Ahead of U.S. Independence Day on July 4th, President Joe Biden hosted a naturalization ceremony for new Americans at the White House. His administration is also launching a governmentwide effort aimed at encouraging millions of immigrants to apply to become U.S. citizens. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Month: July 2021
UN Calls on Tigray Forces to Endorse Cease-fire
The United Nations’ political chief urged Tigrayan forces in northern Ethiopia on Friday to “immediately and completely” endorse a cease-fire declared by the government so that food aid can reach a growing number of starving people in the embattled region.”The cease-fire announcement provides an opportunity that all parties to the conflict, including the TPLF, must seize and build upon,” Rosemary DiCarlo said, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.”As of today, the TDF has yet to agree to the cease-fire,” she said, referring to the Tigray Defense Forces, the group’s fighters.The U.N. appealed for calm so aid workers could reach starving people, particularly in remote areas.Hunger crisis has worsenedActing humanitarian chief Ramesh Rajasingham said that in the two weeks since he had last briefed council members on the food crisis, it has “worsened dramatically.” During that briefing, he said 350,000 people were in faminelike conditions.”More than 400,000 people are estimated to have crossed the threshold into famine, and another 1.8 million people are on the brink of famine,” he said Friday. “Some are suggesting that the numbers are even higher.”Overall, of the 6 million people who live in Tigray, the U.N. says 5.2 million need some level of food assistance. In the past two months, it has reached about 3.7 million of them.Rajasingham said it is urgent to start reaching people as the rainy season takes hold, food supplies become depleted, and risks grow from flooding and waterborne diseases.”The lives of many of these people depend on our ability to reach them with food, medicine, nutrition supplies and other humanitarian assistance,” he said. “And we need to reach them now. Not next week. Now.”He appealed to armed actors to provide guarantees for safe passage along roads for aid workers and supplies in and out of Tigray, as well as to remote areas of the region, and for aid flights to resume.On Monday, the Ethiopian government announced an immediate unilateral humanitarian cease-fire after nearly eight months of fighting with Tigrayan forces. Tigrayan fighters reclaimed control of the regional capital Mekelle after Ethiopian government forces withdrew.”The government must now demonstrate that it truly intends to use the cease-fire to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Tigray,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.She and several other council members called for a permanent cease-fire, inclusive dialogue and reconciliation, unhindered and safe access for humanitarians, and accountability for atrocities committed by all sides in the conflict.Friday’s meeting was the Security Council’s first public discussion of the situation, following six closed-door meetings since hostilities erupted in November.Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said holding an open session could further destabilize the country and politically weaken the Ethiopian government.”The situation in Tigray must remain a domestic issue of Ethiopia, and we believe interference by the Security Council in solving it is counterproductive,” he said.But Ireland’s envoy, who has been active in bringing the issue to the council, disagreed, saying that “it is clear a catastrophe is unfolding” and council action is overdue.”The council’s voice matters on this issue,” Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason said. “Today, finally, we meet publicly, and all council members have an opportunity to send a clear message to the parties on the ground: This conflict must end. Humanitarian needs must be urgently addressed.”The three African members of the council — Kenya, Niger and Tunisia — along with the Caribbean nation St. Vincent and the Grenadines, called on the council to act responsibly and to listen to Africa when it comes to African issues.”In our view, dialogue is strength, and it is at the core of the African identity,” Kenyan Ambassador Martin Kimani said on behalf of the group. “Embrace it and save the precious lives of the people of Tigray to protect your national peace and once again be an anchor of regional security.”Ethiopia’s envoy Taye Atske-Selassie told the council his government had made a “difficult political decision” to suspend the military operation in favor of protecting the state. But now it believes it has created the conditions for unhindered humanitarian assistance and for farmers to plant this season.Fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the TPLF broke out in November, leaving thousands of civilians dead and forcing more than 2 million people from their homes. Some 60,000 refugees crossed to neighboring Sudan.Troops from Eritrea, Ethiopia’s neighbor to the north, and Amhara, a neighboring region to the south of Tigray, also entered the conflict in support of the Ethiopian government. The U.N. said Friday that the Eritreans had withdrawn to the border and the Amhara regional force remained in place despite advances by the Tigrayan forces.
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Ransomware Hits Hundreds of US Companies, Security Firm Says
A ransomware attack paralyzed the networks of at least 200 U.S. companies on Friday, according to a cybersecurity researcher whose company was responding to the incident. The REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be behind the attack, said John Hammond of the security firm Huntress Labs. He said the criminals targeted a software supplier called Kaseya, using its network management package as a conduit to spread the ransomware through cloud service providers. Other researchers agreed with Hammond’s assessment. “Kaseya handles large enterprise all the way to small businesses globally, so ultimately, [this] has the potential to spread to any size or scale business,” Hammond said in a direct message on Twitter. “This is a colossal and devastating supply chain attack.” Such cyberattacks typically infiltrate widely used software and spread malware as it updates automatically. It was not immediately clear how many Kaseya customers might be affected or who they might be. Kaseya urged customers in a statement on its website to immediately shut down servers running the affected software. It said the attack was limited to a “small number” of its customers. Brett Callow, a ransomware expert at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, said he was unaware of any previous ransomware supply-chain attack on this scale. There have been others, but they were fairly minor, he said. “This is SolarWinds with ransomware,” he said. He was referring to a Russian cyberespionage hacking campaign discovered in December that spread by infecting network management software to infiltrate U.S. federal agencies and scores of corporations. Cybersecurity researcher Jake Williams, president of Rendition Infosec, said he was already working with six companies hit by the ransomware. It’s no accident that this happened before the Fourth of July weekend, when IT staffing is generally thin, he added. “There’s zero doubt in my mind that the timing here was intentional,” he said. Hammond of Huntress said he was aware of four managed-services providers — companies that host IT infrastructure for multiple customers — being hit by the ransomware, which encrypts networks until the victims pay off attackers. He said thousand of computers were hit. “We currently have three Huntress partners who are impacted with roughly 200 businesses that have been encrypted,” Hammond said. Hammond wrote on Twitter: “Based on everything we are seeing right now, we strongly believe this [is] REvil/Sodinikibi.” The FBI linked the same ransomware provider to a May attack on JBS SA, a major global meat processor. The White House and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
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US Returns to Pre-pandemic Travel Levels for Holiday Weekend
Americans are preparing to travel in large numbers over the July Fourth weekend as many people seek to return to traditional holiday routines following more than a year of pandemic worries and restrictions. The travel group AAA forecasts that more than 47 million people will travel by car or plane this weekend in the United States. That represents a return to 2019 travel levels and is 40% higher than last year. Americans traditionally celebrate the Independence Day holiday with cookouts, fireworks, and visits with family and friends. Large gatherings are also back this July Fourth, with major events being planned across the country. Nashville, Tennessee, is expecting up to 400,000 people to visit the city for its celebration featuring country star Brad Paisley, while Huntington Beach in Southern California is planning a three-day festival that could attract a half-million people. People take kayak lessons at La Jolla Shores beach in San Diego, as Independence Day weekend nears, July 1, 2021.Other celebrations, however, have been altered by the coronavirus pandemic. A July Fourth concert traditionally held in Boston that typically draws hundreds of thousands of people to the Charles River has been moved to the Tanglewood music center 160 kilometers away. Concert organizers said they did not have enough time to plan the massive event in Boston after local officials had lifted coronavirus restrictions at the end of May. They say a fireworks display will still take place in Boston but will be held in Boston Common instead of along the river. Organizers of Washington’s Capitol Fourth celebration, which airs on public television, said most performances would not be held live at the U.S. Capitol as is traditionally done. They will be held remotely from cities such as New York, Nashville and Los Angeles. Impact of weather, economyWeather is also affecting this year’s celebrations, with fireworks banned in the Pacific Northwest because of threats of wildfires after an extreme heat wave. Another factor influencing holiday plans is the U.S. economy. As the economy begins to recover from coronavirus restrictions, some organizations and businesses are struggling to find enough workers to keep pace with the speed of the reopening. These include restaurants in tourist destinations, airlines, and lifeguard operations at beaches and pools, all of which could affect holiday travelers. Prices for many common goods have risen in the United States as demand outstrips supply in sectors across the economy. However, the Biden administration touted Thursday that the price of a July Fourth cookout is down 16 cents from last year, according to Farm Bureau statistics.White House celebration President Joe Biden plans to host more than 1,000 people at the White House, including first responders, essential workers and troops, to celebrate the holiday. His administration has called this season a “summer of freedom” as the country returns to normal routines after the pandemic. FILE – Fourth of July fireworks explode over the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol along the National Mall in Washington, July 4, 2020.”There’s great things happening,” he said. “All across America, people are going to ballgames, doing good things.” Biden also emphasized COVID-19 safety, saying, “I am concerned that people who have not gotten vaccinated have the capacity to catch the variant and spread the variant to other people who have not been vaccinated. … Lives will be lost.” More than two-thirds of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine. That falls short of the 70% goal that Biden had set for July Fourth, however. This report includes information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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US Targets Myanmar’s Military With Another Round of Sanctions
