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WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday banned members of the Nicaraguan government from entering the United States as he issued a broad proclamation in response to an election that Washington has denounced as rigged in favor of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Biden’s travel ban applied to all of Nicaragua’s “elected officials,” apparently including Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, in addition to security force members, judges, mayors and others seen as undermining democracy in the Central American nation.

“The repressive and abusive acts of the Ortega government and those who support it compel the United States to act,” Biden said in the decree.

Biden’s order came just a day after the United States, Britain and Canada imposed targeted sanctions on lists of Nicaraguan officials in a concerted response to the Nov. 7 election that many countries have called a sham. read more

They took action after Ortega’s re-election to a fourth consecutive term after jailing political rivals and cracking down on critical media.

Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, has derided his U.S. critics as “Yankee imperialists” and accused them of trying to undermine Nicaragua’s electoral process. Cuba, Venezuela and Russia have offered Ortega their backing.

Previous sanctions, asset freezes and travel bans on certain Nicaraguan officials imposed by Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, have failed to deter Ortega, and many analysts are skeptical whether new measures will have much impact.

The Organization of American States (OAS) adopted a resolution on Friday saying Nicaragua’s election lacked “democratic legitimacy.” Twenty-five nations voted in favor and seven abstained, including Mexico, Honduras and Bolivia.

In his proclamation, Biden said he had determined it was in U.S. interests to bar entry to all those “who formulate, implement or benefit from policies or actions that undermine or injure democratic institutions or impede the return to democracy in Nicaragua.”

His order also bans their family members from the United States.

Biden’s proclamation cited security forces, saying they “abuse persons to further the Ortega government’s authoritarian agenda,” and said that municipal officers “directed violence against pro-democracy protesters.” It accused the judiciary of “aiding and abetting” politically motivated arrests.

U.S. officials have made clear that further sanctions are in the works and that the administration intends to use other provisions in a bill the president signed last week to further ratchet up pressure on Ortega.

For instance, Brian Nichols, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told a House of Representatives subcommittee on Tuesday the administration will seek to prevent Nicaragua from obtaining funds from international financial institutions where Washington has a vote.

The so-called RENACER Act also requires that the U.S. government report on alleged corruption by the Ortega family and calls for a review Nicaragua’s participation in the Central America Free Trade Agreement, which gives preferential treatment to exports to the United States.

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Rittenhouse jurors to return for Day 2 of deliberations

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Jurors weighing charges against Kyle Rittenhouse were to return Wednesday for a second day of deliberations in his murder trial, after they failed to reach a swift verdict on whether he was the instigator in a night of bloodshed…Read More

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China and US to ease restrictions on each other’s media workers

BEIJING (AP) — China says it and the U.S. have agreed to ease restrictions on each other’s media workers. The announcement in the official China Daily newspaper on Wednesday said the agreement was reached ahead of Tuesday’s virtual summit between Ch…Read More

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Hundreds go missing in Burkina Faso amid extremist violence

FADA N’GOURMA, Burkina Faso (AP) — The last time Polenli Combary spoke to her son on the phone she prayed for God to bless him. Shortly after, she called back but the line was dead. Her 34-year-old son was returning a truck used to move the family’…Read More

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Coming off climate talks, US to hold huge crude sale in Gulf

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday will auction vast oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico estimated to hold up to 1.1 billion barrels of crude, the first such sale under President Joe Biden and a harbinger of the chal…Read More

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Schools, plants close as Indian capital is smothered by smog

NEW DELHI (AP) — Schools were closed indefinitely and some coal-based power plants shut down as the smog-shrouded Indian capital and neighboring states invoked harsh measures Wednesday to combat worsening air pollution after an order from the federa…Read More

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NORTE DE SANTANDER, Colombia, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Camouflaged Colombian troops with guns and anti-COVID masks creep through dense vegetation in suffocating heat, ready for their many enemies crisscrossing the Venezuelan border.

The soldiers are part of a 14,000-strong military unit created last month to stem rising bloodshed in the northeastern province of Norte de Santander: Colombia’s new epicenter of conflict, fueled by rising cocaine production.

“Any of the illegal armed groups in this area involved in drug trafficking could attack us,” said their sergeant, a 20-year army veteran, speaking under the shade of a tree near a river dividing Colombia and Venezuela.

Vulnerable to mines, snipers and ambushes, 16 soldiers have died this year in around 30 attacks in Norte de Santander.

Nineteen members of illegal armed groups have also died and dozens of soldiers, rebels and gang members been injured, according to Defense Ministry figures.

The military surge and sacrifice may not be the right tactic though: eradication of coca leaves, the raw ingredient for cocaine, is actually falling amid resistance from locals who say they have few other viable options to live off.

Furthermore, Colombia’s army has a checkered history, at times committing rights abuses while opposing rebels, traffickers and criminal gangs for more than half a century.

