BBC- Sixteen people, including at least two children, have been killed in a rebel attack in Peru, the country’s defence minister has confirmed.
The far-left Shining Path guerrilla group says it was behind the attack.
It left pamphlets at the scene ordering people not to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
The Maoist rebel group lost much of its power after the arrest of its leader in 1992 but remnants are still active in Peru’s coca-producing region.
The government says the Shining Path has since turned into a criminal group engaged in drug trafficking.
What happened?
A local official said he had been alerted to an attack in the village of San Miguel del Ene on Sunday evening local time.
He said he found bodies strewn across the floor of two bars on opposite banks of a small river. He told local media that the bodies had bullet holes and that some of them, including those of two children, had been burned.
Initial reports spoke of 18 bodies, which was later revised down to 14. But Defence Minister Nuria Esparch said that following the arrival of the security forces at the site on Monday, she could confirm that 16 people had been killed.
Peru’s armed forces said that next to the bodies pamphlets signed by the Central Committee of the Militarised Communist Party of Peru – the official name of an offshoot of the Shining Path – had been found warning people not to vote in the upcoming presidential election on 6 June.
The pamphlets also said that the group would “clean” the area of “informants and traitors” and other “parasites”.
Moderna moves closer to offering vaccine to 12- to 17-year-olds
Moderna announced on Tuesday that studies had found that its COVID-19 vaccine was 100 percent effective at stopping infection in adolescents aged 12 to 17.
The company intends to submit its data for the age group to global regulators, including the FDA, in early June.
The studies included 3,732 participants aged 12 to 17 and no cases of COVID-19 were found in any vaccinated participants. “No significant safety concerns” were identified.
The vaccine was 93 percent effective after the first dose and 100 percent effective after the second.
“We are encouraged that mRNA-1273 was highly effective at preventing COVID-19 in adolescents,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement. “It is particularly exciting to see that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine can prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
What this means: FDA’s emergency authorization for Moderna to be given to 12- to 17-year-olds would open up more opportunities for older students to get vaccinated before the next school year starts. The FDA has already granted emergency authorization for the Moderna vaccine to be given to those 18 and older and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be given to those 12 and older. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech received the emergency authorization for 12- to 15-year-olds about two weeks ago, after the FDA permitted it to be given to those 16 and older in December.
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Big Bucks Vaccine Lottereies Grow
States are increasingly turning to lotteries as a way to try to get hesitant people vaccinated against the coronavirus and boost lagging numbers.
New York and Maryland on Thursday announced that residents who get the COVID-19 vaccine will be eligible for prize money, with Oregon unveiling similar plans on Friday. All three states are following in the footsteps of Ohio, which launched a lottery-focused campaign earlier this month.
Health officials in the Buckeye State are already reporting some promising results: Vaccinations for people 16 and older increased 28 percent the weekend after the lottery announcement, compared to the previous weekend.
Dan Tierney, a spokesman for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), said vaccinations had been trending down before the lottery.
“Really the only thing that has changed was the availability of the Vax-a-Million incentive,” Tierney said.
Vaccinated residents in Ohio will be entered to win one of five $1 million prizes.
The approach is garnering interest in other parts of the country. About 10 other states have talked to DeWine or his staff about the lottery incentive, Tierney said.
The White House also gave its support to the idea on Friday.
“From the data we’ve seen, they appear to be working,” White House senior adviser for the COVID-19 response Andy Slavitt said during a press briefing.
“I think the reason they work is because the vast number of people who are not yet vaccinated are actually not opposed to getting vaccinated,” he added. “They’re just not prioritizing it very high. There are other things going on in their lives. Things that draw attention to it, like the lotteries in those states you mentioned, are, not surprisingly, very effective. And so we’re enthusiastic.”
Health officials are looking for new ways to spur people to get vaccinated, now that the most eager Americans have already received their shots. Nationally, vaccinations have fallen from over 3 million per day in April to about 1.8 million per day, according to Our World in Data.
Still, some experts cautioned that the lotteries are not a cure-all. While lotteries can prompt people who have not gotten around to getting a vaccine yet, they do not address underlying issues like concerns about safety or worries about taking time off work to get vaccinated.
“It doesn’t at all deal with the structural obstacles that might still be there,” said Micah Berman, associate professor of public health and law at The Ohio State University.
“It certainly creates a buzz. It just can’t be the only thing that the state does,” he added.
While there appears to be a short-term increase in vaccinations after the announcement, he noted, it is also unclear whether that will be sustained over the longer term.
“If someone is concerned about the safety of the vaccine, will a lottery push them over that tipping point such that they would get the vaccine? I think we’ll need to see,” said William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University. “My guess right.
