyroclastic flow is a volcanic phenomenon includes turbulent and hot avalanches of hot lava rocks, ash and volcanic gasses mixed together.She described the volcano’s lava dome as growing rapidly, causing hot lava and gas clouds to flow down its slopes. Parts of the lava dome were collapsing, sending rocks and ash flowing down the southwest flank of the volcano.Ash covered several villages and nearby towns, she said.Mount Merapi has seen increased volcanic activity in recent weeks and ash plumes extended about 1.8 kilometers to the southwest of the volcano before dawn, Humaida said.Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center did not raise Merapi’s alert status, which already was at the second-highest of four levels since it began erupting last November.Villagers living on Merapi’s fertile slopes are advised to stay 5 kilometers from the crater’s mouth and should be aware of the peril of lava, the agency said.The volcano is on densely populated Java island near the ancient city of Yogyakarta. It is the most active of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has repeatedly erupted with lava and gas clouds recently.Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the ocean.
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Sydney Locks Down Amid COVID Surge
Workers and residents in Sydney were ordered to stay home for a week on Friday, as authorities locked down several central areas of Australia’s largest city to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.Sixty-five COVID-19 cases have been reported so far in the flare-up linked to a limousine driver infected about two weeks ago when he transported an international flight crew from Sydney airport to a quarantine hotel.But authorities have since identified scores of potential infection sites visited by thousands of people across central Sydney, including the city’s main business district.Authorities have been alarmed by instances of people passing on the virus during fleeting encounters in shops and then quickly infecting close family contacts.Premier Gladys Berejiklian of New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, called it the “scariest period” since the pandemic broke out more than a year ago.On Friday, she ordered anyone who lived or worked in four central Sydney neighborhoods to stay home for at least a week, only venturing out to purchase essential goods, obtain medical care, exercise or if they are unable to work from home.The restrictions included central business district workers over fears that commuters were potentially spreading the virus into other parts of the city, Berejiklian said.”We’ve done better than expected in terms of contact tracing and getting on top of all those links,” she said.”But what this does is make sure that we haven’t missed any chains of community transmission.”An earlier ban on Sydneysiders leaving the city was also extended until next Friday, as traces of the virus were detected in sewage in the far-flung outback town of Bourke, about nine hours drive northwest of Sydney.It was a dramatic development for a city that had returned to relative normality after months of recording very few local cases.Australia Medical Association President Omar Khorshid chided New South Wales authorities for not taking tougher action, including locking down the entire Sydney metropolitan region, home to some 5 million people.”The Delta virus is different; it is being transmitted far more easily,” Khorshid told media in Canberra. “Sydney has not faced this before.”Korshid warned that although the economic impact of a lockdown was hard, a wider outbreak could be “catastrophic” for the whole country.It is the latest in a string of snap “circuit-breaker” lockdowns across major cities around Australia, with most cases linked to returning travelers held in hotel quarantine.Australia has been among the world’s most successful countries in containing COVID-19, with more than 30,000 cases and 910 deaths in a population of about 25 million.