President Ivan Duque’s government is furious with Venezuela, accusing President Nicolas Maduro’s administration of providing a safe haven for gangs over the border and conniving in drugs shipments to the United States and Europe for a cut of profits.

Venezuela’s collapsed economy and rampant crime also fan the border violence, Colombian officials say. Reuters showed in a recent investigation how the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) functions as a de facto local government and leading employer in some Venezuelan towns.

Caracas vigorously denies responsibility, saying Colombia’s right-wing “oligarchy” fails to curtail armed groups in a deliberate strategy to destabilize leftist-ruled Venezuela.

‘CONFLUENCE OF INSTABILITY’

Colombia hopes the troop buildup in Norte de Santander will provide a roadmap for pacifying other parts of a nation whose long civil war has now fractured into local battles against transnational insurgents and criminals.

“In Norte de Santander, there’s a confluence of various factors of instability,” General Luis Fernando Navarro, head of the armed forces, told Reuters in his Bogota office.

A porous frontier and weak law enforcement in Venezuela allow guerrillas from the ELN and dissident Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels – who reject a 2016 peace agreement – to strike and then flee across the border, he added.

About half the ELN fighters and 30% of the FARC dissidents operate from there, protected from bombing raids, Navarro said.

On the Colombian side, groups fight each other for control of rising coca production. One area, Catatumbo, now has capacity to produce 312 tonnes of cocaine per year, a quarter of Colombia’s output, according to U.N. data.

Murders in Norte de Santander rose to 576 last year, compared with 539 in 2019. Through September 2021, 436 people have been slain, according to the defense ministry.

Twenty-two human rights activists have been assassinated since the beginning of 2020, while fighting has displaced some 6,500 people, according to activist groups.

“What’s behind this overflow of violence is this whole criminal dynamic,” said Wilfredo Canizares, director of human rights group Fundacion Progresar.

In two brazen attacks in June, former rebels bombed a military barracks in regional capital Cucuta and a sniper tried to shoot down a helicopter carrying Duque and other officials.

A FARC dissident commander took responsibility for the attacks, saying they targeted the U.S. presence. read more

MILITARIZING ALONE ‘A FAILURE’

The recent capture of “Otoniel”, leader of a major gang called the “Gulf Clan”, may not stem violence by his group, which police say has alliances with criminals in more than two dozen countries. The arrest might even increase fighting, regional analysts say, as the gang retaliates against security forces or members fight for power among themselves.

Security consultant John Marulanda, a retired army colonel, said groups attack high-profile targets to draw authorities away from drug production zones and the routes to clandestine airstrips in Venezuela.

The military’s new Specific Command for Norte de Santander (CENOR) will bring together four previously separate units, which the army says will allow better, faster coordination of logistics and intelligence with more patrols, offensive operations and air support.

The military says increased troops – with on-the-ground U.S. military advisors – will go hand-in-hand with investments in roads, schools and other programs.

But there are detractors.

Activists say boots on the ground mean little without anti-poverty measures and more support for voluntary substitution of coca crops. “It’s proven it’s a failure to insist on militarizing territory as the only answer,” said Fundacion Progresar’s Canizares.

It is indefensible that murders, mass killings, displacements and drug trafficking continue despite a large, long-term military presence in the province, he added.

Farmers outside the municipality of Tibu, home to Colombia’s largest coca plantations, recently held 180 soldiers on an eradication mission hostage for several hours in protest at removal of a crop that is one of few ways to make ends meet.

And eradication efforts overall in Norte de Santander are floundering, falling to about 30 square km so far this year, from 95 in 2020, largely due to opposition from locals.

Figures from the military and defense ministry also show the number of clandestine labs – usually deep in the jungle – destroyed in the first nine months of 2021 was 458, compared to 694 in 2020.

Seizures of cocaine in Norte del Santander in 2021 – 24.8 tonnes – have outpaced 16.6 in 2020 and 22.4 in 2019. But the increase is partly due to more production, officials said, as well as improved U.S. satellite data.

As locals clamor for land titles, loans for crop-switching and more public works, authorities insist the security strategy will be backed by social investment.

For example, provincial governor Silvano Serrano, with help from the national government, is spending $8 million on a program to encourage cacao production. It will give farmers seeds, technical assistance and guaranteed, fixed-price sales.

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MERRITT, British Columbia, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Floods and landslides that have killed at least one person have cut all rail access to Canada’s largest port in the city of Vancouver, a spokesperson for the port said on Tuesday.

Two days of torrential rain across the Pacific province of British Columbia touched off major flooding and shut rail routes operated by Canadian Pacific Rail (CP.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Canada’s two biggest rail companies.

“All rail service coming to and from the Port of Vancouver is halted because of flooding in the British Columbia interior,” port spokesperson Matti Polychronis said.

