A court in Nicaragua has found seven critics of the government of President Daniel Ortega guilty of conspiracy in what human rights groups have denounced as a “political trial”.
Among those convicted are three opposition leaders who had planned to run in the 2021 election.
Dozens of government critics were detained in the run-up to the poll, in which Mr Ortega won a fifth term.
The prosecution has asked for sentences ranging between eight and 13 years.
Those convicted are:
Juan Sebastián Chamorro, presidential hopeful
Arturo Cruz, former ambassador to the US and presidential hopeful
Félix Maradiaga, presidential hopeful
José Pallais, former deputy foreign minister
José Adán Aguerri, business leader
Tamara Dávila, activist with opposition group Unamos
Violeta Granera, sociologist and opposition activist
In a trial held at El Chipote prison behind closed doors, the judges found the seven guilty of “conspiracy to undermine [Nicaragua’s] national integrity”.
The rights group Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights said the seven were innocent: “The regime convicted them of crimes they have not committed.”
They are not the first to be convicted in a wave of trials against opponents of the Ortega government.
Earlier this month, two of the most outspoken critics of the president – Dora Téllez and Lesther Alemán – were also found guilty of conspiracy in trials dismissed by rights groups as a “sham”.
Less than two weeks ago, another jailed opposition leader, Hugo Torres, died while awaiting trial.
Hugo Torres died on 12 February while in detentioOLOLO
Following his death, the regional body Organization of American States (OAS) said it “categorically condemns the persecution and arbitrary detention” of Nicaraguans and urged the immediate release of “all political prisoners”.
The government’s crackdown on the opposition accelerated in the months before November’s election and has not let up since.
At first, those targeted were longstanding political rivals of the president.
However, it did not take long for police to also arrested those who had once been comrades in arms of Mr Ortega but had turned critical of what they said were his “authoritarian tendencies”.
They were detained under a controversial treason law which the government argues protects Nicaragua from “coup-mongers” financed by “imperial powers” aiming to overthrow President Ortega.
Explosions seen inside Kyiv as Ukrainians flee the capital – video
Fighting has reached the outskirts of Kyiv, following a night of missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital to prepare for a major Russian assault on the city.
Heavy gunfire and explosions could be heard in a residential district of the capital on Friday morning and Ukrainian officials have warned that Russian military vehicles are approaching the city from the north-west.
The Ukrainian defence ministry said Russian forces had entered the Obolon district of Kyiv, about six miles from the centre of the city. In a statement posted online, it advised residents to report the movements of Russian troops and to “prepare molotov cocktails in order to neutralise the enemy”.
Two Kyiv apartment buildings were engulfed in flames on Thursday night after they were hit by falling debris from an aircraft that was shot down. Ukraine’s emergencies ministry has also released photographs showing buildings destroyed by shelling in Starobilsk in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accused Vladimir Putin of targeting civilian as well as military sites.
“They say that civilian objects are not a target for them. It is a lie; they do not distinguish in which areas to operate,” he said.
Zelenskiy made the claim in a televised address early on Friday, in which he vowed to continue to defend his country. “Russia will have to talk to us sooner or later about how to end hostilities and stop this invasion. The sooner the conversation begins, the smaller Russia’s losses will be.”
The president, who also criticised world leaders for “watching from afar”, spoke after large explosions were heard in the capital, and after a warning from US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that “all evidence suggests that Russia intends to encircle and threaten” the city. Zelenskiy has vowed to stay in the capital.
Zelenskiy said missile strikes resumed at 4am and images soon emerged of damaged and burning tower blocks amid footage containing the sound of air raid sirens. Early on Friday, Ukraine’s military said it had shot down a Russia aircraft over the capital.
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said it is the view of British intelligence that Russia intends to invade the whole of Ukraine, but its army failed to deliver on the first day of its invasion.
The international criminal court (ICC) said on Friday it might investigate possible war crimes, though did not provide any further details.
Ukrainian troops are battling Russian forces advancing toward Kyiv as part of the biggest invasion of a European state since the second world war. “We believe Moscow has developed plans to inflict widespread human rights abuses – and potentially worse – on the Ukrainian people,” Blinken told a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday.
