The mayor of Italy’s financial capital Milan demanded answers on Monday over why a fire was able to rip through an apartment block and melt its cladding, comparing it to the Grenfell Tower fire in London that killed 71 people four years ago. Firefighters said everyone managed to escape the 18 story building in the south of Milan, which was gutted by the blaze that broke out on Sunday afternoon. Among the residents in the high rise building was rapper Mahmood, winner of the 2019 San Remo music festival with his international hit “Soldi.” Witnesses have said the fire, which started on the 15th floor, quickly surged through the outside cladding of the building. Video of the blaze showed panels melting off the building in liquefied clumps. “The tower was built just over 10 years ago and it is unacceptable that such a modern building should have proved totally vulnerable,” mayor Beppe Sala wrote on Facebook. “What was clear from the start was that the building’s outer shell went up in flames far too quickly, in a manner reminiscent of the Grenfell Tower fire in London a few years ago.” The deaths in Britain’s Grenfell Tower fire were blamed on exterior cladding panels made of flammable material. Owners of flats in similar buildings across Britain have since been forced to remove such panels at a cost estimated to run into billions of dollars, forcing many residents into economic hardship.
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Month: August 2021
China to Severely Limit Video Game Access to Minors
China is taking dramatic steps to prevent teenagers from becoming addicted to video games.
In new rules published Monday by China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), which oversees the nation’s gaming market, teens under 18 will be limited to playing games three hours per week. It’s not just how much time can be spent gaming that will be limited. According to state run media, players can only play from 8 p.m. Until 9 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Play will also be allowed, but only for one hour, during public holidays.China had already restricted the amount of time minors could play video games, allowing 1.5 hours per day and three hours on holidays.Video game companies that operate in China will be required to enforce the new rules by using real name/ID accounts. Once players have used their allotted time, they will be automatically logged out.It is estimated that 62.5% of Chinese minors play video games.In the past the Chinese government has called video games “spiritual opium.””Teenagers are the future of our motherland,” said an unnamed NPAA official, according to Xinhua. “Protecting the physical and mental health of minors is related to the people’s vital interests and relates to the cultivation of the younger generation in the era of national rejuvenation.”
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Heads to Long-Awaited White House Visit
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to visit the White House on Wednesday, September 1st. VOA’s Ostap Yarysh reports on the long-awaited meeting from Washington.Camera: Kostiantyn Golubchyk, Contributor: Myroslava Gongadze
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Kenya Sets Up COVID-19 Vaccination Centers
Kenya is stepping up its COVID-19 vaccination campaign by setting up inoculation centers in public spaces like malls, markets, and bus stops. Authorities hope the extra convenience will lift a vaccination rate that stands at just two percent. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.
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Lake Tahoe Threatened by Massive Fire, More Ordered to Flee
Fire officials ordered more evacuations around the Tahoe Basin as a two-week old blaze encroached on the threatened mountain towns surrounding glimmering Lake Tahoe.By nightfall, all residents on the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin were warned to evacuate the region, after fire officials had stressed for days that protecting the area was their top firefighting priority.”Today’s been a rough day and there’s no bones about it,” Jeff Marsoleis, forest supervisor for El Dorado National Forest, said Sunday evening. A few days ago, he thought crews could halt the Caldor Fire’s eastern progress, but “today it let loose.”Flames churned through mountains just a few miles southwest of the Tahoe Basin, where thick smoke sent tourists packing at a time when summer vacations would usually be in full swing ahead of the Labor Day weekend.”To put it in perspective, we’ve been seeing about a half-mile of movement on the fire’s perimeter each day for the last couple of weeks, and today, this has already moved at 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) on us, with no sign that it’s starting to slow down,” said Cal Fire Division Chief Erich Schwab.Some areas of the Northern California terrain are so rugged that crews had to carry fire hoses by hand from Highway 50 as they sought to douse spot fires caused by erratic winds.The forecast did not offer optimism: triple-digit temperatures were possible and the extreme heat was expected to last several days. A red flag warning for critical fire conditions was issued for Monday and Tuesday across the Northern Sierra.The blaze that broke out August 14 was 19% contained after burning nearly 245 square miles (635 square kilometers) — an area larger than Chicago. More than 600 structures have been destroyed and at least 18,000 more were under threat.The Caldor Fire has proved so difficult to fight that fire managers pushed back the projected date for full containment from early this week to Sept. 8. But even that estimate was tenuous.In Southern California, a section Interstate 15 was closed Sunday afternoon after winds pushed a new blaze, dubbed the Railroad Fire, across lanes in the Cajon Pass northeast of Los Angeles.Further south, evacuation orders and warnings were still in place for remote communities after a wildfire broke out and spread quickly through the Cleveland National Forest on Saturday. A firefighter received minor injuries and two structures were destroyed in the 2.3-square-mile (5.9-square-kilometer) Chaparral Fire burning along the border of San Diego and Riverside counties, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It was 10% contained Sunday.Meanwhile, California’s Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history at 1,193 square miles (3,089 square kilometers) was 48% contained in the Sierra-Cascades region about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of the Caldor Fire. Nearly 700 homes were among almost 1,300 buildings that have been destroyed since the fire began in early July.Containment increased to 22% on the 12-day-old French Fire, which covered more than 38 square miles (98 square kilometers) in the southern Sierra Nevada. Crews protected forest homes on the west side of Lake Isabella, a popular recreation area northeast of Bakersfield.More than a dozen large fires are being fought by more than 15,200 firefighters across California. Flames have destroyed around 2,000 structures and forced thousands to evacuate this year while blanketing large swaths of the West in unhealthy smoke.The California fires are among nearly 90 large blazes in the U.S. Many are in the West, burning trees and brush desiccated by drought. Climate change has made the region warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive, according to scientists.The Department of Defense is sending 200 U.S. Army soldiers from Washington state and equipment including eight U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft to help firefighters in Northern California, the U.S. Army North said in a statement Saturday. The C-130s have been converted to air tankers that can dump thousands of gallons of water on the flames.
