U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a phone call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday, affirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity “in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” the State Department said in a statement.
Ukraine and Russia have been at loggerheads since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and over its support for separatist rebels fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people.
Blinken “expressed concern about the security situation in eastern Ukraine and offered condolences on the recent loss of four Ukrainian soldiers,” the statement said.
Ukraine’s armed forces said last week that four soldiers were killed in shelling by Russian forces in Donbas, the highest daily death total since a cease-fire agreement was reached last July.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Ruslan Khomchak said on Tuesday Russia was building up armed forces near Ukraine’s borders in a threat to the country’s security.
The Kremlin said Wednesday it was concerned about mounting tensions in eastern Ukraine and that it feared Kyiv’s government forces could do something to restart a conflict with pro-Russian separatists.
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Month: March 2021
Mexico Searches for Daughter of Salvadoran Woman Killed in Police Custody
Mexican authorities are searching for the daughter of Salvadoran woman Victoria Salazar, who died after a female police officer was seen in a video kneeling on her back, a case that triggered an outpouring of anger in Mexico. The attorney general’s office of the state of Quintana Roo, where Salazar died, said on Tuesday shortly before midnight that an Amber Alert had been issued for her daughter, 16-year-old Francela Yaritza Salazar Arriaza. Francela was last seen in the Caribbean tourist resort of Tulum, where her mother was killed. Salazar’s partner was arrested on Tuesday for abuse of her and her daughters, Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin said. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this week said Salazar, 36, had been subject to “brutal treatment and murdered” after her detention on Saturday by four police officers. An autopsy showed Salazar’s neck had been broken. Her death, which had echoes of the case of George Floyd, an African American man who died in May as a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck, sparked outrage on social media and calls by El Salvador’s president for the officers to be punished. “They used excessive force,” her mother, Rosibel Arriaza, told Mexican television network TV Azteca. She noted that her daughter’s death was similar to that of George Floyd. FILE – Rosibel Emerita Arriaza, the mother of Victoria Esperanza Salazar who died in police custody, talks to the press in Antiguo Cuzcatlan, El Salvador, March 29, 2021.Newly released surveillance camera video, published by Mexican newspaper Reforma, showed Salazar looking frightened and holding on to workers in a convenience store just before police arrived at the scene, apparently in the run-up to her death. The Quintana Roo attorney general’s office has opened a homicide investigation into her death, which has led to the arrest of the four officers seen on videos of the incident.
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ICC Upholds Acquittal of Former Ivory Coast President
Judges at International Criminal Court in The Hague have upheld the acquittal of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and youth minister Charles Ble Goude, paving the way for both to return home. The two had been accused of instigating postelection violence, and observers said there were concerns that their return could again destabilize Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer of cocoa.Gbagbo and Ble Goude were in the courtroom for the verdict. Ble Goude smiled widely as Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji read it.”The appeals chamber by majority has found no error that could have materially affected the decision of trial chamber in relation to either of the prosecutors’ two grounds of appeal,” Eboe-Osuji said. “It therefore rejects the prosecutor’s appeal, and confirms the decision of the trial chamber.”The judge also revoked all remaining conditions on the men’s release. Gbagbo, who has been staying provisionally in Belgium, has said he wants to return to Ivory Coast, where he remains a heavyweight in the opposition against current President Alassane Ouattara.In a statement, Gbagbo’s defense team hailed the acquittal, saying justice had been done.Supporters of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and former youth minister Charles Ble Goude celebrate their acquittal outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, March 31, 2021.In 2019, ICC judges acquitted Gbagbo and Ble Goude of crimes-against-humanity charges related to postelectoral violence in Ivory Coast in 2010 and 2011. The vote saw Ouattara defeating Gbagbo, who refused to concede. Following an investigation of alleged atrocities that included perpetrating murder and rape, Gbagbo became the first former head of state to be arrested on orders of the ICC.The prosecution appealed the initial acquittal on procedural grounds, all of which were dismissed by the appeals judges, with two of them dissenting.In some cases, Eboe-Osuji offered particularly strong criticism of prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s arguments, including her apparent suggestions that the first court had hadn’t fully considered all the evidence before coming to its verdict.”Judges of the ICC … are presumed to act with integrity and impartiality. The appeals chamber would expect evidence of a very clear nature to support such a serious allegation as was made,” Eboe-Osuji said.Wednesday’s ruling amounted to yet another setback for the ICC prosecution. Judges previously acquitted on appeal former Democratic of Republic of the Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba. Prosecutor Bensouda earlier dropped crimes-against-humanities charges against Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta.Bensouda is also under U.S. sanctions for launching an investigation into war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. However, champions of the 20-year-old ICC argue that its mission — as a court of last resort taking on extraordinarily difficult cases against powerful figures — is extremely challenging from the start.Bensouda’s nine-year term is up in June. British prosecutor Karim Khan will succeed her.
