Tag Archives: caribbean

Mexico to Resume Flights for Haitian Migrants Who Voluntarily Want to Go Home

MEXICO CITY, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Mexico’s government said on Sunday that it will resume flights to Port-au-Prince starting next week for Haitian migrants who want to return home.

The flights from Tapachula in Chiapas and Villahermosa in Tabasco will be offered to “those who voluntarily wish to return to their country,” the Mexican government said in a statement.

The United States has detained and forced hundreds of Haitian onto deportation flights. read more

Those who return will find Haiti, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, struggling with the aftermath of a presidential assassination, gang violence and a major earthquake.

An impromptu camp arose in recent weeks on the U.S.-Mexican border that included Haitians, adding to President Joe Biden’s migration policy headaches. At its peak on Sept. 18 there were some 15,000 people there. read more

The camp was cleared of thousands of Haitians by Friday, with most remaining in the United States for now and others expelled on deportation flights or returned to Mexico.

Thousands of Haitians are still moving through Central America, with others among an estimated 16,000 awaiting boats into the jungles of the Darien Gap in Panama, an often dangerous bottleneck on the journey north. read more

Mexico’s government said it was working to open consular offices in Chiapas and Tabasco to assist with Haitian migrants.

Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Diego Ore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

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World View: German Election, Deadly US Train Wreck, Iraq Corruption, More

Sep 27, 2021

Alternate text
  • Germany embarks on a search for a new government after the Social Democrats edge out outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center bloc
  • Investigators search for the cause of an Amtrak derailment in Montana that killed 3
  • Democratic leaders trim back President Biden’s $3.5 trillion package to win back lawmakers
  • Power cuts in Iraq become a symbol of endemic corruption
  • Democrats promise of education investments described as the most comprehensive in decades
  • Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Milley becomes entangled in politically charge issues
  • Deported Haitians arrive in an often unfriendly homeland for the first time in years.
  • U.N. unlikely to take meaningful action against Myanmar’s new military rulers because they have Russian, Chinese support
  • US officials say there’s enough COVID-19 vaccines to offer booster shots to young children
  • “Moulin Rouge, the Musical” wins the best new musical Tony award

Menelaos Hadjicostis

The Associated Press

Advancing the Power of Facts

The Rundown

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany is embarking on a potentially lengthy search for its next government after the center-left Social Democrats narrowly beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right bloc in an election that failed to set a clear direction…Read More

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JOPLIN, Mont. (AP) — Federal investigators are seeking the cause of an Amtrak train derailment near a switch on tracks in the middle of vast farmland in far northern Montana that killed three people and left seven hospitalized over the weekend. …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a consequential week for President Joe Biden’s agenda , as Democratic leaders delicately trim back his $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” package to win over remaining lawmakers and work to quickly pass legislation to avoid a f…Read More

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BAGHDAD (AP) — In the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, glossy election campaign posters are plastered alongside jungles of sagging electrical wires lining the alleyway to Abu Ammar’s home. But his mind is far from Iraq’s Oct. …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As Democrats push ahead with President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan , they’re promising historic investments across the arc of an education — from early childhood to college and beyond — in what advocates describe as t…Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — For Mon PMs; WX208-209 Gen. Mark Milley has been the target of more political intrigue and debate in two years as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff …Read More

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Deported from the United States, Pierre Charles landed a week ago in Port-au-Prince, a capital more dangerous and dystopian than the one he’…Read More

BANGKOK (AP) — In his speech last week to open the U.N. General Assembly, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres bracketed Myanmar with Afghanistan and Ethiopia as nations fo…Read More

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — With more than 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines available, U.S. health authorities said they’re confident there will be enough for both quali…Read More

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Thousands of Haitians Continue to Cross Panama on Way to US

PANAMA CITY, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Up to 4,000 migrants, most of them Haitians, have passed through the treacherous jungles of the Darien Gap in Panama on the Colombian border as they make their way north to the United States, two Panamanian government sources said.

An impromptu camp arose in recent weeks on the U.S.-Mexican border that included Haitians, adding to President Joe Biden’s migration policy headaches. At its peak on Sept. 18 there were some 15,000 people there as Haitians flee economic, political and social chaos in their homeland.

The camp was cleared of thousands of Haitians by Friday, with most remaining in the United States for now and others expelled on deportation flights or returned to Mexico.

