The post Newspaper Cover for 3rd December, 2021 appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Tag Archives: caribbean
Virgin Atlantic Inaugurates Long-Haul Flights From Edinburgh to Barbados
By
Virgin Atlantic has inaugurated its first long-haul route from Edinburgh. The airline launched its new service from the Scottish capital to Barbados, its third route to the Caribbean nation. It’s the first connection to Barbados from the Scottish capital.
Hello sunshine!
December 5th marked the first flight of Virgin Atlantic’s new route from Edinburgh Airport (EDI) to Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI). The route was first announced in August this year, with the carrier hoping to corner the market for long-haul services to leisure destinations and boost cargo capacity out of Scotland.
VS223 took off from EDI at 11:17 AM local time for the scheduled nine hours and a 10-minute transatlantic flight. The A330-300 operating took a straightforward route, flying southwest over Ireland before entering the Atlantic for much of its journey. The next time the flight was overland, it was on approach to BGI, where it touched down at 16:00 local time, 15 minutes ahead of schedule
This service will operate twice a week, scheduled for:
- VS223: Departs EDI at 11:05 AM and lands in BGI at 16:15 local times on Wednesdays and Sundays (the schedule varies slightly through Dec-Jan)
- VS224: Departs BGI at 19:10 and arrived in EDI at 07:30 AM (+1 day) on Saturdays and Tuesdays (no changes to schedule)
Virgin’s trusted Airbus A330-300s will serve both flights. These planes come equipped with 31 seats in Upper Class, 46 seats in premium economy, and 185 seats in standard economy, for a total of 264 passengers.
The post Virgin Atlantic Inaugurates Long-Haul Flights From Edinburgh to Barbados appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
PAHO: Unequal Living Conditions Affect Health of Afro-Descendants
CMC– The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says a new study of Afro-descendant populations in 18 Latin American countries demonstrates that they live with “dramatically unequal social and economic conditions that damage health.”
The study, “Health of Afro-descendant People in Latin America,” concludes that in more than 80 per cent of the 18 countries analyzed, Afro-descendants live with “a broad range of disadvantages related to poverty, employment, maternal and child health, and lack of access to adequate housing and basic services, such as safe water and sanitation.”
“Let us be frank: health inequities faced by Afro-descendant people occur in a context of discrimination and institutional racism, often exacerbated by gender inequalities,” said PAHO Dominican-born Director Dr Carissa F. Etienne in releasing the study on Friday.
“They are manifested from the first years of life, and accumulated health risks increase with age, producing significant differences in the levels of mortality and life expectancy,” she added. “As a result, different factors related to discrimination and stigmatization, along with gender inequalities and social and economic disadvantages, account for the poor health outcomes of Afro-descendant people.
“As we have noted before,” Dr Etienne continued, “the profound inequities in health faced by these communities have been further exposed and exacerbated by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in both its direct and indirect effects.”
The report, which analyzes data on socio-economic indicators in the 18 countries, emphasizes that limited access to health care for Afro-descendant people also translates into “high maternal mortality rates, early pregnancy, and epidemiological profiles in which sickle cell disease, chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, and HIV prevail.”
PAHO said that, in Latin America, 134 million people identify themselves as Afro-descendants.
The report finds that, in many countries, disadvantages are stark. For example, it finds that, in Ecuador, the maternal mortality rate for Afro-descendant women triples the overall maternal mortality rate.
In Colombia, the rate for Afro-descendant women is 1.8 times higher, and in Brazil, it is 36 per cent higher, the study finds.
In Uruguay, the proportion of Afro-descendants with limited access to drinking water (42 per cent) is almost double that of non-Afro-descendants (24 per cent), according to the report.
In urban areas in Nicaragua, it says 81 per cent of Afro-descendants have limited access to water, compared to 35 per cent of non-Afro-descendants.
