Tag Archives: caribbean

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Bolivia’s Aymara Women Train to Fight Domestic Violence

Bolivian Aymara women learn self-defence during a taekwondo class of the Warmi Power social project, on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia April 23, 2021. Picture taken April 23, 2021. Laura Roca/Warmi Power/Handout via REUTERS
A Bolivian Aymara woman poses for a photograph with Sports Psychologist Laura Roca (L) and Personal Development and Women's coach Kimberly Nosa (R) of the Warmi Power social project during a taekwondo class to learn self-defence, on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia April 23, 2021. Picture taken April 23, 2021. Laura Roca/Warmi Power/Handout via REUTERS
Bolivian Aymara women learn self-defence with Personal Development and Women's coach Kimberly Nosa of the Warmi Power social project during a taekwondo class, on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia April 23, 2021. Picture taken April 23, 2021. Laura Roca/Warmi Power/Handout via REUTERS

A Bolivian Aymara woman poses for a photograph with Sports Psychologist Laura Roca (L) and Personal Development and Women’s coach Kimberly Nosa (R) of the Warmi Power social project during a taekwondo class to learn self-defence, on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia April 23, 2021. Picture taken April 23, 2021. Laura Roca/Warmi Power/Handout via REUTERS

Lucrecia Huayhua has survived domestic violence for most of her life. Now, with other indigenous Aymara women in Bolivia’s highlands, she is taking things into her own hands with taekwondo classes to learn self-defense.

In the high-altitude cities of La Paz and El Alto, indigenous “cholita” women, who have long faced discrimination, train wearing their distinctive billowing skirts and bowler hats as part of a female empowerment drive by the Warmi Power project.

The women learn self-defense to protect themselves against domestic violence attacks, most often by partners or other family members. UN Women data shows eight out of ten Bolivian women suffer some type of violence during the lifetime.

“Men are not afraid of hitting women,” said Huayhua, 52, who has five children. “That’s why women live in great fear.”

“I have suffered a lot of physical and psychological abuse since I was a child. Up until now that I am an older woman, I have always suffered a lot.”

This year Bolivian authorities have already tallied 48 femicides, mostly by partners or husbands of the victims. Reports of abuse are common, though most perpetrators never face justice despite robust laws meant to prevent gender violence.

The self-defense classes are taught free of charge by instructors from the Warmi Power project, which says it has already reached some 20,000 Bolivian women.

“Our workshops look at psychology, attitude and emotions, to empower women to be able to stop certain aggressions,” said Laura Roca, a sports psychologist with the project.

“So women can recognize when they are in a situation of violence, a toxic relationship and can stop violence before it occurs and reaches femicide.”

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India Orders 300M Unapproved Vaccine Doses, World Stats

A woman receives a dose of COVISHIELD, a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a Kolkata Municipality medical centre in Kolkata.image copyrightGetty Images

India has ordered 300 million doses of an unapproved coronavirus vaccine amid a devastating second wave.

The unnamed vaccine from Indian firm Biological E is in Phase 3 trials, and had showed “promising results” in the first two phases, the federal government said in a statement.

The $206m order is the first India has signed for a jab that has not received emergency approval.

This comes as the country struggles to speed up its lagging vaccine drive.

India has administered just over 220 million jabs so far although much of its 1.4 billion population is now eligible for the vaccine. Less than 10% of the country has received at least one dose of the vaccination, largely because of a severe shortage of doses.

Although Covid case numbers have been dropping, India is still adding more than 100,000 news cases a day. It has recorded more than 340,000 deaths from the virus so far, but experts say the number is vastly underestimated.

India’s federal government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been criticised for not placing huge orders ahead of time with either Indian or foreign vaccine makers.

Daily wagers wait in a queue for vaccination at the 'Vaccination on wheels' in Kolkata. A bus was turned into a COVID vaccination centre to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases in India.image copyrightGetty Images
image captionIndia has fully vaccinated less than 10% of its 1.4 billion people

India is currently giving three vaccines – Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Covaxin, developed by Indian firm Bharat Biotech and the government’s Indian Council of Medical Research, and Sputnik V, which is developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute.