Between 3,500 to 4,000 migrants are passing through migration reception stations in Darien and Chiriqui, said a source with Panama’s security ministry, who requested anonymity. The group includes Cubans and other nationalities, the source said.

Meanwhile, some 16,000 migrants are stuck in the northern Colombian beach town of Necocli, awaiting their turn on limited boat transport toward the Darien Gap, where smugglers guide groups through one of the most dangerous and impassable regions of Latin America. read more

Colombia and Panama agreed last month that 500 migrants could cross per day, but local officials have repeatedly urged them to raise the quota, saying it is far too low to keep pace with the up to 1,500 migrants who arrive in town daily.

Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday that more than 80,000 irregular migrants have traveled through Panama this year. He called for international assistance, saying his country is spending its limited budget on migrant care.

So far this year, 88,514 migrants have entered Panama through the Darien jungle, according to figures from the National Migration Service, and Panama went from receiving an average of 800 migrants in January to 30,000 in August.

Reporting by Elida Moreno; Writing by Anthony Esposito; editing by Grant McCool

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Fourth Member of Brazil’s U.N. Delegation Tests Positive for COVID-19

BRASILIA, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Pedro Guimaraes, a member of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s delegation to the United Nations, has tested positive for COVID-19, the CEO of state lender Caixa Economica Federal said on his one of his social media accounts on Sunday.

Guimaraes, who said he was fully vaccinated, is the fourth member of the delegation that was with Bolsonaro in New York for his address to the United Nations to test positive.

He said he is asymptomatic, but has been isolated since Wednesday, when he returned to Brazil from New York.

Health minister Marcelo Queiroga, Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo and one diplomat also tested positive for COVID-19. Queiroga, diagnosed during the visit, is still in isolation in a New York hotel.

The president said on Sunday he had a negative result in a COVID-19 test. Since the arrival to Brazil, all members of Bolsonaro’s delegation are in isolation and have taken tests due to contact with the health minister.

Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; editing by Diane Craft

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Colombia Confiscates Huge Illegal Shark Fin Haul

Colombian authorities said on Friday they have confiscated a shipment of 3,493 shark fins which were to be illegally trafficked to Hong Kong from Bogota’s airport.

Environmental authorities in the capital said the quantity of fins meant between 900 and 1,000 sharks between 1 and 5 meters (3 to 16 feet) in length would have to be killed.
In some countries shark fins are sold as having health benefits.
The shipment — packed in 10 packages and the product of illegal fishing — came from the municipality of Roldanillo, in Colombia’s southwest, Bogota’s environment secretary said.
“The shipping company was who initially alerted environmental authorities and police,” Secretary Carolina Urrutia said.
“The police are taking samples to know exactly what species they are, but we know that there are more than three species of shark which exist in Colombian waters.”

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Haiti PM: Migration Will Continue as Long as Inequality Persists

United Nations Headquarters, New York (CNN) The tens of thousands of people sheltering in the shadow of Texas’s Del Rio bridge have gone, but their trials continue. And they will not be the last, as Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry warned on Saturday.

Some have been e  xpelled to Haiti by force, others convinced to cross the border back to Mexico. A number remain in limbo in the US — luckier than most, because they will have the chance to make their case before an American immigration judge.

Addressing the border crisis before the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Henry pointedly reminded the world that “many countries which are prosperous today have been built through successive waves of migrants and refugees.”

Global inequality is the fundamental driver of such crises, he also said. “The problem of migrants must remind us that human beings, fathers and mothers, will always flee misery and conflict and strive to offer better living conditions to their children,” he said.

“Migrations will continue as long as there are pockets of wealth on the planet, while the majority of the world population lives in precarity.”

For many Haitian migrants, this past week was only one more hardship in a series that had begun months and even years ago. Some of those who made their way to Del Rio had originally fled Haiti after the catastrophic 2010 earthquake, and worked in South America for years, supporting families back home with their earnings.Del Rio camp cleared as last remaining migrants depart

But racism, tightening immigration laws and the economic fallout of the pandemic have forced Haitians in countries like Chile and Brazil to look for something new, say migrants and advocacy groups. Those pressures have not gone away, which raises the prospect of future crushes of migrants at the US border.