The United States on Friday announced sanctions against military officials and individuals and companies tied to Myanmar’s military in the latest response to the February 1 coup in the Southeast Asian country. The U.S. Treasury Department officially sanctioned seven senior military officials for the government’s use of lethal force against pro-democracy supporters. It also sanctioned 15 individuals who are family members of previously sanctioned officials and whose “financial networks have contributed to military officials’ ill-gotten gains.”The Treasury’s statement emphasized that these sanctions are not directed at the citizens of Myanmar and are intended to increase financial burdens on Myanmar’s military by cutting off all 22 designated individuals from any assets they may have in the U.S. In a complementary action, the Department of Commerce restricted trade exports to four companies it said support the military’s ongoing actions. Commerce identified the companies as King Royal Technologies Co. Ltd., which “provides satellite communications services” to the Myanmar military, and three copper mining entities with financial ties to the regime: Wanbao Mining and its two subsidiaries, Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. and Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Ltd. All four companies were placed on the department’s trade blacklist, officially known as the entity list, which restricts U.S. exports to entities on the list with limited exceptions.Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo speaks during a press briefing at the White House, in Washington, April 7, 2021.“We continue encouraging like-minded allies and partners to join the United States in imposing costs on these four entities and clamping down on other sources of revenue that support the repressive and undemocratic activities of the Burmese military,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a Friday statement. “The U.S. government will continue to promote accountability for the perpetrators of the coup and stand with the people of Burma and their democratic institutions.”The increased restrictions come just days after the U.N. released its latest update on the continuing violence against citizens in Myanmar. According to the report, the military has killed at least 883 unarmed people and detained over 5,200 activists, journalists and opponents of the coup. An additional 2,000 people with active warrants for their arrest are in hiding. “The U.N. team in Myanmar continues to strongly condemn the widespread use of lethal force and other serious violations of human rights,” said U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. “Our colleagues underscore that the use of excessive force by security forces, including the use of live ammunition, must stop and must stop now.”Myanmar’s military overthrew the newly elected government of the National League for Democracy in February over claims that the election results were fraudulent. The country’s election commission rejected the military’s claims of fraud. Despite a lack of evidence, the military overtook the government by invoking an article from the country’s 2008 constitution that allows it to declare a one-year state of emergency. During the coup, the military arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the leader of the National League for Democracy party and received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her efforts to democratize the country. In June, 119 member countries of the U.N., including the U.S., officially condemned the coup. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Ethiopia Denies Trying to ‘Suffocate’ Tigray
Ethiopia’s government rejected accusations Friday that it’s trying to “suffocate” the people of Tigray by denying them urgently needed food and other aid, as transport and communications links remained severed to the region that faces one of the world’s worst famines in a decade.Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen spoke to reporters a day after a bridge that’s crucial for accessing much of the region of 6 million people was destroyed and the United Nations indicated that special forces from the neighboring Amhara region were to blame. Amhara authorities have occupied western Tigray and forced out hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans.“The insinuation that we are trying to suffocate the Tigrayan people by denying humanitarian access and using hunger as a weapon of war is beyond the pale. There is absolutely no reason for us to do so. These are our people,” Demeke said.Ethiopia’s government blamed Tigray forces for the bridge’s destruction. But an aid worker who traveled to the site said area residents described to him how they saw Amhara special forces placing objects on the bridge and driving away after the blast. “They still seemed in shock at what had happened,” Roger Sandberg, vice president of field operations with Medical Teams International, told The Associated Press.Sandberg said area residents also told him that there was no other way to cross, while Tigray forces conveyed to him that they wouldn’t obstruct NGO access to the region.The U.N. Security Council was meeting to discuss Tigray on Friday.Unilateral cease-fireIn a stunning turn earlier this week, Ethiopia declared a unilateral cease-fire on humanitarian grounds while retreating from Tigray forces. But the government faces growing international pressure as it continues to cut off the region from the rest of the world. Aid workers say fuel and other supplies are running low.In a strikingly outspoken statement, the World Food Program said Friday that a second key bridge leading into Tigray was destroyed on Thursday, while no WFP flights bringing in U.N. or other aid workers have been allowed by Ethiopia since June 22.Even before the bridges were destroyed, at least 3,800 metric tons of food had been blocked from reaching parts of western Tigray, WFP emergency coordinator Tommy Thompson told reporters in Geneva. He warned that “more people will die” if access doesn’t materialize but added that an air bridge might be set up in coming days.The U.N. agency said trucks were loaded and ready to replenish its nearly exhausted food stocks inside Tigray, where 5.2 million people need emergency food aid. “We’ll be out of food in the northwest by this weekend,” Thompson said.Up to 900,000 people in Tigray are facing famine, the United States has said. A new U.N. humanitarian update issued late Thursday said that “the blackout of electricity, telecommunications and internet throughout Tigray region will only exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation.”Ethiopia’s foreign minister said the government has a road map for dialogue to resolve the Tigray crisis that’s expected to include “rank and file members of the [Tigray People’s Liberation Front] who show readiness to choose a peaceful path.” But Tigray forces, recently designated by Ethiopia as a terrorist group, now control most of the region and have demanded that Ethiopia resume basic services before any talks.“A cease-fire doesn’t mean cutting a region off power or destroying critical infrastructure,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted Friday. “A credible cease-fire means doing everything possible so that aid reaches the millions of children, women and men who urgently need it.”The security situation in Tigray was generally calm after the retreat of Ethiopian forces and those of neighboring Eritrea, who have been accused by witnesses of some of the worst atrocities in the war. Officials with Eritrea, an enemy of Tigray leaders after a 1998-2000 war along their border, have not responded to requests for comment.Amhara authorities have warned Tigray forces against trying to retake the region’s western areas. But the Tigray forces spokesman told the AP this week they would “liberate” the region from “enemies,” and thousands of fighters were seen heading west.Ethiopia’s government has said the cease-fire will last only until the crucial farming season in Tigray is over, meaning September. But the WFP said farmers have already missed the peak planting month of June because of seed and fertilizer shortages.
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More Than 2 Million in Niger Face Humanitarian Crisis, UN Agency Says
The U.N. Children’s Fund is urging the international community to pay more attention to Niger, where more than 2 million people are malnourished and living in dire conditions.More than 3.8 million people in Niger, more than half children, are facing a humanitarian crisis because of a combination of natural and human-caused disasters.Niger, a landlocked country, is facing attacks by Islamist militants and other armed groups along its borders with Nigeria in the south, Burkina Faso in the southeast, Mali in the west and in the Lake Chad region in the east. This has led to significant displacements in the country and is creating havoc for hundreds of thousands of children.Besides conflict, the U.N. Children’s Fund reports Niger is dealing with food shortages, malnutrition, recurrent epidemics, climate-related disasters such as floods and drought, and the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.The UNICEF representative in the Niger country office, Aboubacry Tall, said malnutrition remained a major threat to children’s health and development. Speaking on a video link from the capital, Niamey, he said the rate of acute severe malnutrition remained extremely high. He said 2.2 million people needed nutrition assistance, of whom 1.6 million were children under age 5.Also, he said, there are “about half a million — 450,000 exactly — who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and therefore become almost condemned to a life of underachievement if they survive.”Hundreds of schools closeUNICEF reports more than 370 schools have been forced to close over recent months because of insecurity in conflict-affected areas. It says attacks on schools and threats to education are destroying the hopes and dreams of an entire generation of children.Tall said UNICEF was working across the country to help those affected by emergencies and conflicts. He noted that displaced people mostly live in host communities and share everything with them — shelter, land, food.He said displaced people were not relying totally on humanitarian assistance to survive.”People grow food. People do small businesses on the side, buying and selling goods, for example,” he said. “There is a lot of economic activity, which some of the humanitarian programs do also support through cash transfers to support to food production.”Tall said UNICEF was working with the government and humanitarian partners to respond to acute emergencies, such as population movements, and to mitigate risks. He said the agency needed more than $100 million to deliver vital humanitarian aid to children throughout the country this year.