Compared to the single order from Biological E for 300 million doses, India brought about 350 million doses from both Covishield and Covaxin between January and May.

India’s drug regulator gave Covaxin emergency approval in January before trials were completed – data on its efficacy is yet to be released.

The new vaccine from Biological E is “likely to be available in the next few months,” according to the government.

Mr Modi’s government is racing to shore up its vaccine stocks as Covid numbers dip, hoping to be well-prepared for what experts say is an inevitable third wave.

India’s vaccine drive, which had a promising start in January, began to slow down because vaccine hesitancy crept in as cases dropped. But numbers soon rose again in a deadly second wave that saw hospitals falling short of beds and crematoriums running short of space.

Hoping to stem the tide, the government threw open the drive in May to everyone above the age of 18 but India’s two vaccine makers – Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech – could not guarantee supply at that scale.

But shortages persist and have also led to vast inequalities in access with rural areas, the poor and women falling behind in the line for jabs.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

172,924,775

Deaths:

3,717,705

Recovered:

155,648,233
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

June 4 (GMT)

Updates

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US: Biden Puts Harris in Charge of Voting Rights Protection

President Biden has tasked Vice President Harris with leading his administration’s efforts to protect voting rights, adding an urgent and complex issue to her growing portfolio.

Biden made the announcement during a speech in Tulsa, Okla., where he marked the 100th anniversary of a massacre in which a white mob killed hundreds of Black people and destroyed a thriving community known as Black Wall Street.

The president pointed to the systemic challenges facing Black Americans 100 years later, including threats to the right to vote as multiple states debate and pass laws that experts say will make it more difficult for minorities in particular to cast their ballot.

“To signify the importance of our efforts, today I’m asking Vice President Harris to help these efforts and lead them among her many other responsibilities,” Biden said. “With her leadership and your support, we’re going to overcome again, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work.”

Biden called the challenges to voting rights in recent months a “truly unprecedented assault on our democracy.” Georgia, Florida and Arizona, all competitive states in the 2020 election, have seen Republican-led legislatures drastically overhaul voting procedures. Texas is looking to pass a similar law, though Democratic lawmakers there managed to thwart its passage over the weekend.

In a subsequent statement, Harris said she would engage the public, voting rights groups, community organizations and the private sector “to help strengthen and uplift efforts on voting rights.” She noted nearly 400 bills have been introduced at the state level since the 2020 election to make it more difficult for some Americans to vote.

“The work ahead of us is to make voting accessible to all American voters, and to make sure every vote is counted through a free, fair, and transparent process,” Harris said. “This is the work of democracy.”

Biden called on voting rights groups to redouble their efforts to register and educate voters, and he expressed hope that June would be a “month of action on Capitol Hill” as the Senate prepares to take up the For the People Act, a sweeping elections bill passed earlier this year in the House.

“I hear all the folks on TV saying, ‘Why doesn’t Biden get this done?’ ” he said Tuesday. “Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.”

The president appeared to be referring to Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), two centrist Democrats who have been outspoken about their opposition to certain progressive priorities and to ending the legislative filibuster that requires a bill gets 60 votes in the Senate to pass.

While Manchin and Sinema vote with Democrats more frequently than with Republicans, they receive most of the scrutiny when Democratic priorities are unable to garner majority support within the party conference in the Senate.

Manchin has urged his party to focus more narrowly on strengthening the 1965 Voting Rights Act rather than try to pass a more expansive bill that is unlikely to garner enough support to pass the Senate.

But several Republicans are balking at supporting even the pared-down legislation and are dismissing Democrats’ alarm bells about the state-level actions as political.

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Biden Will Donate 25M Doses of COVID Vaccine Abroad During June

The Biden administration on Thursday announced it will donate 25 million coronavirus doses abroad, with most of them allocated to the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative.