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South Sudan Road Attacks Leave Nearly 30 Dead
A string of deadly road attacks in South Sudan, including one on a governor’s convoy returning from the scene of an earlier attack, have left nearly 30 people dead.
Officials in Eastern Equatoria state say gunmen killed a bodyguard of Governor Louis Lobong Lojore and a woman on Monday, a day after armed youths allegedly from the town of Kapoeta attacked an area called “Camp 15” where members of the ethnic Buya community reside.
Governor Lojore said the motive behind Sunday’s incident was believed to be retaliation for an attack in 2020 on the SPLM-In Opposition cantonment site in the town of Lowuareng.
“There was an incident in Lowuareng where a small cantonment site which was there was turned into a small market and it was attacked by people suspected to be youth from Buya community killing five people, so it was based on that,” Lojore told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.
Lojore traveled to Camp 15 on Monday to calm tensions following Sunday’s attack on the trading center. A short time after the governor’s convoy left the camp to return to the state capital Torit Monday evening, gunmen attacked the convoy, killing two people and injuring three others, said state information minister Patrick Oting.
“They fell in an ambush and were attacked by the same Buya youths in Camp 15,” Oting told South Sudan in Focus. The governor was uninjured.
Oting said Lojore’s convoy returned to Camp 15 after the attack.
“They withdrew from that place, the governor and all the dignitaries that were with him on the convoy including the commander of army in Torit, General Robert Okimo, back to the barracks in Camp 15 after the ambush,” said Oting.
With the presence of soldiers on the ground, Othing said the governor and his peace delegates hoped to continue their peace mission to the three communities of Buya, Didinga and Toposa in Eastern Equatoria.
In Central Equatoria state, gunmen killed another 10 people in two separate incidents on the same road. Four commuters including three drivers were killed Sunday while traveling on the Juba-Yei Road and six more travelers were killed by unknown gunmen on Monday.
At a Juba news conference Monday, Central Equatoria state officials accused National Salvation Front (NAS) rebels led by Thomas Cirillo of carrying out the attacks.
State information minister Paulino Lukudu said NAS forces also launched attacks in Lasu and Lata of Yei River County last week.
On Tuesday, NAS spokesperson Suba Samuel denied his group is responsible for the recent deadly attacks.
“We are not aware of these road attacks or road ambushes whatsoever. What we know is our forces are engaging [South Sudan army forces] south of Juba, in Otogo, in Mugo and yesterday it was in Mukaya,” Samuel told South Sudan in Focus.
Lukudu said he hopes Cirilo will actively engage in peace talks between the government and holdout groups under a coalition called the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance in Naivasha, Kenya.
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Italy Expels Two Russian Diplomats Accused of Espionage
Italy says it expelled two Russian diplomats and arrested an Italian navy captain Tuesday for their alleged involvement in espionage. The diplomats were expelled Wednesday, according to news reports. Italian police say the captain and a Russian Embassy official were arrested in a parking lot in Rome and were accused of “serious crimes tied to spying and state security.” Reuters reported that an Italian police official told them the captain was named Walter Biot and that he was accused of passing information in exchange for $5,900. Italian news agency Ansa reported that some of the documents seized were NATO documents. Italian police said the arrests were the result of a lengthy investigation by national security and military officials. The Russian Embassy in Rome, March 31, 2021.After the arrests, Italy summoned the Russian ambassador, and two Russian officials allegedly involved in the incident were expelled. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio characterized the incident as “extremely grave,” Reuters reported. “During the convocation of the Russian ambassador to Italy at the Foreign Ministry, we let him know about the strong protest of the Italian government and notified the immediate expulsion of the two Russian officials involved in this extremely grave affair,” the minister’s Facebook post said, according to CNN. Biot, 54, was reportedly working at the defense ministry in a department charged with developing national security policy and maintaining relations with Italy’s allies, Reuters reported. According to Reuters, Russian news agencies said the two expelled officials worked in the embassy’s military attaché office. They did not say if the person arrested in the parking lot was one of those expelled. Russian news agency Interfax reported that a Russian politician said it would reciprocate for the expulsions. But a Kremlin spokesman downplayed the incident. “At the moment, we do not have information about the reasons and circumstances of this detention,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to CNN. “But in any case, we hope that the very positive and constructive character of Russian-Italian relations will be preserved.” Both Bulgaria and the Netherlands have expelled Russian officials over spying allegations in recent months.