“Haitian migration has been roaming Latin America for more than a decade,” said the interior ministry of Chile in a statement to CNN. “In Chile, their exodus is increasingly notorious, given the current working conditions that do not favor their insertion in the market, even with a visa and work permit.”

Djimy Delice, a Haitian migrant activist who lives in Valparaiso, Chile, says the recent passage of a new immigration law has made it difficult for undocumented migrants to regularize their status, and to access education, housing and health services. “What we know is that if (migrants) have a very uncertain journey (to reach the US), nothing here is certain either,” he said.

In Brazil, another common origin country for Haitian migrants, Gilbert Lafortune says he is still contemplating heading for the US.

The 49-year-old father, who lives in Sao Paulo, says soaring inflation has made everyday survival impossible for those who are also supporting families back home in Haiti.

“With the rising inflation, the cost of everything has gone up: light, gas, water, food …The minimum wage in Brazil is 1,100 reais (a little more than $200), so you can’t pay rent, food and also help your family,” he said. “Therefore, a lot of people need to leave and go to the US.”

Concerns over speed

“As of this morning there are no longer any migrants in the camp underneath the Del Rio bridge,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced Friday — a logistical feat, but one that raised concerns in NGO and advocacy circles over how humane the processing of nearly 30,000 people in so short a time could have been.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi earlier this week slammed the expulsion of some migrants under Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows border officials to quickly expel migrants as a pandemic public health precaution. The policy was ruled illegal by a judge but remains in effect until the end of the month.

“The summary, mass expulsions of individuals currently under way under the Title 42 authority, without screening for protection needs, is inconsistent with international norms and may constitute refoulement,” Grandi said, referencing a principle in international law that forbids returning migrants to countries where they would face irreparable harm.

Haiti is wracked with an epidemic of violent crime, political turmoil and devastation from a recent earthquake. Large swathes of its capital city, Port-au-Prince, are controlled by gangs, who operate sprawling kidnapping-for-profit operations.

Haiti Prime Minister orders firing of top prosecutor in presidential assassination case

More than 2,580 Haitians — including 563 children — had been sent back to Haiti as of Friday, according to the International Organization for Migration. The agency, alongside the Haitian government, is scrambling to receive all the people being dropped off by US planes.

But it is unclear whether local officials and humanitarian workers are equipped to deal with complicated individual cases, given the scale and speed of the expulsions. The IOM and the UN point to UNHCR as the agency responsible for any refugee claims among the deported, but the refugee agency on Friday told CNN its presence in Haiti is “very limited.”

Meanwhile, Haitians who eventually crossed back into Mexico — an estimated 8,000, according to Mayorkas — also face an uncertain future. In the southern town of Tapachula, where many migrants have been sent, Haitian women describe xenophobia and discrimination, said Gretchen Kuhner, director of Mexico’s Institute for Women in Migration. “People don’t stop for them to cross the street, even if they’re carrying a baby or even if they’re pregnant,” she said.

‘Shocking images’

Haiti Foreign Minister Claude Joseph traveled to New York on Thursday, meeting with US State Department officials ahead of his country’s appearance at the UN General Assembly.

At the top of the agenda was recent footage of American Border Patrol officers on horseback raising whips toward migrants earlier this week, Joseph said. “Shocking images. We expressed our concerns about the mistreatment of Haitians, Haitian migrants.”

“They deserve better treatment and we are very appreciative to the American people who have spoken up,” he also said.

Mayorkas on Friday told press that he recognized the images “painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism” and insisted that they “do not reflect who we are.” The officers involved are no longer with migrants and an investigation into the incident is ongoing, he also said.

Haitian officials were negotiating with the US about the migration crisis “on a daily basis,” according to Joseph. He sees it as a diplomatic victory that some Haitians have been allowed to remain in the US and be heard by an immigration judge. Approximately 12,400 are expected to get a chance to appear in immigration court.

But some of those who are already back in Haiti are furious with their leaders, whom they say failed to stand up to Washington and should not have accepted the deportations.

“All other countries humiliate us as Haitians. We have no respect; we have no value,” deportee Eddy Teverme told CNN upon arriving at Port-au-Prince airport this week.

“They told us to accept the reality and board the plane. They said life does not end when you return to your country,” he said. “But the only question I need to ask my leaders, the official who signed the deportation agreement, do they have jobs for all these Haitians who have been sent back to the country?”