At least one person was killed when a mudslide swept cars off Highway 99 near Pemberton, some 100 miles (160 km) to the northeast of Vancouver.

Two people were missing and search and rescue crews were combing through the rubble, officials said.

Vancouver’s port moves C$550 million ($440 million) worth of cargo a day, ranging from automobiles and finished goods to essential commodities.

The floods temporarily shut down much of the movement of wheat and canola from Canada, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, during a busy time for trains to haul grain to the port following the harvest.

Drought has sharply reduced the size of Canada’s crops this year, meaning a rail disruption of a few days may not create a significant backlog, a grain industry source told Reuters.

Del Dosdall, senior export manager at grain handler Parrish & Heimbecker, said he expected some rail services could be restored by the weekend. Another industry source said he expected the shutdown to last weeks.

OIL PIPELINES SHUT DOWN

Floods have also hampered pipelines. Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) shut a segment of a British Columbia natural gas pipeline as a precaution.

The storms also forced the closure of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which carries up to 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Alberta province to the Pacific coast.

Copper and coal miner Teck Resources Limited (TECKb.TO) said the floods had disrupted movement of its commodities to its export terminals, while potash exporter Canpotex Ltd said it was looking for alternatives to move the crop nutrient overseas.

Directly to the south of British Columbia, in the U.S. state of Washington, heavy rain forced evacuations and cut off electricity for more than 150,000 households on Monday.

The U.S. National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a flash flood in Mount Vernon, Washington, “due to the potential for a levee failure.”

Some areas of British Columbia received 8 inches (20 cm) of rain on Sunday, the amount that usually falls in a month.

Authorities in Merritt, some 120 miles (200 km) northeast of Vancouver, ordered all 8,000 citizens to leave on Monday as river waters rose quickly, but some were still trapped in their homes on Tuesday, said city spokesman Greg Lowis.

Snow blanketed the town on Tuesday and some cars could be seen floating in the flood waters up to 4 feet (1.22 m) deep.

The towns of Chilliwack and Abbotsford ordered partial evacuations.

Abbotsford also issued an emergency warning on Tuesday night, asking all residents to evacuate the Sumas Prairie region immediately as deteriorating conditions posed a significant threat to lives.

Rescuers equipped with diggers and body-sniffing dogs started clearing mounds of debris that have choked highways.

The landslides and floods come less than six months after a wildfires gutted an entire town in British Columbia as temperatures soared during a record-breaking heat dome, raising new worries about climate change.

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© Getty Images

Pfizer requested emergency authorization for its antiviral oral COVID-19 treatment on Tuesday after a study found the pills dramatically reduced the risk of hospitalization.

The pharmaceutical giant is asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant authorization for Paxlovid to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients at a higher risk of hospitalization and death.

Pfizer previously said its trial found the pills reduced the risk of hospitalizations and deaths by 89 percent.

Significance: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement that oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, including Paxlovid, could play a “critical role” in the pandemic through preventing deaths and hospitalizations.

“We are moving as quickly as possible in our effort to get this potential treatment into the hands of patients, and we look forward to working with the U.S. FDA on its review of our application, along with other regulatory agencies around the world,” he said.

Pfizer’s request makes Paxlovid the second oral COVID-19 treatment that the FDA is considering for an emergency use authorization. Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics submitted for authorization of molnupiravir last month.

FDA authorization would likely help more people access a COVID-19 treatment that’s available to take at home.

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ANTIVIRAL PILL TO BE MADE IN POORER NATIONS

Pfizer announced on Tuesday hat it is allowing its antiviral COVID-19 pill to be made in poorer nations throughout the world in an effort to help arm them with tools to combat the pandemic.

Pfizer said that under an agreement with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), the company will manufacture and supply the pill in 95 lower-income countries. The agreement covers roughly 53 percent of the world’s population.

The company will not receive royalties for sales in the low-income countries, and it will waive royalties for sales in all the other countries that are under the agreement for as long as the World Health Organization labels COVID-19 a public emergency of international concern.

Under the deal, MPP will receive a royalty-free license for the antiviral pill from Pfizer. That agreement will permit manufacturers to receive a sublicense and the formula for the drug.

The organization will then be able to sell the drug for use in the 95 countries under the agreement once the pill receives authorization to be used in those locations.

“We must work to ensure that all people — regardless of where they live or their circumstances — have access to these breakthroughs, and we are pleased to be able to work with MPP to further our commitment to equity,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.

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In USA, Unvaccinated increasingly are Republicans: analysis

© Associated Press/John Minchillo

The partisan gap between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated is getting larger. Unvaccinated adults are more than three times as likely to lean Republican than Democratic, a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found.

The analysis published Tuesday determined that the 27 percent of people who say they’re unvaccinated are “disproportionately” Republican or Republican-leaning, based on data from the nonprofit’s COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor in October.