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‘Falling Like Flies’: Hungary’s Roma Community Pleads for COVID-19 Help
Coronavirus infections are ravaging Hungary’s 700,000-strong Roma community, according to personal accounts that suggest multiple deaths in single families are common in an unchecked outbreak fueled by deep distrust of authorities.Data on infections in the community is unavailable but interviews with about a dozen Roma, who often live in cramped and unsanitary conditions, reveal harrowing stories of suffering and death and of huge health care challenges.”Our people are falling like flies,” said Aladar Horvath, a Roma rights advocate who travels widely among the community.When asked by phone to describe the overall situation, he broke down sobbing and said he had learned an hour before that his 35-year-old nephew had died of COVID.Another Roma, Zsanett Bito-Balogh, likened the outbreak in her town of Nagykallo in eastern Hungary to an explosion.”It’s like a bomb went off,” she said.”Just about every family got it. …People you see riding their bikes one week are in hospital the next and you order flowers for their funerals the third.”Bito-Balogh, who herself recovered twice from COVID-19, said that at one point she had 12 family members in hospital. She said she had lost two uncles and her grandmother to the virus in the past month, and a neighbor lost both parents, a cousin and a uncle within weeks.She says she is now rushing to organize in-person registration points for vaccines and plans to have the network up and running in a few weeks.Despite the challenges in persuading many Roma to turn to health authorities for medical care and vaccinations, Roma leaders are urging the government to do more to intervene and tackle what Horvath describes as a humanitarian crisis.Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said vaccinations would be rolled out to Roma but that the community needed to volunteer for their shots.”Once we get to that point, the younger Roma should get in line,” Gulyas said in answer to Reuters questions. The Roma community is predominantly young, which means their vaccinations are scheduled later than for older Hungarians.The government’s chief epidemiologist did not respond to requests for comment.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 16 MB540p | 22 MB720p | 46 MB1080p | 89 MBOriginal | 102 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn northern Hungary, one of the European Union’s poorest regions, many Roma who live with hardship in the best of times are facing hunger as the coronavirus brings the economy to a halt.Decades of mistrustBarely 9% of Roma want to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a survey carried out at Hungary’s University of Pecs in January but published here for the first time. It was conducted by Zsuzsanna Kiss, a Roma biologist and professor at Hungary’s University of Pecs.Kiss said the Roma have mistrusted doctors and governments for decades because of perceived discrimination.However, gaining Roma trust is not the only challenge.Hungary’s 6,500 general practitioners are leading the vaccine rollout, but 10% of small GP clinics are shut because there is no doctor to operate them, mostly in areas with high Roma populations, government data shows.Although the government has deployed five “vaccination buses” that tour remote areas, people must first register for inoculations.”The rise in cases (among the Roma) is clearly proportionate to vaccine rejection,” said former Surgeon General Ferenc Falus.”This more infectious virus reaches a population whose immune system has weakened greatly during the winter months. If they go without vaccines for long, it will definitely show in extra infections and fatalities among the Roma.”Hungary currently has the world’s highest weekly per capita death toll, driven by the more contagious variant first detected in Britain, despite a rapid vaccination rollout, data from Johns Hopkins University and the European Union indicates.”We never trusted vaccines much,” said Zoltan Varga, a young Roma also from Nagykallo.
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Niger’s Government Says Military Coup Attempt Thwarted
Niger’s government says an attempted military coup was stopped Wednesday, two days before the new president is due to take office. An army unit in the West African country tried to seize the presidential palace in Niamey overnight in an attempted coup, says the government. According to three security sources, the assailants came from a nearby air base and fled after the presidential guard attacked them with heavy shelling and gunfire. “Several people have been arrested and others linked to the events are being actively sought,” said a statement from government spokesman Abdourahmane Zakaria. Zakaria added that “the government condemns this cowardly and retrogressive act that aims to endanger democracy and the rule of law to which our country is resolutely committed.” The U.S. Embassy in Niamey said on Twitter that it will be closed Wednesday “due to gunshots heard near our neighborhood.” President Mahamadou Issoufou, who completed two five-year terms, is stepping down this week in what is to be Niger’s first-ever peaceful transfer of power. President-elect Mohamed Bazoum, the ruling party candidate, will be sworn in Friday following an election victory disputed by his opponent, Mahamane Ousmane. The coup attempt follows a surge in attacks by Islamist extremists, including massacres in villages near Niger’s troubled border with Mali. An attack on March 21 killed an estimated 137 civilians.