Reporting contributed by CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez in Washington, Claudia Rebaza in London, Juliana Koch in Sao Paulo, Karol Suarez in Mexico City, and Melissa Bella and Pierra Bairin in Port-au-Prince.

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Biden: ‘People Will Pay’ for Border Horseback Action Against Immigrants

US President Joe Biden has said that “people will pay” after images emerged showing border agents corralling migrants on horseback.

The pictures, shared widely online, show the riders using their reins against the migrants and pushing them back towards the Rio Grande in Texas.

US officials have vowed to investigate the incident, which occurred near a migrant camp in the town of Del Rio.

The Del Rio camp grew to over 15,000 people before being cleared on Friday.

“I take responsibility,” Mr Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday. “It was horrible to see, to see people treated like they did, with horses nearly running them over. People being strapped. It’s outrageous.”

The images of the horseback charge on mostly black migrants have been condemned by lawmakers and sparked comparisons to America’s slavery era.

In his first public remarks on the situation in Del Rio, Texas – where thousands of mostly Haitian migrants massed this week – Mr Biden added: “I promise you those people will pay. They will be investigated. There will be consequences.”

Amid growing uproar on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday announced that it was suspending the uses of horses in the Del Rio area.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said the photographs “horrified” him and promised the incident would be investigated at the “highest levels”.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Mayorkas said the expulsions were conducted out of a concern for public health amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Biden administration has extended the Trump-era pandemic policy that allows the US to swiftly expel undocumented immigrants.

“It is not an immigration policy that we would embrace,” Mr Mayorkas said.

Some Republicans have criticised the promise to pause the use of horses, saying the administration should act as quickly to fix bigger immigration issues.

Jenn Budd, a immigrant rights activist and former Border Patrol agent, said that while agents are not trained to use their reins on migrants, “that type of behaviour is very common.”

On Friday, Vice-President Kamala Harris was also grilled on the situation in Haiti during a television appearance on The View talk show, in which she said she “fully supports” the ongoing investigation. “I was outraged by it,” she said.

The Biden administration has come under increasing criticism for his handling of the situation in Del Rio, and the subsequent deportation of thousands of migrants back to Haiti.

On Thursday, US special envoy for Haiti Daniel Foote resigned over what he called the “inhumane, counterproductive” deportations.

Pamela White, a former US ambassador to Haiti, told the BBC that she “does not understand” how the US government didn’t foresee the influx of migrants at the border and set up “a system to handle it”.

“This deportation is a nightmare,” she said. “We do not have a good immigration policy in the United States of America.”

Ms White added that she agrees with Mr Foote’s assessment of the situation and the administration’s handling of it.

“In order for us to make any progress in Haiti, we have to have security. Food security, housing security and physical security,” she said.

media captionWatch: Thousands at migrant camp in Texas this week

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Covid Pandemic Cuts Life Expectancy, Booster Shot Confusion, World Stats, More

Study says pandemic cut life expectancy by most since WW2

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published on Monday by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years.

There were greater drops in life expectancy for men than women in most countries, with reductions in life expectancy in 27 of the 29 countries overall. There have been nearly 5 million reported deaths caused by the new coronavirus, a Reuters tally shows. read more

Sydney set to unveil freedom roadmap as more curbs eased

Australian authorities announced plans on Monday to gradually reopen locked-down Sydney, unveiling a two-tiered system that will give citizens inoculated for COVID-19 more freedoms than the unvaccinated for several weeks.

Movement restrictions the most populous state of New South Wales will be lifted gradually from Oct. 11 to Dec. 1 as vaccination rates push through 70%, 80% and 90%. However, people who are not fully inoculated will not be allowed to join in renewed activities, like community sports, dining out and shopping, until the final date. read more

New York may use National Guard to replace unvaccinated healthcare workers

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is considering employing the National Guard and out-of-state medical workers to fill hospital staffing shortages with tens of thousands of workers unlikely to meet a Monday deadline for mandated COVID-19 vaccination. Some 16% of the state’s 450,000 hospital staff, or roughly 70,000 workers, have not been fully vaccinated, the governor’s office said.