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Kentucky to Allow College Athletes to Earn Off Likeness
Kentucky’s governor signed an order Thursday allowing the state’s college athletes — including players on the nationally renowned Kentucky and Louisville men’s basketball teams — to make money through the use of their name, image or likeness.Gov. Andy Beshear said he wielded his executive authority as a matter of fairness for college athletes, adding that for decades companies and institutions have profited off them.”Those athletes deserve to be compensated for their image and likeness,” the Democratic governor told reporters. “Think about what image and likeness is? It’s your name. It’s what you look like. It is intrinsically yours. And while I don’t think these athletes mind that they also lift up their school, they deserve to be a part of that as well.”His executive order also will spare Kentucky’s colleges from being at a competitive disadvantage with rival schools in other states that will have laws enabling athletes to profit off their name, image or likeness, Beshear said.Beshear said his executive order takes effect July 1, when similar measures passed in several other states will become law. His office said he was the first governor to make the change by executive order. Existing state law gave him the authority to take the action, the governor said.”This is going to last until either the NCAA fully and finally acts, or the legislature is back in session, at which time we all agree we would need legislation,” Beshear said.The move comes just days after the Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA in an antitrust case that complicated how the association is going about reform to its rule regarding compensation for athletes for use of their name, image or likeness. The NCAA is moving toward a more hands-off approach that will provide no uniform national rules and let schools follow state laws or set their own guidelines if no state laws apply.Federal lawmakers also are working on legislation that would govern how college athletes can earn money off their fame and celebrity.Beshear’s action won praise from the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. UK plays in the Southeastern Conference and UofL competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference.”Bringing the state of Kentucky into competitive balance with other states across the country and, more specifically, the Atlantic Coast Conference is critical,” Vince Tyra, U of L’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics, said in a release issued by the governor’s office.UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart said the governor’s action “provides us the flexibility we need at this time to further develop policies around name, image and likeness.””We are appreciative of that support, as it is a bridge until such time as state and/or federal laws are enacted,” Barnhart said in the same release from Beshear’s office. “The landscape of college sports is now in the midst of dramatic and historic change — perhaps the biggest set of shifts and changes since scholarships were first awarded decades ago.”Beshear, who feuded with the state’s Republican-dominated legislature over his coronavirus-related executive actions, won an endorsement Thursday from a key lawmaker for using his executive authority to enable college athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness.Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican, said, “We are supportive of the governor’s narrow and temporary action today, as it provides the tools needed to ensure that Kentucky’s student-athletes are given ample opportunity. Our commitment to permanent protections for these students will be addressed early in the next legislative session.”Kentucky lawmakers will reconvene in early January for their next regular session.In Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas, laws go into effect July 1 that make it impermissible for the NCAA and members schools to prevent athletes from being paid by third parties for things like sponsorship deals, online endorsements and personal appearances.The NCAA had hoped for a national law from Congress that has not come, and its own rule-making has been bogged down for months. College sports leaders are instead moving toward the type of patchwork regulation they have been warning against for months.
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Biden, Afghan Officials to Meet at White House
U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and chief peacemaker Abdullah Abdullah at the White House on Friday.The first face-to-face interaction between Biden and Afghan officials comes ahead of the withdrawal of the remaining U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, in line with Biden’s direction to close what he has described as the “forever war.”White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this week that Biden “looks forward to welcoming” the Afghan leaders and will reassure them of U.S. diplomatic, economic and humanitarian support for the turmoil-hit country as the drawdown continues.Ghani and Abdullah arrived in Washington Thursday and met with Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell.“The visit by President Ghani and Dr. Abdullah will highlight the enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan as the military drawdown continues,” Psaki said.Ghani’s aides said he would raise the issue of future ties between the two countries and continued assistance for Afghan security forces.The foreign military drawdown, which formally started on May 1, has led to an unprecedented escalation in fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents, dealing fresh blows to slow-moving U.S.