“We are living in a context of systemic racism against Afro-descendants,” said Costa Rican First Vice President Espy Campbell Barr during the launch event. “By systemic, I mean that it is enclosed within the political, economic, social and cultural system and that, as a result, health is incorporated in that reality of racial exclusion of Afro-descendant people and, of course, indigenous peoples.”
La Celia A. Prince, the Vincentian-born Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), said: “While people in situations of vulnerability such as Afro-descendants still face invisibility and exclusion, while they still live in poverty and are not able to access universal health coverage, the achievement of the (United Nations) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will remain out of our reach.
“For this reason, we join the call to action and inclusivity for vulnerable Afro-descendant populations,” said Prince, a former St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to the United States and the OAS.
The report recommends improving public health policies for Afro-descendants by incorporating “specific knowledge and ancestral practices of Afro-descendant people, respect for their autonomy, culture and customs, and the creation of participatory scenarios conducive to equal opportunities for all.
“These are urgent issues that cannot be put off if the aim is to ensure equitable and inclusive processes that guarantee the right to health for all Afro-descendant people,” the report said.
The post PAHO: Unequal Living Conditions Affect Health of Afro-Descendants appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
WORLD VIEW: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Gets 4 Years, Omicron Less Deadly?, India Greets Putin, More
Dec. 6, 2021
- A special court in Myanmar has sentenced the country’s ousted leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison after finding her guilty of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions.
- The AP looks at the life of Bob Dole, the three-time Republican presidential candidate who died Sunday at age 98.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin as India attempts to balance its ties with the United States.
- In festive news, more than 230 skiing Santas have hit the slopes in Maine to raise money for charity.
- 101-year-old plans to return to Pearl Harbor for 80th anniversary of attack.
- Lawyer: Artist didn’t know school shooting suspect’s parents stayed in studio.
- Italy tightens restrictions for unvaccinated people as holidays approach.
MIKE CORDER, Chief Correspondent, The Hague.
|
|
The Rundown
BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar sentenced the country’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to four years in prison on Monday after finding her guilty of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions, a legal official said….Read More
*****@
*****@
*****@
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bob Dole willed himself to walk again after paralyzing war wounds, ran for Congress with a right arm too damaged to shake hands, and rose through the Senate ranks to become a long-serving Republican leader an…Read More
*****@
*****@
*****@
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appears to have settled on a strategy to deal with a handful of Republican lawmakers who have stirred outrage with violent, racist and sometimes Islamophobic comments. …Read More
*****@NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss defense and trade relations as India attempts to balance its ties with the United States. …Read More
*****@
*****@
*****@
U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge o…Read More
|
|
OTHER TOP STORIES
HONOLULU (AP) — When Japanese bombs began falling on Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy Seaman 1st Class David Russell first sought refuge below deck on the USS Oklahoma. But a s…Read More
A Detroit-area artist whose studio was where the parents of the Oxford High School student charged in a deadly shooting were found by police is cooperating with author…Read More
MILAN (AP) — Italy is making life more uncomfortable for unvaccinated people as the holidays draw near, excluding them from indoor restaurants, theaters and museums to…Read More
NEWRY, Maine (AP) — Santa is back to “sleighing” it on the ski slope. More than 230 skiing and snowboarding Kris Kringles took to a western Maine resort on Sunday to …Read More
The post WORLD VIEW: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Gets 4 Years, Omicron Less Deadly?, India Greets Putin, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Here We Go Again? COVID Outbreak on Cruise Ship Approaching New Orleans
The cruise ship made stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico.
Ten people aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship approaching New Orleans have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.
The Norwegian Breakaway had departed New Orleans on November 28 and is due to return this weekend, the Louisiana Department of Health said in a news release. Over the past week, the ship made stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico.
More than 3,200 people are on board the ship, officials said.
According to the statement, Norwegian “has been adhering to appropriate quarantine and isolation protocols as new cases and exposures have been identified aboard this vessel.”