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Ukraine, US Leaders May Address Sensitive Issues at Next Meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to visit the White House on Wednesday, a trip that has been in the works for two years and delayed one day by events in Afghanistan. During the administration of former President Donald Trump, surrogates for the U.S. president pressed Ukraine to open an investigation into activities involving the son of then-candidate Joe Biden. The incidents led to President Trump’s first impeachment by the House of Representatives, and the political furor sidelined relations with Kyiv. Analysts say there are both challenges and opportunities in the meeting between President Biden and Zelenskiy in Washington.Ukraine Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova is optimistic about the visit, saying it sends an important message about the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. “After (German) Chancellor (Angela) Merkel, President Zelenskiy is the second leader the U.S. is inviting to the White House with a visit to discuss some strategic issues,” Markarova told VOA. “So, I believe it shows the level of attention, focus and importance of our bilateral relations for both Ukraine and the United States.” American experts agree that the Biden-Zelenskiy meeting is a great opportunity to strengthen Ukraine-U.S. relations. Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, says the outcome of the meeting will depend to a great extent on Zelenskiy.”It seems to me, though, that part of the ability to make this a successful meeting will depend on what President Zelenskiy asks for,” Pifer told VOA. “He should moderate some of his requests because if he asks too much, he may be disappointed. You do not want to ask the question unless you are sure the answer is going to be yes.” Among the more sensitive subjects are NATO membership and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Europe, which Ukraine opposes. Experts believe it is important that Zelenskiy remain realistic and balanced when discussing these issues. “He should not expect any commitment from the United States regarding Ukraine and NATO. He should also not expect any change in the Biden position on Nord Stream 2,” said John Herbst, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. “Zelenskiy has to make clear that he still opposes that decision and would like to see a change without antagonizing the president. So, he can do that, I think, by mentioning it, but not in a confrontational way in their White House meeting.”VOA Interview: Nord Stream 2 ‘Should Never Become Operational,’ Ukraine Energy Company SaysLaunch of Nord Stream 2 increases threat of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, Naftogaz official believes Daria Kalenyuk, executive director of the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Action Center, says Zelenskiy should remain assertive when discussing the Nord Stream 2 issue. She says the White House’s decision to waive sanctions on Nord Stream 2 contradict Biden’s statements on fighting corruption abroad. “The right thing would be to talk not only about corruption in Ukraine but also about geopolitical corruption and strategic corruption. We can and should ask why Nord Stream 2 is being finished despite it being the symbol of strategic corruption,” Kalenyuk said.Security cooperation is also expected to be discussed. Earlier, the White House decided to support providing additional military aid to Ukraine in case of a possible escalation of its longstanding conflict with Russia in eastern Ukraine. In addition, Biden did signal his intention to provide Ukraine with $60 million more in defense lethal and non-lethal U.S. military equipment.”So, I would think that additional American military assistance would be good,” Pifer said. “First of all, because it would help improve Ukrainians’ defense capabilities. That’s the practical step. But second of all, it would be a way to send a strong message of American support for Ukraine.” Herbst believes Biden should also be interested in supporting Ukraine through strong rhetoric.”He needs to demonstrate in very clear ways that the United States has Ukraine’s back — is supporting Ukraine — as Moscow continues this war. And Biden has even more reasons now to do it, after his administration’s disastrous handling of the pullout from Afghanistan. He needs to show that, in fact, he is a strong international player.” At the same time, the White House has repeatedly emphasized that it expects Ukraine to deliver tangible results in the country’s fight against corruption. Pifer believes the biggest thing Zelenskiy can bring is a credible, compelling message of Kyiv’s commitment to reform. “And that means a more open and competitive economy,” Pifer says. “It means rule of law, including reforming the judicial sector. It means reducing the outsize political and economic influence of the oligarchs. It means combating corruption.” Markarova is convinced the two presidents will see eye to eye, even on the more complex issues. “We know that both Ukraine and the U.S. are strategic partners and friends. So the two leaders will discuss all the issues on the agenda like partners — sincerely and earnestly. And they will find solutions that are acceptable for both sides,” she said.Ukrainian diplomats say Zelenskiy’s visit to the White House is just a start. They expect the bilateral relationship will further flourish as the two countries work hard on fulfilling their agreements.Myroslava Gongadze contributed to this report.
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In Thailand, Aerospace Engineers Turn Their Skills to COVID-19
In Thailand, a team of aerospace engineers is using the high-tech skills they honed programming planes and satellites to run a simple but effective mapping website helping everyday volunteers reach those with COVID-19 who are falling through the cracks of a struggling public health care system. Since going live in mid-July, jitasa.care has seen well over 10,000 households sign on, seeking assistance for everything from food to oxygen to an urgent ride to the hospital, most of them in the capital, Bangkok. About the same number of volunteers have signed up to help them. “Jitasa” ties together the Thai words for “mind” and “volunteer.” “In Thai it means … people who want to volunteer to do good deeds,” said Wasanchai Vongsantivanich, one of the lead developers. He was surprised by how quickly the site took off. It got a big boost after someone shared the link with a popular local Facebook influencer who passed it on to his millions of followers. “When it went widespread, people started to make use of this and a lot of volunteers subscribed by themselves [to] help each other, and that was fantastic and a wonderful thing that we see from the platform,” Wasanchai said. The engineers’ efforts are part of an outpouring of help from Thais of all stripes who are volunteering their time and singular skills to take some of the load off the public health care system. The medical services are strained by the worst wave of infections to hit the country since the pandemic began. Every day brings tens of thousands of new cases and hundreds of more deaths. Intensive care units in Bangkok are filling up, forcing some Thais to spend days hunting for a free hospital bed and the worst off to die at home before they find one. ‘People helping people’Volunteers have played a vital role in meeting some of the shortfalls, said Pichit Siriwan, deputy director of relief and community health at the Thai Red Cross Society. “They’re now very important. We need the volunteers’ help fighting against COVID-19 in Bangkok because of the rise in infections. Now the daily infection in the country is almost 20,000 cases … and almost half of them are in Bangkok,” he said, leaving hospitals in and around the city “overwhelmed.” Pichit said the Thai Red Cross Society relies on thousands of volunteers itself, and that some of