-brokered peace negotiations between the Afghan adversaries.The insurgents have in recent weeks captured dozens of new districts and both sides are said to have suffered heavy casualties, with Afghan civilians continuing to bear the brunt of the country’s long war.Late Thursday, U.S. officials told The Associated Press that about 650 U.S. troops were likely to remain in Afghanistan as a security detail for diplomats.The officials also told AP that several hundred additional U.S. forces would remain at the Kabul airport, possibly until September. The troops’ role, the officials told AP, would be to aid Turkish troops who are providing security there. It would be a temporary move until a more formal Turkey-led security operation is in place, the officials said, according to the AP.Also Thursday, Qatar said it had formally proposed to the warring sides in Afghanistan to agree to a third-party mediation for moving their stalled peace negotiations forward and reaching a power-sharing arrangement before U.S.-led foreign troops complete their exit from the country by a Sept. 11 deadline.Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, the special Qatari envoy for counterterrorism and mediation of conflict resolution, said his government shared the mediation proposal last week with representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban insurgency. He made the remarks during an international seminar this week in Qatar’s capital, Doha.The two Afghan adversaries have been holding peace negotiations in Doha since last September with the host government, among others, playing the role of a facilitator. But the process has made no significant headway, with each negotiating team blaming the other for the deadlock.“We do not think facilitation is enough. [Afghan negotiators] need a formal mediation,” Qahtani said earlier this week.The seminar’s organizer, the independent Doha-based Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, released video of his speech Thursday.“The [two Afghan] parties have not yet finalized their agreement with respect to the mediation. One party needs two mediators while the other party needs one mediator,” the Qatari envoy said, without elaborating. “We expect the parties to come to us very, very soon about their final position. They are almost there.”Ayaz Gul in Islamabad and The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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Rare Tornado, Storms Rip Through Southern Czech Republic
A rare tornado struck along the Czech Republic’s southern border on Thursday evening, destroying parts of some towns as strong storms swept through the area and injured at least 150 people, emergency services and media reported.A Czech Television meteorologist said the tornado, reported in towns around Hodonin, along the Austrian border and 270 kilometers southeast of Prague, may have reached F3-F4 levels, with winds hitting 267-322 kph in the latter level.That would make it the strongest in the central European country’s modern history and the first tornado since 2018.Photos on social media and news websites showed houses and some churches with destroyed roofs, broken windows, and fallen trees and destroyed cars along streets after the storms hit.BREAKING: Tornado causes major damage in the Czech Republic pic.twitter.com/TdSm87Z4gG— BNO News (@BNONews) June 24, 2021A spokesperson for the South Moravia region’s ambulance service told CTK news agency up to 150 people were injured.Czech TV reported around seven small towns were “massively” damaged, citing an emergency services spokesperson. An official of one municipality, Hrusky, said half of the town was practically leveled to the ground.Interior Minister Jan Hamacek wrote on Twitter the situation in the area was serious and all emergency services units were at work. Search and rescue teams were also headed to the towns.
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Afghan Partners Waiting for Special Immigrant Visas to US
The White House reportedly began preparations this week to move thousands of Afghans who aided U.S. troops to an interim third country while they wait to apply for special immigrant visas. The move comes amid bipartisan criticism from lawmakers who say the United States is not fulfilling a promise to protect Afghan partners who provided support during the nearly two-decade conflict. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.Produced by: Katherine Gypson, Barry Unger
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Hong Kongers in US Lament Changes to Island Since 1997
From the outside, skyscrapers still loom over Hong Kong as a reflection of the bustling global financial center of Asia. Within the city, however, much has changed since 1997. July 1 marks the 24th anniversary of the moment Hong Kong reverted from a British colony back to Chinese rule. Changes to the financial hub were gradual at first, governed under the idea of “one country, two systems.” Hong Kong native Anna Cheung still keeps the newspaper with the handover on the front page. “It was like a landmark time at that moment,” remembered Cheung, a biology professor and pro-democracy activist now living in the United States. She said some Hong Kongers in the ’90s were hopeful “that maybe it is a good chance for Hong Kong to belong to China now and bring back the democratic value and all of the universal value[s] back to China.” Instead of Hong Kong’s democratic values influencing China, however, the opposite has happened, said many pro-democracy activists. Cheung saw the biggest changes over the past year, after China implemented the National Security Law in response to the 2019 protests against an extradition bill, leading to months of confrontation between pro-democracy activists and police. “I felt that Beijing was losing face, and they need[ed] to fix it quickly,” Cheung said. Recent changes in Hong KongUnder the National Security Law, there have been mass arrests of people involved in anti-government activities.Pro-democracy activists holding a copy of Apple Daily newspaper and banner protest outside a court in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 19, 2021, to demand to release political prisoners.