Prior to disembarking in New Orleans, each person on board will be tested for the coronavirus. Anyone who tests positive will either go directly home or self-isolate in accommodations provided by the cruise line, officials said.
Officials did not release any information about the conditions of those who have contracted the virus.
Cruise ships were an early source of outbreaks last year at the start of the coronavirus pandemic as some ships were rejected at ports and passengers were forced into quarantine. Some passengers died of COVID-19 at sea while others fell so ill they had to be carried out of the vessels on stretchers.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a no-sail order in March 2020, prompting a standstill that ended last June as cruise ships began to leave US ports with new health and safety requirements. According to Norwegian’s website, the company requires all passengers and crew members to have been vaccinated against the virus at least two weeks prior to departure
The post Here We Go Again? COVID Outbreak on Cruise Ship Approaching New Orleans appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Former PM Calls for Bi-Partisan Study on Jamaica Becoming a Republic
Former prime minister of Jamaica, PJ Patterson, has ignited the call for Jamaica to ditch the Queen as head of state and operate under a republican system of government by 2022.
This comes less than 48 hours after Barbados severed ties with the chief occupant of Buckingham Palace as their ceremonial head of state. Next year will be Jamaica’s 60th year of independence from Britain and Mr Patterson feels that the move will be “a truly historic landmark” for the country’s Diamond Jubilee.
In a three-page letter obtained by Caribbean National Weekly to both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Leader of the Opposition Mr. Bruce Golding, Jamaica’s longest-serving prime minister urged both gentlemen to sit down and iron out the “single outstanding issue” that could present a challenge to Jamaica becoming a republican state. The issue he said is “whether the incumbent [head of state] should be chosen by a two-third membership of both houses sitting separately or jointly.” Mr. Patterson advised both gentlemen that “one early Vale Royal meeting” between them could easily settle the issue.
Jamaica’s inclination to be a republic since 2002
Jamaica has shown an inclination to become a republic from as far back as 2002 according to Mr. Patterson. “For some time before we entered our fortieth year of independence, our country has been actively engaged in extensive discussions and consultations on moving towards a Republican system,” he reminded them. Continuing, he said: “The political parties you both lead have repeatedly accepted the institution of our own indigenous President as head of State. This has been reflected in the election manifestos of both the JLP and PNP since 2002.”
He said successive prime ministers have reiterated that firm intention at their inaugural installations and reaffirmed their policy positions in numerous throne speeches from the dawn of the millennium.
In 2012 then prime minister, Portia Simpson-Miller placed the item on the agenda in her inauguration speech to the country. Since then, the subject has gained traction. Both parties have talked about having a Jamaican head of state and even promised a referendum on the matter. Mark Golding stated earlier this year in the Independent that “This is fundamental to our identity and our nationhood,” referring to the removal of the queen.
Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding stated in his 2011-2012 budget debate that “he wanted Jamaica to make its 50th year of Independence free of its colonial ties to the British monarchy.” In his presentation, Golding told his fellow law makers that “I have long believed that if I am to have a queen, it must be a Jamaican queen.”
Current Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his JLP government have also voiced similar sentiments on Jamaica attaining republican status. When he took office after the 2016 elections, his government declared at the time that they would amend the constitution to replace the queen with a non-executive president as head of state.
Patterson himself had declared that Jamaica should aim to achieve republican status by the time he left office in 2006.
In July 2020, fifty-five percent of Jamaicans said the queen should go, while thirty percent wants her to remain, according to a Bill Johnson poll in the Jamaica Observer. And according the Gleaner, a constitution commission in 1995 recommended that Jamaica should no longer have the monarchy as head of state. But in spite of all the political talk and aspirations, no Jamaican government has taken the bold steps necessary to install a Jamaican as head of state.
The constitutional requirement
In satisfying the constitutional requirements to amend the “deeply entrenched provisions,” Mr. Patterson said that section 49 allows: “A period of three months between the introduction of the bill and the commencement of the first debate on the whole text of the bill in the house, and a further period of three months between the conclusion of that debate and its passage.” According to section 49(ii) he said, “the bill has to be submitted not less than two months nor more than six months after its passage through both houses to the electorate.” This according to him “means a referendum.”