Decision to invade Ukraine raises questions over Putin’s ‘sense of reality’
In an earlier overnight video address, Zelenskiy said 137 people had died since Putin launched an invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday, with hundreds of others injured, and claimed that Russia had named him “target number one”.
He warned: “My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian president also voiced frustration after speaking to the heads of Nato member states. “We have been left alone to defend our state,” Zelenskiy said. “Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of Nato membership? Everyone is afraid.”
Asked if he was worried about Zelenskiy’s safety, Blinken told CBS: “To the best of my knowledge, President Zelenskiy remains in Ukraine at his post, and of course we’re concerned for the safety of all of our friends in Ukraine – government officials and others.”
Ukraine announced it had lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear site near the country’s northern border with Belarus hours after Russian troops began an invasion of its neighbour on Thursday, and the White House said it was “outraged” by credible reports that Russian forces were holding facility staff there hostage.
“This unlawful and dangerous hostage-taking, which could upend the routine civil service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facilities, is obviously incredibly alarming and gravely concerning,” the US press secretary Jen Psaki said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was following the situation “with grave concern” and appealed for maximum restraint to avoid any action that might put Ukraine’s nuclear facilities at risk.
The west scrambled to respond to Putin’s aggression with a range of new sanctions against Moscow, with the US also announcing it would send 7,000 more troops to Germany to shore up Nato’s eastern borders. But even after the invasion there were divisions on the strength of the response, as Russian forces advanced undeterred by the threats.
The EU faced furious remonstrations from Kyiv after Europe’s leaders looked set to hold back from imposing the potentially most damaging sanction on Russia: blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said European and US politicians would have “blood on their hands” if they failed to impose the heaviest toll on Moscow by cutting Russia from the Swift payments system.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU was united after discussions of the five-pillar sanctions package targeting the financial, energy, transport and export industries and visa controls.
She said: “Today’s events are a watershed moment for Europe. Bombs are falling on innocent women, men and children. They fear for their lives and many are dying. All of this happens in 2022 – in the very heart of Europe. President Putin chose to bring back war to Europe.
“Let me stress that these events, indeed, mark the beginning of a new era. We must be very clear in our analysis: Putin is trying to subjugate a friendly European country. And he is trying to redraw the maps of Europe by force. He must, and he will, fail.”
Leaders of the 30 Nato allied nations will meet on Friday, the US president, Joe Biden, confirmed, as they come under pressure to go further than the two rounds of sanctions already announced, after what the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, described as a “dark day in the history of our continent”.
The United Nations security council will also vote on Friday on a draft resolution condemning Russia’s invasion and requiring Moscow’s immediate withdrawal. However, Moscow can veto the measure, and it was unclear how China, which has rejected calling Russia’s move an invasion, would vote.
Looks like non-mRNA vaccines can be as good as Pfizer and Moderna in certain scenarios
by Charles Schmidt
A health worker in Mexico City prepares a Sputnik V dose during a mass vaccination effort against COVID-19. A new study in Mexico shows that non-mRNA vaccines like the Russian version can be as effective as mRNA vaccines like Pfizer if the patient has previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Luis Barron/Eyepix Group/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
NPR- More than 20 COVID vaccines are in use globally, each one based on the ancestral coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that surfaced in Wuhan, China, over two years ago. Among them, mRNA vaccines are believed to offer the best protection against severe disease.
“It’s been clear for quite a while that none of them is as good as the mRNA vaccines that dominate the U.S. landscape,” says Nathaniel Landau, a virologist at NYU Langone Health in New York, referring to the Pfizer and Moderna shots.
But a new preprint study shows that other vaccines can be as effective as mRNA shots when given to people who’ve had a prior SARs-CoV-2 infection.
For these individuals “it doesn’t matter which vaccine they get,” says Theodora Hatziiouannou, a virologist at The Rockefeller University in New York who helped lead the study. “They will likely be protected against [reinfection from] all the current variants.”
During the study, scientists collected blood samples from 197 fully-immunized people in Mexico, where five types of COVID vaccines have been deployed so far. Roughly half these individuals were infected prior to vaccination, and the researchers had records of which type of shot they were each given.
Then the team measured how well immune cells and the molecules they produce in those blood samples could recognize and bind to portions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — specifically its spike proteins. Spike proteins jut from SARS-CoV-2 like studs on a tire and hook onto human cell receptors to initiate an infection. When the immune components are able to bind to these proteins and block them, the virus is unable to enter a cell and is therefore unable to replicate.