“The biggest change that I’ve seen is the self-censorship,” said U.S.-based Hong Kong pro-democracy exile Frances Hui. “People start[ed] to delete their posts on social media, the posts that they have made about the movement, about China — anything that is deemed to be criticizing the government or supporting the movement,” Hui added. Activists say Hong Kong residents now need to be careful about what they say and what they do.“They always say they don’t know where is the red line. When are you crossing the red line? So when they couldn’t say those words, we are here to say it. When they couldn’t do the things, we are doing [them abroad],” said Cheung about the work exiles are doing in other continents.Exiled Hong KongersFor pro-democracy activists, whether to stay or leave Hong Kong has become one of the most common debates with one another and within themselves. “The people who decided to stay in Hong Kong, they believe that existence is resistance and that by being there, they are protecting Hong Kong,” Hui said.Hui was attending college in the U.S. during the 2019 protests but had been active in social movements years earlier when she was in high school in Hong Kong as well as in the U.S. as a university student. When she returned to Hong Kong in 2020, she did not think she would be a target but soon realized the National Security Law changed everything. “I didn’t want to leave, and thinking the fact that if I leave right now, I will never be able to go back home. That is, like, [torture] for me,” said Hui of her mindset when she decided to leave Hong Kong. When Hui heard news of people she knew being arrested by Hong Kong police, “there is a sense of guilt, like a strong sense of guilt, because I left,” Hui said.U.S. resident Joey Siu of the human rights group Hong Kong Watch described her experience when she was last in the territory.“I found myself very frequently followed and also my personal information and so on and so forth are being exposed by the pro-Beijing groups,” she said.Former Hong Kong legislator Baggio Leung also made the decision to leave.“I feel that I need to leave, or else I would be in danger,” Leung said. Another exile is a man who calls himself “Chuilao” to protect his identity. He arrived in the United States without documentation by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He stayed in immigration detention before receiving asylum in the U.S. “Other countries are willing to accept us Hong Kongers. We should leave [Hong Kong]. If a ship is sinking and we have life rafts, we will, of course, get on them. There’s no point in sinking with the ship,” Chuilao said. Hong Kong pro-democracy movement abroad“Seems like there is nothing that we can do to stop [the changes], but all of us are trying our best to at least slow down the process,” Hui said.People gather for a rally to mark the second anniversary of the protests in Hong Kong, in Union Square in New York City, June 12, 2021.Hui and other exiled pro-democracy activists say they can do more for their movement abroad with the hope that they can save the Hong Kong they knew, unique among cities in China. “We belong to the land of Hong Kong, and we are Hong Kongers, and we should have the ownership of that land,” Hui said. Some exiles have given up on Hong Kong as a physical place and are starting new lives in a country that shares their ideals. “Don’t miss Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is not a place. It’s a person,” said Chuilao, who would like to join the U.S. Marines. “If your position in the battlefield is lost, you can regain it, but when a people die, you can’t bring them back.” Stella Hsu, Songlin Zhang and Suli Yi contributed to this report.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters.
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Ukrainian Member of Cybercrime Gang Sentenced in US
A Ukrainian hacker was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a notorious cybercrime group that stole millions of credit and debit card details from across the United States, the Department of Justice said Thursday.Andrii Kolpakov, 33, was also ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking, the department said in a press release.Kolpakov’s lawyer, Vadim Glozman, said his client was disappointed with the sentence but respected the judge’s decision.He said Kolpakov — who has already spent three years in custody after being apprehended by police in Spain in 2018 — planned to return to Ukraine after serving out the remainder of his sentence.Kolpakov was sentenced in the Western District of Washington. Glozman said that his client was currently in custody in Washington state.Kolpakov’s gang — dubbed “FIN7” — is among the most prolific cybercriminal enterprises in existence. A memo drawn up by U.S. prosecutors said that “no hacking group epitomizes the industrialization of cybercrime better,” alleging that the gang had over 70 people organized into discrete departments and teams, including a unit devoted to crafting malicious software and another unit composed of hackers who exploited victims’ machines.For cover, FIN7 masqueraded as a cybersecurity company called “Combi Security,” which claimed to be involved in penetration testing.Prosecutors say Kolpakov worked for FIN7 from at least April 2016 until his arrest in June 2018 and rose to become a midlevel manager directing “a small team of hackers” tasked with breaching victims’ computer systems and training new recruits to use FIN7’s malicious tools.