Of the eight referendums held to decide the fate of the queen, only three have been successful: Ghana, South Africa and Gambia (second one). St. Vincent and the Grenadines was part of the losing set when their referendum was defeated by 12 percent in 2009. Trinidad and Tobago went through parliament with a new constitution in 1976 and Guyana did the same with a constitutional amendment 1970.
Barbados started out with the intention of going the route of a referendum, but it was postponed twice; in 2003 and 2007. But with a super-majority in parliament, Prime Minister Mottley flexed her political capital and bypassed the Barbadian population.
Mr. Patterson feels that a referendum would be a “spectacular contribution” to building Jamaica’s parliamentary democracy; “permitting both parties to share a single platform in a campaign to secure national approval and allow one of our own image to become head of state.” He said that it “would inspire the fullest confidence” in the Jamaican people.
At the end of last month, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the Jamaican people that there will be a comprehensive review of the Jamaican constitution in 2022.
In addition to the goals outlined by the prime minister for the review, some are speculating whether it is a precursor to handing Queen Elizabeth II her goodbye papers.
Jamaica’s entanglement and reparation desires
Interestingly, Buckingham Palace gave the prime minister a post-nominal title in May of this year, making him a member of the UK Privy Council. At the time, many persons wondered if he would be able to serve the queen and Jamaica effectively, especially when many Jamaicans and his government are pushing for “reparatory Justice.”
Earlier this year Jamaica’s Culture minister, Olivia Grange said she “wants to petition Her Majesty for compensation for all the nation’s citizens.” She further stated that, “We are hoping for reparatory justice in all forms that one would expect if they were to really ensure that we get justice from injustices to repair the damages that our ancestors experience.”
Former Prime Minister Patterson has more than reparations on his mind at this time, however. In closing his letter to the two political leaders, he said that: “It would be repulsive to contemplate a Diamond Jubilee where our constitution rests on an order in council dated the 23rd July, 1962 and a head of state who does not reflect our own image and enables every Jamaican to aspire in reaching the highest position within our native land.”
Jamaica now joins St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines where top political leaders are touting movement to republican status.
The post Former PM Calls for Bi-Partisan Study on Jamaica Becoming a Republic appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Rio Urban Garden Feeds Hundreds of Families in Former ‘Crackland’
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 5 (Reuters) – The Manguinhos neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, a slum where addicts once smoked crack and residents dumped trash, has been transformed into a community vegetable garden that now feeds some 800 families struggling with rampant food inflation.
The urban garden covers the area of four soccer fields, according to Rio de Janeiro’s “Hortas Cariocas” program coordinators, making it one of the largest of its kind in Latin America.
“This particular area was used as a ‘cracolândia’,” said Julio Cesar Barros, an agronomist employed by the city. “If you arrived here on a Wednesday at 10 in the morning, you could find two or three thousand people smoking crack in this area.”
Barros said he helped create the “Hortas Cariocas” project in 2006 to plant vegetables in various parts of the city and supply organic products to lower-income residents. He said urban gardens also helped prevent irregular occupation of dangerous areas prone to flooding or landslides.
“While I am planting [seeds] I am thinking that in a few days I will be harvesting this and taking it home to eat it,” said Diane Silva, an urban farm worker. “I know I am planting to harvest tomorrow … it gives a lot of pleasure to work in a garden, it is a job that we enjoy, I love this.”
The project has now expanded to 49 vegetable gardens across Rio, according to Barros.
Ezequiel Dias, a Manguinhos resident who helps to coordinate the project, said the initiative has transformed his community.
“It changed the face of Manguinhos… our communities need exactly this: peace, happiness and a better life.”