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Botswana to Proceed with Elephant Hunts Despite Red List
Authorities in Botswana say the elephant hunting season will go ahead as planned, despite a world conservation body listing African elephants as endangered. Botswana’s government argues its elephant population – the world’s largest – is growing too fast and leading to human-wildlife conflict.The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this month listed Africa’s Savannah elephants as endangered and its forest elephants as critically endangered.But Botswana’s Director of Wildlife and National Paks, Kabelo Senyatso said the authorized elephant hunts will begin on April 6 as planned.Senyatso said his government uses IUCN’s red list as one of the tools to implement conservation programs.However, he said IUCN’s latest report notes Botswana’s elephant population is growing, not declining. The country has an estimated 130,000 elephants within its borders.Senyatso said Botswana lifted a hunting ban in 2019, mainly to generate sustainable income for communities, and not as a way to control the elephant population.The co-chairperson of the IUCN’s Elephant Specialist Group, Ben Okita-Ouma, said the red list is meant to guide authorities as to the status of various species.FILE – A combination photo shows dead elephants in Okavango Delta, Botswana, May-June, 2020.He said the organization’s report acknowledges there are some countries where elephant populations are thriving.”The entire African population has declined significantly. When it comes to specifics there are places that are probably doing ok than others. There are places that require much more intervention. Places like KAZA, we are seeing that population of savanna elephants are doing ok,” he said.KAZA is shorthand for Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, home to the world’s largest elephant populations.Conservationist Neil Fitt said the move to declare the two elephant species as under extreme threat is long overdue.The IUCN blames poaching and habitat fragmentation for the decline in populations.However, Fitt argues Botswana has a stable elephant population which means the country can continue with its elephant management programs.“The ones in Botswana and KAZA are still extremely stable if not increasing over the geographically area. I am not too sure how that will affect the hunting in Botswana and Namibia. Usually IUCN allows the countries to manage their own populations as long as they have scientific facts and if the population is increasing or stable,” he said.The IUCN’s African Elephant Specialist Group found that in the past 50 years, savanna elephants have declined by more than 60 percent, while forest elephants are down by an alarming 86 percent in just three decades.
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Russia Registers Vaccine to Protect Animals from COVID-19
Russia says it registered the world’s first vaccine for animals against the COVID-19 virus on Wednesday — with government officials hailing an inoculation labeled ‘Carnivac-Cov’ as a victory in the global race to protect both animals and humans from further mutations of the coronavirus.“The clinical trials of Carnivac-Cov, which started last October, involved dogs, cats, Arctic foxes, minks, foxes and other animals,” said Konstantin Savenkov, Deputy Head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s agricultural watchdog agency, in a statement announcing the vaccine.“The results allow us to conclude that the vaccine is harmless and provides high immunity, in such as the animals who were tested developed antibodies to the coronavirus in 100% of cases,” added Savenkov.Savenkov added that the shot currently provided immunity of up to 6 months — and could be in production in the coming weeks.The Russian announcement came just a day after the World Health Organization issued a report exploring the origins of COVID-19 in China. The WHO study offered no firm conclusions but suggested the most likely source lay in animals — specifically, a bat.The U.S. has expressed reservations about what some US officials believe are the Chinese government’s efforts to skew the report’s findings.Studies have repeatedly documented select cases of COVID-19 infecting both domesticated and captive animals around the globe — including common household pets such as cats and dogs, as well as farmed mink and several animals in zoos.Mutation fearsScientists have raised concerns that the virus could subsequently mutate to other host animals — and eventually circulate back to humans.Last November, Denmark ordered the mass extermination of 15 million mink after a mutated variation of COVID-19 was discovered on more than 200 farms in the region.Danish officials noted the measure was grim necessity after a dozen people were found have been infected by a mutated COVID-19 strain.Rosselkhoznadzor’s Savenkov said the new Russian vaccine was intended primarily to protect household pets and farmed captive animals important to the global economy — as well as the humans in contact with them.“People and animals we live together on one planet and both are in contact with a great number of infections,” said Tatiana Galkina, a lead researcher behind Carnivac-Cov in a promotional video released to Youtube.“Of course in the future, we’re not insured against new viral infections. Therefore science should keep advancing and be a step ahead,” added Galkina, while petting a purring cat.Another video released to social media shows officials administering the vaccine to a plump white mink at a Russian fur farm.В России зарегистрировали первую в мире вакцину для животных от коронавируса
Препарат получил название «Карнивак-Ков». Клинические испытания препарата провели на кошках, собаках, песцах, норках, и лисах. В Россельхознадзоре даже показали, как прививают на примере норок pic.twitter.com/igQQZ38tIZ
— ФедералПресс (@FederalPress) March 31, 2021While the inoculation will face further peer review, Carnivac-Cov appears the latest example of Russia’s flexing its scientific muscle in the global race against the coronavirus pandemic.Last August, President Vladimir Putin claimed his nation was first to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 for humans with its Sputnik V inoculation. The announcement faced heavy skepticism for claiming a Russian victory before standard third phase trials had even begun.Subsequent international reviews later showed the Russian vaccine with an efficacy rate of over 90%.
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Pakistan Partially Revives Trade Ties with India
Pakistan removed a nearly two-year old ban on the import of cotton and sugar from India Wednesday amid a gradual thawing of relations between the two nuclear-armed rival neighbors.
Finance Minister Hamad Azhar told reporters in Islamabad that his government has allowed importers to urgently procure cotton and 500,000 tons of white sugar from Indian suppliers to keep soaring domestic prices under control.
“Sugar prices are comparatively much lower in India, so we have decided to reopen sugar trade with India and have allowed the private sector to import 500,000 tons,” Azhar said after chairing a meeting of the decision-making federal Economic Coordination Committee.