them have been using jitasa.care to find people with COVID-19 in need. Wasanchai said the idea for site started with a backlog at crematoria burning the bodies of the newly dead, as per Buddhist tradition. A local volunteer group asked him and his colleagues to brainstorm ways to help families find available time slots. By early July, so many people were dying of COVID-19 in the greater Bangkok area that the Buddhist temples with crematoria equipped to handle infected bodies safely were struggling to keep up. A colleague of Wasanchai’s who had just lost his grandmother to the virus had to call 19 temples before finding one that could take her. Once the team came up with the idea of an interactive map of Thailand drawing on crowdsourced data to show people which temples had spare capacity, it was an easily leap to add community isolation centers with free beds, shops ready to fill oxygen tanks and more. Just as helpful is the site’s ability to quickly connect the sick with people who want to help others. Anyone suffering from COVID-19 can sign in with a phone number, pin their location to the map, and post a note explaining their symptoms and what they need. Anyone who wants to help can sign on with their own phone number and contact them directly. Those asking for assistance show up on the map as a bright red circle that grows bigger the longer they’ve been waiting. Their circle turns green when they start getting help, goes to gray once their needs have been met, then vanishes after a few days. “Everyone can see the map, and they see their community and the area around them. Anyone around them who needs help, they just volunteer. If they think they can help [those] people, that household, they just contact and help,” Wasanchai said. “That is the simple idea — people helping people.” Turning red to green Sonskuln Thaomohr, who handles company registration records for the Commerce Ministry by day, has taken to jitasa.care with a passion. Since coming across the site last month, he says he has responded to dozens of posts asking for help — taking blood oxygen level readings, dropping off food bundles to those self-isolating or helping seniors tap into public services by guiding them through online registration forms. Lately he has seen an increase in posts requesting anti-viral medicine. “If I could do something to help the situation, I really want to do it,” said Sonskuln, whose close friend lost his mother to COVID-19 and blamed himself for having accidentally passed the virus on to her. “I’m so sad for him, and that affects me personally because I don’t want any other of my friends or others to tell the sad story and blame themselves like that again,” he said. Sonskuln likes that the site also lets volunteers communicate with one another and coordinate their efforts. But even then, they can sometimes be too late. “We call it super red, which is the triage level,” he said. “That means they are in emergency state [and] need paramedic attention and … transfer to hospital ASAP. Those people are waiting inside their house and, to be honest, they are not in good shape at all. We have seen people dying — me too — laying on the floor.” With other volunteer groups and even some government agencies signing in to jitasa.care to respond to posts for help, Wasanchai said, most of Bangkok’s red circles are turning green. Most of those on the site still waiting for help are now to the south and southeast of the capital. After climbing steadily for more than four months, new daily infection numbers for the country have also started to level off and dip a bit in the past two weeks, convincing the government to start easing lockdown rules that have crippled the economy. But Pichit, at Thai Red Cross Society, warned that the latest trend could be an artifact of less testing and said infection numbers were still rising in some provinces in the south and northeast of Thailand, so that health care professionals and volunteers alike would have to stay vigilant. “The more you test, the more you find, so we still need to be aware that this decrease in number may be due to decreased tests,” he said. “So, we should keep an eye on it.”
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EU to Recommend Return of COVID Travel Restrictions on US Tourists
European Union officials say the bloc is expected to recommend its member nations reinstate COVID-19 travel restrictions on travelers from the United States, where new cases and hospitalizations have risen sharply in recent weeks.The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity as the EU travel policy is still being reviewed, say that as early as this week, the U.S. could be removed from a “safe list” of countries whose residents can travel to the 27-nation bloc without additional restrictions, such as quarantine and testing requirements. The recommendation would come from the European Council, which reviews the EU’s travel list every two weeks. The suggested restrictions, however, would not be binding for member countries, as there is no unified travel policy and member nations are free to set their own regulations.The EU lifted most travel restrictions for U.S. tourists in June, even though the U.S. has remained closed to European travelers.The threshold for being on the EU “safe list’ is an infection rate of no higher 75 new cases per 100,000 residents over the previous 14 days. The latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show a rate of more than 300 new cases per 100,000 people.Last week, new cases per day averaged more than 150,000, a number reminiscent of the peak months of January and February of this year. COVID-19-related hospitalizations have also risen to around 100,000, a number not seen since early February. COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus.
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Duterte’s Top Aide Declines Philippine Presidential Nomination
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s long-time aide has rejected the endorsement of the ruling party to run as its candidate in the 2022 elections, a development that some analysts said may open the way for Duterte’s daughter to stand. Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, in a letter to the PDP-Laban party, said he wanted to devote his attention to helping fight the pandemic, asking his allies to support candidates who will continue Duterte’s policies and programs. “As much as I wish to respond to the clamor of many of our party mates, I most respectfully decline the said endorsement,” he wrote in the letter, which was made public on Monday. Go had previously said he was open to running for president if Duterte was his running mate. FILE – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers his annual state of the nation address at the House of Representatives in Manila on July 26, 2021. (Photo by Lisa Marie David /Pool/ AFP) Duterte, 76, is prohibited by the constitution from seeking a second term, but his opponents believe he wants to maintain his grip on power. Duterte has declared he will seek the vice presidency, if daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio does not run for president. Both Duterte and his daughter had topped recent opinion polls. “It’s possible that Sara Duterte and the father reconciled on strategy for one candidate for 2022,” said political analyst Victor Manhit. Duterte-Carpio declined to comment on whether she and her father had reconciled on political strategy. She has been quoted in media as saying she was open to running for president. While Duterte remains popular, his administration is facing growing criticism over its handling of the pandemic amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases that has overwhelmed hospitals. Go’s decision to back out would have had Duterte’s approval, said analyst Earl Parreno of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms, who stressed that “nothing is final yet.” Candidacies only need to be officially filed starting in October.