Reporting by Sebastian Rocandio Writing by Ana Mano; editing by Diane Craft
The post Rio Urban Garden Feeds Hundreds of Families in Former ‘Crackland’ appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Farc: Colombian Rebel Commander ‘El Paisa’ Killed in Venezuela
BBC- A dissident former leader of Colombia’s Farc rebels has been killed in an ambush in Venezuela, local media reported on Sunday.
Hernán Darío Velásquez, nicknamed El Paisa, was reportedly shot dead in Venezuela’s Apure state.
His death has not been officially confirmed and the Colombian army said it had no knowledge of the killing.
Local media have speculated that mercenaries may have killed Velásquez, seeking rewards for his capture.
Colombian authorities told El Tiempo newspaper that they would not confirm his death until officials had seen his body. A spokesperson for Colombian President Iván Duque told Reuters news agency that his office was seeking more information.
The Farc rebels were a Marxist group that waged a bitter war against the Colombian government for over 50 years, before eventually calling a ceasefire in 2016.
A commander of one of the Farc’s most feared units, Velásquez became notorious for the severity of his attacks.
He was behind a car bombing on a social club in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, that killed 36 people and wounded nearly 200 more in 2003.
He also played a key role in the 1998 attack on a joint army and police base in Miraflores in which 16 members of the security forces were killed.
More than 100 soldiers and police officers were kidnapped as part of the attack. Most of those kidnapped were freed in 2001 in exchange for the release of jailed Farc members, but two officers were held for more than 12 years by the rebel group.
El Paisa’s reputation for being one of the most brutal Farc commanders was such that when he joined peace talks in Havana in 2016, many saw it as a sign that the guerrillas were truly committed to laying down their arms.
But in 2018 he broke with the truce and reappeared a year later alongside former Farc leaders Iván Márquez and Jesús Santrich to announce the formation of a new rebel group called Segunda Marquetalia, and declared that he was taking up arms once more.
If his death is confirmed it will be the second major loss for the group this year. Santrich, once a key figure in the peace process, was killed in a shoot-out in Venezuela in May by what the dissident group claimed were Colombian army commandoes.
Some 13,000 Farc guerrillas have laid down their arms since the 2016 ceasefire and the group has since transitioned into a minor political party, holding 10 seats in the Colombia’s congress.
Nonetheless, violence continues in some regions of Colombia where an estimated 5,000 dissidents continue to fight against government forces.
The Colombian government has repeatedly accused Venezuelan leaders of harbouring Farc dissidents and has claimed that an attack on a helicopter carrying President Duque in June was planned from the neighbouring state.
The post Farc: Colombian Rebel Commander ‘El Paisa’ Killed in Venezuela appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Biden Faces Omicron, Pandemic Summary, World Stats
The latest challenge to Joe Biden’s presidency: the Omicron variant
Analysis: after he promised to crush the coronavirus, the rise of a new strain could be a blow to perceptions of his competency
Joe Biden looked out at an audience of government scientists last week and recognized a mask-wearing Anthony Fauci, his top adviser on the coronavirus. “I’ve seen more of Dr Fauci than my wife,” he joked. “Who’s president? Fauci!”
The US president was visiting the frontline of the Covid-19 struggle, the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where he unveiled a winter plan that includes a drive for vaccine boosters, free at-home testing and fresh requirements for international travelers.
Easy access to tests could play a key role in fighting the Omicron variant
But even as Biden preached to the converted on Thursday, he faced a new political threat. The Omicron variant was spreading rapidly from state to state, trailing uncertainty in its wake. “We’re going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion,” he promised, “just like we beat back Covid-19 in the spring and more powerful Delta variant in the summer and fall.”
Yet the Delta variant itself is far from beaten, underlining the perils of what may prove the defining issue of Biden’s presidency and the measure of its success or failure. He came into office promising to crush the coronavirus but, after at least one false dawn, that goal remains frustratingly elusive – and now Omicron could deliver another hammer blow.