The researchers tested the immune response to spike proteins from the ancestral coronavirus as well from newer variants, including omicron BA.1. The newer omicron BA.2 variant had only recently surfaced when the study began and was not evaluated
To compare how well the vaccines worked to prevent viral spike proteins from binding to cells, the team zeroed in on two of the immune system’s key components.
First, are neutralizing antibodies — they provide a frontline defense that deflect spikes from their human cell target.
Second are antibody-producing B cells that provide long-term reinforcements. These cells retain a memory of the virus’ spike protein and can rapidly generate new and even better antibodies against it long after the front-line neutralizing antibodies have waned.
Analyzing the blood samples revealed two sets of results. In people who hadn’t yet been infected with SARs-CoV-2, mRNA shots elicited the best anti-viral responses from antibodies and memory B cells. But the strength of those responses dwindled a bit more with each successive variant of the virus. And while mRNA retained a consistent lead against the variants, neither the mRNA shots nor the other vaccines could mount appreciable responses to prevent infection by omicron — although according to Moore, other immune components called T cells can provide added protection from severe disease. T cells were not measured in the study.
In people who had been infected with SARs-CoV-2 and were then vaccinated, the outcome was completely different: All the vaccines provided a major immunological boost against re-infection, and the differences between the mRNA shots and the other ones “began to blur,” says John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York who was not involved in the study.
Of the five vaccines tested, four produced nearly identical immune reactions. This group included Pfizer’s mRNA shot as well a shot made by AstraZeneca, the Sputnik V shot made by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia, and one from Cansino, a Chinese company. A fifth vaccine, CoronaVac, made by Sinovac Biotech in China, was the worst performer, though still protective to some degree.
These vaccines work in different ways. Pfizer’s mRNA is a lab-created molecule that teaches cells to recognize and respond to future infections. AstraZeneca’s vaccine, as well as the Sputnik V and Cansino shots, also deliver genetic instructions for responding to the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 but in a harmless cold virus.
The Sinovac vaccine, meanwhile, is made of killed SARs-CoV-2 particles.
Paul Bieniasz, a virologist at The Rockefeller University and a corresponding author on the paper, says Pfizer’s mRNA shot performs best among uninfected people because it exposes the immune system to more spike protein than the other vaccines and in a form that neutralizing antibodies can more easily bind to.
But why do the different vaccines perform comparably after an infection? Bieniasz says the explanation lies in how memory B cells prepare for a future viral attack. After an infection, the cells go through a training process (called affinity maturation) that teaches them how to generate better antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 – ones that bind more tightly, not only to the variant that they were first introduced to but also future variants the immune has never seen before. After a previously infected person is vaccinated, “those [trained] B cells spring into action,” Bieniasz says.
The study’s point that vaccinating after a case of COVID provides protection against future infections is supported by a newly-published Israeli study. Researchers found that unvaccinated individuals who had recovered from COVID and were then given the Pfizer vaccine had significantly lowered reinfection risks after getting a Pfizer vaccine.
Summing up the two findings, Moore says “The Israeli paper tells you that vaccinating convalescent people has real-world benefits and the Rockefeller paper tells you the vaccine you use [either mRNA or non-mRNA] is inconsequential — you get the benefits from each.”
Furthermore, “a single vaccine dose was sufficient to confer benefit [in the Israeli study],” Moore says, which suggests that among people who have already been infected, the standard two-dose regime is not necessary. Halving the two-shot regimen for previously infected people “would save a lot of doses and hence needs to be seriously considered,” Moore says.
Evidence that non-mRNA vaccines are powerfully protective for the vast numbers of people with prior infections is welcome news, especially in countries where those shots have been widely adopted. “People are going to wind up having similar immunity by various routes,” Bieniasz says. And these other vaccines have a lot to contribute to how they accumulate that immunity.”
Charlie Schmidt is an award-winning freelance science writer based in Portland, Maine. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Undark, the Atlantic, Science Magazine, Nature and The Washington Post.
A masked commuter heads down an escalator at Waterloo station Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex/Shutterstock
From Feb.24, people who test positive for coronavirus are no longer required to self-isolate by law in England. Free mass testing for the general public in England will end on 1 April.