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Internet Disrupted, Streets Quiet in South Sudan After Call for Protests
Internet services in South Sudan were disrupted on Monday and security forces were deployed on the streets, which were quieter than usual as residents sheltered inside after activists had called for protests against President Salva Kiir’s government. With Kiir scheduled to address lawmakers at parliament’s opening session on Monday morning, a coalition of activist groups reiterated their call on Sunday for public rallies demanding he resign. However, there was no sign early on Monday of major street gatherings in the capital Juba. Some activists told Reuters they were in hiding for security reasons. Police said the activists had not sought permission to protest, and therefore any large demonstration would be illegal. “We deployed the forces at least to keep order in case of any problem. Those forces are in the streets for your safety,” police spokesperson Daniel Justin Boulogne said. In televised remarks to an elite unit on Sunday, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Lt Gen. James Pui Yak said authorities would not “harm anybody” to break up demonstrations. “They are just going to advise people … to go on with their normal lives, we don’t want any disruption.” Residents in Juba told Reuters that as of Sunday evening mobile data was unavailable on the network of South African mobile operator MTN Group, and by Monday morning it was also halted on the network of Kuwait-based operator Zain Group. Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, a London-based group that monitors internet disruptions, said it detected “significant disruption to internet service in South Sudan beginning Sunday evening, including to leading cellular networks.” Deputy Information Minister Baba Medan told Reuters he could not comment immediately on the reported shutdown, as he was busy attending the opening of parliament. MTN did not immediately respond to a comment request. A spokesperson for Zain said he was checking with the South Sudan office. Activist Jame David Kolok, whose Foundation for Democracy and Accountable Governance is one of the groups that called for the demonstration, told Reuters that the internet shutdown was a sign “the authorities are panicking. ” The activists accuse Kiir’s government of corruption and failing to protect the population or provide basic services. Kiir’s government has repeatedly denied allegations from rights and advocacy groups of abuses and corruption.
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Suspected Militants Kill 19 in Eastern Congo Village
Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 19 people in a raid on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said. The attackers looted houses and started fires in Kasanzi-Kithovo near Virunga National Park in North Kivu province overnight between Friday and Saturday, they said. “I don’t know where to go with my two children,” villager Kahindo Lembula, who lost four of her relatives in the attack, told Reuters by phone. “Only God will help us.” The head of Buliki district, Kalunga Meso, and local rights group CEPADHO blamed the assault on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — an Islamist militant group accused of killing thousands of people in recent years, mostly in remote areas. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the ADF could not be reached. The government declared martial law in North Kivu and neighboring Ituri province at the beginning of May, in an attempt to quell a surge in violence that the military largely attributes to the ADF. But the number of civilians killed in such attacks has only increased since then, according to the Kivu Security Tracker, which maps unrest in eastern Congo. Earlier in August, President Felix Tshisekedi said special forces from the United States would soon deploy to the east to gauge the potential for a local anti-terrorism unit to combat Islamist violence. The ADF was blacklisted in March by Washington as a terrorist group. It has publicly aligned itself with Islamic State, which in turn has claimed responsibility for some of its Attacks. But in a June report, U.N. experts said they had found no evidence of direct support from Islamic State to the ADF.
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IAEA: Renewed Activity at N. Korea Nuclear Reactor ‘Deeply Troubling’
North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor that is widely believed to have produced plutonium for nuclear weapons, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in an annual report, highlighting the isolated nation’s efforts to expand its arsenal. The signs of operation at the 5-megawatt (MW) reactor, which is seen as capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium, were the first to be spotted since late 2018, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in the report, dated Friday. “Since early July 2021, there have been indications, including the discharge of cooling water, consistent with the operation,” the IAEA report said of the reactor at Yongbyon, a nuclear complex at the heart of North Korea’s nuclear program. The IAEA has had no access to North Korea since Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in 2009. The country subsequently pressed ahead with its nuclear weapons program and soon resumed nuclear testing. Its last nuclear test was in 2017. The IAEA now monitors North Korea from afar, largely through satellite imagery. Commercial satellite imagery shows water discharge, supporting the conclusion that the reactor is running again, said Jenny Town, director of the U.S.-based 38 North project, which monitors North Korea. “No way to know why the reactor wasn’t operating previously — although work has been ongoing on the water reservoir over the past year to ensure sufficient water for the cooling systems,” she said. “The timing seems a little strange to me, given the tendency for flooding in coming weeks or months that could affect reactor operations.” Last year 38 North said floods in August may have damaged pump houses linked to Yongbyon, highlighting how vulnerable the nuclear reactor’s cooling systems are to extreme weather events. Seasonal rains brought floods in some areas this year, state media have said, but there have been no reports yet of threats to the site, the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center. Key nuclear site At a 2019 summit in Vietnam with then-U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered to dismantle Yongbyon in exchange for relief from a range of international sanctions over nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. At the time Trump said he rejected the deal because Yongbyon was only one part of the North’s nuclear program and was not enough of a concession to warrant loosening so many sanctions. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has said it reached out to the North Koreans to offer talks, but Pyongyang has said it has no interest in negotiating without a change in policy by the United States. “There has been no agreement governing these facilities for a long time now,” said Joshua Pollack, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. In June, the IAEA flagged indications of possible reprocessing work at Yongbyon to separate plutonium from spent reactor fuel that could be used in nuclear weapons. In Friday’s report, the agency said the five-month duration of that apparent work, from mid-February to early July, suggested a full batch of spent fuel was handled, in contrast to the shorter time needed for waste treatment or maintenance. “The new indications of the operation of the 5MW(e) reactor and the radiochemical (reprocessing) laboratory are deeply troubling,” it said in the report, which was issued without notice. There were also indications of mining and concentration activities at a uranium mine and plant at Pyongsan, and activity at a suspected covert enrichment facility in Kangson, it added. It is a safe bet that North Korea intends any newly separated plutonium for weapons, Pollack said, adding that in a speech this year Kim gave a long list of advanced weapons under development, including more nuclear bombs. “North Korea’s appetite for warheads is not yet sated, it seems.”