“It will improve supplies here (in Pakistan) and overcome a temporary shortage in the country, and help lower soaring sugar prices,” he added.
Azhar defended the decision, saying “there is no harm in reopening trade” with India if it helps bring down prices for economically burdened Pakistanis. He said that “if the situation required” the government may also decide to lift ban on other imports from India.
Pakistan was a leading buyer of Indian cotton until August 2019, when Islamabad banned imports of goods from the neighboring country to protest New Delhi’s revocation of the semiautonomous status of Indian-administered Kashmir.
The Himalayan region is split between India and Pakistan. Both claim all of Kashmir and have fought two wars over it since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947.
“India desires normal relations, including on trade with all countries, including Pakistan,” Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s minister of state for commerce and industry, told the Indian parliament last week, in reply to a question on whether bilateral trade is likely to resume.
“Pakistan unilaterally suspended bilateral trade with India in August 2019. It is for Pakistan to review its unilateral measures on trade,” said Puri.
Wednesday’s decision by Pakistan to partially reopen bilateral trade came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan replied to his Indian counterpart’s letter, saying the people of Pakistan “desire peaceful, cooperative relations” with India.
“We are convinced that durable peace and stability in South Asia is contingent upon resolving all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, in particular the Jammu & Kashmir dispute,” Khan wrote.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his letter sent last week extended greetings to Pakistan on the occasion of the country’s national day.
“As a neighboring country, India desires cordial relations with the people of Pakistan. For this, an environment of trust, devoid of terror and hostility, is imperative,” Modi wrote.
The exchange of goodwill messages and resumption of limited trade come a month after Indian and Pakistani military commanders announced unexpectedly that they were immediately halting hostilities along their de facto Kashmir frontier to reinstate a 2002 cease-fire there.
The flurry of peace gestures, say analysts, visibly eased tensions and reduced rhetoric from both India and Pakistan.
“It looks as if an attempt at a calibrated thaw between India and Pakistan is underway,” said Amit Baruah, New Delhi resident editor at The Hindu newspaper.
“However, while I wish all success to the fresh attempts at building bridges between the two estranged neighbors, there are grave doubts about whether the (military) establishments in Pakistan and India actually want peace,” Baruah said.
It is widely perceived that whenever Pakistani and Indian political leadership have moved toward better relations in the past, military institutions on both sides allegedly scuttled such moves.
Pakistani military chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa earlier this month offered an olive branch to India by stressing the need to “bury the past and move forward.”
“But for resumption of peace process, or meaningful dialogue, our neighbor will have to create a conducive environment, particularly in Indian-occupied Kashmir,” Bajwa told an international conference of experts and academics in Islamabad. Anjana Pasricha contributed from New Delhi.
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South Africa to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine for 41 Million
The coronavirus vaccine is coming, with South Africa expecting to conclude negotiations in upcoming weeks to vaccinate 41 million people, and the next stage of vaccinations to begin in May, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced late Tuesday. In addition to 31 million doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, President Ramaphosa said the nation is finalizing an agreement for 20 million doses of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine. He did not say precisely when that vaccine would arrive. FILE – An ambulance is parked near tents erected at the parking lot of the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, amid a nationwide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown, in Pretoria, South Africa, Jan. 11, 2021.South Africa is the continent’s COVID-19 epicenter. In the last year, the nation has seen 1.5 million known cases, and more than 52,000 deaths. But the nation appears to be holding firm in the face of a possible third wave, with a “stable” level of about 1,200 new cases per day and declining hospitalizations and deaths. And, Ramaphosa said, more vaccine — from China and Russia — may also be on the way. “We are also in various stages of negotiations with the manufacturers of other vaccines such as Sinovac, Sinopharm and Sputnik V,” he said. “Some of these manufacturers are in the final stages of the approval process for use of their vaccines in South Africa. In addition to vaccine doses we will receive directly through our agreements with manufacturers, we will also receive an allocation of vaccine doses through the African Union initiative that we established when we held the chair[man]ship of the African Union.” The welcome news comes with a bit of a sting. This year’s Easter holiday, usually a season for gatherings and celebration in this majority-Christian nation, will be a little … drier this year. “Given the role of alcohol in fueling reckless behavior, we will put in place some restrictions over the Easter weekend,” he said, adding that bars and restaurants could continue to sell alcohol on those days. “To this end, the sale of alcohol for off-site consumption will be prohibited this coming Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Just those four days.” But, Ramaphosa soberly reminded his people, the religious holidays — for Christians, Jews and Muslims — are really a time for hope, rebirth and renewal. And in these difficult times, he added, caution.