The plan, outlined in a statement from Hochul on Saturday, would allow her to declare a state of emergency to include licensed professionals from other states and countries as well as retired nurses. National Guard officers with medical training would be used to keep hospitals and other medical facilities adequately staffed. read more

Scientists map antibody binding sites on virus spike

A new COVID-19 “antibody map” is helping researchers identify antibodies that will be able to neutralize the coronavirus even after it mutates, according to a report published on Thursday in Science. Using hundreds of antibodies collected from COVID-19 survivors around the world, a global research team mapped out exactly where each antibody attaches to the spike protein on the virus surface, which it uses to break into cells and infect them.

The researchers looked for – and found – antibodies that target sites on the spike that are so important for the viral life cycle that the virus probably could not function without them. Those sites are likely to remain targets for vaccines or treatments even when the virus mutates. “If you are making an antibody cocktail, you’d want at least one of those antibodies in there because they are probably going to maintain their efficacy against most variants,” said coauthor Kathryn Hastie of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California, in a news release. read more

Vaccinated pregnant women pass antibodies to babies

Pregnant women who get an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 pass high levels of protective antibodies to their babies, new research shows. The findings, reported on Wednesday in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology – Maternal Fetal Medicine, indicate that “the antibodies that the mother is building to the vaccine are crossing the placenta and that’s likely to confer benefits for the infant after it’s born,” said coauthor Dr Ashley Roman of NYU Langone Health in New York City.

It is not clear whether the timing of vaccination during pregnancy is related to antibody levels in the baby or how long the antibodies last.

“We don’t know how long those antibodies stick around in the baby,” Roman said. “But the presence of these antibodies in the cord blood, which is the fetus’ blood, indicates that the baby also has potential to derive benefit from maternal vaccination.” read more

Compiled by Karishma Singh Editing by Robert Birsel
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US: Confusion Over COVID Booster Shots

States are bracing for confusion as the Biden administration begins rolling out booster doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Chaotic and at times disparate messaging from administration health officials over the past month has culminated in a complicated set of recommendations about who should be getting booster shots, and why.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel on Thursday recommended an additional dose of Pfizer’s vaccine for people aged 65 and older and nursing home residents, along with people between 18 and 64 with underlying health conditions.

The panel grappled with the question of whether people in potentially high-exposure risk occupations should get a booster, but ultimately decided against recommending it.

Panel members indicated they wanted to avoid giving a recommendation that was too broad, since there was not enough evidence that vaccinated people under the age of 50 were losing protection against severe disease and hospitalization.

But in a decision announced after midnight on Friday morning, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky broke with the advisory committee and signed off on a broader policy.

Starting immediately, anyone between the ages of 18 and 64 who is at increased risk of COVID-19 “exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting” can get a third dose.

Experts said Walensky’s decision will make boosters available for health care workers, teachers, grocery store workers and other frontline workers. President Biden on Friday said there could be 60 million Americans who fit the bill.

But essentially, anyone who wants a third dose can get one, even though they may not technically qualify.

“There’s going to be confusion. If we are going to create guidelines that are essentially making the vaccine available to almost everyone, the simplest solution is, make it available to everyone,” said Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at NYU and Bellevue Hospital. “The best public health programs are the ones that are simple and easy to understand and clear, and the more complexity you build into it, the more difficult it is to roll out.”

Gounder, who advised the Biden transition team on COVID-19, has been critical of the administration’s fervent push for boosters, and said the evidence for a third dose based on occupation was mixed at best.

“You have to step back and ask the question, why is it that we’re vaccinating people in high risk settings? Is it because they as individuals are at high risk, or is it because it would be disruptive to the workplace,” Gounder said.

Breakthrough infections can be disruptive, especially for health workers. But if the goal of a booster shot is mainly to allay fears and anxieties among frontline workers, Gounder said, “there just isn’t data to back that a young healthy health care worker is actually at risk.”

Expanding the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster to frontline workers is still narrower than what the administration envisioned.

Last month, Biden and top health officials, including Acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Janet Woodcock, Walensky and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced that a booster shot program for all adults would begin the week of Sept. 20, well before the FDA and CDC had examined the evidence.

The administration initially wanted people to receive boosters beginning eight months after their second shot, in an effort to reduce transmission amid the spread of the delta variant. But the scientific advisory panels decided on six months.

While officials were careful to say the booster program was contingent on the FDA and CDC giving the green light, the move was criticized by scientists inside and outside the government. They argued there wasn’t enough evidence that showed protection against severe illness and hospitalization dropped to levels that warranted a booster.