Indeed, Biden’s aura of competence took a hit over the summer, partly because of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, partly because the Delta variant appeared to catch him by surprise. Its persistence has made a mockery of his July declaration that Americans could soon declare independence from the virus.
Laurie Garrett, an award-winning science writer, said: “I don’t think that anybody in the spring in the United States was operating with the correct level of alarm about the Delta variant.
“I would forgive many leaders for having an inability to read the situation adequately and recognise how dangerous it was but, once it was clear that the Delta variant was far more contagious, everybody should have gone into high gear and I do think there was a slowness in response.”
Biden’s swift travel bans on southern African countries in response to Omicron suggested a resolve to learn lessons from Delta; to some it looked like overcorrection. But the challenge this time is compounded by new extremes in the Republican party and rightwing media’s politicization of the pandemic.
On Thursday, the president acknowledged: “It’s become a political issue, which is a sad, sad commentary. It shouldn’t be, but it has been.”
His stated hope that the nation could now come together around his new plan will have struck some as optimistic to the point of naivety. Democrats accuse Biden’s opponents of weaponizing the virus and its variants against him with the long-term objective of denying him a second term.
Eric Schultz, a communications strategist who worked in the Obama administration, told the Associated Press: “It’s clear that Republicans have decided that the fate of the Biden presidency is tied to Covid. And Republicans have chosen to be on the side of the virus.”
Some Republicans have all but entrenched an anti-vaccination culture. Senators this week briefly threatened a government shutdown over mandates. Florida, Iowa, Kansas and Tennessee have extended benefits to workers who are fired or resigned over their employers’ vaccine requirements.
Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care, a healthcare pressure group, said: “They’re literally sacrificing the lives of their own voters on the altar of their personal politics. That’s just incontrovertibly true when you know that the death rate is 15 times higher and you see who is choosing not to be vaccinated in America. They’re basically meting out a death sentence for people.”
It seems to be getting worse. A day after news broke about the Omicron variant, Ronny Jackson, a Republican congressman from Texas and former doctor to Donald Trump, floated a groundless conspiracy theory. He tweeted: “Here comes the MEV – the Midterm Election Variant. They NEED a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots. Democrats will do anything to CHEAT during an election – but we’re not going to let them!”
Meanwhile, Lara Logan, a Fox News personality , compared Fauci to the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, known as the Angel of Death for the experiments he carried out on prisoners at the Auschwitz death camp. Michael Bornstein, a survivor of Auschwitz, described the comments as “disgusting”.
But Logan was not sanctioned by Fox News and, with Holocaust comparisons proliferating on rightwing social media, including even in merchandise, there are fears that America’s hyperpartisan atmosphere may have passed a point of no return, paralysing its Omicron response.
Garrett, author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance, warned: “There is no possibility of working together. If you were going to write a scenario that was perfect for a virus to spread rampantly, having the humans at the edge of civil war every five minutes would be a perfect scenario.”
Despite these forces, the White House points to dramatic progress over the past year. Last Christmas less than 1% of adults were fully vaccinated; this Christmas that share will be 72%, including more than 86% of elderly people. More than 20 million children have been vaccinated – though under-fives still await approval – and 99% of schools are open.
But the pandemic has proved a tenacious foe with renewed surges in Michigan and other midwestern states threatening to overwhelm hospitals. About 40 million adults refuse to get vaccinated. Take-up of boosters – more essential than ever due to Omicron – has been sluggish: more than 100 million eligible people have not yet received the shot. Masks, empty offices and unpredictability persist.
The conflicting picture has left the president to juggle duelling messages, one encouraging a return to life as normal, the other urging continued precautions. There seems little prospect of a definitive ending or declaration of victory. Roughly 47% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the pandemic while 49% disapprove, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll.
Biden announces plan to get booster shots to 100m Americans amid Omicron arrival in US
Michael Steele, former chairman of the RNC, said he would award the president about five marks out of 10 so far. “Given the success they had early on in getting the vaccine programme put in place, shots in arms and all that, when the [Delta] variant hit it caught them flat-footed and took them by surprise.