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Italian Naval Officer, Russian Detained on Spying Charges
Italian authorities said Wednesday they have arrested an Italian Navy captain on spying charges after he was allegedly caught giving classified documents to a Russian embassy official in exchange for money. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador, Sergey Razov, after the sting operation late Tuesday caught the two in what police said was a “clandestine operation” to exchange the goods. Italy’s Carabinieri paramilitary police said in a statement that the Italian official, who is a frigate captain, had been arrested. The Russian, a member of the Russian armed forces stationed at Moscow’s embassy to Italy, has been detained but his status is “under consideration” given his diplomatic position, the statement said. Italy’s special operations forces in Rome staged the operation “during a clandestine operation between the two, surprising them red-handed immediately after the handing over of classified documents by the Italian official in exchange for a sum of money,” the statement said. The Carabinieri said both were accused of “serious crimes concerning espionage and state security.” The Russian Embassy in Rome confirmed the detention of a diplomat who was part of the military attache’s office but wouldn’t comment on the incident. “In any case, we hope that it wouldn’t affect bilateral ties,” it said in a statement.
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Germany Limits Use of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Because of Fears of Blood Clots
Germany has limited the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to people 60 years of age and older due to concerns that it may be causing blood clots. Federal and state health authorities cited nearly three-dozen cases of blood clots known as cerebral sinus vein thrombosis in its decision Tuesday, including nine deaths. The country’s medical regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, says all but two of the cases involved women between the ages of 20 and 63. The nationwide order was made after several local governments, including Berlin, Munich and the states of Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, had already decided to limit the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to older residents. Health authorities say younger people who belong to a high-risk category for serious illness from COVID-19 can still get the vaccine, while people 60 and younger who have received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot can still receive the second shot as planned. About 2.7 million Germans have been inoculated with the vaccine. The decision is likely to further slow down Germany’s already sluggish vaccination campaign, and marks another setback for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has had a troubled rollout across the world. Several European countries had briefly stopped use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because of similar reports of blood clots, until the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Union’s drug approval body, declared the vaccine as safe.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Health Minister Jens Spahn brief the media after a virtual meeting with federal state governors at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 30, 2021.Germany’s decision came a day after Canada said it would stop offering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to people under age 55 because of concerns of serious blood clots, especially among younger women. Also on Tuesday, the United States and 13 other nations issued a statement raising “shared concerns” about the newly released World Health Organization report on the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19. The statement, released on the U.S. State Department website, as well as the other signatories, said it was essential to express concerns that the international expert study on the source of the virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples. The WHO formally released its report earlier Tuesday, saying while the report presents a comprehensive review of available data, “we have not yet found the source of the virus.” The team reported difficulties in accessing raw data, among other issues, during its visit to the city of Wuhan, China earlier this year. The researchers also had been forced to wait days before receiving final permission by the Chinese government to enter Wuhan. The joint statement by the United States and others went on to say, “scientific missions like these should be able to do their work under conditions that produce independent and objective recommendations and findings.” The nations expressed their concerns in the hope of laying “a pathway to a timely, transparent, evidence-based process for the next phase of this study as well as for the next health crisis.” Along with the United States, the statement was signed by the governments of Australia, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Republic of Korea, and Slovenia. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday further study and more data are needed to confirm if the virus was spread to humans through the food chain or through wild or farmed animals. Tedros said that while the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, the matter requires further investigation. WHO team leader Peter Ben Embarek told reporters Tuesday that it is “perfectly possible” COVID-19 cases were circulating as far back as November or October 2019 around Wuhan, earlier than has been documented regarding the spread of the virus.
