Tag Archives: caribbean

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Protests Against Germany’s Covid Restrictions Turn Violent, US Infection Record, US CDC Under Fire, World Stats, More

By Joshua Berlinger and Stephanie Halasz, CNN

Demonstrators march through the city center of the capital of Saxony-Anhalt with a banner that reads "youth against compulsory vaccination" on Monday.

Demonstrators march through the city center of the capital of Saxony-Anhalt with a banner that reads “youth against compulsory vaccination” on Monday.

 

Paris (CNN) Protesters tossed bottles and fireworks at police in eastern Germany on Monday night in some of the most violent demonstrations against public health measures in Europe since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Hundreds of people gathered in various cities and towns on Sunday and Monday to voice their opposition to stricter social distancing rules that went into effect Tuesday across Germany. Gatherings are now limited to 10 people for those vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19, while households with unvaccinated people must not meet with more than two other people from one other household at a time.

Some 500 people marched to the city center in the city of Bautzen, in Saxony, late into the night Monday in violation of public health regulations, some of them carrying anti-vaccination signs. Twelve police officers were injured and twelve emergency vehicles were damaged as protesters clashed with police.

Scuffles broke out in several parts of the state, Saxony police said, while television footage showed demonstrators throwing objects and shouting insults at officers.

Twenty-three people were criminally charged and another 183 were hit with less-serious administrative violations, police said.

Protesters scuffle with police officers during a demonstration in Bautzen on Monday.

Protesters scuffle with police officers during a demonstration in Bautzen on Monday.

The protests in Germany come as Europe prepares for a surge in new coronavirus cases heading into the New Year holiday. While there remain pockets of communities opposed to Covid-19 vaccines and social distancing measures throughout the continent, anti-vaxxers have become increasingly violent in eastern Germany, which has been the scene of many protests and where the uptake of vaccines is lower than the national average in most states.

Similar scenes of violence played out on Sunday in various places, including the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt, where hundreds of protesters also violated public health regulations to gather. Eight police were injured after being punched and kicked there, authorities said.

A 27-year-old woman was criminally charged after she was accused of trying to break police cordon in the town with her 4-year-old child in tow, both of whom were pepper sprayed, authorities say.

Politicians and media outlets have reportedly received packages containing raw meat and threats from alleged anti-vaxxers, and, earlier this month, authorities uncovered a purported plot to assassinate Saxony Governor Michael Kretschmer. Kretschmer has been pushing for people in his state to get vaccinated and receive booster shots. Six people were arrested and questioned in relation to the allegations but later released.

Germany’s vaccination rate lags behind its neighbors in Western Europe, with 70.9% of the population having received both of their doses. Saxony’s vaccination rate, at 63%, is the lowest of any German state. German health authorities have said that more people need to be vaccinated to protect the country from a new wave of cases driven by the increase of the Omicron variant across Europe during the holiday season.

Germany earlier this month put in place a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people, banning them from accessing all but the most essential businesses. New Chancellor Olaf Scholz supports mandatory vaccinations and wants a law drafted that could be voted on by the parliament in late February. Parliament is due to meet in early January to begin discussions.

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US Daily Infection Record

The US is currently averaging more than 265,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, surpassing the country’s January previous peak.

Monday set a single-day record of just over 512,000 thousand reported cases. Experts say the surge is due to the spread of the omicron variant, increased testing, and a reporting backlog from the holiday weekend.

 

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EU: Omicron derails holiday plans, strains hospitals 

 

Governments across Europe have in recent days enacted new measures to limit public gatherings, fearing that Omicron could overwhelm hospitals given how fast it’s spreading, especially among the unvaccinated.

Germany’s Constitutional Court also ruled that legislators need to set triage rules if intensive care units fill up with coronavirus patients. The German Intensive Care and Emergency has said that only one sixth of all ICU beds in the country are available.

After reporting a record-breaking 104,611 Covid-19 infections on Christmas Day, France enacted a series of restrictions Monday limiting where people can eat, mandating more work from home options when possible, and curtailing the size of public gatherings.