Sixty percent of unvaccinated people identify as Republican or Republican-leaning, despite making up 41 percent of the adult population. Meanwhile, 17 percent of the unvaccinated population are Democrats or Democratic-leaning.

The differences between Democrats and Republicans wasn’t always this stark.

In April, when 43 percent of adults were unvaccinated, 42 percent identified as Republican or Republican-leaning, compared to 36 percent who were or leaned Democratic.

The partisan divide has grown so much that it’s become a better predictor for COVID-19 vaccination status than age, race, education and insurance status. According to Kaiser, partisanship is about twice as strong a predictor as any other demographic.

Those who are uninsured, younger, live in rural areas and have less education still see lower vaccination rates, but partisanship still remains the “strongest” indicator of vaccination status.

Reasons: Looking into why this gap exists, the analysis found that unvaccinated Republicans are more likely to say the news exaggerates the seriousness of the pandemic, and that getting vaccinated is a personal choice. More than half of vaccinated Republicans said the threat of COVID was overstated, but 9 in 10 unvaccinated Republicans were of the same opinion.

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Biden faces uphill climb on vaccine mandate

© Greg Nash

The legal fight over the Biden administration’s workplace vaccine mandate was transferred to a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court Tuesday where experts say the administration may soon face an uphill climb as it seeks to have the mandate reinstated.

The move came after a Washington, D.C., judicial panel selected the 6th Circuit court at random from the nation’s 12 regional federal appeals courts and combined the various legal challenges filed across the country into a single lawsuit.

The process resembled a Powerball drawing: ping pong balls representing each court were drawn from a wooden drum.

The random drawing took place after the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals court temporarily blocked the workplace mandate, which requires businesses with at least 100 employees to have their workers either receive the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to regular testing and mask-wearing by Jan. 4.

The rule was issued by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Federal law gives OSHA the authority to issue an emergency temporary standard if it determines workers are exposed to a “grave danger” that necessitates a rule. However, the states and private companies argue that COVID-19 is not a “grave danger” specific to the workplace, saying the rule is an unlawful overreach of federal power.

Although the Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case has been reassigned, is considered somewhat less conservative than the Fifth Circuit court that rebuffed the mandate, Tuesday’s move was hardly a resounding victory for the administration, legal experts said.

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WORLD STATS

Latest News

November 17 (GMT)

Updates

• 6 new cases in Burundi [source]

• 87 new cases in Brunei Darussalam [source]

• 7 new cases and 1 new death in Saint Lucia [source]

• 71 new cases in New Caledonia [source]

• 8,342 new cases and 43 new deaths in Slovakia [source]

• 4,276 new cases and 17 new deaths in Slovenia [source]

• 55 new cases in Liechtenstein [source]

• 3 new cases in Saint Kitts and Nevis [source]

• 14,416 new cases and 41 new deaths in Austria [source]

• 1,023 new cases in Estonia [source]

• 36,626 new cases and 1,247 new deaths in Russia [source]

• 2,151 new cases and 19 new deaths in Lithuania [source]

• 154 new cases and 4 new deaths in Japan [source]

• 10,265 new cases and 178 new deaths in Hungary [source]

• 982 new cases and 46 new deaths in Armenia [source]

• 1,190 new cases and 309 new deaths in the Philippines [source]

• 5 new cases in Taiwan [source]

• 93 new cases in Israel [source]

• 4,732 new cases and 72 new deaths in Georgia [source]

• 22,479 new cases and 27 new deaths in Czechia [source]

• 18,668 new cases and 769 new deaths in Ukraine [source]

• 51 new cases and 5 new deaths in Cambodia [source]

• 228 new cases and 4 new deaths in Uzbekistan [source]

• 77 new cases and 2 new deaths in Kyrgyzstan [source]

• 7 new cases and 1 new death in Antigua and Barbuda [source]

• 9 new cases in Comoros [source]

• 270 new cases and 10 new deaths in Pakistan [source]

• 12,388 new cases and 41 new deaths in Belgium [source]

• 1,058 new cases and 24 new deaths in Kazakhstan [source]

• 873 new cases and 10 new deaths in Mongolia [source]

• 139 new cases and 9 new deaths in Honduras [source]

• 926 new cases and 8 new deaths in Bolivia [source]

• 6,524 new cases and 56 new deaths in Thailand [source]

• 735 new cases and 37 new deaths in Mexico [source]

• 3,184 new cases and 21 new deaths in South Korea [source]

• 1,231 new cases and 9 new deaths in Australia [source] [source] [source] [source] [source]

• 197 new cases in New Zealand [source]

• 31 new cases in China [source]

November 16 November 15 November 14 November 13 November 12 November 11 June 14 April 15 

View More News 

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