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Brazil Military Chiefs Quit as Bolsonaro Seeks their Support
The leaders of all three branches of Brazil’s armed forces jointly resigned Tuesday following President Jair Bolsonaro’s replacement of the defense minister, causing widespread apprehension of a military shakeup to serve the president’s political interests. The Defense Ministry reported the resignations – apparently unprecedented since at least the end of military rule 36 years ago – in a statement released without giving reasons. Replacements were not named. But analysts expressed fears the president, increasingly under pressure, was moving to assert greater control over the military. “Since 1985, we haven’t had news of such clear intervention of the president with regard to the armed forces,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. Bolsonaro, a conservative former army captain who has often praised Brazil’s former period of military dictatorship, has relied heavily on current and former soldiers to staff key Cabinet positions since taking office in January 2019, but Melo said the military itself has so far refrained from politics. “Will this resistance continue? That’s the question,” Melo said. The announcement came after the heads of the army, navy and air force met with the new defense minister, Gen. Walter Souza Braga Netto, on Tuesday morning. Braga Netto’s first statement on the new job showed he is aligned with Bolsonaro’s views for the armed forces. The incoming defense minister, unlike his predecessor, celebrated the 1964-1985 military dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands of Brazilians. “The armed forces ended up assuming the responsibility for pacifying the country, facing the challenges to reorganize it and secure the democratic liberties that today we enjoy,” said Braga Netto, who did not discuss the departure of the military chiefs.”The 1964 movement is part of Brazil’s historic trajectory. And as such the events of that March 31st must be understood and celebrated.” A retired army general who has a relationship with the three commanders as well as with Braga Netto told The Associated Press that “there was an embarrassing circumstance so they all resigned.” He agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, expressing fear of retribution.Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the media at the Alvorada Palace, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Brasilia, Brazil, March 10, 2021.Bolsonaro on Monday carried out a shake-up of top Cabinet positions that was initially seen as a response to demands for a course correction by lawmakers, diplomats and economists, particularly over his handling of the pandemic that has caused more than 300,000 deaths in Brazil. That included the replacement of Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva, who said in his resignation letter that he had preserved the armed forces as state institutions,'' a nod at his effort to keep generals out of politics. Bolsonaro has often bristled at the checks and balances imposed by other branches of government and has attended protests targeting the Supreme Court and Congress. He has also criticized the Supreme Court for upholding local governments' rights to adopt pandemic restrictions that he adamantly opposes, arguing that the economic effects are worse than the disease itself. His recent slide in popularity, and the sudden likelihood that he will face leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the 2022 presidential election, has analysts saying he is looking to the armed forces for support. Retired Gen. Carlos Alberto Santos Cruz, who previously served as Bolsonaro's government secretary, appeared to refer to such concerns when he responded to early rumors of military resignations with a tweet saying,THE ARMED FORCES WON’T GO ON AN ADVENTURE.” Since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, the armed forces have tried to keep a distance from partisan political quarrels. “The government has to give explanations to the population about the change in the Defense Ministry,” Santos Cruz added. Sen. Katia Abreu, who heads the Senate’s foreign relations commission, said it would be “prudent” that the new defense minister speak to calm the nation down about the impossibility of a military intervention. “I have a conviction that we built a strong democracy. The armed forces are part of the Brazilian state and they have the confidence of all of us,” said Abreu, a right-leaning Bolsonaro critic. Earlier this month, Bolsonaro began mentioning the armed forces in connection with his dispute with state governors and mayors over restrictive measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Latin America’s largest nation. “My army doesn’t go to the street to force people to stay at home,” Bolsonaro told reporters March 19. Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst, told AP that it was the first time in living memory that all leaders of the armed forces had quit simultaneously. “He wants people who will do whatever he wants, and so it is extremely risky,” Traumann said. “He can put the army out to allow people to go to work. So the army would be in his hands, and not in the hands of the generals.” Speaking to supporters outside the presidential palace Tuesday night, Bolsonaro did not discuss the three commanders. When asked about the pandemic restrictions imposed by governors and mayors, the president said he respects the constitution, though he added: “But it has been some time that some authorities are not playing within the limits of the constitution.” Bolsonaro saw his popularity rise last year, thanks to a generous pandemic welfare aid program. That popularity has dropped since the program ended in December, and there have been renewed protests against him as the nation’s daily death toll surged to the highest in the world. Further clouding the outlook for Bolsonaro is the reemergence of da Silva after a Supreme Court justice annulled two corruption convictions and restored his political rights. Early polls indicate he would be a formidable challenger in next year’s election. In other Cabinet changes, Bolsonaro replaced Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, who was accused by some of impeding the supply of vaccines by making comments seen as insulting to the Chinese and by not aggressively seeking sources. Earlier this month, Bolsonaro also replaced his health minister, active-duty army Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, the third health minister to leave office since the beginning of the pandemic. Pazuello’s tenure coincided with most of Brazil’s 317,000 COVID-19 deaths. On Tuesday, Brazil’s health ministry said a new daily high of 3,780 deaths related to COVID-19 had been registered in the previous 24 hours. The previous high of 3,650 deaths was recorded Friday.