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Two More Bodies Recovered From Rubble of Collapsed Building in Florida
Search and rescue crews recovered two more bodies Friday from the rubble of a partially collapsed residential building in Surfside, Florida, raising the death toll to 20. Officials said at a media briefing in Surfside that one of the bodies found was that of a 7-year-old girl, the daughter of a firefighter in the nearby city of Miami. The search continued Friday after its suspension most of Thursday due to safety concerns and the threat posed by Hurricane Elsa, which could hit Florida within days. Officials said 128 people were still missing Friday, 17 fewer than the day before. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters the figures were subject to change, partially because investigators have sometimes identified more family members while trying to determine whether missing residents were safe. Rescue personnel continue the search and rescue operation for survivors at the site of a partially collapsed residential building in Surfside, Florida, July 2, 2021.Officials said they were planning to demolish the heavily damaged oceanfront building amid concerns about its instability, which prompted the earlier suspension of the search for survivors. Federal Emergency Management Agency structures specialist Scott Nacheman told reporters at the briefing that engineers are exploring various methods of demolition and how “to make the site safe for ongoing rescue operations.” U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to about 200 family members Thursday at a Miami Beach hotel, and then he and first lady Jill Biden went from table to table, conversing with them in smaller groups, according to the White House, which said the Bidens were joined by the state’s two U.S. senators along with Governor Ron DeSantis and other Florida politicians. Before visiting a memorial near the site of the tragedy in the oceanfront community of nearly 6,000 residents, Biden announced that FEMA will provide temporary housing and other urgent needs for those made homeless by the disaster. FILE – President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visit the Surfside Wall of Hope & Memorial in Surfside, Fla., July 1, 2021, for the people missing after the condo tower that collapsed earlier in the week.The president also met earlier with some of the search and rescue team members, whom he described as “under a great deal of stress.” A 2018 engineering report noted “major structural damage” to a concrete slab beneath the building’s ground-floor pool and “abundant cracking” in the concrete structure of the parking garage. Bids for millions of dollars in repair work were still pending when the building collapsed. The president announced that the National Institute of Standards and Technology would try to determine why the building crumpled. Florida emergency response officials said they were monitoring the potential development of tropical cyclones that could threaten the area in the coming days and were making plans so they could continue work at the collapse site as well as fulfill emergency response efforts elsewhere in the state. This article includes content from Associated Press and Reuters.
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UN Security Council to Discuss Cease-fire, Hunger in Ethiopia’s Tigray
The U.N. Security Council is set to hold its first public discussion of the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region on Friday, as humanitarian groups attempt to resume and expand aid deliveries to millions of people in dire need in the embattled area.The 15-nation Security Council will meet later Friday (7pm GMT) to be briefed on developments by the U.N.’s department of political and peacebuilding affairs and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Ethiopia’s envoy is also expected to participate in the meeting.On Monday, the Ethiopian government announced an immediate, unilateral cease-fire, after nearly eight months of fighting with Tigrayan forces. Tigrayan forces reclaimed control of Mekelle after Ethiopian government forces withdrew.The French ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Riviere talks to reporters before a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters, Jan. 3, 2020.“It’s a significant change, so it may be the beginning of a different phase,” said France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere, who is president of the council this month.The U.N. said following the truce that an unpredictable calm had taken hold in major towns including the regional capital Mekelle, as well as Adigrat, Adwa, Axum and Shire. There were unconfirmed reports of clashes in the southern and northwestern zones. “Electricity and telecommunications are still cut off throughout the region,” Eri Kaneko, a U.N. spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday. “There are no flights or road transportation in or out of the region.”Getting aid inMeanwhile, aid organizations trying to reach millions of people in dire need of food aid have had their operations blocked or halted by fighting and armed actors who have not allowed them to pass. The U.N. said two critical bridges over the Tekeze river connecting the Western Zone and the rest of Tigray were destroyed on Thursday and were unusable.In a situation report Friday, the U.N. humanitarian office said its partners “are currently assessing the implications of recent events with the view of resuming relief operations as soon as possible, particularly in hard-to-reach areas that would have become more accessible.”Some six million people live in the Tigray region. The United Nations says more than five million of them are in need of emergency food assistance, and another 350,000 are coping with faminelike conditions after of eight months of fighting.On Tuesday, USAID official Sarah Charles told U.S. lawmakers that the number of people in faminelike conditions is closer to one million, and warned that without scaled-up aid deliveries, “we will likely see widespread famine in Ethiopia this year.” Despite the continuing challenges, some limited assistance has gotten through.The U.N. said as of June 22 it had reached about 3.7 million people in Tigray with food aid, out of a targeted 5.2 million. For its part, the World Food Program said Friday it has resumed operations in Tigray after suspending them due to fighting on June 24. On Thursday the food agency reached 13,000 displaced people in two areas, many of whom are suffering from malnutrition. WFP hopes to reach 30,000 more people in northwest Tigray in the coming two days.“We have the teams on ground, trucks loaded and ready to go to meet the catastrophic food needs in the region,” said Tommy Thompson, WFP’s Emergency Coordinator in Mekelle. “What we need now is free, unfettered access and secure passage guaranteed by all parties to the conflict so we can deliver food safely.”Overall, WFP says it is targeting 2.1 million people with emergency food assistance in the northwestern and southern zones of Tigray. So far aid has reached 1.7 million people in two rounds of deliveries.The United Nations has appealed for $854 million to assist 5.2 million people until the end of this year, with almost $200 million needed before the end of July.Fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) broke out in November, leaving thousands of civilians dead and forcing more than 2 million people from their homes.Troops from Eritrea, Ethiopia’s neighbor to the north, and Amhara, a neighboring region to the south of Tigray, also entered the conflict in support of the Ethiopian government.
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US Economy Accelerated Last Month as Workers See Pay Gains
In an encouraging burst of hiring, America’s employers added 850,000 jobs in June, well above the average of the previous three months and a sign that companies may be having an easier time finding enough workers to fill open jobs.Friday’s report from the Labor Department was the latest evidence that the reopening of the economy is propelling a powerful rebound from the pandemic recession. Restaurant traffic across the country is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, and more people are shopping, traveling and attending sports and entertainment events. The number of people flying each day has regained about 80% of its pre-COVID-19 levels. And Americans’ confidence in the economic outlook has nearly fully recovered.
The report also suggested that American workers are enjoying an upper hand in the job market as companies, desperate to staff up in a surging economy, dangle higher wages. In June, average hourly pay rose a solid 3.6% compared with a year ago — faster than the pre-pandemic annual pace. In addition, a rising proportion of newly hired workers are gaining full-time work, as the number of part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs tumbled — a healthy sign.
“That underscores the growing bargaining power of labor,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax advisory firm. “There’s increasing confidence that they’re going to get better jobs at better wages as the U.S. economy expands.”
Speaking at the White House, President Joe Biden touted the job gains and suggested that his economic policies, including a $1.9 trillion economic relief plan that was enacted in March, were intended to make it easier for workers to find higher-paying jobs.
“The strength of our recovery is helping us flip the script,” Biden said. “Instead of workers competing with each other for jobs that are scarce, employers are competing with each other to attract workers.”
Friday’s report showed that the unemployment rate rose from 5.8% in May to 5.9% in June. Despite the job market’s steady gains, unemployment remains well above the 3.5% rate that prevailed before the pandemic struck, and the economy remains 6.8 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level.