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US achieves full vaccinations for half of adults
CDC data showed the U.S. reached a huge milestone with its COVID-19 vaccination effort on Tuesday, with half of the nation’s adults being considered fully vaccinated.
Fifty percent, or more than 129 million, of Americans 18 and older are considered fully vaccinated.
A person is considered fully vaccinated in the U.S. two weeks after receiving their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or two weeks after receiving the only dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
What’s next: President Biden’s next target is to ensure that 70 percent of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine by the Fourth of July. Tuesday’s data shows 61.6 percent of adults, amounting to more than 158 million, have received at least one dose.
The U.S. is also nearing half of its total population having received at least one dose of the vaccine, as Tuesday’s data shows 49.5 percent of Americans have reached this point.
But vaccinations have slowed in recent weeks after the most eager recipients received their vaccines, prompting states to institute incentives, including lotteries, to encourage unvaccinated people to get their shots.
CDC identifies only 10,000 COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated, but likely an undercount
More than 10,000 fully vaccinated people in the U.S. have experienced a “breakthrough” COVID-19 infection, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study.
According to the CDC, a total of 10,262 vaccine breakthrough infections had been reported from 46 U.S. states and territories as of April 30, out of the approximately 101 million people who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at the time.
The agency noted, however, that the breakthrough number in the report is likely a substantial undercount.
State health departments voluntarily report vaccine breakthrough infections to the CDC, and people voluntarily report infections to states, so the data might not be complete or representative.
Many people with vaccine breakthrough infections, especially those who are asymptomatic or who experience mild illness, might not seek testing, CDC said.
Going forward, the CDC is limiting the monitoring of people who have been infected while vaccinated. The agency is only sequencing a limited number of the cases, which has drawn concern from scientists. CDC said only 5 percent of breakthrough cases were sequenced.
In addition, beginning May 1 the CDC shifted from monitoring all reported breakthroughs to only those that result in hospitalization or death. The agency said the narrowed focus means only the cases of “highest clinical and public health significance” get reported.
Why it matters: Tracking and sequencing help identify who might be more at risk, and whether certain variants can escape the vaccine’s neutralizing effects. Scientists have questioned the benefit of limiting surveillance, when casting a wider net would likely be more beneficial.
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Trump on Wuhan lab: Now everyone agrees ‘I was right’
Former President Trump on Tuesday took a victory lap for his assertion that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, and defended using the term “Chinese virus,” which has been criticized as racist and blamed in part for a spike in violence against Asian Americans.
“Now everybody is agreeing that I was right when I very early on called Wuhan as the source of COVID-19, sometimes referred to as the China Virus,” Trump said in a statement.
Top U.S. public health officials and experts are increasingly lending credibility to the need for a deeper investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, but so far there is no definitive proof the virus leaked from a lab.
Experts and officials have also noted that even if the virus escaped from a lab, that doesn’t mean it was manufactured in one.
Still, Trump says he’s vindicated.
“To me it was obvious from the beginning but I was badly criticized, as usual. Now they are all saying ‘He was right.’ Thank you!” Trump added.
Keeps using that term: The World Health Organization last February urged people to avoid terms like the “Wuhan virus” or the “Chinese virus,” fearing it could spike a backlash against Asians.
Trump never followed that advice though, and researchers have found his tweets led to an increase in anti-Asian backlash. Last week, he was sued by a civil rights group for calling COVID-19 the “China virus.”
The Manhattan district attorney has convened a grand jury that is expected to weigh any criminal evidence against former President Trump, the Trump Organization and top executives of his company and decide whether to issue indictments, according to The Washington Post.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office has reportedly been investigating an array of potential financial misconduct, including criminal fraud.
News of the grand jury is the latest sign of a quickening investigative pace for Vance’s probe, which is unfolding alongside an overlapping inquiry by the New York attorney general, whose offices are now coordinating efforts.
Representatives for Trump and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for Vance’s office declined to comment when asked by The Hill, and New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The grand jury is expected to hear several legal matters in addition to potential evidence of questionable financial activity linked to the former president and the Trump Organization, according to the Washington Post, which said the panel will gather three days a week for six months.
Among the millions of pages of documents in evidence are eight years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns, which Vance’s office obtained in February after a long legal battle.
One theory is that the company inflated the value of assets to get more favorable terms for bank loans, insurance and tax breaks, and deflated their value to reduce the amount owed in real estate taxes.
Investigators are also looking into possible tax fraud related to Seven Springs estate, a New York property in the Trump Organization’s portfolio, as well as hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who says she had an affair with Trump, which he denies.