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Afghan President Offers Three-Step Peace Plan
Addressing a conference on Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani described a three-step process for “making, building and sustaining peace” that he said should result in a “sovereign, democratic, united, neutral and connected Afghanistan.”The two-day Heart of Asia conference in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, is one of a host of regional conferences that have been taking place to try to jump start a stalled Afghan peace process.The two sides to this decades-long conflict started negotiating in September of last year in Qatar’s capital, Doha, but have yet to make progress.The first phase of Ghani’s plan would involve coming to a negotiated political settlement with the Taliban that was endorsed by a Loya Jirga, or a traditional grand assembly of influential Afghans.It would also include a cease-fire as well as reaching consensus on the principles of forming a “government of peace-building within the framework of the constitution with a time-bound mandate culminating in an internationally supervised and monitored presidential election,” he told the gathering.This phase, Ghani said, should end in elections under international supervision and pave the way for the phase of sustaining peace through “national reconciliation, reintegration of combatants and refugees, defining our new security, development and governance priorities.”While the proposal of forming a transitional government is in line with one proposed by the United States, it differs in its emphasis of sticking to the framework of the current constitution, which the Afghan Taliban reject.It also differs on its emphasis on making elections the basis of transferring power. The U.S. proposal envisions a transitional “peace government” that was appointed “according to the principle of equity between the two Parties to this Agreement, with special consideration for the meaningful inclusion of women and members of all ethnic groups throughout government institutions.”Ghani is expected to take this plan to a conference in Turkey, expected in the next few weeks, that is being watched carefully as part of a U.S. push to boost regional diplomacy.”So, we’ve put some energy into the diplomatic effort in sharing some ideas with the Afghan government, with the Taliban, in bringing them together, including a conference that will take place in the weeks ahead in Turkey. Having the U.N. play a more prominent role in bringing people together and also, getting all the neighbours and other countries who have both an interest and an influence in Afghanistan to actually engage,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN in a recent interview.The push comes ahead of a deadline the U.S. is unlikely to meet to withdraw all foreign forces from Afghanistan. The May 1 deadline is part of a deal the U.S. negotiated with the Taliban and the militant group has threatened bloody consequences if the deal is violated.Experts fear if the foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan without a political settlement, the country could descend into a bloody civil war as it did once before in the 1990s after the Soviets left.Addressing the conference, the president of the host country, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, spoke to the gathering about the civil war in Tajikistan after the collapse of the Soviet Union that lasted five years and killed almost 160,000 people.The first meeting between the warring factions, the government officials and the rebels, was held in Kabul in the 1990s through the mediation efforts of former president of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani.The end of any war, Rahmon said, was reconciliation, and his country supported the intra-Afghan negotiations to reach a political settlement.Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, emphasized the need for a responsible withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and warned of the need to be vigilant against Islamic State in the region.Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi underscored the importance of making the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha the foundation of Afghanistan’s peace process, according to a press release issued by Pakistan’s foreign ministry.The Pakistani foreign minister also emphasized that a political settlement in Afghanistan needed to be inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive in order to be successful.Foreign ministers of 13 countries, besides Afghanistan and Tajikistan, attended the conference. The Heart of Asia process was launched in 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey, to help find a solution to the challenges facing Afghanistan. Fifteen countries participate in the process, while another 17 countries and 12 regional and international organizations support it.
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Honduran President’s Brother Gets Life in US Jail for Drug Trafficking
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s brother was sentenced to life in prison by a New York judge Tuesday for large-scale drug trafficking after a trial that implicated the leader of the Central American country. Tony Hernandez, 42, was found guilty in October 2019 on four counts, including conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, possessing machine guns and making false statements. Judge P. Kevin Castel said a life sentence for the former Honduran congressman who trafficked more than 185 tons of cocaine into the United States, some branded with his initials “TH,” was “richly deserved.” Prosecutors had demanded life, stressing that Hernandez had “shown no remorse” and was “a central figure in one of the largest and most violent cocaine trafficking conspiracies in the world.” FILE – Tony Hernandez, brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, arrives for a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, March 16, 2017.His defense team had called for the mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years. Hernandez, who served as a member of the Honduran Congress from 2014 to 2018, was arrested at a Miami airport in November 2018. During the trial, U.S. prosecutors said President Hernandez had been a “co-conspirator” in his brother’s crimes, although he has not been formally charged by the U.S. judicial system. Government attorneys said the president took millions of dollars in bribes from drug lords, including jailed Mexican kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. President Hernandez has repeatedly denied all allegations of drug trafficking. In a tweet ahead of the sentencing, the president said the news from New York would “be painful” and repeated an allegation that the main witness in the trial had lied. FILE – Honduras’ President Juan Orlando Hernandez arrives for a swearing-in ceremony in Guatemala City, Jan. 14, 2020.Hernandez, a lawyer who came to power in January 2014 and is in his second term, has styled himself as a champion in the fight against drugs. During his brother’s trial, the U.S. government successfully argued that Tony Hernandez was a large-scale drug trafficker who worked from 2004 to 2016 with others in Colombia, Honduras and Mexico to import cocaine into the U.S. by plane, boat and submarine. Hernandez made millions of dollars from the trafficking and used the proceeds to influence three presidential elections, according to U.S. attorneys. The prosecution also said Hernandez was involved in at least two murders of rival drug traffickers in 2011 and 2013. Defense lawyers unsuccessfully questioned the credibility of witnesses, many of them former drug traffickers, some of whom had been convicted of murder. U.S. prosecutors have aggressively pursued current or former Honduran public officials and their relatives over drug trafficking allegations. Earlier this month, a New York jury found Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, an alleged associate of President Hernandez, guilty of drug trafficking. During his trial, U.S. prosecutors said the Honduran leader had helped Fuentes smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States, an allegation the president described as “obvious lies.” Guzman, the former co-leader of Mexico’s feared Sinaloa drug cartel, was convicted in New York in February 2019 of smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana into the United States.
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