“The administration lost a lot of the gains it had made coming in the door because it shattered people’s confidence in their ability to not only handle what was going on but to actually know what was going on.”
Steele, a longtime critic of Trump, noted that calculated attacks and obstruction from the right present a further obstacle to the nation’s recovery from the pandemic. “Biden doesn’t want to further politicize Covid and yet you have Republicans and that’s all they know how to do.”
The situation, he added, is reminiscent of Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans spent years trying to repeal without offering a replacement.
Bill Galston, a senior fellow at former policy adviser to Bill Clinton, awards Biden a more generous eight of out of 10 for his coronavirus approach to date. “The reason that’s two clicks short of 10 is that I think the White House really went astray in early July when it did everything but hang a mission accomplished banner over the subject.
“As I recall, the president announced a summer of freedom. One of the things they have surely learned is that they’re at the mercy of events that they can neither foresee nor control in advance and so creating hopes that are then extinguished by events is really counterproductive.”
More than 780,000 Americans have now died from Covid-19. This week, at a White House press briefing, the Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked: “Whatever happened to President Biden’s promise to shut down the virus?”
The press secretary, Jen Psaki, replied: “We’re working on it.”
=======================================
What you need to know about the coronavirus right now
People pull shopping carts as they walk past an information board, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Bolton, Britain, June 16, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Dec 6 (Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Japan’s tougher virus border controls boost support for PM
Voter support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ticked up after his government enforced tighter border controls against the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said on Monday. Japan took some of the world’s strictest steps on Nov. 29 by closing its borders to new foreign entrants for about a month. A day later, it discovered its first Omicron infection in a Namibian diplomat who had arrived on Nov. 28.
Support for Kishida’s government was 62%, up from 56% a month ago, the Yomiuri poll showed, with 89% of respondents taking a positive view of the measures. read more
Omicron variant found in nearly one-third of U.S. states
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has spread to about one-third of U.S. states, but the Delta version remains the majority of COVID-19 infections as cases rise nationwide, U.S. health officials said on Sunday. Dr Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official and U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he hoped the United States would lift its ban on travelers from southern African countries in a “reasonable period of time.”
Many of the cases were among fully vaccinated individuals with mild symptoms, although the booster shot status of some patients was not reported. Governors of two states with reported Omicron cases – Connecticut and Colorado – said they hoped their higher-than-average vaccination rates would blunt the impact. “We want to see how well the vaccinations hold up,” Colorado’s Jared Polis told ABC. read more
Canadian employers accommodate the unvaccinated
Canada’s tight labor market is forcing many companies to offer regular COVID-19 testing over vaccine mandates, while others are reversing previously announced inoculation requirements even as Omicron variant cases rise.
There are pitfalls to employing the unvaccinated. Companies run a higher risk of COVID-19 outbreaks and many vaccinated employees are uncomfortable working with those who have not had the shot, said industry groups and marketing experts. In the hard-hit manufacturing sector, where 77% of firms say their top concern is attracting and retaining workers, vaccine mandates are more rare. read more
Fetus brain appears unharmed by mild-to-moderate COVID-19
Non-severe COVID-19 during pregnancy has no visible effect on the baby’s brain, according to a small study presented on Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Researchers led by Dr Sophia Stoecklein of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich used fetal MRI to study 33 pregnant women with mild or moderate COVID-19. The MRI scans showed “normal age-appropriate brain development” in all cases, Stoecklein said in a statement. “There were no findings indicative of infection of the fetal brain.”
Only mothers who did not require hospital admission were included in the study. “Since the impact of severe infection on brain development in the fetus has not been conclusively determined, active protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy remains important,” Stoecklein said. read more
Jordan court jails health officials over oxygen deaths
A Jordanian court sentenced five senior health officials to three years in jail on Sunday for causing the death of 10 COVID-19 patients following an oxygen outage in a major state hospital, state media said. Health Minister Nathir Obeidat resigned hours after the incident and in a public apology, Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawneh said his government bore full responsibility for the incident.