In a fact sheet, the White House said it will donate about 19 million doses to COVAX; about 6 million directly to countries in need, including Mexico, Canada and South Korea; and for United Nations front-line workers.

“We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions. We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic, with the power of our example and with our values,” President Biden said in a statement.

Pressure has been growing on the White House to develop a plan to donate its excess vaccines to countries that have been hit hard by the virus without the same access to vaccines as wealthier nations. The concern is that without vaccinations, new variants of the virus may arise in those countries that could threaten the rest of the world.

Thursday’s announcement, which comes ahead of the Group of Seven Summit next week, stops short of the 80 million total doses promised by the administration last month. Instead, it focuses only on the 20 million authorized vaccine doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Biden has said the U.S. will donate “at least” 20 million of those by the end of June.

He has also pledged to donate 60 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is not authorized for use in the U.S., but that effort has been hamstrung by manufacturing safety concerns and a related Food and Drug Administration review.

The Biden administration has been facing growing calls to help bolster the global vaccination effort as demand and enthusiasm for vaccines wane in the U.S. while other countries face a crisis.

According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. and other high-income countries have secured almost 90 percent of the available coronavirus vaccine supply.

The administration had initially been reluctant to send any doses overseas, saying the extra doses could be a backstop for possible manufacturing issues in the U.S., used to vaccinate children or serve as booster doses if necessary to fight against variants of the virus.

To date, most of the U.S. international support has come in the form of money, with the administration committing $4 billion to COVAX.

The administration earlier agreed to give 4.2 million doses of vaccines to Mexico and Canada — the only U.S.-owned doses that have been sent abroad.

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Haiti: Curfew Imposed as Nation Waits for Vaccines

The government of Haiti has announced the imposition of a new nightly curfew and other restrictions in an attempt to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus as the French-speaking nation still awaits the long-promised delivery of the 756,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses arranged through a United Nations program.

Though organised over a month ago, Haiti does not yet have any vaccines to offer its more than 11 million people as COVID-19 cases increase, raising concerns among health experts that the well-being of Haitians is being pushed aside as violence and political instability across the country deepen.

“We are all working hard with the government of Haiti, the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders so that Haiti can receive vaccines as soon as possible,” said Dr. Ciro Ugarte, director of health emergencies for the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO’s Americas branch.

The free doses were scheduled to arrive in May at the latest, but delays are expected because Haiti missed a deadline and the key Indian manufacturer is now prioritizing an increase in domestic demand.

Haiti is among 10 countries in the Americas that will receive vaccines at no cost through COVAX, an initiative to provide COVID-19 inoculations to countries that would otherwise have difficulty getting them. The nation of more than 11 million already struggled to administer routine vaccines and provide basic health care before the pandemic.

For this reason, all outdoor activity will be banned from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. under the decree issued by President Jovenel Moise, who was in Ecuador on Monday for the inauguration of that country’s new president.

The decree also makes the use of face masks mandatory for anyone out in public, while temperature checks and handwashing stations are required for all public or private buildings, such as banks, schools, hospitals and markets. Social distancing in public places is set at nearly 5 feet.

The president also ordered public institutions to reduce staff on duty by 50 percent, while he encouraged that other employees work from home.

According to official government statistics, Haiti has had 13,906 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in March 2020 and 288 deaths related to COVID-19. But a recent surge in daily cases of contagion has prompted authorities to declare a state of emergency.

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SKN: More Than 60% of Population Vaccinated

More than 60 per cent of the population of Saint Kitts and Nevis has gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Medical Chief of Staff of the Joseph France General Hospital, Dr Cameron Wilkinson, said: “So far, more than 60 per cent of the nation’s adults sent a strong message that they listened to the facts and believed in the science and went forward and got vaccinated.

“So far, more than 60 per cent of the nation’s adults have decided not to wait for an alternative vaccine and took action now, not just to protect themselves but our children, our pregnant mothers and the unborn, and the elderly and frail.”