However, the government stopped short of putting in place curfews or lockdowns and will let local leaders to decide whether they need to implement outdoor mask mandates.

  • Italy will close all nightclubs and bars in January, while Portugal closed schools, bars and clubs until January 10.
  • Spanish authorities have reinstated a nationwide outdoor mask mandate and six northern regional governments have agreed to coordinate early closing hours for restaurants, bars and nightclubs — a move affects 14 million people, about 29% of Spain’s population.

Madrid, however, will be one of Europe’s few major cities to ring in the New Year with a large celebration. Barcelona and Valencia have canceled their fireworks displays in a bid to get people to stay at home. Berlin, London, Paris, Rome and Venice have also axed their traditional festivities.

CNN’s Barbie Nadeau, Al Goodman and Vasco Cotovio contributed reporting

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CDC slammed for new COVID-19 guidance

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is under fire from health experts and employee groups who say the new COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidance has too many holes.

The isolation guidelines announced late Monday apply to everyone, regardless of vaccination status. Some health experts said they worry people will leave isolation while still contagious, and raised questions about the CDC’s decision making.

Critics also argue the guidelines ignore the benefits of rapid antigen testing by not requiring them, and rely on a one-size-fits-all approach that makes assumptions about the fast-spreading omicron variant that may not be true.

What changed: In the early days of the pandemic, CDC recommended a 14-day isolation period for anyone infected with the virus. That eventually changed to 10 days, regardless of a person’s vaccination status and whether or not they were symptomatic.

On Monday evening, federal officials cut in half the recommended time needed to isolate after a COVID-19 infection for those not showing symptoms. The CDC also made changes to guidelines on quarantining after exposure to someone who has been infected.

No testing: The lack of a requirement for a negative test after five days frustrated some experts, who said it was based on data that predated the omicron variant.

Some experts have speculated that CDC didn’t include a testing requirement because of the current shortage of rapid tests. In many places, at-home tests are difficult or impossible to find, and even if they are available, the prices are high.

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CDC SIGNIFICANTLY CUTS ESTIMATE OF OMICRON’S PREVALENCE IN US

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday significantly revised downward the estimate of the percentage of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. caused by the omicron variant of the virus.

According to agency data, omicron accounted for about 59 percent of all U.S. infections as of Dec. 25. Previously, the CDC said the omicron variant comprised 73 percent of all cases for the week ending Dec. 18. But that number has now been revised to 22.5 percent of all cases.

The new estimates mean that while a majority of new infections are attributed to the omicron variant, the delta variant has not been sidelined, and still accounts for about 41 percent of infections.

The first known case of the omicron variant in the United States was identified Dec. 1.

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Vaccine mandate for domestic travel possible

 

© Hill Illustration/Madeline Monroe/AP/Nam Y Huh/Carolyn Kaster

President Biden said Tuesday he would impose a mandate that Americans be vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel domestically if his medical team recommends it.

When asked when he would make a decision on domestic travel vaccine requirements while out for a walk in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Biden told reporters, “when I get a recommendation from the medical team.”

Many public experts have long called for such a requirement, and the idea of mandating coronavirus vaccines for domestic travel has been bouncing around the administration for months. The emergence of the omicron variant caused the White House to revisit questions over whether to impose one.

Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Monday cleaned up his previous remarks on a mandate after he said on Sunday that “anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome.”

“Everything that comes up as a possibility, we put it on the able and we consider it, that does not mean that it is likely to happen,” Fauci told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Monday.

If there was any uncertainty to his meaning: “I doubt if we’re going to see something like that in the reasonably foreseeable future,” he added.

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Biden rescinds African travel restrictions 

 

© Getty Images

President Biden on Tuesday formally revoked the travel restrictions his administration imposed on eight countries in southern Africa over the spread of the omicron variant, saying the measures were no longer necessary.

“Since I issued that proclamation, our Nation’s health officials, in collaboration with the South African scientists who originally reported the variant, have made substantial progress in understanding the Omicron variant,” Biden said in a proclamation rescinding the travel restrictions.