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No Cash or Gas to Run from Ida: ‘We Can’t Afford to Leave’
Robert Owens was feeling defeated and helpless Sunday as he waited in Louisiana’s capital city for landfall by one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. The 27-year-old had spent anxious days watching long lines of cars evacuating from Baton Rouge, bound for safer locations out of state as Hurricane Ida approached. He had hoped he and his wife, his mother-in-law, roommate and four pets would be among them. But leaving would have required money for gas and a hotel room — something they didn’t have. Out of desperation, Owens went to ACE Cash Express on Saturday and submitted documents for a payday loan. He was denied, told he didn’t have enough credit history. By Sunday, it was clear they would be riding out the storm at home in his family’s duplex apartment. “Our bank account is empty – we can’t afford to leave,” he said. Owens said most people in his low-income neighborhood are in the same predicament. They want to leave to protect families but have no choice but to stay. “A lot of us here in my neighborhood have to just hunker down and wait, not knowing how bad it’s going to get. It’s a terrifying feeling,” he said. “There are people who have funds to lean on are able to get out of here, but there’s a big chunk of people that are lower-income that don’t have a savings account to fall on,” he continued. “We’re left behind.” By Sunday night at 9 p.m., Owens said his family and all others in his neighborhood had lost power. The sky was lighting up green from transformers blowing up all around them, he said. Several trees had collapsed on neighbors’ properties, but it was too dark to see the full extent of the damage. Owens said they were trying to use a flashlight to survey the street but were wary of jeopardizing their safety. “Never in my life have I encountered something this major,” he said as giant gusts rattled his home’s windows. He said there were a few times when it sounded like the roof of his duplex might come off. He said his wife was packing a bag of clothes and essentials, just in case. “We’ll shelter in the car if we lose the house,” he said. The family all share his wife’s Toyota Avalon, a vehicle “not nearly big enough” to shelter four people, three dogs and a cat. Earlier in the day, Owens said he was hurriedly placing towels under leaking windows in his duplex and charging electronics. He tried to go to Dollar General and Dollar Tree to pick up food, but they were closed. His family has lights glued around the walls of the house. They planned to hide in the laundry room or the kitchen when the storm hits — places without windows. “There’s a general feeling of fear in not knowing what’s going to be the aftermath of this,” he said. “That’s the most concerning thing. Like, what are we going to do if it gets really bad? Will we still be alive? Is a tree going fall on top of us?” Owens said his mother-in-law is on disability. His roommates both work for Apple iOS tech support. His wife works scheduling blood donations. All of them rely on the internet to work from home, and if it goes out, they won’t be able to bring in any money. “We might be without work, and rent, power, water, all of those bills will still be needing to get paid,” he said. “We are a little bit concerned about losing our utilities or even our house — if it’s still standing — because we’re not going to have the money for any other bills.” He said it’s hard to feel so vulnerable, like his family is getting left behind. “The fact that we are not middle class or above, it just kind of keeps coming back to bite us over and over again, in so many different directions and ways — a simple pay-day advance being one of them,” he said. “It’s like we’re having to pay for being poor, even though we’re trying to not be poor.”
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Hurricane Ida Weakens, But Remains a Threat
Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in the U.S. Gulf Coast state of Louisiana as a dangerous Category 4 storm, had weakened to a Category 2 storm by Sunday night. The storm remains strong, however, and the National Hurricane Center said late Sunday that Ida was responsible for “catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds, and flash flooding…in portions of southeastern Louisiana.” Ida has knocked out the electrical power in portions of Louisiana and Mississippi, leaving more than a million people in the dark, including the entire city of New Orleans. The first death from Ida has been reported, the result of a fallen tree. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 165 kph Sunday night. The NHC said residents should expect heavy rainfall along the southeast Louisiana coast, spreading northeast into the Lower Mississippi Valley Monday. Rainfall totals of 25 to 45 centimeters are possible across southeast Louisiana into far southern Mississippi, with as much as isolated maximum amounts of 61 centimeters possible. “This is likely to result in life- threatening flash and urban flooding and significant river flooding impacts,” the weather forecasters said. Cars drive through flood waters along route 90 as outer bands of Hurricane Ida arrive on Aug. 29, 2021, in Gulfport, Miss.Hurricane warnings are in effect for Morgan City, Louisiana to the mouth of the Pearl River, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and metropolitan New Orleans Sixteen years ago, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina came ashore in Louisiana as a Category 3 storm. Katrina was blamed for 1,800 deaths, levee breaches and devastating flooding in New Orleans. The city’s federal levee system has been improved since then, and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards predicted the levees would hold. “Will it be tested? Yes. But it was built for this moment,” he said. Before Ida arrived, Edwards declared a state of emergency and said 5,000 National Guard troops were standing by along the coast for search and rescue efforts. In addition, 10,000 linemen were ready to respond to electrical outages once the storm passed. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey also declared a state of emergency for coastal and western counties in the state. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered people who live outside the city’s protective levee system to evacuate. And she urged those who remained in the city to hunker down. “As soon the storm passes, we’re going to put the country’s full might behind the rescue and recovery,” President Joe Biden said after a briefing at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington. The president said he had signed emergency declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi and has been in touch with the governors of those two states and Alabama. The Gulf Coast region’s hospitals now face a natural disaster as they are struggling with a surge in patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, due to the highly contagious delta variant. “COVID has certainly added a challenge to this storm,” Mike Hulefeld, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ochsner Health, told the Associated Press. Edwards said about 2,500 people are being treated for COVID-19 in the state’s hospitals as the hurricane passes through. Since the start of the pandemic, Louisiana has had 679,796 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 12,359 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Its vaccine tracker says just 41% of the state’s nearly 4.7 million population are vaccinated. “Once again we find ourselves dealing with a natural disaster in the midst of a pandemic,” Jennifer Avegno, the top health official for New Orleans, told the AP. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Civilian Casualties Reported in US Airstrike