Dr Wilkinson said the government’s robust education and awareness campaign contributed to the number of people who availed themselves of the vaccine.

“Getting vaccinated is still a voluntary choice. But with choices come consequences. By not getting vaccinated, you can jeopardize the health of those around you, in your homes, schools, churches, and places of business. More importantly, you are jeopardizing your own life.”

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World View: New Israel Govt?, Trump in 2024?, China’s Vax Drive, More

June 3, 2021

Alternate text

The Associated Press

The Rundown

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents announced Wednesday that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli…Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was calling into yet another friendly radio show when he was asked, as he often is, whether he’s planning a comeback bid for the White House. “We need you,” conservative …Read More

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The NFL on Wednesday pledged to halt the use of “race-norming” — which assumed Black players started out with lower cognitive functioning — in the $1 billion settlement of brain inj…Read More

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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — In the span of just five days last month, China gave out 100 million shots of its COVID-19 vaccines. After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Military service leaders are privately expressing reservations about removing sexual assault cases from the chain of command, The Associated Press has learned, striking a note of caut…Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation’s crops, sustain endangered salmon beneath its massive earthen dam and anchor the tour…Read More

AL-HOL, Syria (AP) — At the sprawling al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, children pass their days roaming the dirt roads, playing with mock swords and black banners in imita…Read More

CASALE DEL BOSCO, Italy (AP) — Summer is arriving in Italy’s wine country in Tuscany, and the leaves on the vines shimmer in gold and green. Yahya Adams moves his gloves …Read More

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Electric cars, meet your competition. Electric boats are on the way. Amsterdam didn’t have to look very far when searching for a way to ease traffic on i…Read More

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PAHO Director Calls for Intensified Response to Haiti COVID Surge

Washington, D.C., June 2, 2021 (PAHO) Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa F. Etienne warned that the COVID-19 response in Haiti must be scaled up dramatically to cope with sharply escalating cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in recent weeks.

“We call on partners and organizations working in Haiti to urgently reinforce the response to COVID-19,” Dr. Etienne said at her weekly media briefing. “The country will need additional health capacity, as well as support to embrace preventive measures required to curb transmission. Both will be decisive in the coming weeks. There is no time to waste.”

PAHO is working with Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population to scale up care for infected people and increase supplies of protective equipment for health workers. PAHO is collaborating to reduce transmission through increased testing, which allows for identification and quarantine of infected people.

PAHO will also facilitate the upcoming delivery of the first doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to Haiti. The vaccines were procured through COVAX, the global alliance to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

“A very high priority is to offer vaccination to all frontline health workers over 18 years of age,” Dr. Etienne said.

She explained that the increased transmission is likely fueled by two variants of concern, (B 1.1.7 and P1) and because public health measures are “being largely ignored by the general population. The situation we’re seeing in Haiti is a cautionary tale in just how quickly things can change with this virus.”

Turning to conditions in the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America, Dr. Etienne reported that rapidly increasing cases and deaths have nearly doubled in the first five months of the year. “Wishful thinking will not resolve this crisis,” she warned.  “We need action.”

She said regional leadership must be united around stopping the virus. “This pandemic has taught us time and again that leadership determines the effectiveness of a country’s response. Sadly, across our region we’ve seen misinformation about COVID-19 sow doubt on proven health measures, often in the context of political disputes.”

Access to vaccines urgently needs to increase, Dr. Etienne said. COVAX has already delivered 17.6 million doses to the region, but the quantity is not nearly enough. Some low-income countries are struggling to cover even their health workers and most vulnerable populations, she said.

“Effective vaccines are a beacon of hope in this crisis, and we must do all in our power to secure more doses for all nations in the Americas,” she said. “Regional solidarity, including the donation of vaccine doses, will be key to get us through the current shortage of supply,” she continued.