“Importantly, scientific experts have determined that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are protected against severe disease and hospitalization from the Omicron variant,” Biden continued. “Moreover, the Omicron variant has now spread to more than 100 countries, and it is prevalent in the United States.”

Biden administration officials defended the restrictions, arguing they allowed more time to prepare for the spread of the omicron variant before it reached the U.S. But it quickly became clear after analyses of early cases that the variant had been spreading domestically even before the restrictions were put into place.

The decision to impose restrictions sparked immediate backlash from the international community and public health experts, who say it was ineffective and punitive against African countries, especially as Western countries have failed to deliver needed vaccine supplies and logistics to the continent.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

283,298,395

Deaths:

5,433,530

Recovered:

251,989,808
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

[back to top ↑]

Latest News

December 29 (GMT)

Updates

  • 104 new cases and 2 new deaths in Oman [source]
  • 15,571 new cases and 794 new deaths in Poland [source]
  • 21,119 new cases and 932 new deaths in Russia [source]
  • 18,149 new cases and 8 new

The post Protests Against Germany’s Covid Restrictions Turn Violent, US Infection Record, US CDC Under Fire, World Stats, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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“Nothing Like a Nevisian Holiday” to Return in December 2022

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS  — The Nevis Tourism Authority (NTA) has announced its intentions to host its “Nothing Like a Nevisian Holiday” event again in December 2022. The announcement came on the heels of the inaugural event which was held at The Hermitage Inn on December 18, 2021.

Ms. Jadine Yarde, Chief Executive Officer at the NTA said the worldwide support shown for the event was gratifying.

“The holiday season is such a special time for everyone to get together and celebrate life, and we wanted to gift Nevisians and travellers with the opportunity to celebrate together, safely, this year. This is when the event ‘Nothing Like a Nevisian Holiday’ was born.

“We were elated to see the amount of support we received from people of all backgrounds and cultures from across the globe, and we look forward to an even better celebration in 2022,” she said.

The NTA noted that there were more than 2,000 online viewers via Facebook Livestream from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, in addition to those who attended in person.

Locals and travellers gathered to celebrate the return of the holiday season Nevisian-style, after two tumultuous years of canceled holiday activities. The festive event featured traditional delights from local vendors, electrifying musical performances, and storytelling sessions.

The “Nothing Like a Nevisian Holiday” Christmas event shared a piece of Nevisian culture with the world through special performances by the Honey Bees String Band, the Coelis Choir, and other local performers, as well as participation from local vendors, and storytelling sessions that highlighted Nevis’ rich holiday culture.

Special appearances included moko jumbies, also known as stilts walkers, and the cakewalk dancers – a traditional dance with its roots in the mid-19th century.

The NTA described “Nothing Like a Nevisian Holiday” as the cherry on top of a successful year for Nevis, having been recognized internationally by National Geographic, The Telegraph, Travel + Leisure, and Conde Nast Traveler as a hidden gem nestled in the Caribbean.

In addition, the Nevisian Tourism Authority recently lifted the quarantine requirement for fully-vaccinated international travellers who show proof of a negative RT-PCR test, increasing the desire for travellers to escape to the island.

For more information on Nevis, visit https://nevisisland.com/ or follow @NevisNaturally on Facebook and YouTube.

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Gunman Kills Four in Denver-Area Shooting Spree Before Killed by Police

By

DENVER, Dec 27 (Reuters) – A lone gunman shot four people to death and wounded three, including a police officer, on Monday in a Denver-area shooting spree that unfolded at several locations and ended with police killing the suspect, authorities said.

Investigators have yet to determine a motive for the rampage, which began around 5 p.m. when the gunman shot and killed two women and wounded a man near downtown Denver, Police Chief Paul Pazen said a news briefing.

The suspect then fled in a car and fatally shot a man in east Denver’s Cheesman Park neighborhood, before opening fire again in a west Denver community where no one was hit, Pazen said. According to Pazen, the suspect twice exchanged gunfire from his vehicle with Denver officers pursuing him, disabling a police cruiser.

From there, the gunman drove into the neighboring city of Lakewood, where he shot and killed a fourth person inside an unspecified business, according to Lakewood Police spokesman John Romero.