With competition for workers intensifying, especially at restaurants and tourist and entertainment venues, some employers are also offering signing and retention bonuses and more flexible hours. The proportion of job advertisements that promise a bonus has more than doubled in the past year, the employment website Indeed has found.
That is bringing more workers off the sidelines and back into jobs. The proportion of Americans in their prime working years — aged 25 through 54 — who are working or looking for work rose at a solid pace, though it is still below pre-pandemic levels.
Karen Fichuk, chief executive of Randstad North America, a recruiting and staffing firm, said that companies that offer higher wages are finding the workers they need. She said that offering $15 an hour is particularly effective at getting people to take jobs.
“Clients who are increasing their pay rates are filling their jobs,” she said, referring to companies that Randstad recruits for. “It seems like $15 an hour is kind of this threshold. It kind of tips the scale.”
Travis Crabtree, chief executive of Houston-based Swyft Filings, which processes government forms for people who are establishing small businesses, said his 85-person company is enjoying fast growth as more Americans start their own businesses. He has 19 job openings.
For entry-level customer service workers, Swyft already pays $15 an hour and offers stable work schedules and an office environment. So it hasn’t had any trouble finding new employees, Crabtree said.
But he has had to offer more perks to fill higher-paying jobs — digital marketers, for example, and data analysts — as many high-tech firms move to Texas from California. Staff will be able to work part of the time from home after the pandemic.
“We definitely felt the need to step up our game on those types of things,” Crabtree said. “It’s a different ballgame for us. Two years ago, we weren’t competing against the Facebooks, LinkedIns and Teslas of the world.”
Hiring in June was particularly strong in restaurants, bars and hotels, which collectively absorbed the brunt of the layoffs from the recession. Those businesses added 343,000 jobs. Governments added 188,000 positions, mostly in education. And hiring by retailers picked up, with 67,000 jobs added.
Yet there are still factors holding back many people from taking jobs. About 1.6 million people said they didn’t look for work in June for fear of contracting the virus, though that figure dropped from 2.5 million in the previous month. And 2.6 million people who were working before the pandemic have retired.
A temporary $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit, on top of regular state jobless aid, may be enabling some people to be more selective in looking for and taking jobs. Roughly half the states plan to stop paying the supplement by the end of July in what proponents say is an effort to nudge more of the unemployed to seek work.
There are also signs that people are re-evaluating their work and personal lives and aren’t necessarily interested in returning to their old jobs, particularly those that offer low wages. The proportion of Americans who quit their jobs in April reached its highest level in more than 20 years.
“People now realize that they have so many more options,” said Lisa Hufford, the founder of Simplicity Consulting. “The talent market is so hot right now. Everyone I know is evaluating their options right now.”
Nearly 6% of workers who are in an industry category that includes restaurants, hotels, casinos, and amusement parks quit their jobs in April — twice the proportion of workers in all sectors who did so.
Rising numbers of quits means that even employers that have been hiring may be struggling to maintain sufficient staffing levels.
A survey of manufacturers in June found widespread complaints among factory executives about labor shortages. Many said they were experiencing heavy turnover because of what they called “wage dynamics”: Other companies are luring their workers away with higher pay.
The struggle to fill jobs coincides with a swiftly growing economy. In the first three months of the year, the government estimated that the economy expanded at a strong 6.4% annual rate. And for all of 2021, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday that growth will amount to 6.7%. That would be the fastest calendar-year expansion since 1984.
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US Concerned About Report China is Expanding Missile Silos
American researchers using commercial satellite imagery say China appears to be significantly expanding the number of launch silos for its arsenal of intercontinental range ballistic missiles, raising fears that nuclear weapons will become a new issue of contention between Washington and Beijing. Using images provided by the satellite imaging company Planet, two researchers from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (California) found that China is building 119 silos in the desert of the northwestern province of Gansu. Jeffery Lewis, one of the researchers, told VOA that development is likely for China’s DF-41 ICBM, which is believed to be capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads. With an estimated range of nearly 7,000 kilometers and possible capability to carry up to 10 warheads, researchers believe the FILE – Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China April 14, 2021.During the Cold war, the United States created a plan to build multiple launch shelters for each missile, 23 for one to be exact. The missiles were regularly moved among silos to make it impossible for the Soviet Union to target U.S. land-based ICBMs. The plan was adopted by the Carter administration but was later changed by the Reagan administration. Lewis agreed that that is a possibility. “China likely has similar concerns about the survivability of silo-based ICBMs, and may rotate a smaller number of ICBMs among a larger number of operational silos,” he added. Acton also pointed out that China still has a relatively small nuclear arsenal compared to the U.S. According to the Pentagon, China has a warhead stockpile in the low 200s. “For comparison, the United States possesses around 3,800 nuclear warheads, of which around 1,750 are deployed,” Acton wrote. The U.S. has repeatedly reached out to China for negotiations on nuclear arms. In May, the U.S. disarmament ambassador, Robert Wood, said at a U.N. conference that China continues to resist discussing nuclear risk reduction bilaterally with the U.S. China’s envoy, Ji Zhaoyu, responded by saying that Beijing is ready to engage, but only “on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”Heath, from the Rand Corporation, said that in view of the new developments, the U.S. may seek to press for arms control talks with China, but it’s doubtful China will accept such controls given the small size of its nuclear arsenal. “The U.S. may also need to build more anti-missile defenses,” he said. Acton said a quid pro quo might work. “If the United States wants to engage China in arms control, the kind of idea that I think is worth exploring is a quid pro quo, by which the U.S. agrees to limit its missile defenses, for example by agreeing not to develop or deploying missile defenses in space, in return for China agreeing not to produce any more nuclear material with which it could augment its arsenal,” he said in an analysis video posted by Carnegie.
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World Food Program Resumes Life-Saving Operation in Ethiopia’s Tigray Province
The World Food Organization reports it has resumed its humanitarian operation in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province but says lack of security and other impediments are threatening its ability to reach millions of people in need.Humanitarian agencies were taken by surprise by the Ethiopian government’s declaration Monday of a unilateral cease fire in Tigray and by the speed with which Tigrayan forces retook the regional capital, Mekelle.World Food Program emergency coordinator Tommy Thompson says 35 WFP staff on the ground were trapped and operations were suspended for about 48 hours. He says things have been moving quickly since the resumption of operations. He says the WFP has reached 40,000 people with food aid.Fighting Abates in Ethiopia’s Tigray; Getting Aid to Region Still a ChallengeAn international NGO said Thursday that a main bridge into Ethiopia’s Tigray was destroyedHowever, he notes conditions on the ground are very difficult. Speaking on a telephone line from Mekelle, Thompson says WFP staff cannot move freely and do not have access to all areas in the region. He says electricity and phone networks have been cut off since Monday and all commercial and humanitarian flights have stopped.”We have no incoming fuel supplies. We have no incoming food supplies to feed the people in Tigray,” Thompson said. “At this point, we are only operating with what we have had prepositioned. The banks are all closed and currently are without money even if they were open. So, funding operations are becoming critical at this time.”Thompson says several non-governmental organizations are considering suspending operations because they have run out of fuel and money. He adds WFP only has enough fuel left to run its fleet of trucks in northwest Tigray for two weeks. Thereafter, the driving will stop.The situation became even more difficult on Thursday when a bridge over the Tekeze River was destroyed, cutting a main supply route between western Tigray and the rest of the region. Despite these obstacles, Thompson says he believes conditions for the distribution of aid will shortly improve. He says high level discussions on all sides of the conflict are taking place to agree on designating corridors for aid delivery, including an air bridge.”I am cautiously optimistic that at least an air bridge might be available in the coming days,” Thompson said. “If it is, that would be absolutely enormous assistance to us to move staff in an out, to move cash to operational areas, and to have assistance in a great number of ways.”WFP aims to scale-up its humanitarian operation in Tigray to reach 2.1 million people, among them 350,000 on the verge of famine. To reach this goal, it says it needs unfettered access to all affected areas and $176 million to run its life-saving operation through to the end of this year.