The court found the former director of the state hospital in Salt, a city west of the capital, and four of his senior aides responsible for the deaths, media said. The patients, who were being treated in the hospital, died in March when staff failed to act after oxygen ran out in a COVID-19 ward for nearly an hour. read more
Compiled by Karishma Singh
BBC
==========================================
WORLD STATS
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)
Latest News
December 6 (GMT)
Updates
- 44 new cases and 4 new deaths in Afghanistan [source]
- 5 new cases in China, Hong Kong SAR [source]
- 14 new cases in Saint Lucia [source]
- 48 new cases in Liechtenstein [source]
- 543 new cases and 113 new deaths in the Philippines [source]
- 24 new cases in New Caledonia [source]
- 3 new deaths in El Salvador [source]
- 223 new cases and 3 new deaths in Uzbekistan [source]
- 34 new cases and 2 new deaths in Kyrgyzstan [source]
- 632 new cases and 16 new deaths in Kazakhstan [source]
- 139 new cases and
The post Biden Faces Omicron, Pandemic Summary, World Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Prime Minister Harris Concludes Marathon 0ne-on-One Consultations
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, December 5, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — Area Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Seven and Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, on Saturday December 4 at the Edgar T. Morris Primary School in Tabernacle Village, concluded marathon one-on-one consultations that formed part of celebrations to mark the 28th anniversary of his election as a parliamentarian.
Prime Minister Harris who is also the National Political Leader of the Peoples Labour Party (PLP), one of the three parties in the ruling Team Unity Administration, was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Constituency Number Seven (Bellevue to Otley’s) on November 29, 1993.
One-on-one consultations that formed part of the anniversary celebration activities that were commemorated under the theme ‘Touching Hearts, Transforming Communities since 1993’, were held on Saturday November 27.
There was, however, an extraordinarily high turnout so much so that the Honourable Prime Minister could not see of all them. He promised that a day would be set aside for him to see all persons whose names had been listed to meet him but who did not get the opportunity.
The promise was fulfilled as the Constituency Secretariat contacted all who were not able to see the Prime Minister and requested them to return to the Edgar T. Morris Primary School, location of the earlier one-on-one consultations, on Saturday December 4. They all showed up, including a handful who got wind that there would the continuation of the one-on-one consultations with the Prime Minister.
“Overall, for me, reflecting on the 28th anniversary, I would say it has been a good one by the Grace of God, and I give Him thanks for the support that the people have had, and for their constructive criticism, and for their guidance,” said Prime Minister Harris. “I pledge always to the extent that I have the energy, to the extent that I still have the passion within me that I will be the champion of the people of Number Seven.”
Dr Harris thanked the persons who dutifully returned for the one-on-one consultations after having not gotten a chance to meet with him on the previous Saturday. He noted that he was aware that they too have other errands to attend to in their daily nation-building activities but found the time to meet with their Prime Minister.
“I will fight their just calls,” assured the Honourable Prime Minister. “I will pursue justice on their behalf, and I will ensure that the Government which I now have the honour to lead, thanks to their choosing me as their elected representative, because the Prime Minister has to be an elected member, so they made it possible by their vote. I always feel a sense of gratitude when I am dealing with my constituents and always, I wish that I could more.”
Prime Minister Harris, who will be celebrating his birthday on Monday December 6, also thanked members is his Constituency Executive who with support of the Peoples Labour Party (PLP) led by National Secretary Ms Myrtilla Williams organised the month-long celebratory activities to mark the 28th anniversary of his election as a parliamentarian.
“There were a lot of new young persons who came on board for the first time,” noted Dr Harris. “I want to thank them for coming, for sharing in an exercise in democracy and for being so very supportive.”
The post Prime Minister Harris Concludes Marathon 0ne-on-One Consultations appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.