Officers gather in the street, in Lakewood, Colorado, U.S., December 27, 2021 in this still image taken from a social media video. Hawk Hawkins/via REUTERS
Armed officers stand outside a building in Lakewood, Colorado, U.S., December 27, 2021 in this still image taken from a social media video. Hawk Hawkins/via REUTERS

The gunman fled from Lakewood police when they attempted to pull him over and engaged in a running gun battle with officers before fleeing on foot and entering a hotel, where he shot and wounded a clerk, Romero said.

He then shot at police officers again, wounding one of them, before police shot him dead, Romero told reporters. Authorities did not publicly identify the suspect, and said circumstances leading to the shooting remained under investigation.

The conditions of the wounded officer and civilians were not immediately known, Romero said.

Anne Wilson, a shopper who was inside a cellular phone store in Lakewood when gunfire erupted nearby, told a Denver-based NBC-affiliate TV station she heard “seven or eight gunshots, and then like another set of maybe five more.”

Wilson said she and other customers were quickly ushered by store employees into a back room behind security gates until the danger had passed. “It is scary, scary times we live in,” she said.

Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Writing by Steve Gorman Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Robert Birsel

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Protest, Pandemic, Haitian Tailspin: a Look at 2021 in Latin America & Caribbean from NPR

WLRN  NPR

2021 Review: Protest, pandemic, Haitian tailspin

The good news in Latin America and the Caribbean: much of the region turned vaccination tragedy into triumph. The bad news? Just about everything else.

Few parts of the world have suffered as badly from the COVID-19 pandemic — from death rates to unemployment rates — as Latin America and the Caribbean have.

In 2021 that also put heavy political strain on the region, especially in countries with strong ties to South Florida such as Colombia, Cuba, Haiti.

WLRN Americas Editor Tim Padgett looked back at the year in Latin America and the Caribbean with Florida International University’s Eduardo Gamarra, an expert on the region and its politics.

Here are excerpts from their conversation, edited for clarity.

WLRN: Happy New Year, Eduardo.

GAMARRA: Happy New Year, Tim.

So we both chose our top three stories of the year in Latin America and the Caribbean. Your number three pick is the region’s worsening migrant and refugee crisis — something we sadly got a reminder of earlier this month when more than 50, mostly Central American, migrants were killed in a truck crash in Mexico while making their way north.

READ MORE: Latin America and the Caribbean 2020: From COVID-19 Devastation to Cuban Artist Defiance.

I think it’s important to appreciate the magnitude of this crisis right now. For example, anywhere between six and eight million Venezuelans have left Venezuela as a result of the collapse of the country’s economy and democracy. And they have essentially affected domestic politics wherever they have gone.

In Colombia, it has generated significant backlash; in Peru and Ecuador; in Chile, a significant rise in xenophobia — as candidates [have] campaigned on the basis of sending these migrants back.

MigrantCrashDeathsMexico.jpeg

AP Rescue workers place the corpses of more than 50 mostly Central American migrants killed when the truck they were crowded into crashed in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, earlier this month as they made their way to the U.S. border.

And of course you can say the same thing about the migrant crisis in Central America — which is now a global phenomenon, like the Haitians that are coming up through the Central American caravan, or African and Middle Eastern refugees. The impact politically has of course been felt here in the United States. And this is all likely to get worse.

HaitiansBorderPatrolDelRio.jpeg

Felix Marquez/AP
Horse-mounted U.S. Border Patrol agents drive back asylum-seeking Haitian migrants on the bank of the Rio Grande at Del Rio, Texas, last summer.

My number three pick is somewhat happier: Much of Latin America turned the region’s COVID vaccination tragedy into triumph. Last March, Brazil had administered only three vaccine doses per 100 people, compared to 18 per 100 people in the U.S. But at the start of this month, Brazil had two-thirds of its population fully vaccinated; so did hard hit Ecuador. In Chile, 84 percent; Cuba 82 percent.

EcuadorVaccination2021.jpeg

UNHCR A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccination shot in Guayaquil, Ecuador in June.