The change is part of the government’s new “living with Covid” plan, announced earlier this week, which will see the end of all pandemic regulations
Five people share their reactions below.
‘If I knew I had Covid, I would not go out with it’
“I wouldn’t go out if I tested positive for Covid. I’d worry about spreading it to people who could suffer dire consequences. There’s still a high death rate and a lot of people who are compromised, who haven’t got much freedom to be on public transport or in the workplace. So if I knew I had Covid, I would certainly not go out and about with it.
“I have the luxury of taking that view, because my employer would accommodate it and I also have sick pay. It just worries me that other people won’t have that choice.
“I think, by and large, people are trying to be decent and mutually protect each other. In a way, we’re being exhorted to drop that, but I think people will continue to do their best.” Kathy, 59, administrator, London
‘I am worried about people at work testing positive’
“I’ve been shielding for two years, but think I will be returning to the office part-time in the middle of next month. I am worried about people at work testing positive. The current plan is that I will be working a good distance from everyone else at a desk right beside a large window I can open. I will probably remain masked, too. But the problem will be after April, when people won’t know if they are infected.
“My greatest anxiety is about commuting on public transport and being in close contact with unmasked people. I also have to deal with members of the public in my role, but I have been assured that I will not be required to meet them face to face. My employer has been quite understanding so far and if the work from home guidance hadn’t been withdrawn then I think they would have kept me at home. Harry*, 34, working in local government, Durham, who is considered clinically extremely vulnerable
‘I’ve never been testing’
“I’ve not been testing and never have. The only time was when I came back from Spain because I had to in order to travel. I want to stress that I’m not anti-vaxx, as I’ve had all my jabs.
“It’s all madness. This ridiculous desire to test for Covid is insanity and has really affected people’s mental health and should’ve stopped a long time ago. If I’m unwell, whether it’s with Covid or the flu, I will just stay at home until I feel better. It’s the way I’ve done it in the past and I seem to have survived.
“I know asymptomatic transmission of Covid is possible, but it seems to be very, very unlikely. The only time I would really have an issue with it is if someone came out with a streaming cold when they should be at home.” Norma, Cotswolds
‘I wouldn’t want to pass any illness on to anyone else’
“I guess I would fall into the more cautious spectrum, in terms of Covid. And so, I’ve been pretty careful all the way through. I don’t think I’ve had it, and I don’t think I would want to go out if I was ill, let alone the risks to the rest of the population.
“If I contracted Covid, I wouldn’t be wanting to pass it to anyone else. I wouldn’t want to pass any illness on to anyone else now we’ve gone through this.
“I received an email from my work today saying that, even though the rules have changed, the company will continue to follow the guidance. That sort of sensible, head-screwed-on approach is, as I see it, the way forward for the time being until something changes. Ben, 42, Bristol, record label employee
‘People aren’t going to be aware that they’re positive’
“There’s no way I would go out infecting other people, and I think everyone should be supported to make that choice. I just feel that it’s very unfair. We’re in a situation where we had children perhaps later than we would have liked, which meant we’ve been able to pay off our mortgage. We can make decisions that better protect my mother, ourselves and society.
“Others aren’t in that position. Statutory sick pay is just [under] £14 a day. Testing is going to be something that people have to pay for. People aren’t going to be aware that they’re positive, and they’re not going to be able to afford to stay at home even if they want to. The message is ‘Just get on with life. It’s just like the flu.’ It’s clearly not. It’s clearly still causing a lot of damage. It just seems barbaric really.” Sarah, Nottingham, 44, teacher and stay-at-home parent.
The three former Minneapolis police officers who are accused of violating the civil rights of George Floyd, a Black man who died after he was pinned down by a white Minneapolis officer for close to 10 minutes, were found guilty by a jury on Thursday.
The former officers — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — were each charged with deprivation of rights under color of law for depriving the right of medical care to Floyd while he was pinned down by their colleague, officer Derek Chauvin.
Kueng and Thao were also charged with failing to intervene when excessive force was used by Chauvin to stop Floyd.
George Floyd
A sentencing date for the three officers has not yet been set, but, until then, all three will be allowed to remain free on bond, The New York Times reported.
All three could face up to life in prison.