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Secretary of State Blinken to Meet with French President Macron
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in France, his latest stop in a multination tour, where he will meet Friday with President Emmanuel Macron, following up on U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent meetings with allies in the region to boost transatlantic relations. “During this trip to engage with the United States’ oldest ally, Secretary Blinken will emphasize the importance of maintaining transatlantic cooperation, addressing our joint response to the ongoing health crisis, tackling the climate crisis, and highlighting the strength of our long-standing bilateral partnership,” the State Department said Thursday in a statement. France’s President Emmanuel Macron addresses the media as he arrives on the first day of the EU summit at the European Council Building in Brussels, Belgium, June 24, 2021.France continues to be “a steadfast partner in the fight against terrorism,” the State Department said, adding the two countries “agree on the need to hold Russia accountable for its aggressive and destabilizing activities, including in Ukraine.” The U.S. and France collaborate on issues like “human rights, economic coercion and corruption” to counter the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to “erode the values and institutions that undergird the rules-based international order.” The U.S. “will continue to work with France in implementing climate finance to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy to achieve net-zero emissions by midcentury,” said the State Department. Earlier Thursday while in Berlin, Blinken said the United States and Germany are partnering to counter Holocaust denial and antisemitism, an effort the secretary of state said would “ensure that current and future generations learn about the Holocaust and also learn from it.” Media cover U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas as they talk inside the Holocaust Memorial, in Berlin, Germany, June 24, 2021.Speaking at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Blinken said Holocaust denial and antisemitism go hand in hand with homophobia, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination, and have become “a rallying cry for those who seek to tear down our democracies.” “That’s why we have to find innovative ways to bring the history of the Holocaust to life, not only to understand the past, but also to guide our present and to shape our future,” the top U.S. diplomat said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas are served beers as they arrive to speak at a youth outreach event at the Clarchens Ballhaus in Berlin, June 24, 2021.He and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas signed a document on the partnership. Blinken said the two governments would work to strengthen education and counter denial and distortion, helping public servants and young people understand the Holocaust and antisemitism in depth and to feel a responsibility to stop atrocities. “This dialogue will help us remember all that can be lost, but also help us to see all that we can save if we choose — if we choose — to stand up rather than stand by,” said Blinken. Libya talks Earlier on Thursday, Blinken and Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba held talks in Berlin following an international conference focused on supporting Libya’s transition to a permanent, stable government. Wednesday’s conference, hosted by Germany and the United Nations, included officials from 17 countries and reinforced support for national elections in Libya scheduled for late December. A senior U.S. State Department official told reporters Wednesday that the elections are important “not just to legitimize a long-term, credible Libyan government,” but also to help achieve the goal of carrying out an existing call for all foreign fighters to leave the country. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, speaks as he meets with Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba, right, at the Berlin Marriott Hotel in Berlin, Germany, June 24, 2021.An official statement from conference attendees said that “all foreign forces and mercenaries need to be withdrawn from Libya without delay,” but on that point Turkey noted its reservations. The senior State Department official said Turkey sees its personnel in Libya acting as trainers based on an agreement it had with a previous interim government, the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord. Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days. At a news conference following Wednesday’s conference, Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush said there was progress toward the exit of the foreign fighters and that “hopefully within the coming days mercenaries from both sides are going to be withdrawn.” Defeating Islamic State will be the focus of an upcoming conference co-hosted by Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in Rome. The top U.S. diplomat will also participate in a ministerial meeting in Italy to discuss Syria and the humanitarian needs in that country. Blinken is also scheduled to visit the Vatican, where Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, said the agenda includes combating climate change and human trafficking.