Another angle prosecutors are reportedly pursuing is whether Trump’s business gave employees benefits instead of higher salaries as a way to lower the company’s payroll tax burden.
Among the alleged recipients are Trump’s longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and his family members, who reportedly received heavily discounted or free access to Trump-owned apartments in Manhattan.
Prosecutors reportedly aim to “flip” Weisselberg, meaning gain his cooperation as a witness against the former president and his company. As a top Trump executive for four decades, Weisselberg is thought to be a potentially key source of information for investigators.
An attorney for Weisselberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Senate has voted to confirm Kristen Clarke as the new head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division in a tight 51-48 vote, with Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) the only Republican to cross party lines and vote for her.
Clarke will be the first Black woman to lead the influential wing of the Justice Department and will serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights.
The civil rights division’s tasks include investigating local law enforcement agencies and taking on state voting restrictions around the country.
The confirmation was held on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in April.
Republicans opposed Clarke’s nomination, painting her as anti-police and radical, while Democrats dismissed such arguments as smear tactics.
The nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee was deadlocked at 11-11, but that does not prevent Clarke’s nomination from going to the floor.
Clarke during her confirmation hearing in April said she did not support “defunding the police.”
“I do support finding strategies to ensure that law enforcement can carry out their jobs more safely and effectively, and channeling resources to emotional health treatment and other severely under-resourced areas, I think, is one path forward,” she said at the time.
Until being nominated for the senior Justice Department position, Clarke was the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
In that role, she was a staunch advocate for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would revise the formula that drove the federal preclearance present in the original Voting Rights Act.
The Supreme Court in 2013 ruled the formula outdated and therefore unconstitutional, though Chief Justice John Roberts gave Congress the green light to update the formula.
The battle over Clarke’s nomination echoed the fight over Vanita Gupta’s confirmation battle for the No. 3 slot at Justice.
Gupta was confirmed in a 51-49 vote, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) the only GOP crossover vote.
Gupta and Clarke both had the backing of law enforcement groups, even as conservative lawmakers sought to paint them as anti-police.
St. Kitts and Nevis will undergo a nightly curfew Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Dr Timothy Harris has announced from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am starting Tuesday night.
Dr Harris addressing the nation Tuesday made the announcement noting it came from recommendations from health experts.
He said the recommendations included 50% passengers on public transport, strict adherence to non-pharmaceutical measures a suspension of contact spots are suspended for the next two weeks.
Dr Harris announced that School closed for the next two weeks and no local exams will be administered. He said alternative arrangements for CXC exams are being discussed.
He also noted that no mass events will be allowed and that funerals must adhere to COVID-19 protocols.
Dr Harris also disclosed that only fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed entry into SKN with an exemption to be considered for citizens and residents.
He noted they have also extended hours for administering vaccines.
Issued By: Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education
This evening, Monday May 24, 2021, I wish to update you on the present COVID-19 situation. Within the last twenty-four hours we have recorded six (6) additional cases, all from the same household. These six new cases are referred to as Case # 55 through to Case # 60. The
individuals are in isolation at a COVID-19 certified facility. These additional cases bring the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases to 60 with 46 cases for St. Kitts and 14 cases for Nevis. Please note that 45 cases have fully recovered with zero deaths. There are now fifteen (15) active cases. These patients are stable and are being monitored.
As we continue the extensive contact tracing exercise, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education wish to inform you of the proactive decision to close all schools in the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis. All public and private schools in St. Kitts & Nevis, at the Early Childhood, primary, and secondary levels are physically closed for the next two weeks effective Tuesday May 25, 2021. This is in an effort to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The Ministry of Health continues its robust contact tracing exercise which began on Wednesday May 19, 2021 and we will update you as the situation unfolds. We will broaden our web of contact tracing and testing to identify all possible contacts. The aim is to break the chains of transmission of the COVID-19 virus and contain this cluster of cases. The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the public that all measures are being taken to restrict the spread of coronavirus.
We urge you to adhere to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures. These include wearing a face mask, maintaining good hand hygiene, maintaining physical distance of at least 6 feet from others when in public places and avoiding crowds and events. These non-pharmaceutical measures work, and we are encouraging everyone to comply with them especially at this time.
We remind you that the AstraZeneca / Oxford COVID-19 vaccine is our main tool in fighting this virus and we urge you to come forward and get vaccinated. By getting vaccinated you are not only protecting yourself but those who cannot be vaccinated such as all of our school children. We continue to encourage persons to empower themselves with the facts about the benefits of the AstraZeneca Oxford Vaccine and take advantage of this opportunity to be vaccinated.