“Today’s verdict recognizes that two police officers violated the Constitution by failing to intervene to stop another officer from killing George Floyd, and three officers violated the Constitution by failing to provide aid to Mr. Floyd in time to prevent his death,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
“The Justice Department will continue to seek accountability for law enforcement officers whose actions, or failure to act, violate their constitutional duty to protect the civil rights of our citizens. George Floyd should be alive today,” he continued.
During the encounter between police and Floyd, Floyd’s legs and torso were restrained by Lane and Kueng, according to CNN. Thao testified during the case that he was in a roadway nearby to serve as crowd control.
Chauvin, meanwhile, pinned his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes, killing Floyd. Footage of his death circulated online and sparked protests over criminal justice and police brutality across the United States.
During the trial, prosecutors accused the three of doing nothing to stop Floyd from being killed, saying that officers “directly contributed to [Floyd’s] death and failed to intervene to stop the senseless murder” and citing bystander footage.
Thao testified that while he had heard Floyd say “I can’t breathe,” he said that he could not see what would have stopped Floyd from being able to breathe from his vantage point on the roadway. He also claimed that because officers had not tried to perform CPR on him, he presumed he was not in cardiac arrest.
The former officers’ defenses of their conduct also included the claims that they had deferred to the seniority of Chauvin, having had little experience themselves — both Kueng and Lane were only days into their new job — and that training that had not been consistent, according to CNN.
Civil rights activists applauded the decision on Thursday.
“The convictions of the 3 officers on Federal Civil Rights charges is a huge victory for civil rights and police reform. It sends a clear definitive message to police they cannot cooperate w/ police criminality,” the Rev. Al Sharpton tweeted.
A South Florida grand jury has indicted a veteran police officer from Jamaica for importing cocaine into the United States with the intent to distribute it.
JCF said Shelian Cherine Allen was arrested by members of the Homeland Security Investigation team. She has been charged for alleged wire fraud, mail fraud, and drug trafficking.
According to the Department of Justice, on February 3, 42-year-old Shelian Cherine Allen, a Jamaican, arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from Montego Bay, Jamaica.
An inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed Allen had a package of cocaine in her vagina and a packet of cocaine in each of her bra cups. Allen also had 90 pellets of packaged cocaine inside her stomach, which she had swallowed. CBP officers took Allen to a local hospital, where she expelled the 90 pellets.
In total, Allen had approximately 1,350 grams of cocaine on or inside her body when she entered the United States: about 234 in her vagina, about 174 grams in her bra, and about 942 grams inside her stomach.
At the time of her arrest, Allen was a law enforcement officer employed by the Jamaica Constabulary Force for the last 18 years. The JCF later issued a statement saying that Allen had been suspended.
The indictment charges Allen with two counts: importation of five hundred (500) grams or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute five hundred (500) grams or more of cocaine.
If convicted, she faces up to 40 years in prison on each count.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and…Read More
Jamaica Observer– AS the Russian war drums continue to beat around the Eastern Europe-based Ukraine, the Jamaican Government has moved to allay fears that it has abandoned it citizens, mainly medical students, in that country.
Responding to questions at a post-Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday, Robert Morgan, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for information, argued that every effort had been made to assist the students who were identified.
According to Morgan, seven Jamaican students were scheduled to leave Ukraine on Tuesday with two scheduled to leave today.
“We can also confirm that we have tried to facilitate as much as possible, the interest of the students in the Ukraine but we have also faced challenges,” said Morgan.
“While our staff, and the foreign service, have been making efforts, the reality is that we have not been able to contact all of them. We have reached out [and] while some have responded, some have not.
“The public should remember that at the last [post-Cabinet] briefing we mentioned that the students would be able to transit through Germany without the need for a Schengen visa if they are transiting within a 24-hour period,” added Morgan.
His comments came hours before a media release from Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, in which she underscored that the Government had made a special offer to assist Jamaican students seeking to return home, and that ultimately no students had utilised it.
“On February 12, 2022, our offer of assistance was communicated to the students by our embassy in Berlin, in the form of a loan for airfare to Jamaica, whereby the Government would book and pay for the tickets for their return to Jamaica. Although seven students had requested assistance, ultimately they decided not to go this route,” said Johnson Smith.