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Biden Calls Closure of Hong Kong Newspaper a ‘Sad Day’
U.S. President Joe Biden called the shuttering of Hong Kong’s independent Apple Daily newspaper a “sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world,” blaming China for “intensifying repression.”“Through arrests, threats and forcing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views,” Biden said in a statement.He accused Beijing of denying Hong Kong “basic liberties and assaulting Hong Kong’s autonomy and democratic institutions and processes.”The parent company of the Hong Kong-based pro-democracy Apple Daily announced Wednesday that it would shut down the publication this week.The decision to close Apple Daily came nearly a week after more than 500 police officers raided the newspaper’s offices and arrested its chief editor, Ryan Law, and four other executives with the newspaper and its publisher, Next Digital. Authorities then froze $2.3 million of its assets, leaving the company unable to pay its staffers.Law and Chief Executive Officer Cheung Kim-hung have been charged with colluding with a foreign country and have been denied bail.Apple Daily and its publisher, Next Digital founder and owner Jimmy Lai, 73, have been the target of Hong Kong authorities since China imposed a strict national security law last June in response to the massive and sometimes violent anti-government protests in 2019.The newspaper’s offices were raided last August after Lai was arrested at his house on suspicion of foreign collusion.Lai is serving a 14-month prison sentence for taking part in separate unauthorized assemblies in 2019. His assets in Next Digital were frozen by the government last month.Hong Kong authorities have cited dozens of articles published by Apple Daily it says violated the security law, which targets anyone authorities suspect of carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces.
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Ugandans Struggle to Earn a Living Under Renewed COVID Lockdown
Uganda’s reinstatement of a coronavirus transportation lockdown through the end of July is squeezing the ability of many people to earn a living. Street market traders are forced to bicycle, walk long distances or just sleep in the market. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala.Camera: Francis Mukasa Produced by: Marcus Harton
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WHO: Africa Facing Rapidly Spreading Third COVID Wave
The World Health Organization said Africa is facing a third wave of COVID-19.WHO said cases have risen for five consecutive weeks, with 474,000 new cases since June 20. The increase indicates a more rapid spread than the continent’s second wave, which started at the beginning of the year, the organization said.WHO blames “weak observance of public health measures, increased social interaction and movement, as well as the spread of variants” for the new wave. The so-called delta variant, first detected in India, has been reported in 14 countries, WHO said.A lack of vaccines is also driving the wave. WHO said 18 countries have already exhausted nearly 80% of their supplies, while eight have completely run out.Only 1% of the African population has been fully vaccinated, WHO said.“The third wave has come with severity that most countries were not prepared for. So, the third wave is extremely brutal,” John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said during a weekly online briefing, according to Reuters.He reiterated the need for rapid access to more vaccines.This report includes information from Reuters.
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Opposition Accuses Turkish Government of Stoking Political Tensions after Fatal Shooting
A fatal attack by a gunman on a provincial office of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party is stoking fears of growing political violence against opposition parties. For VOA, Dorian Jones report from Istanbul.Produced by: Rod James
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US Accelerates Relocation Plans for Thousands of Afghans Who Helped US Forces
The United States is accelerating plans to relocate tens of thousands of Afghans who helped American forces during the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan.A senior administration official told reporters Thursday that plans have accelerated in recent days to move Afghan interpreters and others who assisted U.S. forces, and their families, as their applications are organized.The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the undisclosed plans, said the White House started briefing lawmakers Wednesday on the outlines.“We are planning for all contingencies so that we are prepared for all scenarios,” the official said. “Should it become necessary, we will consider additional relocation or evacuation options.”The White House decision to hasten plans to relocate Afghans to other countries or U.S. territories comes as U.S. President Joe Biden meets in Washington Friday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation.In April, Biden ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaida attacks on the U.S., despite the growing threat by Taliban rebels to seize power.Since May, Taliban rebels have escalated attacks and seized dozens of districts in the Afghan countryside, sparking concerns the insurgents could gain control of Kabul as it did in 1996.This report includes information from The Associated Press and AFP