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Russia Bolsters Presence in Central African Republic With 600 More Military Instructors
Russia recently sent a group of 600 military instructors to the Central African Republic to train the army, police, and national gendarmerie, Russia’s foreign ministry said Friday.Moscow is in the spotlight after a United Nations report, seen by Reuters Tuesday, said Russian military instructors and local troops had targeted civilians with excessive force, indiscriminate killings, occupation of schools and large-scale looting.The Kremlin has said it is a lie that Russian instructors had taken part in killings or robberies.Russia notified the United Nations Security Council of the deployment of the 600 instructors, Russia’s foreign ministry told Reuters in a statement Friday. It did not say when exactly they arrived.Moscow has been jockeying for influence in the troubled African nation with France, which has around 300 troops there. The gold and diamond-rich country of 4.7 million people is mired in violence.Moscow’s latest deployment of instructors comes after it said it had sent 175 instructors to CAR to train the army at the request of the local authorities in 2018, a number that subsequently grew to 235. Another batch of 300 were sent ahead of last December’s elections to train local troops, it said.”The Russian specialists will continue their work based on the needs of the official authorities of the CAR, taking into account CAR’s leadership as well as the ongoing clashes between regular CAR troops and militants,” the foreign ministry said.It said that the instructors would not themselves be involved in combat operations against illegal groups.”The goals of achieving a lasting settlement and ensuring security in the country cannot be met without effective support for the CAR authorities in enhancing the combat capabilities of the national armed forces and law enforcement agencies,” it said.
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US Runner Richardson Will Miss Olympic 100 After Marijuana Test
American champion Sha’Carri Richardson cannot run in the Olympic 100-meter race after testing positive for a chemical found in marijuana. Richardson, who won the 100 at Olympic trials in 10.86 seconds on June 19, told of her ban Friday on the “Today Show.” She tested positive at the Olympic trials and so her result is erased. Fourth-place finisher Jenna Prandini is expected to get Richardson’s spot in the 100. Richardson accepted a 30-day suspension that ends July 27, which would be in time to run in the women’s relays. USA Track and Field has not disclosed plans for the relay. The 21-year-old sprinter was expected to face Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in one of the most highly anticipated races of the Olympic track meet. On Thursday, as reports swirled about her possible marijuana use, Richardson put out a tweet that said, simply: “I am human.” On Friday, she went on TV and said she smoked marijuana as a way of coping with her mother’s recent death. “I was definitely triggered and blinded by emotions, blinded by badness, and hurting, and hiding hurt,” she said on “Today.” “I know I can’t hide myself, so in some type of way, I was trying to hide my pain.” Richardson had what could have been a three-month sanction reduced to one month because she participated in a counseling program. After the London Olympics, international regulators relaxed the threshold for what constitutes a positive test for marijuana from 15 nanograms per milliliter to 150 ng/m. They explained the new threshold was an attempt to ensure that in-competition use is detected and not use during the days and weeks before competition. Though there have been wide-ranging debates about whether marijuana should be considered a performance-enhancing drug, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency makes clear on its website that “all synthetic and naturally occurring cannabinoids are prohibited in-competition, except for cannabidiol (CBD),” a byproduct that is being explored for possible medical benefits. While not weighing in on her prospects for the relays, USATF put out a statement that said her “situation is incredibly unfortunate and devastating for everyone involved.” Richardson said if she’s allowed to run in the relay “I’m grateful, but if not, I’m just going to focus on myself.” Her case is the latest in a number of doping-related embarrassments for U.S. track team. Among those banned for the Olympics are the reigning world champion at 100 meters, Christian Coleman, who is serving a suspension for missing tests, and the American record holder at 1,500 and 5,000 meters, Shelby Houlihan, who tested positive for a performance enhancer she blamed on tainted meat in a burrito. Now, Richardson is ou, as well, denying the Olympics of a much-hyped race and an electric personality. Richardson raced with flowing orange hair at the trials and long fingernails. “To put on a face and go out in front of the world and hide my pain, who am I to tell you how to cope when you’re dealing with pain and struggles you’ve never had to experience before?” Richardson said.
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Elsa Strengthens into Season’s 1st Hurricane in Caribbean
Elsa strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season on Friday as it battered the eastern Caribbean, where officials closed schools, businesses and airports, and it appeared headed eventually for Florida or the U.S. Gulf Coast.Heavy rains and winds lashed Barbados as the Category 1 storm headed for islands including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which are struggling to recover from recent massive volcanic eruptions.Elsa was located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of St. Vincent and was moving west-northwest at 28 mph (44 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.”That level of sustained wind can blow down a lot of buildings and cause a lot of damage,” said St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. “I am pleading with you. Let us not take this hurricane lightly. This is not the time to play the fool.”A hurricane warning was in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.The long-term track showed the storm rolling toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti as a hurricane before weakening back to tropical storm force and potentially heading in the direction of Florida by early Tuesday. Authorities opened dozens of shelters in St. Vincent and urged people to evacuate if they lived near a valley, given the threat of flash flooding, mudslides and lahars, especially in the northern part of the island where La Soufrière volcano is located.”Do not wait until it’s too late to go to a shelter,” Gonsalves said.He said 94 shelters are open, a smaller number than in previous years because some 2,000 people remain in other shelters following massive volcanic eruptions that began in early April.A tropical storm warning was in effect for Martinique, the southern coast of Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the border with Haiti and the entire coast of Haiti. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Grenada, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Dominica and Jamaica, while a hurricane watch was in effect for Haiti’s southern region from the capital, Port-au-Prince, to the southern border with the Dominican Republic.Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record, beating out last year’s Eduardo which formed on July 6, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.Elsa was expected to pass near the southern coast of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, on Saturday. The storm was then expected to move near Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba on Sunday.The storm was forecast to bring 3 to 6 inches (7 to 15 centimeters) of rain with maximum totals of 10 inches (25 centimeters) inches on Friday across the Windward and southern Leeward Islands, including Barbados. The rain could unleash isolated flash flooding and mudslides.
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Philippine Villagers Fear Twin Perils: Volcano and COVID-19
Thousands of people were being evacuated from villages around a rumbling volcano near the Philippine capital Friday, but officials said they faced another dilemma of ensuring emergency shelters will not turn into epicenters of COVID-19 infections.The alert was raised to three on a five-level scale after Taal Volcano blasted a dark gray plume into the sky Thursday. The five-minute steam- and gas-driven explosion was followed by four smaller emissions, but the volcano was generally calm on Friday, volcanologists said.Level three means “magma is near or at the surface, and activity could lead to hazardous eruption in weeks,” according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. Level five means a life-threatening eruption is occurring that could endanger communities.The agency asked people to stay away from a small island in a scenic lake where Taal sits and is considered a permanent danger zone along with a number of nearby lakeside villages in Batangas province south of Manila.An eruption of Taal last year displaced hundreds of thousands of people and briefly closed Manila’s international airport. However, the volcano agency’s chief, Renato Solidum, said it was too early to know if the volcano’s current unrest will lead to a full-blown eruption.The preemptive evacuations that began late Thursday involved residents in five high-risk villages in the lakeside towns of Laurel and Agoncillo.More than 14,000 people may have to be moved temporarily away from the volcano, said Mark Timbal, a spokesman for the government’s disaster-response agency.Town officials, however, faced an extra predicament of ensuring emergency shelters, usually school buildings, basketball gymnasiums and even Roman Catholic church grounds, would not become coronavirus hotspots. Displaced villagers were asked to wear face masks and were sheltered in tents set safely apart, requiring considerably more space than in pre-pandemic times. In Laurel town, Imelda Reyes feared for her and her family’s safety in their home near the volcano and in the crowded grade school-turned-evacuation center where they took shelter Friday.“If we stay home, the volcano can explode anytime,” Reyes told The Associated Press. “But here, just one sick person can infect all of us. Both are dangerous choices.”Reyes, who washes laundry and has four children, wept in desperation as she said she and her husband, a corn farmer, wanted to leave the evacuation camp for a friend’s house in northern Nueva Ecija province but lamented they did not have money for the bus fare.Most evacuation camps have set up isolation areas in case anyone began showing COVID-19 symptoms.“It’s doubly difficult now. Before, we just asked people to rush to the evacuation centers and squeeze themselves in as much as possible,” said disaster-response officer Junfrance De Villa of Agoncillo town.“Now, we have to keep a close eye on the numbers. We’re doing everything to avoid congestion,” De Villa told The Associated Press by telephone.A nearby town safely away from the restive volcano could accommodate up to 12,000 displaced Agoncillo residents in pre-pandemic times but could only shelter half of that now. A laidback town of more than 40,000 people, Agoncillo has reported more than 170 COVID-19 cases but only about a dozen remain ill. At least 11 residents have died, he said.The 311-meter Taal, one of the world’s smallest volcanoes, erupted in January last year, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and sending clouds of ash to Manila, about 65 kilometers to the north, where the main airport was temporarily shut down.Heavy ashfall also buried an abandoned fishing community, which thrived for years in the shadow of Taal on an island in Taal Lake, and shut down a popular district of tourist inns, restaurants, spas and wedding venues.The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A long-dormant volcano, Mount Pinatubo, blew its top north of Manila in 1991 in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing hundreds of people.