“The seven Jamaican students who had indicated their interest in accepting an offer of support from us to purchase tickets for their return home, decided against returning to Jamaica.
“We understand that while some students are making private arrangements to travel to other cities in the region until the situation in Ukraine improves, others are still cautiously monitoring the situation. We are aware of eight students who have left thus far, with an additional five travelling from Ukraine over the course of this week,” added Johnson Smith, in an update of the numbers earlier provided by Morgan.
She noted the cancellation of flights between Ukraine and Germany and warned that this has increased the complexity of travel, should students still choose to return to Jamaica.
“We have shared the options available to them, for example, through Turkey, and have highlighted our concern that travel may become even more challenging as events unfold and would even become impossible should Ukraine’s airspace be closed entirely. Our message to them has been that they need to take immediate action if they intend to leave,” declared Johnson Smith.
According to Johnson Smith, the Government of Jamaica remains hopeful that diplomatic efforts will yield a de-escalation of tension, but noted with concern the intensification of tension in the region.
“In the meantime, the ministry remains actively engaged with the students as well as with their family members in Jamaica. The ministry may be contacted via e-mail at co******@*******ov.jmor at co************@*******ov.jm, or via WhatsApp at 876-469-4058,” added Johnson Smith
It is estimated that just over 40 Jamaicans are privately pursuing tertiary studies in Ukraine.
ADELANTO, Calif., Feb 23 (Reuters) – A group of American truckers began a cross-country drive from California to Washington on Wednesday to protest coronavirus restrictions, taking a cue from demonstrations that paralyzed Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, for weeks.
More than two dozen 18-wheeler trucks, along with some 50 pickups and recreational vehicles, left Adelanto, California, about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Los Angeles. The self-styled ‘People’s Convoy’ is beginning an 11-day trek to the Beltway, a major highway encircling the U.S. capital, to demand an end to COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements.
“This is for our freedoms, our human rights. Enough is enough,” said Ron Coleman, 61, a trucker from Reno, Nevada, as he prepared to make the 2,500-mile (4,000-km) journey.
Coleman, a trucker for 45 years, said the group was also pushing for the end to the emergency powers that U.S. politicians have used to enact pandemic-related restrictions.
Preparations are being made in Washington for the expected arrival of the convoy and other similar protests in the coming days. The Pentagon said it had approved 400 National Guard troops from the District of Columbia, who would not carry weapons, to help at traffic posts from Saturday through March 7.
About 50 tactical vehicles were also approved to be placed at traffic posts. In addition, up to 300 National Guard troops from outside of Washington will assist at traffic posts if needed.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “confident” in the security plans to protect Washington around the time of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech next Tuesday.
The People’s Convoy is expected to arrive in the Washington area on March 5 but there are no plans to go into the District of Columbia proper, according to a statement.
Brian Brase, a truck driver and one of the organizers, said regardless of where the trucks stop, “we’re not going anywhere” until the group’s demands are met.
Truckers and their supporters start to gather before a convoy leaves the following morning bound for the nation’s capital to protest against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine mandates, in Adelanto, California, U.S., February 22, 2022. REUTERS/David Swanson
Brase said he expected thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, would participate. Organizers bill the convoy as nonpartisan, trucker-led, and supported by a wide range of ethnic minorities and religious faiths.
The truckers are making their demands even as most U.S. states have already eased many restrictions. In California, where the convoy begins, the state lifted universal mask requirements last week while requiring masks for vaccinated people only in high-risk areas such as public transit, schools and healthcare settings.
PENNSYLVANIA CONVOY
Another convoy, made up of a single 18-wheeler and a handful of pickup trucks and SUVs, left Scranton, Pennsylvania – Biden’s hometown – on Wednesday morning and was headed to the Beltway sometime during the afternoon.
Organizer Bob Bolus told Washington television station WJLA that his convoy has no intention of breaking laws or blocking traffic, but warned this could happen if their demands regarding pandemic mandates and the cost of fuel are not meant.
“They are not going to intimidate us and they are not going to threaten us. We’re the power, not them,” said Bolus, a trucker who owns a tow truck company.
In Canada, protests choked streets in Ottawa for more than three weeks and blocked the busiest land crossing between Canada and the United States for six days.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked rarely used emergency powers to end the protests, and Canadian police restored a sense of normalcy in Ottawa over the weekend.