The United States conducted an airstrike Sunday against a vehicle that posed a threat to the Kabul airport, and the U.S. Central Command is now looking into reports of civilian casualties.“We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul,” Captain Bill Urban, CENTCOM spokesperson, said in a statement Sunday night.The U.S. is investigating and, “We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life,” Urban said.Earlier Sunday the military said its forces struck a vehicle, “eliminating an imminent ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorasan) threat to Hamad Karzai International airport.” US Airstrike Hits Attacker Targeting Kabul Airport Earlier, US President Joe Biden warned that another attack on the airport was likely soon In his statement Sunday night, Urban said the results of the airstrike are still being assessed and that the secondary explosions “may have caused additional casualties. It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further.”According to reporting in The New York Times, the drone strike or the secondary explosions killed as many as nine civilians, among them children. Dina Mohammadi said her extended family resided in the building and that several of them were killed, including children, according to the Associated Press. She was not immediately able to provide the names or ages of the deceased.Karim, a district representative, said the strike ignited a fire that made it difficult to rescue people. “There was smoke everywhere and I took some children and women out,” he said.Ahmaduddin, a neighbor, said he had collected the bodies of children after the strike, which set off more explosions inside the house, AP reported.Airlift winds downThe evacuation has airlifted about 120,00 people out of Kabul since the end of July, according to the White House as of early Sunday morning, and it is facing a Tuesday deadline.“This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission, these last couple of days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. Republican U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, also on ABC, criticized the Biden administration’s evacuation operations.“There is clearly no plan. There has been no plan. Their plan has basically been happy talk,” he said. Blinken said in an interview on CNN that about 300 American citizens are seeking evacuation from Afghanistan.Ongoing threatsPentagon spokesperson John Kirby said at a briefing Saturday that threats against the airport “are still very real, they’re very dynamic, and we are monitoring them literally in real time. And, as I said yesterday, we are taking all the means necessary to make sure we remain focused on that threat stream and doing what we can for force protection.”The security threats have made the evacuation of Americans and some Afghans more difficult.“There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs (Special Immigrant Visa holders) out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from the airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.US to Host Virtual Meeting of Foreign Ministers on AfghanistanThe United States will host the meeting of ‘key partners,’ the State Department said Sunday
The U.S. evacuation of Afghans at the airport has wound down significantly, with most of the remaining 100 American civilian government staffers set to leave before midnight, according to a State Department official who spoke with VOA Saturday on the condition of anonymity.The airport terminals are mostly empty, said the official, who expressed mixed feelings about the operation.“I feel the frustration of the failure of the operation overall,” said the official, who described the decision-making process of getting Afghans evacuated as “chaotic” and “subjective.”
“But I’m extremely proud of the work of the guys on the ground, just the kind of bare-knuckled diplomacy of getting to know the Afghans, even though some of us didn’t know the language,” the official said.
VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report, which includes information from The Associated Press and Reuters.Carla Babb, Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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What We Know: The Push to Evacuate Kabul
Here are the latest developments in Afghanistan as of August 29: * The United States conducted an airstrike Sunday against a vehicle that posed a threat to the Kabul airport, U.S. officials said. The airstrike came hours after the U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued warnings of a credible threat of an imminent attack in the area.* Dozens of countries issued a statement reiterating their commitment to evacuate their citizens and Afghan allies from Afghanistan, adding that they had “received assurances from the Taliban” of safe passage to and through the airport for these people even after the August 31 deadline.* A senior Taliban leader confirmed to VOA, on the condition of anonymity, that the group is in the final stages of announcing a new Cabinet and it is expected to include all of the members of its current Rahbari Shura, or leadership council. * President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed in a bombing near the Kabul airport last week. At least 170 Afghans were killed in the blast.*Several veteran Afghan leaders, including two regional strongmen, are seeking talks with the Taliban and soon plan to form a new front for negotiations concerning the country’s next government, according to Reuters.
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US to Host Virtual Meeting of Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan
Foreign ministers from several countries will meet virtually Monday to discuss their next steps in Afghanistan, the U.S. State Department said, as the airlift evacuation out of the country enters its final days.The United States will host the meeting of “key partners,” the State Department said Sunday, with the summit coming one day before U.S. military forces are to withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years of war and slightly more than two weeks after the Taliban swept back into power.Representatives from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Qatar, the European Union and NATO are set to participate, the State Department said. “The participants will discuss an aligned approach for the days and weeks ahead,” the statement said. The statement also said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would speak after the meeting to give an update on the United States’ recent efforts in Afghanistan. The meeting will come one day after the United States said it destroyed an explosive-laden vehicle with an airstrike in Kabul and two days after President Joe Biden warned of another terror attack in the capital following a suicide bombing on Thursday. The Thursday attack killed more than 100 people, including 13 US service personnel.Members of an Islamic State affiliate are believed to be behind the targeting of an area outside the Kabul airport, where the United States has been processing visas of Afghans, Americans and other foreign nationals seeking to leave the country in the weeks since the Taliban took control. About 120,00 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since August 15.
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Zambia’s New Finance Minister Says IMF Deal Key to Fixing Debt Problems
Zambia’s new finance minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, said in an interview aired on Sunday that it was critical to agree to a lending program with the IMF because it would give creditors confidence and the government cheaper and longer financing.Musokotwane, appointed on Friday by recently elected President Hakainde Hichilema, faces the daunting task of trying to pull the southern African country out of a protracted debt crisis and has pledged to prioritize talks with the IMF.He told public broadcaster ZNBC he was confident Zambia would get an IMF program before the end of the year and thereafter restructure its debt.New Zambian President Promises Bold Agenda In an interview with VOA, Hakainde Hichilema promises to boost a poor economy, defend human rights, and have better relations regionally and with Washington. The government has a $750 million Eurobond due next year but says it cannot repay it.”We don’t have the money to pay back. This is why it is important that we get on (an) IMF (program) so that we can re-arrange not to pay next year. I am 100% confident that it will be done,” he said.Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, became the continent’s first coronavirus-era sovereign default in November after failing to keep up with payments on its more than $12 billion in international debt.But after Hichilema’s landslide election victory this month over incumbent Edgar Lungu, the country’s dollar bonds and kwacha currency have rallied on hopes the new administration will bring a swift resolution to its debt woes.Of Zambia’s external debt, about $3 billion is in Eurobonds, $3.5 billion is bilateral debt, $2.1 billion is owed to multilateral lending agencies and $2.9 billion is commercial bank debt.A quarter of the total is held by either China or Chinese entities via deals shrouded in secrecy clauses, making negotiations for IMF relief particularly tough.Musokotwane also told ZNBC that Zambia hoped to raise annual copper output from its current level of roughly 800,000 metric tons to 2 million metric tons by 2026.He said he would present a budget within 90 days of Hichilema’s swearing-in last Tuesday and in the medium to long term his priority would be creating jobs.