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Hong Kong Reels After One Year of National Security Law Imposed by China
As China exuberantly celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, the mood and atmosphere for many in Hong Kong was different, as the territory marked the one-year anniversary of a controversial national security law critics say has significantly curtailed democratic freedoms. Ted Hui, a former pro-democracy lawmaker who fled to Australia after facing nine charges in Hong Kong, told VOA the city is “unrecognizable.” “In the past year I think the intensity is getting stronger and stronger and level of enforcement. It’s no doubt to me now, a year after the introduction of the NSL, 100% it is the death of ‘one country, two systems,’ a total collapse of Hong Kong’s freedoms. Not any autonomy at all,” he said. Hui, was one of the 19 lawmakers who resigned from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in November in protest of the government’s decision to disqualify members of his party. China enacted the security law in response to widespread protests in 2019 over the enactment of a controversial extradition bill. Major protests ensued for six months, often turning violent.Among other things, the security legislation prohibits secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces. At least 117 people have been arrested and 64 have been charged under the law, according to a A protester holding a U.K. flag is arrested by police officers during the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong handover to China at a street in Hong Kong, July 1, 2021.However, Chow Hang-tung, vice-chair of the nonprofit Hong Kong Alliance, said the security law means Hong Kong is now governed under a “dictatorship,” making it a city “under fear.” “Before, we feel we have freedom of expression, we still have our opposition, we still have people running for primaries, and planning on taking the Legislative Council,” she told VOA. “I think they [now] want to target civil society organizations, NGO’s and all these political parties and groups. And it looks like ours,” she added. Chow, who is also a lawyer, Fung Wai-kong, managing editor and chief opinion writer for shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily’s English website, who wrote under the pen-name Lo Fung, enters a waiting vehicle after leaving the police headquarters in Hong Kong on June 29.Apple Daily, the pro-democracy newspaper Lai founded, was forced to close last month after authorities arrested five executives, also for alleged foreign collusion. Hong Kong’s Security Bureau Four protesters carry a banner marching to the flag raising handover ceremony area in Hong Kong, July 1, 2021.However, just in case, a large police presence occupied the district Causeway Bay. Police stated 19 people were arrested during the day, including youth activist Wong Yat Chin, the convener of the pro-democracy political group StudentPoliticism. Jonathan Fritz, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, East Asian Pacific Affairs told reporters Thursday, “In spite of the ongoing, systematic crackdown, we are inspired to see the resilience of Hong Kongers in their pursuit of what the PRC promised them: a Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy, universal suffrage and genuine protection of fundamental freedoms. We hope Beijing will realize the truth: Hong Kongers aren’t the problem; they are its greatest strength. To dissent is to show your patriotism, and Hong Kongers are showing that they want their government to be better. If the PRC can have the confidence to tolerate dissent and welcome diverse points of view, Hong Kong will flourish.”
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Delta Variant Risks Spoiling Europe’s Hope of a Return to Normality
The three women were enjoying their time together, having lunch near the beach at Capalbio on the Southern Tuscan coast just over an hour’s drive from Rome. A long winter and spring of lockdowns and restrictions in their northern alpine town of Bolzano had kept grandmother, mother and daughter apart for months on end.“Can I tell them how you are the brightest in your class, the most beautiful and the kindest?” the grandmother asked her 17-year-old granddaughter.“The lockdowns were hard — I didn’t see them for months on end. At least I have a beautiful view of the mountains from my apartment, but it was hard. I live alone,” she added. Now reunited, the three generations of women were delighted to be sharing each other’s company once again on a vacation they hope will exorcise the ghost of the pandemic past.Italy’s coastal beaches are now packed again — so too are the lake shores — with vacationers breathing a sigh of relief at their escape from pandemic confinement.There is a sense of normality now, boosted by the Italian government’s decision last month to drop most coronavirus-related rules and to lift rules on mask-wearing outside, although masks are still required on public transport and indoors in stores. A nighttime curfew has been phased out; and al fresco dining is allowed with few restrictions at restaurants.With more than 30% of Italians fully vaccinated, confidence has returned. The seven-day average of new cases is below 700 a day. Twenty-four Italians died Thursday because of COVID-19, the illness triggered by the coronavirus.That is a far cry from the daily death toll at the height of the pandemic, when Italy became the first Western country to be hit with the full impact of the coronavirus.Youngsters are partying again — possibly too much. Across the country, from small towns to large, complaints have risen about the after-dark carousing by young and drunk post-pandemic revelers. Newspapers have nicknamed the phenomena malamovida, or bad nightlife.“Old people complain, but they don’t understand, we have been locked up for months and now we want coming-out parties,” Ricardo, a 19-year-old, from Viterbo, a town on the outskirts of Rome, told VOA. Older people say they do understand, but that they need undisturbed sleep.Two women take a selfie at the Spanish Steps in Rome, June 28, 2021.Behind the vacationing and partying, though, there are fears that the feel-good narrative could be undermined by the delta variant, a coronavirus strain first identified in India.Speaking in Rome on Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi issued the latest in a string of cautions, saying, “After months of isolation and separation, we have resumed much of our social interactions. The economy and education have restarted. We must be realistic, however. The pandemic is not over.”Like his counterparts in neighboring European countries Draghi, is watching a ‘delta’ wave of infections, fearful that numbers will rise exponentially, much as they have in Britain, which has seen a remorseless increase in new cases. The number of daily and weekly cases in England has hit its highest level since January, and Thursday saw another 27,989 new coronavirus cases across Britain, according to health authorities.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson still plans to drop most remaining pandemic restrictions on July 19, having delayed a planned full reopening by more than two weeks. Because so many Britons have been vaccinated, the relationship, ministers say, between cases and worse-case outcomes and deaths has improved dramatically. So far, more than 44.8 million Britons have had a first vaccine dose — about 85% of the adult population — and more than 33 million have had both doses.While infections in the U.K. now match the tally of January, deaths do not. COVID-19-related deaths in January were running at more than 1,000 daily, but in Britain on Thursday there were just 22 deaths. Nonetheless, there remains nervousness, and the government’s scientific advisers are urging caution.Visitors ride a roller coaster at Cinecitta World amusement park in the outskirts of Rome in the day of its reopening, June 17, 2021.Johnson said Thursday he was still aiming to remove nearly all lockdown restrictions. On July 19, “we’ll be wanting to go back to a world that is as close to the status quo, ante-COVID, as possible. Try to get back to life as close to it was before COVID,” he said. “But there may be some things we have to do, extra precautions that we have to take.”The government is likely next week to announce more countries Britons will be allowed to travel to without having to quarantine on their return. However, several of the countries already on Britain’s green list of “safe” countries to visit aren’t enthusiastic about admitting British travelers, with even some tourist-dependent southern European countries insisting only those double-vaccinated will be allowed in.German Chancellor Angela Merkel Merkel has been calling for European Union member states, which are far behind Britain in terms of their vaccination campaigns, to agree to a ban on travelers from Britain entering the bloc regardless of their vaccination status. Merkel has blamed British tourists for the jump in delta variant infections in Portugal.The World Health Organization has also highlighted the danger of a delta wave engulfing Europe.On Thursday, Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, warned in a press briefing that a decline in the number of infections in the region is coming to an end.“A 10-week decline in the number of COVID-19 cases in the 53 countries in the WHO European region has come to an end. Last week the number of cases rose by 10%, driven by increased mixing, travel, gatherings and an easing of social restrictions,” he said.Kluge warned that millions of unvaccinated Europeans remain highly vulnerable to the delta variant, which data suggests is far more transmissible than other strains. He said by August the delta variant will be the dominant strain in Europe, where 63% of people are still waiting for their first shot.