And everyone must adhere to public health measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, and washing hands. Increased mobility between and within countries and relaxation of the measures have created the “perfect environment” for the spread of the virus and its variants, Dr. Etienne said.

“PAHO is doing and will continue to do its part to support the response to the pandemic in the Americas, grounded in science and solidarity,” she said. “But we can’t do this alone. We need leaders to prioritize the decisions required to stop this virus in its track.”

She also addressed the pandemic’s toll in the past week. Cases and deaths have begun rising in Central and South America and the Caribbean after plateauing or decreasing for weeks.

Central America is reporting the highest number of deaths. Infections are increasing in Panama, Belize, and El Salvador, where new cases have doubled in the last seven days.

In South America, Colombia is reporting the highest rate of infections in South America. Brazil is also seeing a rise in new infections and hospitalizations. Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile continue to report a rise in cases.

Many Caribbean islands, including Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic, are reporting a surge in infections.

Over the last week, countries in the Americas reported 1.1 million new COVID-19 cases and over 25,000 deaths.

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Weakened US Dollar Gains Some Muscle

The U.S. dollar rose on Thursday as traders awaited a batch of U.S. economic data that could set the tone at central bank meetings later this month.

Investors have bet on the dollar falling as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have lately grown nervous over whether a surprisingly strong U.S. economic rebound poses a threat to the assumption that interest rates will stay low for a long time.

The mood has kept speculators from adding much to short positions in recent weeks and has put the brakes on what a month ago seemed like a relentless downtrend.

Against the euro the dollar traded 0.2% higher at $1.2183 and it crept a fraction higher on Antipodean currencies. It rose 0.2% to buy 109.78 yen .

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose to 90.112. It has found strong support around the 89.946 mark in recent sessions after falling 2% in April and a further 1.6% in May.

“At least for now, most of what is happening is simply confirming the consensus narrative and thus surprises are low,” said Mikael Milhøj, chief analyst at Danske Bank, noting the range-bound trade in euro/dollar.

“Maybe the next round of PMIs or the upcoming FOMC meeting can change that – but we are likely going sideways for now amid a vacuum in key data/surprises.”

Fed officials have begun to hint at tapering discussions and on Wednesday the Fed announced it will unwind corporate bond holdings it amassed through an emergency facility last year – another sign of pandemic measures coming to an end.

U.S. ADP payrolls – sometimes a litmus test for the broader non-farm figures – are expected to show a gain of 650,000 jobs when the data is released at 1215 GMT, a slowdown from a rise of 742,000 in the previous month.

April’s big miss on payrolls, when monthly hiring of 266,000 confounded expectations for 1 million, has added to the nervousness, with a miss likely to weigh on the dollar while a beat could support it. The consensus estimate is for 664,000.

PECKING ORDER

Globally, the Fed is becoming a laggard as other central banks start to discuss and even lay out timetables for hikes, as has happened in New Zealand, Canada, Norway and been hinted at by Bank of England policymakers – helping their currencies.

The next Fed meeting is in June, while the European Central Bank meets next week with investors focused on whether it will persist with its current pace of bond buying.

“Guessing the pecking order in which various central banks might be starting to normalise policy is clearly having an impact,” said NAB chief currency strategist Ray Attrill, noting recent gains in the Canadian dollar, kiwi and sterling.

Sterling was the best-performing G10 currency against the dollar in May, with a 2.9% gain, but moves have been even more dramatic against the Japanese yen, since there are no expectations of Japan’s gigantic monetary support backing off.

Indeed speculators in March flipped rapidly into short yen positions and Japanese currency has been the biggest major loser against the dollar during 2021, dropping almost 6%.

Sterling is up 10% on the yen this year and the Canadian dollar, which has been further bolstered by rising oil prices, has gained more than 12% against the yen .

Sterling was 0.1% lower to the dollar at $1.4154 on Thursday as investors fret a little about whether a new virus variant spreading in Britain can delay plans for reopening the economy.

Cryptocurrencies were little changed, with bitcoin last at $38,700.

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