In the United States, new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations due to the coronavirus have plummeted from all-time highs hit a month ago, though nearly 2,000 people per day are still dying from the disease and the number of total deaths is closing in on 1 million since the pandemic began.
Reporting by Omar Younis and David Swanson in Adelanto; Additional reporting and writing by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Jonathan Oatis and Rosalba O’Brien
MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday snapped back at U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken after he expressed concern over a spate of journalist killings in Mexico, saying that Blinken was misinformed.
Blinken, in a Twitter post on Tuesday, said he joined “those calling for greater accountability and protections for Mexican journalists.”
“What he’s saying is not true,” Lopez Obrador said at a regular news conference. “Of course, it’s very unfortunate that there are murders of journalists. … In all cases we’re doing something about it, there is no impunity, these are not state crimes.”
A string of Mexican journalists have been killed this year, prompting U.S. lawmakers to pressure Mexico to step up protections. read more
“The high number of journalists killed in Mexico this year and the ongoing threats they face are concerning,” Blinken said in his Twitter post.
“My heart goes out to the loved ones of those who gave their lives for the truth,” said Blinken.
According to human rights organization Article 19, around 145 journalists were killed in Mexico from 2000 to 2021, making it one of the deadliest countries in the world for people involved in such work.
“He is misinformed because otherwise he would be acting in bad faith,” said Lopez Obrador, who on Monday urged the U.S. government to stop funding groups in Mexico that are critical of his administration.
Lopez Obrador called that financial support a “shame” and a breach of Mexico’s sovereignty. read more
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard later shared on Twitter a letter he sent to Blinken, highlighting illegal firearms trafficked from the United States which he said may be used in the murder of journalistEs.
“Mexico and the United States have a mechanism for dialogue and cooperation … in which we advance on various topics of interest such as the illicit trafficking of firearms, which are used in most of the homicides committed in Mexico, and that presumably were also used against journalists,” Ebrard said in the letter.
The Mexican government launched a lawsuit last year against several American arms manufacturers, alleging they knew their practices had encouraged illegal arms trafficking into Mexico, helping to cause thousands of gangland deaths. The arms industry has rejected Mexico’s allegations. read more
Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Raul Cortes Fernandez; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Leslie Adler
HAVANA, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Cuba, a close ally of Russia, has sharply criticized the United States for imposing “the progressive expansion of NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation” and called for a diplomatic solution to preserve international peace.
One of the worst crises in Europe in decades is unfolding as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after recognizing them as independent, prompting fresh sanctions from Western nations including the United States.
In a statement late on Tuesday, Cuba’s foreign ministry said the United States, Havana’s long-time rival, had ramped up threats against Putin, aggravating the crisis. The Cuban statement did not specifically mention Russian advances into the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.
“The US government has been threatening Russia for weeks and manipulating the international community about the dangers of an ‘imminent massive invasion’ of Ukraine,” the Cuban statement said. “It has supplied weapons and military technology, deployed troops to several countries in the region, applied unilateral and unjust sanctions, and threatened other reprisals.
Communist-run Cuba for decades has been an ally of Russia and the Soviet Union before that, with close economic ties.
Cuba’s statement came just hours after Russia agreed to postpone debt payments owed to it by Cuba until 2027. Cuba’s foreign ministry said last week the two countries would deepen ties and explore collaboration in transportation, energy, industry and banking following a visit from Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s Duma, or lower house of parliament, said during a visit to Cuba Wednesday that the United States was seeking to suppress both countries with unwarranted sanctions, according to a translated statement broadcast on Cuban state television.
“They don’t want to see a strong Russia, they don’t want Russia to be self-sufficient, and the same for Cuba, they don’t want to see a free people, they don’t want to see an independent country,” Volodin told Cuban lawmakers.
The Cuban statement on Tuesday said “constructive and respectful dialogue” was necessary to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
“We call on the United States and NATO to seriously and realistically address the well-founded claims for security guarantees of the Russian Federation, which has the right to defend itself,” the statement said.
“The determination of the United States to impose the progressive expansion of NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation constitutes a threat to the national security of this country and to regional and international peace,” it added.
Reporting by Dave Sherwood in Havana; Editing by Will Dunham and Gerry Doyle
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