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US Hands Control of Bagram Airfield to Afghan National Security Forces
U.S. forces have left Bagram Airfield, the main American base in Afghanistan, and handed control over to Afghan National Security Forces, a U.S. defense official confirmed to VOA.For nearly two decades the base, 60 kilometers north of Kabul, served as the center of the U.S. fight to remove Taliban forces from power and take down al-Qaida terrorists responsible for killing thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.An Afghan Defense ministry spokesman Friday confirmed the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Bagram.”All coalition and American troops have departed Bagram Air Base last night. The base was handed over to the ANDSF,” tweeted Fawad Aman. He said the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces will protect base and use it to combat terrorism.”All Coalition and American troops have departed Bagram Air Base last night. The base was handed over to the ANDSF. ANDSF will protect base and use it to combat terrorism.— Fawad Aman (@FawadAman2) FILE – Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on June 25, 2021.“I fear and believe that we’re going to be back in Afghanistan in a few years, if not months,” he told VOA. “Clearly President (Joe) Biden made a political decision, that he’s entitled to as commander-in-chief, that was conditions-ignoring and ignored the advice of his commanders on the ground.”Former U.S. Central Command head Ret. Gen. Joseph Votel told VOA last month the “forever war” narrative in the U.S. played heavily in the political dialogue surrounding the withdrawal decision, which he called disappointing.“We still have forces in Japan. We still have forces in Korea decades and decades after the conflict has ended. And the reason we have them is because it demonstrates our resolve, it demonstrates our desire to support our interests, and it demonstrates our strong support for our partners on the ground,” he told VOA.“I don’t think we’re in a situation where this is an immediate collapse type of scenario, but the Afghan forces are going to need support,” Votel added.The United States has vowed to continue financially aiding the Afghan military, along with providing “over-the-horizon” advising and aircraft maintenance support. NATO has said it will continue training Afghan forces in a location outside of Afghanistan.But the United States does not plan to support Afghan forces with air strikes after the U.S. troop withdrawal is complete, Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, told VOA in an interview two weeks ago. He added that counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan will be limited to instances when attack plans have been discovered to strike the U.S. homeland or the homelands of its allies.FILE – US soldiers load onto a US military plane as they leave Afghanistan, at the US base in Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 14, 2011.“That would be the reason for any strikes that we do in Afghanistan after we leave, (it) would have to be that we’ve uncovered someone who wants to attack the homeland of the United States, one of our allies and partners,” McKenzie told VOA.Asked Tuesday whether the United States was reconsidering its post-withdrawal strategy to include defensive strikes against the Taliban, Kirby declined to “hypothesize” but stressed “the violence remains too high.”“What we’d like to see is the Taliban returned to the peace process in a credible way. And as we see the events on the ground unfolding it certainly calls into question the sincerity of their efforts to be a legitimate credible participant in the peace process,” he said.The Associated Press reported last week that roughly 650 U.S. troops are expected to remain in Afghanistan to provide security for diplomats after the withdrawal and several hundred additional American forces will remain at the Kabul airport, potentially until September, to assist Turkish troops providing security.The officials were not authorized to discuss details of the withdrawal and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.“Afghanistan is not going to be treated like any other nation where we have a Marine security guard. I mean, it’s Afghanistan, and we understand the dynamic nature of the security threat there,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday, declining to confirm specific numbers.Ayaz Gul contributed to this story.
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NFL Fines Washington $10M After Misconduct Investigation
The NFL has fined the Washington Football Team $10 million and owner Dan Snyder is stepping away from day-to-day operations for several months after an independent investigation found the organization’s workplace “highly unprofessional,” especially for women.The team was not stripped of any draft picks and no formal suspensions were handed out as part of the league’s discipline that was announced Thursday stemming from lawyer Beth Wilkinson’s investigation that began last summer.The investigation, commissioner by the club amid allegations from employees and taken over by the league, revealed that ownership and senior officials paid little attention to sexual harassment and other workplace issues. NFL special counsel for investigations Lisa Friel described it as a culture of fear.“The culture at the club was very toxic, and it fell far short of the NFL’s values and we hold ownership to a higher standard,” Friel said.Lawyers representing 40 former Washington employees slammed the NFL for choosing to protect Snyder and ignoring requests to make the report public, calling the fine “pocket change.”“This is truly outrageous and is a slap in the face to the hundreds of women and former employees who came forward in good faith and at great personal risk to report a culture of abuse at all levels of the team, including by Snyder himself,” lawyers Lisa Banks and Debra Katz said in a statement.“The NFL has effectively told survivors in this country and around the world that it does not care about them or credit their experiences.”The league said Wilkinson interviewed more than 150 people, including current and former employees. Friel said individual allegations were not made part of Wilkinson’s findings because of confidentiality agreements requested by many people and that there was no written report, only an oral presentation.Snyder said his wife, Tanya, will be in charge for the “next several months” while he focuses on efforts for a new stadium and other business ventures. Tanya Snyder was named co-CEO on Tuesday. The NFL made no mention of Snyder being formally suspended.Janet Nova, the league’s deputy general counsel for media and business affairs, said Dan Snyder stepping away for this period of time – through the fall – was “voluntary” and not a mandate. Tanya Snyder will represent Washington at all league functions.Banks and Katz called Tanya Snyder’s promotion a “shallow attempt to show progress without making any meaningful changes to the organization.”Wilkinson recommended establishing protocols for reporting harassment, a disciplinary action plan and regular training for employees. She also said the cheerleading team – which is now a co-ed dance team as part of an organizational overhaul of game-day entertainment – needed to be protected.FILE – This May 14, 2021, photo shows helmets for the Washington Football Team placed on the sideline during an NFL football rookie minicamp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Va.The league praised Snyder for hiring Ron Rivera as coach in early 2020 and Jason Wright as team president last summer among those changes to improve the organization’s culture.“Over the past 18 months, Dan and Tanya have recognized the need for change and have undertaken important steps to make the workplace comfortable and dignified for all employees,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “Those changes, if sustained and built upon, should allow the club to achieve its goal of having a truly first-tier workplace.”Friel said Wilkinson was not tasked with making any recommendations about Dan Snyder selling the team or being suspended.Asked why there was no way to sustain cultural improvements with Snyder gone, she said: “I wasn’t addressing why he isn’t suspended.”“I was addressing the accountability as we relayed it in the release that the Commissioner has imposed and which he feels is the best way to address the findings that were communicated to us from the investigation and part of that is to ensure that the cultural changes that have happened over the last 18 months are sustained going forward,” Friel added.Snyder said in a statement he agrees with the commissioner’s decisions and is “committed to implementing his investigation’s important recommendations.”“I have learned a lot in the past few months about how my club operated, and the kind of workplace that we had. It is now clear that the culture was not what it should be, but I did not realize the extent of the problems, or my role in allowing that culture to develop and continue,” Snyder said. “I know that as the owner I am ultimately responsible for the workplace.”