Let us work together to maintain and protect the health and wellbeing of the people of the Federation.
Three more icons from Trinidad and Tobago have been immortalised with wax figures at the Caribbean Wax Museum in Barbados.
The figures of Calypso Rose, David Rudder and Hazel Scott were unveiled on Thursday night at the Sagicor School of Business and Management at Cave Hill, Barbados.
Arthur Edwards, sculptor and co-director of the museum said they are offering something that keeps our icons before the public forever.
“We honour people; that is what we do. We are in the business of offering them perpetuity, a way that they will never be forgotten. A moment in time in three dimensions, I don’t think you can beat,” he said.
“Of course in the Caribbean, we honour people in different ways…you put plaques on walls and rename buildings, we do everything which probably does make sense in a way but after those people pass on the meaning passes on because the name attached to a building no longer becomes the name of the person it becomes the name of a building, a geographical location so the honour is dead when the person passes on. We are offering something that keeps these people before the public forever. Three-dimensional art does that,” he added.
Edwards, who runs the museum with his wife Frances Ross, appealed for support from regional Governments calling specifically on public policy design people to include them in the conversation.
Edwards came under criticism last year after he unveiled a sculpture of renowned calypsonian The Mighty Sparrow.
Addressing the controversy, which he said was the fault of a badly composed photo, he said they made sure they are covering all bases this time around with proper lighting.
“We will take lashes tomorrow, we know it, but my shoulders broad,” he said.
John King, Barbados’ Minister of Creative Economy, Culture and Sports, said in his address that institutions like the Caribbean Wax Museum act as vehicles to encourage and renew our interest in culture and what it means to our societies.
“Creating an imagery of persons we love and look up to can positively impact on our lives and emotions and it is through these type of institutions our stories are told,” he said.
He said the three West Indian icons honoured have impacted our lives in one way or another. He said they championed the causes of social injustice, racial discrimination and sexism through their works.
“They brought awareness to social issues as well as Caribbean pride and togetherness,” he said.
The three sculptures were shown positioned next to each other with Scott’s statue positioned sitting at a piano.
Speaking via Zoom, David Rudder said not in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would be sharing a stage with Calypso Rose and Scott. He said he is standing with two women who broke the glass ceiling.
Speaking on behalf of Calypso Rose, her manager Lorraine O’Connor revealed that the 81-year-old singer recently did knee replacement surgery and is recuperating. She, however, conveyed Rose’s gratitude for the honour.
Adam Clayton Powell III, son of the late Scott, said many are discovering his mother through the internet and videos on YouTube. He said she is more famous today than when she was the highest-paid black woman in Hollywood in her heyday.
Scott was a Trinidadian-born jazz and classical pianist, singer, and actor credited for ensuring black actresses in Hollywood were given respectable roles. She was the first black entertainer to host her own show and appeared in five films.
Powell said a book The Women Who Invented Television credited his mother as one of four women who invented television. He said she invented the television variety show that laid the blueprint for all subsequent shows of that nature.
He said another children’s book details her life as an activist.
He said: “She is becoming more known now than anytime in recent years
The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) has said that Sub-Tropical Storm Ana has now transitioned into a tropical storm, the first of the 2021 hurricane season, a bit early. The season officially begins June 1.
The reclassification of Ana comes as satellite images indicate it has contracted significantly since yesterday and now has a compact area of moderate convection around the centre.
At 5 am Atlantic Standard Time (AST) on Sunday, the centre of now Tropical Storm Ana was located over the Atlantic Ocean about 340 miles (545 km) northeast of Bermuda.
The path of Tropical Storm Ana. Photo: NOAA
(The path of Tropical Storm Ana. Photo: NOAA)
NHC has forecast that Ana is moving toward the northeast near 12 mph (19 km/h) and this heading with an increase in forward speed is expected to occur during the next day.
Maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph (75 km/h) with higher gusts.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the centre.
Slight weakening is expected to take place during the next 24 hours and Ana is expected to dissipate by Monday.
Haitian President Jovenel Moïse has imposed a nightly curfew and mask mandate as the country is going through a eight-day “health emergency” over an outbreak of COVID-19.
The Associated Press reported on Monday that the government will ban all outdoor activity from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Social distancing of at least 5 feet will be observed and Moïse ordered public institutions to reduce staff by half.
Temperature checks and hand-washing stations are required in banks, schools, hospitals and markets as well.
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Haiti hasn’t begun to distribute vaccines to the general population yet, but will begin its vaccine program in June, the AP said.
Haiti has seen 13,906 COVID-19 cases and 208 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to government statistics in the AP report.
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