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Judge Threatens to Toss DEA Agent’s Plea in Corruption Case
A federal judge Wednesday threatened to throw out the guilty plea of a veteran U.S. narcotics agent who conspired with a Colombian cartel money launderer — an unexpected twist that could derail one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell was expected to sentence the disgraced agent, Jose I. Irizarry, but refused to do so over what she called a “totally unacceptable” legal dispute. “I have never seen anything like this,” Honeywell said, postponing the sentencing indefinitely. “I’m not even sure at this point I’m going to accept this plea.”The heated hearing in Tampa federal court came nine months after Irizarry admitted parlaying his expertise in money laundering into a life of luxury that prosecutors said was bankrolled by millions of dollars he diverted from DEA control. The spoils included a $30,000 Tiffany diamond ring for his wife, luxury sports cars and a $767,000 home in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena — on top of residences in south Florida and Puerto Rico. At issue is a disagreement over whether the money Irizarry raided from undercover DEA accounts amounted to a misuse of government funds, as Irizarry contends, or the laundering of drug proceeds — a more serious offense that could add a decade to what was already expected to be a lengthy prison sentence. Irizarry pleaded guilty last year to 19 counts, including conspiracy to commit money laundering and bank fraud, admitting he filed false reports and ordered DEA staff to wire money slated for undercover stings to international accounts he and associates controlled.The case is the latest black eye for the DEA, which has seen repeated cases of agent misconduct in recent years. Just last week, longtime DEA agent Chad Scott was taken into federal custody after a jury in New Orleans convicted him of taking property from criminal suspects, adding to an earlier conviction on corruption charges. But it’s unclear what lessons the DEA has learned from Irizarry’s scheme and whether other agents assigned to the Miami field office where his criminal activity began were involved. His guilty plea also leaves many unanswered questions about the level of supervision he received during his career, in which he had been entrusted with the government’s use of front companies, shell bank accounts and couriers to combat international drug trafficking. Irizarry’s defense attorney contended in recent court filings that the accounts in question amounted to a profit-producing “slush fund” for official and personal travel of federal law enforcement, U.S. prosecutors and confidential sources. “They were going to dinners, drinks and doing all sorts of things with this money,” attorney Humberto Dominguez said in court Wednesday. “It was all documented.”The DEA did not respond to a request for comment on that claim. But prosecutor Joseph Palazzo argued that Irizarry’s actions could only have had one purpose regardless of whether the international wire transfers were channeled through DEA-controlled accounts.”Once drug proceeds, always drug proceeds,” he said. “The defendant was in a better position than anyone to know the source of these funds and where these funds were going.”The case could also have long-lasting implications on the DEA’s undercover money-laundering operations. Irizarry was accused of sharing sensitive law enforcement information with co-conspirators, including a Colombian customs official and an alleged drug trafficker and money launderer. The Colombian official, Omar Ambuilla, was arrested in April on a U.S. warrant accusing him of transferring to the U.S. proceeds from the conspiracy for the purchase of a 2017 Lamborghini Huracan Spyder in Florida.The other alleged co-conspirator has not been identified in court filings except as a Colombian citizen who was the target of a DEA drug trafficking investigation before becoming the godfather to Irizarry’s twin children in 2015.U.S. law enforcement officials told The Associated Press last year that the unnamed conspirator is Diego Marin, describing him as Colombia’s contraband king for his role helping launder drug dollars through the importation of containers full of electronics and other goods. Irizarry and his attorney referred to the alleged co-conspirator in court on Wednesday as a longtime U.S. government informant named “Diego.”Marin has not been charged. A U.S. attorney who has represented Marin in the past declined to comment. Before he resigned in 2018, Irizarry’s ostentatious habits and tales of raucous yacht parties had become legendary among DEA agents. Beginning around 2011, prosecutors said, Irizarry used the cover of his badge to file false reports and direct DEA personnel to wire funds reserved for undercover stings to accounts in Spain, the Netherlands and elsewhere — accounts that he controlled or were tied to his wife and his co-conspirators. In all, Irizarry and his informants handled at least $9 million in drug proceeds that should’ve been carefully tracked by the DEA as part of undercover money laundering investigations, prosecutors said. The indictment details at least $900,000 paid out from a single criminal account opened by Irizarry and an informant using the name, passport and Social Security number of a third person who was unaware their identity was being stolen.
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