During a White House briefing on Friday, Walensky acknowledged there isn’t any way for states or the federal government to ensure that people are adhering to the eligibility criteria.

“What we are doing now is self-attestation,” she said.

In deciding to give boosters based on occupation, Walensky aligned CDC policy with the FDA’s authorization. But neither agency specifically defined who qualifies as a high risk worker.

Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said states are not expecting additional clarity from the federal government.

“That’s going to be complicating, because it’s not clear. I think everybody knows that health care workers are in that mix … but there’s all kinds of other occupations or institutional settings” that could meet the definition, Plescia said.

Adding further confusion, a third dose of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines was authorized in mid-August for people with severely weakened immune systems.

The administration’s initial plan called for boosters of all three vaccines to begin at the same time, but it wasn’t clear until recent weeks that only Pfizer would be able to submit clinical evidence in time.

States have been preparing for the green light from the federal government, but Plescia said it would have been easier if all three shots were authorized at the same time, or if states had flexibility to mix shots from different drug makers.

While there’s no evidence about mixing a third Pfizer dose with two doses of the Moderna vaccine or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson shot, Plescia said state health officials will have a difficult time conveying that to members of the public clamoring for boosters.

Those overpromises now create a messaging challenge, as state and federal officials need to manage expectations.=

“It’s much easier to make a political announcement than it is to do the hard work of analyzing science and making evidence based recommendations,” said Richard Besser, a former acting CDC director.

“The fact that we won’t have recommendations for people who received a Moderna and J&J because the companies haven’t gotten the data in …  that’s gonna cause heartburn all over the place,” said Besser, who is now president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“People didn’t have a choice of what vaccine they got. They’re all effective, but only one of them can get boosted right now.”

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

232,611,641

Deaths:

4,762,160

Recovered:

209,246,990
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

September 27 (GMT)

Updates

  • 3,007 new cases and 94

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Scale up carbon dioxide removal to achieve climate targets, urge United Nations regional leaders.

24 September 2021

In a joint statement, the Executive Secretaries of the United Nations Regional Commissions have called for enhanced regional cooperation to develop nature-based and technological solutions for capturing CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and ensuring its long-term storage.

This week’s High-level Dialogue on Energy will be the first global gathering on energy mandated by the UN General Assembly since 1981. It gives all member states an opportunity to demonstrate their commitments and actions to achieve clean and affordable energy for all by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Time is running out to avert a climate emergency. Nations around the world are failing to live up to their objectives and commitments on sustainable energy. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stated that climate change is “widespread, rapid, and intensifying”. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres called it “code red for humanity”.

First of all, we must protect our precious carbon sinks, which include forests, oceans and wetlands. Second, carbon dioxide removal is essential if the world is to achieve its universally agreed sustainable development goals. Carbon dioxide removal includes nature-based approaches such as reforestation and technology-based approaches such as capture of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants for underground storage or re-use.

All countries should set clear decarbonization targets. In addition, governments and politicians must be empowered to support ambitious and immediate carbon removal targets.

Developed countries should put a fair price on the carbon stocks held as global goods in rainforests and peatlands, including the Amazon and Congo Basin, mangrove and coral reefs ecosystems and ocean, and support efforts to increase the capacity of those carbon sinks which are at risk of becoming carbon sources with increasing land degradation driven by climate change.While countries must continue to increase ambition under the Paris Agreement to cut emissions, data show that fossil fuels will in some ways remain part of the energy mix in many countries for years to come. Some industries such as cement, steel and iron production, and transport cannot be easily decarbonized. Nations need to institute favorable conditions for investment in carbon dioxide removal and develop the needed legal, financial and regulatory frameworks in collaboration with infrastructure and banking institutions.

Industrialized nations should retrofit existing infrastructure now. In coastal regions, nature-based solutions such as mangrove forests can be increased to support carbon dioxide net emissions targets and to alleviate the effects of extreme weather events. Patent waivers on next-generation climate technologies could facilitate investment in modernizing global energy infrastructure.

Carbon dioxide removal is not considered universally as a viable approach to climate change mitigation.  The UN Regional Commissions can play an instrumental role in convening stakeholders to address existing gaps in knowledge and governance in the context of regional and national specificities and address the region-specific implications and trade-offs of global action on carbon dioxide removal. Sharing best practices among nations with respect to carbon dioxide removal improves the opportunity to build inclusive sustainable livelihoods.