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Fighting Abates in Ethiopia’s Tigray; Getting Aid to Region Still a Challenge
The International Rescue Committee said Thursday that a bridge that provides one of the main supply routes into Ethiopia’s Tigray region has been destroyed.“Tekeze Bridge — one of the main supply routes into Tigray, Ethiopia — has been destroyed,” the IRC said in a tweet. “This means aid efforts will be even more severely hampered amid the ongoing conflict. The IRC continues to call for unfettered humanitarian access to the region.”We are devastated to hear the Tekeze Bridge—one of the main supply routes into Tigray, Ethiopia—has been destroyed. This means aid efforts will be even more severely hampered amid the ongoing conflict. The IRC continues to call for unfettered humanitarian access to the region.— IRC – International Rescue Committee (@RESCUEorg) July 1, 2021USAID administrator Samantha Power said of the four routes into Tigray, only one may now be usable.There are only 4 main roads into #Tigray: ❓ 1 might be passable.❌ 1 is blocked by Amharan forces.❌ 1 is impassable because of active fighting.❌ 1 is this bridge, now destroyed.Disastrous with up to 900,000 people in famine conditions. Full humanitarian access is vital. https://t.co/aLaQiAlvFI— Samantha Power (@PowerUSAID) July 1, 2021A U.N. spokesperson said the organization was aware of the report about Tekeze Bridge, but did not have any firsthand information on its status.“We’re trying to get our people in [to Tigray], we’re trying to get other agencies in to help the people,” U.N. spokesperson Eri Kaneko said in response to reporters’ questions. “And if the reports are confirmed of this bridge being severely damaged, that would be yet another setback to our efforts to help the people of the region.”About 6 million people live in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. The United Nations says more than 5 million of them are in need of emergency food assistance. Another 350,000 are coping with faminelike conditions because of eight months of fighting.On Tuesday, USAID official Sarah Charles told U.S. lawmakers that the number of people in faminelike conditions is closer to 1 million, and warned that without scaled-up aid deliveries, “we will likely see widespread famine in Ethiopia this year.”Ethiopia suffered a devastating famine in the early 1980s that affected millions and killed more than a million people.Tenuous calmThe U.N. spokesperson said the situation Thursday in Tigray “remains volatile and unpredictable,” just days after the Ethiopian federal government declared it was pausing its military operation there.The spokesperson said major towns, including Mekelle, Adigrat, Adwa, Axum and Shire, were calm, but that there are unconfirmed reports of clashes in the southern and northwestern zones.“Electricity and telecommunications are still cut off throughout the region,” said Kaneko, the U.N. spokesperson. “There are no flights or road transportation in or out of the region.” She said the U.N. and its partners are assessing access along main roads so they can resume aid deliveries.But despite the continuing challenges, some limited assistance has gotten through.On Wednesday, humanitarians were able to transport fuel for water pumps, firewood for cooking, and water to sites assisting displaced persons in the regional capital, Mekelle. Water was also distributed to the displaced in Shire, and medical services were provided in Samre town.The Ethiopian government announced the unilateral cease-fire on state media late Monday, saying it would take effect immediately, after nearly eight months of conflict.Analysts said the timing was likely because of a combination of successes by the rebels on the battlefield and Western pressure to halt the fighting to avoid a famine.Since the Ethiopia National Defense Force withdrew from Mekelle, the city remains under the full control of the Tigray Defense Forces. The U.N. said that is also the case in Adigrat, Adwa, Axum and Shire.But it is not certain the calm will hold.Marina Ottaway, a political scientist with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars based in Washington, said this week she did not think the unilateral cease-fire would be the end of the fighting.“I think the Ethiopians will try to maintain the cease-fire, but the Tigrayans are not interested at this point,” she said.The U.N. Security Council is likely to discuss developments in Tigray on Friday afternoon after receiving a request from several council members.“I’m pretty confident it will take place,” said France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere, who took over the council presidency for July on Thursday.He told reporters that the council would receive political and humanitarian briefings and he had encouraged the Ethiopian ambassador to address the meeting, which he expects to be public.Fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) broke out in November, leaving thousands of civilians dead and forcing more than 2 million people from their homes. Troops from Eritrea, Ethiopia’s neighbor to the north, and Amhara, a neighboring region to the south of Tigray, also entered the conflict in support of the Ethiopian government.
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Philippine Volcano Belches Dark Plume; Villagers Evacuated
A small volcano near the Philippine capital belched a dark plume of steam and ash into the sky in a brief explosion Thursday, prompting officials to start evacuating thousands of villagers from high-risk areas.Government experts said magmatic materials came into contact with water in the main crater of Taal Volcano in Batangas province, setting off the steam-driven blast with no accompanying volcanic earthquake. They said it’s unclear if the volcanic unrest could lead to a full-blown eruption.”It’s just one explosive event; it’s too early to tell,” Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said at a news conference. Three smaller steam-driven emissions occurred Thursday night, he said.The agency raised the alarm at 311-meter Taal, one of the world’s smallest volcanoes, to the third of a five-step warning system, meaning “magma is near or at the surface, and activity could lead to hazardous eruption in weeks.”Alert level 5 means a life-threatening eruption that could endanger communities is occurring.Mark Timbal, a spokesman for the government’s disaster-response agency, said officials started to evacuate residents from five high-risk villages. Up to 14,000 residents may have to be moved temporarily away from the restive volcano, he said.Officials reminded people to stay away from a small island in a scenic lake where Taal is located and is considered a permanent danger zone along with a number of nearby lakeside villages.The ABS-CBN network broadcast videos of some residents with their belongings in cars and motorcycles forming a line at a gasoline station. Residents said they did not feel any tremors but reported a volcanic sulfur smell.Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas said evacuation camps, trucks, food packs and face masks were ready in case the volcanic unrest escalated and more people needed to be moved to safety. There were concerns that crowding in evacuation camps might spread the coronavirus in a region that has seen a spike in cases in recent months.Taal erupted in January 2020, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and sending clouds of ash to Manila, about 65 kilometers to the north, where the main airport was temporarily shut down.The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A long-dormant volcano, Mount Pinatubo, blew its top north of Manila in 1991 in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing hundreds of people.
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Pro-democracy Protests Continue to Rock Eswatini
The South African government has urged calm and restraint in Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, which has been engulfed by pro-democracy protests this week amid growing reports of state violence against demonstrators.Protesters are demanding democratic reforms and accuse King Mswati III, who has ruled the tiny mountain kingdom for more than 30 years as an absolute monarch, of repression.Rights groups accuse the royal family, including the king’s 15 wives, of enjoying a lavish lifestyle while many of the country’s 1.1 million people live in poverty.Mbabane, the capital, and Mazini, the largest city, have reportedly been the most affected by the protests, which have seen demonstrators barricading roads and setting fires, often at businesses owned or linked to the royal family.Businesses, factories and trucks have also been reportedly burned in the industrial town of Matsapha.The Eswatini government has imposed a nightly curfew from 6 p.m.-4 a.m. to try to quell the demonstrations.Photographs and videos on social media show soldiers assaulting people believed to be protesters.Activists have alleged that soldiers and police have killed more than 20 protesters since the protests began this week, but this has not been confirmed by police, government officials or health workers.Acting prime minister Themba Masuku claimed that the legitimate protests had been “hijacked by criminal elements.”In a statement on Thursday, South Africa’s department of international relations and cooperation said it noted “with great concern the ongoing political and security situation” in Eswatini.”We are particularly concerned by reports of loss of life and destruction of properties. The right to peaceful protest is universally recognized,” said spokesperson Clayson Monyela.He called on Eswatini’s security forces to “exercise total restraint and protect the lives and property of the people.”The protesters are demanding reforms that include lifting bans on opposition political parties, which have been outlawed since 1973.Sonke Dube, president of the Swaziland Youth Congress which is involved in the demonstrations, called on the United Nations, the 16-nation Southern Africa Development Community and the African Union to intervene.”We urge you to call Mswati to order. Isolate him from the community of peace-loving nations. Impose sanctions on him and his immediate family and cronies until we have a people’s government in Swaziland,” Dube said in a statement.South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, which has historical ties to Swaziland stretching from that country’s support for its liberation struggle, has criticized the government for violence against demonstrators.”The use of security forces to quell political dissent and the failure to address legitimate civilian concerns complicates the conflict and adds fuel to the fire,” said ANC head of international relations Lindiwe Zulu.The U.S. State Department on Thursday upgraded its travel alert for Eswatini to warn Americans against any travel to the country and announced it would allow non-essential America diplomats and their families to leave due to the deteriorating security situation there.”Eswatini is experiencing dangerous civil unrest and protests across the country,” the department said, noting the imposition of a curfew, the closure of the international airport and communications disruptions.A day earlier, the department had urged Eswatini authorities “to exercise restraint and also maintain the utmost respect for human rights.””As the situation continues to unfold, the United States urges all stakeholders in this situation to not only remain calm but also remain peaceful,” deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters on Wednesday.
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Biden Consoles Families of Florida Condo Collapse Victims
U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were in Surfside, Florida, on Thursday, where search and rescue teams are working for an eighth day at the site of a partially collapsed condominium building. The bodies of 18 people, including two children, have been pulled from the rubble, and more than 140 people are still missing. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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