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Nuclear Watchdog Says North Korea Appears to Have Restarted Reactor
North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor that is widely believed to have produced plutonium for nuclear weapons, the U.N. atomic watchdog has said in an annual report.The International Atomic Energy Agency has had no access to North Korea since Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in 2009. The country then pressed ahead with its nuclear weapons program and soon resumed nuclear testing. Its last nuclear test was in 2017.The IAEA now monitors North Korea from afar, largely through satellite imagery.”There were no indications of reactor operation from early December 2018 to the beginning of July 2021,” the IAEA report said of the 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon, a nuclear complex at the heart of North Korea’s nuclear program.”However, since early July 2021, there have been indications, including the discharge of cooling water, consistent with the operation of the reactor.”The IAEA issues the report annually before a meeting of its member states, posting it online with no announcement. The report was dated Friday.The IAEA said in June there were indications at Yongbyon of possible reprocessing work to separate plutonium from spent reactor fuel that could be used in nuclear weapons.Friday’s report said the duration of that apparent work — five months, from mid-February to early July — suggested a full batch of spent fuel was handled, in contrast to the shorter time needed for waste treatment or maintenance.”The new indications of the operation of the 5MW(e) reactor and the Radiochemical (reprocessing) Laboratory are deeply troubling,” it said.There were indications “for a period of time” that what is suspected to be a uranium enrichment plant at Yongbyon was not in operation, it said. There were also indications of mining and concentration activities at a uranium mine and plant at Pyongsan, it added.
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Biden Honors US Military Members Killed in Afghanistan
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden met with the families of thirteen U.S. service members killed in a bombing near the Kabul airport last week. At least 170 Afghans were killed in the blast. The thirteen U.S. service members were aged between 20 and 31 years — with five of them just 20 years old. Their families met with the President at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where they participated in a “dignified transfer,” a military ritual of receiving the remains of those killed in foreign combat. President Joe Biden returns a salute as he and first lady Jill Biden arrive at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Aug. 29, 2021.“The President and the First Lady will meet with the families of fallen American service members who gave their lives to save Americans, our partners, and our Afghan allies in Kabul,” a White House statement said earlier. The deadly attack last week took place as thousands were gathered outside the airport, trying to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country. Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility. (Some information provided by the Associated Press.)
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France’s Macron Visits Iraq’s Mosul Destroyed by IS War
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday visited Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, which suffered widespread destruction during the war to defeat the Islamic State group in 2017. He vowed to fight alongside regional governments against terrorism. Macron said IS carried out deadly attacks throughout the world from its self-declared caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. He said IS did not differentiate between people’s religion and nationality when it came to killing, noting that the extremists killed many Muslims. “We will do whatever we can, shoulder to shoulder, with the governments of the region and with the Iraqi government to fight against this terrorism,” Macron said in English following a visit to an iconic mosque that was destroyed by the extremists. “We will be present alongside with sovereign governments to restore peace.” Macron said France will help in rebuilding mutual respect as well as monuments, churches, schools and mosques and most importantly “economic opportunity.” Despite the defeat of IS on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries and an affiliate of the group claimed Thursday’s attacks at Kabul’s airport in Afghanistan that killed scores. Macron began his visit to Mosul by touring the Our Lady of the Hour Church, a Catholic church that was badly damaged during the rule of IS that lasted from 2014 until the extremists’ defeat three years later. Iraqi children dressed in white and waving Iraqi and French flags sang upon Macron’s arrival. FILE – Pope Francis arrives to pray for the victims of war at Hosh al-Bieaa Church Square in Mosul, Iraq.It was the same church where Pope Francis led a special prayer during a visit to Iraq in March. During the trip, the pontiff urged Iraq’s Christians to forgive the injustices against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches. Macron moved around the church — whose walls are still riddled with bullets — amid tight security as a priest accompanying him gave him details about the church built in the 19th century. The French president then went up to the roof overlooking parts of Mosul accompanied by Iraqi officials. “We hope that France will open a consulate in Mosul,” Iraqi priest Raed Adel told Macron inside the church. He also called on the president to help in the reconstruction of Mosul’s airport. Macron made a list of promises during his meeting with Christian leaders at Our Lady of the Hour church, including opening a consulate. “I’m struck by what’s at stake here so I want to also tell you that we are going to be making the decision to bring back a consulate and schools,” Macron said.
Macron left the church in the early afternoon and headed to Mosul’s landmark al-Nuri mosque, which was blown up in the battle with IS militants in 2017 and is being rebuilt. French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) tours the Al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq’s second city of Mosul, in the northern Nineveh province, on August 29, 2021.The mosque, also known as The Great Mosque of al-Nuri, and its iconic leaning minaret were built in the 12th century. It was from the mosque’s pulpit that IS’s self-styled caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the caliphate’s establishment in 2014. Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, became IS’s bureaucratic and financial backbone. It took a ferocious nine-month battle to finally free the city in July 2017. Between 9,000 and 11,000 civilians were killed, according to an Associated Press investigation at the time, and the war left widespread destruction. Many Iraqis have had to rebuild on their own amid a years-long financial crisis. Since the early years of Christianity, northern Iraq has been home to large Christian communities. But over the past decades, tens of thousands left Iraq and settled elsewhere amid the country’s wars and instability that culminated with the persecution of Christians by extremists over the past decade. The traditionally Christian towns dotting the Nineveh Plains of the north emptied out in 2014 as Christians — as well as many Muslims — fled the Islamic State group’s onslaught. Only a few have returned to their homes since the defeat of IS in Iraq was declared four years ago, and the rest remain scattered elsewhere in Iraq or abroad. Macron arrived in Baghdad early Saturday where he took part in a conference attended by officials from around the Middle East aimed at easing Mideast tensions and underscored the Arab country’s new role as mediator. Macron hailed the Baghdad conference as a major boost for Iraq and its leadership. The country had been largely shunned by Arab leaders for the past few decades because of security concerns amid back-to-back wars and internal unrest, its airport frequently attacked with rockets by insurgents. Macron vowed to maintain troops in Iraq “regardless of the Americans’ choices” and “for as long as the Iraqi government is asking for our support.” France currently contributes to the international coalition forces in Iraq with 800 soldiers. On Saturday night, Macron visited a Shi’ite holy shrine in Baghdad before flying to the northern city of Irbil, where he met Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, the 28-year-old activist who was forced into sexual slavery by IS fighters in Iraq. A member of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, Murad was among thousands of women and girls who were captured and forced into sexual slavery by IS in 2014. Her mother and six brothers were killed by IS fighters in Iraq. She became an activist on behalf of women and girls after escaping and finding refuge in Germany and shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.