In developing countries, carbon dioxide removal activities, whether nature based or technological, should also feature as part of the effort to provide sustainable livelihoods that can accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

A circular economy approach towards carbon needs to be embraced by societies to be able to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero GHG emissions by 2060-2070 to keep the global warming within 1.5 ℃  Having a sound understanding of the potential contributions of natural and technological carbon dioxide removal would underpin the call for a radical transformation of production and consumption patterns. In our everyday lives, the systemic changes required will see high performance buildings that re-use carbon dioxide becoming commonplace alongside stronger commitments on methane management and socio-environmental-economic contracts in resource management. These actions will integrate quality of life aspirations with environmental stewardship to deliver climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Enhancing governance of carbon dioxide removal could provide an excellent opportunity to focus and align regional and international efforts to attain global circular carbon economy. By working together, carbon dioxide removal has the potential to become a critical component of viable climate policy options for regions now and in the decades to come.

 

Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Armida Salsiah Alishahbana, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC)
Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commissions for Western Asia (UNESCWA)
Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

 

A virtual dialogue on “Challenges and Opportunities for Harnessing Climate & SDG Synergies: the role of carbon dioxide removal” was broadcast as an official side-event to the High-Level Dialogue on Energy on 24 September at 07:00-08:15 EST.

This event was organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) In cooperation with Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), fellow United Nations’ Economic Commissions and the International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development.

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#7 Domino League: Defending champion Tabernacle to face former champion Lodge in opener

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, September 24, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — When the 26th edition of Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League opens on Tuesday September 28 at four venues, defending champion Tabernacle Domino Club will square it off with former champion team, Lodge Domino Club.

The two teams will meet at the Tabernacle Community Centre in what is being viewed as a do-or-die one-off encounter, as this year’s tournament will see the teams meeting in only one round. This is as a result of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic which delayed the start of the league.

Executive Members of Constituency Number 7 Domino League R-L: Vice President Mr Simeon Liburd, President Mr Calvin Farrell, PRO Mr Allington Berridge, Floor Member Mr Steve Gilbert, and Treasurer Mr Keithley Blanchette.

Fourteen teams are taking part in this year’s tournament and the draw of game fixtures was done on Thursday September 23 at the old Lodge Community Centre in Lodge Project.

Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League is sponsored by Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, and Area Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Seven, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris.

The meeting was chaired by President of Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League Executive Committee, Mr Calvin Farrell, and attended by Deputy President Mr Simeon Liburd, Treasurer Mr Keithley Blanchette, PRO Mr Allington Berridge, and Floor Member Mr Steven Gilbert.

Clubs represented at the meeting were Christ Church, Lodge, Guinness, Small Corner, Parsons, Unstoppable, Phillips, Unity, Saddlers, and Mansion. Not represented but contacted via telephone were Ottley’s, Sylvers, Tabernacle, and Molineux.

Initially three venues were going to host the games, and with two games being played at each centre each night, it meant that one game would not be played. To accommodate that anomaly, a much smaller fourth venue, Cuban Bar in Lodge Project, was added to host the seventh game on each night of play.

The other venues are the Edgar Gilbert Sporting Complex pavilion in Molineux, and the old Lodge Community Centre in Lodge Project.

Another former champion team, Parsons Domino Club will meet Small Corner Domino Club for the second game to be played at the Tabernacle Community Centre. All games start at 7:00 p.m. and unlike in the previous years, there will be no grace period. The teams must report at the appointed time.

The two games at the Edgar Gilbert Sporting Complex pavilion in Molineux will feature Molineux Domino Club coming up against Ottley’s Domino Club; and the Christ Church Domino Club versus Mansion Domino Club games.

The old Lodge Community Centre will host the Saddlers Domino Club vs. Phillips Domino Club, and the Sylvers Domino Club vs. Guinness Domino Club games. The seventh game, to be played at Cuban Bar, will feature another former champion team, Unity Domino Club, who will come up against Unstoppable Domino Club.

Club representatives R-L: Mr Zeyn Pencheon (Christ Church), Mr O’Niel Thomas (Lodge) Mr Keithley Gaskin (Guinness), Mr Norris Sharry (Small Corner), Mr Ashton Williams (Parsons), and Mr Samuel Wilson (Unstoppable).

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