The shame is that in many countries, health care officials had to overcome the vaccine obstruction of leaders like right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro or left-wing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — and also, Eduardo, the fact that the U.S. and other developed countries didn’t donate more doses to Latin America sooner?

I think you’re right, and it’s something that several Latin American countries have pointed out. But then again, there hasn’t been a tradition of doing this kind of grand-scale donation of vaccines, and so I think the Biden administration has been playing catch-up.

Your number two story was also COVID- related, and that’s the deep economic hole the pandemic dug for most countries.

GachancipaColombiaProtests.jpeg

Ivan Valencia/AP
Colombian protesters, angry about a government tax hike plan during a pandemic that choked their economy and livelihoods, and police clash in Gachancipa in May.

The region as a whole was utterly unprepared for such a pandemic. Latin America was already facing an economic downturn with the slowdown of their export markets. More importantly, this is a part of the world with a very high number of people in the informal economy [who can’t afford to go on economic lockdown]. And you have to understand that, relative to the U.S., the ability of all but a few of these countries to provide economic stimulus to keep people out of poverty [during a pandemic] or out of absolute hunger is not very high.

So trying to enforce shutdowns made things even worse — and the economic impact, of course, ended up being drops in GDP on average of about eight percent.

My number two pick is Cuba. We saw street protests elsewhere in the region, especially in Colombia. But the anti-government demonstrations that erupted all over Cuba in July — fueled by anger over shortages of just about everything, especially human rights, not to mention a protest anthem, “Patria y Vida,” that won the Latin Grammy for song of the year — were unprecedented.

PatriayVida.jpeg

YouTube
Cuba rapper Yotuel Romero (center) and other Cuban singers in the music video of Patria y Vida

Still, we also saw the communist regime’s predictable, iron-fisted crackdown. So will the unrest lead to any real change to the island’s ramshackle economy or its political repression?

I don’t think so, largely because the international community today lacks any kind of capacity to force regimes [like Cuba’s] to change their behavior, especially on the human rights side, let alone bring about the end of those regimes.

The trend toward authoritarian rule in the region became even more serious in 2021 — and it’s not a left or right issue any longer, a case in point being Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

Eduardo Gamarra

This is a good segue way to your number one story of the year in Latin America and the Caribbean: how threatened democracy became in the region again. How serious is the new trend toward authoritarian government?

I think it’s very serious. Of course, we have the left-wing regimes in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua. But this is not a left or right issue any longer — a case in point being President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador [where a Congress he controls summarily removed Supreme Court justices this year who oppose his agenda, including presidential re-election].

He showcases that trend toward the concentration of power in the executive, especially control over the judiciary and how justice is doled out in the region. We’ve got a similar situation in Brazil with President Bolsonaro.

NayibBukele0521.jpeg

Salvador Melendez/AP
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele (center, wearing sash) at the Congress in San Salvador in June.

The U.S., especially with its recent democracy summit, is trying to say, “Look, we have to counter this authoritarian trend,” but it’s a very big task.

Just consider the fact that in Bukele’s case, most Salvadorans appear to be satisfied with what he’s doing. Or look at the sham [November] re-election of [authoritarian President] Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua – which got extraordinary support from other countries in the region like Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia and a conspicuous lack of condemnation from countries like Argentina.

My number one story is Haiti: the still unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July; a major earthquake in August; economic implosion — and the takeover of much of the country by violent, ransom-kidnapping street gangs. In fact, many Haitians right now consider gang alliance leader — and former cop — Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier the most powerful man in the country.

FREE FALL

Failed state doesn’t seem a strong enough term to describe what’s happened to Haiti. What, if anything, can the U.S. and international community do at this point to stop the country’s free fall? And should the Biden administration as a result be deporting Haitians back to the country under these circumstances?

No, it makes no sense deporting Haitians to a country in that state. There really is no government there right now. There is a lot the U.S. and the international community should do, but aren’t doing. They first have to solve the public security collapse in Haiti before new elections can be held. But so far there’s been no real call for action. And unless there is a call for action, 2022 could result in something even worse.