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US Airstrike Hits Attacker Targeting Kabul Airport
The United States conducted an airstrike Sunday against a vehicle that posed a threat to the Kabul airport, following U.S. warnings of an imminent attack in the area. “U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K [Islamic State Khorasan] threat to Hamad Karzai International airport,” said Capt. Bill Urban, CENTCOM spokesperson. “We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.” A broken window of a house is seen after US drone strike in Kabul, Aug. 29, 2021.Islamic State Khorasan had claimed responsibility for a suicide attack outside the airport that killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members last Thursday. A U.S. airstrike last Friday killed two members of the terror group. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul had urged U.S. citizens to leave the vicinity of the airport, citing a specific and credible threat. U.S. President Joe Biden Saturday said another attack was likely within the next 24- to 36 hours. Warnings of additional attacks come as the U.S. and its allies wind down an evacuation of their citizens and Afghans fleeing the Taliban. US Embassy in Kabul Issues Threat AlertEarlier Biden warned that another attack on the airport is likely soon“This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission, these last couple of days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Republican U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, also on ABC, criticized the Biden administration’s evacuation plan. “There is clearly no plan. There has been no plan. Their plan has basically been happy talk,” he said. Sasse also said people have died and people are going to die “because President Biden decided to rely on happy talk instead of reality.” The White House says about 2,900 people were evacuated from Kabul in a 12-hour period that ended at 3 a.m. EDT Sunday. It says that since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated or helped evacuate more than 114,000 people. Blinken said in an interview on CNN that about 300 American citizens are seeking evacuation from Afghanistan. Separately, a U.S. airstrike Friday night against the Islamic State Afghan affiliate group — retaliation for Thursday’s attack — resulted in the deaths of two important members of the group, the U.S. Defense Department said Saturday. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told Fox News Sunday that President Biden “will stop at nothing” to make the terror group pay for last week’s attack. Biden on Saturday said the airstrike was “not the last” and that the U.S. will “continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.”
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid reportedly denounced the airstrike, saying it was a “clear attack on Afghan territory,” according to the Reuters news agency. He also reportedly said the Taliban expects to take full control of the airport when U.S. forces complete their pullout from the country, scheduled for Tuesday. Ongoing threats Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said at a briefing Saturday that threats against the airport “are still very real, they’re very dynamic, and we are monitoring them literally in real time. And, as I said yesterday, we are taking all the means necessary to make sure we remain focused on that threat stream and doing what we can for force protection.”The security threats have made the evacuation of Americans and some Afghans more difficult. “There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs [Special Immigrant Visa holders] out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from the airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
The U.S. evacuation of Afghans at the airport has wound down significantly, with most of the remaining 100 American civilian government staffers set to leave before midnight, according to a State Department official who spoke with VOA Saturday on the condition of anonymity. In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit process evacuees as they go through the evacuation control center at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 28, 2021.The airport terminals are mostly empty, said the official, who expressed mixed feelings about the operation. “I feel the frustration of the failure of the operation overall,” said the official, who described the decision-making process of getting Afghans evacuated as “chaotic” and “subjective.”
“But I’m extremely proud of the work of the guys on the ground, just the kind of bare-knuckled diplomacy of getting to know the Afghans, even though some of us didn’t know the language,” the official said.
VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Biden to Honor US Military Members Killed in Afghanistan
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Sunday to honor the 13 U.S. military personnel killed in last week’s attack outside the Kabul airport.“The President and the First Lady will meet with the families of fallen American service members who gave their lives to save Americans, our partners, and our Afghan allies in Kabul,” a White House statement said.The Bidens are then participating in a “dignified transfer,” a military ritual of receiving the remains of those killed in foreign combat.The deadly attack last week took place as thousands were gathered outside the airport, trying to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country. At least 170 Afghans were killed along with the 13 U.S. service members.Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility. (Some information provided by the Associated Press.)
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Australia Approves Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Over 12
Australian drug regulators have approved the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12 to 15.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization has advised the federal government that the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 12 to 15.
The drug regulators have insisted that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination for children of that age range far outweigh the potential risks, including myocarditis, where the heart muscle is inflamed. FILE – A technician prepares a Pfizer vaccine in the pharmacy area of the newly opened COVID-19 Vaccination Centre in Sydney, Australia, Monday, May 10, 2021. (James Gourley/Pool Photo via AP)Australia’s federal health minister, Greg Hunt, says he hopes most injections will be given by the end of the year.
“We are in a position to ensure that all children and all families who seek their children to be vaccinated between the ages of 12 to 15 will be able to do so this year,” he said.
The Pfizer vaccine was already available to Australian aboriginal children ages 12 to 15 who have underlying medical conditions or live in remote areas. France, Italy and Israel started offering the Pfizer vaccine to anyone age 12 and older in June. Japan did so in May, and the United States recently approved the drug’s use for that age group. The vaccines have been approved for children in India, but officials haven’t decided when inoculations can begin. Paul Griffin, an associate professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Queensland, supports Australia’s decision to offer vaccines to younger children. “We have seen excellent data supporting the use of these vaccines in this age group. Other countries have started doing it, and we know it is an important age group to be vaccinated for so many reasons. Children are now increasingly recognized as contributing to the spread of this virus,” he said.The Australian Medical Association also supports the vaccination of children but has said that some older age groups are more of a priority. Teachers in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, face mandatory coronavirus vaccinations as authorities plan a return to school for students starting in late October. In Australia, 34.4% of the population is fully vaccinated. Four weeks ago it was 19.5%. Fifteen million Australians remain in lockdown, including residents in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, as delta variant infections continue to surge. New South Wales authorities reported 1,218 additional COVID-19 cases Sunday, a new daily record. Australia has detected about 50,000 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, and 993 people have died, according to the health department.
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