Then let’s hope for a better 2022.

Tim Padgett
Tim Padgett is the Americas editor for Miami NPR affiliate WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida.

The post Protest, Pandemic, Haitian Tailspin: a Look at 2021 in Latin America & Caribbean from NPR appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Omicron Variant Suspected In USVI’s COVID-19 Surge

by Dillon De Shong

Loop- VOfficials on the US Virgin Islands are confident that the recent spike in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the territory is due to the omicron variant.

During today’s press briefing, Governor Albert Bryan stated: “The evidence is clear that it is here amongst us whether it is verified or not.”

“We have seen an exponential increase in a matter of days and this is the highest number of active cases we have seen in our almost two-year response to this virus.”

Commissioner of Health Justa Encarnacion said 84 samples were sent to Yale University for genetic testing and they were positive for the delta variant.

Another batch of over 80 samples has been sent to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the results are expected back tomorrow.

Encarnacion said the rise in cases in the USVI is mimicking what is taking place across the US mainland and that is what has led authorities to believe omicron is on island.

Active infections of COVID-19 in the USVI jumped to 544 on Sunday when the weekly epidemiological report was released.

The seven-day positivity rate increased to 11.6 per cent.

This is up from just over 72 in the previous week.

Since March 2020, the US Virgin Islands has recorded 8,213 infections.

The governor said Virgin Islanders are not to blame for the recent spread of COVID-19 across the territory since he has observed that the restrictions were being followed by most people.

Bryan and a number of US Governors held a phone conference with President Joe Biden and Dr Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States, to discuss the rapid rise in new infections across the nation.

He urged persons who feel ill to “stay home for the holidays” to avoid spreading COVID-19.

The government’s work from home program will be initiated from tomorrow until January 3. Bryan called on the private sector to do the same.

Bars, restaurants and clubs must shut at midnight and last call will be 11 pm.

This program will stay in place until January 10 but the governor noted it will be reassessed.

An exception has been made for New Year’s Eve and places of entertainment will be allowed to operate until 2 am with last call at 1 am.

Churches and places of worship will not be placed under restrictions but Bryan urged caution.

From January 3, all travellers will have to submit a negative test prior to travelling to the US Virgin Islands.

The test must be taken 72 hours before arrival.

Bryan expects this test requirement to last for 30 days.

“We know omicron is going to tear through here [and] there’s nothing we can do about that but we can slow it down,” Bryan said while noting the surge is expected to last for about a month.

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WORLD VIEW: Worldwide Vaccination Drive, CDC Lowers Isolation Length, Air Travel Disruption, More

Dec 28, 2021

Alternate text

Good morning. Here is today’s selection of top stories from The Associated Press at this hour to begin the U.S. day.

The Associated Press

The Rundown

I'm an image

In Germany, Lutheran pastors are offering COVID-19 shots inside churches. In Israel’s science-skeptical ultra-Orthodox community, trusted rabbis are trying to change minds. And in South Africa, undertakers are taking to the streets to spread the…Read More

I'm an image

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. …Read More

I'm an image

One Christmas Day in the 1980s, Desmond Tutu led a packed church service in Soweto, the Black Johannesburg township and fulcrum of protest against white racist rule in South Africa. An American family — mine — found standing room at the back. …Read More

I'm an image

NEW YORK (AP) — Flight cancellations that disrupted holiday travel, stretched into Monday as airlines called off more than 1,000 U.S. flights because crews were sick with COVID-19 during one of the year’s busiest travel periods, and storm fronts…Read More

I'm an image

“Some say the world will end in fire,” wrote the poet Robert Frost — and for much of 2021, Associated Press photographers captured scenes of a world ablaze, amid rumblings of ruin. In New Delhi, a man sprints amid the funeral pyres of COVID-19 …Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

LONDON (AP) — English sparkling wine has been gaining prestige in recent years, with some experts comparing it to Champagne in taste and quality. Globally, the sector is st…Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel, signaling a pote…Read More

BEIJING (AP) — To help make China a self-reliant “technology superpower,” the ruling Communist Party is pushing the world’s biggest e-commerce company to take on the tricky…Read More

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares advanced Tuesday following a rally on Wall Street as investors shrugged off concerns about the highly transmissible omicron variant of the corona…Read More

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Venezuelan & Dominican Arrested in Aruban Drug Bust

Police in Aruba have two men in custody after they allegedly tried to bring drugs into the island on Christmas Day.

The Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard reported that it spotted the boat heading to Aruba and sent a team to intercept it.

When the boat was intercepted, no illegal drugs were found.

The Aruba Police Corps sent a helicopter to search an area near Arashi Beach and that’s when packages of drugs were seen floating in the water.

The Venezuelan and Dominican men, who were on the vessel, were handed over to Aruban police.

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Mexico to Promote Job Creation Schemes in C. America, Caribbean

MEXICO CITY, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Mexico plans to promote job creation programs in the Caribbean that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has rolled out in southern Mexico and parts of Central America to stem migration, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Monday.

The programs, “Sembrando Vida,” (Sowing Life) a tree-planting drive, and “Jovenes Construyendo el Futuro,” (Youths Building the Future) a work scheme for young adults, are part of Lopez Obrador’s plan to slow migration by helping poor regions like southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

“We already have an agreement with Haiti, and we’re in talks with Cuba,” Laura Elena Carrillo, Executive Director of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (Amexcid), told newspaper El Universal in an interview.

Mexico and Cuba signed a letter of intent on Dec. 22 to implement rural development programs in Cuba. That will include the two job-creating schemes, Carrillo said. Mexico signed a similar letter with Haiti in November, and plans to negotiate with the Dominican Republic soon, she told the paper.

Mexico has earmarked $31 million for each of the countries currently enrolled in the programs, though the Caribbean nations are likely to receive somewhat less, Carrillo said.

Apprehensions of undocumented migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border have leapt to record levels this year, with tens of thousands of Haitians and Cubans among them.

Mexico has pressed the United States to invest in development schemes, and the Mexican government said last month Washington had agreed to contribute to its efforts.

Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by David Gregorio

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Death Toll from Brazil Flooding Rises in Bahia’s ‘Worst Disaster’

By and
A man carries a bucket of water, during floods caused due to heavy rains, in Itabuna, Bahia state, Brazil December 27, 2021. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

ITABUNA, Brazil, Dec 27 (Reuters) – The death toll from floods hammering northeast Brazil rose to 20 on Monday, as the governor of Bahia state declared it the worst disaster in the state’s history and rescuers braced for more rain in the coming days.

Much of Bahia, home to about 15 million people, has suffered from intermittent flooding for weeks, after a long drought gave way to record rains. Flooding in some areas intensified late on Christmas Eve and early on Christmas Day after a pair of dams gave way, sending residents scrambling for higher ground.

Rescue workers patrolled in small dinghies around the city of Itabuna, in southern Bahia, plucking residents from their homes, including some who escaped through second-floor windows.

Bahia Governor Rui Costa said on Twitter that 72 municipalities were in a state of emergency.

“Unfortunately, we’re living through the worst disaster that has ever occurred in the history of Bahia,” he wrote.

Manfredo Santana, a lieutenant-colonel in Bahia’s firefighting corps, told Reuters that emergency workers had rescued 200 people in just three nearby towns. The heavy currents of the swollen Cachoeira River complicated rescue efforts.

“It’s difficult to maneuver even with jet skis,” he said. “Rescue teams had to retreat in certain moments.”

Bahia’s civil defense agency said on Monday afternoon that 20 people had died in 11 separate municipalities.

Newspaper O Globo, citing a state firefighting official, said that authorities are monitoring an additional 10 dams for any signs they may collapse.

The scrutiny of public infrastructure and urban planning comes just a couple years after the collapse of a mining dam in neighboring Minas Gerais state killed some 270 people.

In televised remarks, Costa, the Bahia governor, attributed the chaotic scenes in part to “errors that have been committed over the course of years.”

Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto; Writing by Gram Slattery Editing by Alistair Bell

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