Tag Archives: caribbean

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Guatemala: 54 Haitian Migrants Found in Back of Truck

Police in Guatemala have found 54 Haitian migrants, including 14 children, traveling toward Mexico in a truck trailer with the hope of reaching the United States, officials said Tuesday.

Two Guatemalans suspected of driving the truck were detained, police spokesman Jorge Aguilar said in a statement.

The Haitians were “immediately given assistance and transported to the border” with Honduras, from where they had entered Guatemala illegally.

Scores of Haitians have arrived in Central America trying to reach the United States, adding to the already large numbers of people from the region also looking for a brighter future there.

Many Haitians arrive in Central America after crossing the treacherous Darian Gap jungle between Colombia and Panama.

More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Darian Gap in 2021 so far, according to official Panamanian figures, almost as many as during the past six years combined.

Over 50 migrants have died trying to cross that jungle this year alone, according to Panamanian authorities.
The jungle route is full of peril, including wild animals, armed gangs and dangerous rivers.

 

 

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Rights Group Brands El Salvador Unsafe for Women

SAN SALVADOR, Nov 3 (Reuters) – An international rights watchdog named El Salvador the most unsafe country for women in Latin America and the Caribbean in a new report published Wednesday.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said in the report it had “great concern” over El Salvador and called on the government to strengthen protections of women who are victims of violence.

There have been 97 femicides reported in El Salvador this year, a country of 6.7 million people, according to government data. There were 130 reported last year.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLCAC) says El Salvador has the highest rate of femicide on the continent at 3.3 per 100,000 people.

The IACHR said in its report the Salvadoran government should create a reparation fund for femicide victims.

The commission also signaled concern over El Salvador’s criminalization of abortion, which is illegal even in cases of rape or when the woman’s life is at risk.

Reporting by Gerardo Arbaiza, Writing by Cassandra Garrison, Editing by Richard Pullin

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COP26: More Than 40 Countries Pledge to Quit Coal

 

BBC- More than 40 countries are committing to shift away from coal, in pledges made at the COP26 climate summit, the UK government says.

 

Major coal-using countries including Poland, Vietnam and Chile are among those to make the commitment.

But some of the world’s biggest coal-dependent countries, including Australia, India, China and the US, did not sign up to the pledge.

Coal is the single biggest contributor to climate change.

Signatories to the agreement have committed to ending all investment in new coal power generation domestically and internationally.

They have also agreed to phase out coal power in the 2030s for major economies, and the 2040s for poorer nations, the UK said.

Dozens of organisations also signed up to the pledge, with several major banks agreeing to stop financing the coal industry.

“The end of coal is in sight,” UK business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.

“The world is moving in the right direction, standing ready to seal coal’s fate and embrace the environmental and economic benefits of building a future that is powered by clean energy.”

But UK Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said there were “glaring gaps” from China and other large emitters, who have not committed to stop increasing coal use domestically. He also noted that there was nothing on the phasing out of oil and gas.

Mr Miliband said the UK government “has let others off the hook”.

Although progress has been made in reducing coal use globally, it still produced around 37% of the world’s electricity in 2019.

Countries like South Africa, Poland and India will need major investments to make their energy sectors cleaner.

Juan Pablo Osornio, head of Greenpeace’s delegation at COP26, said: “Overall this statement still falls well short of the ambition needed on fossil fuels in this critical decade.”

He added: “The small print seemingly gives countries enormous leeway to pick their own phase-out date, despite the shiny headline.”

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Digging the grave for coal?

Analysis box by Matt McGrath, environment correspondent

There’s been such a flurry of announcements on the world’s most polluting fossil fuel, that it’s hard to see the light for all the (coal) dust.

There are many questions outstanding.

One of the biggest is the list of countries missing from this bonfire of coal commitments – including the US, China and India.

The time scales for phase-out are also a bit woolly – with richer countries promising to end coal by the 2030s, with developing nations in the 2040s.

None of these commitments are binding – again there is no big stick to force countries to do this.

And how many of the plans to stop using coal in developing countries will need financial support from the developed world?

We’ve already seen the UK, Germany and the US step up to pay South Africa’s $8.5bn (£6.2bn) to move away from coal. Other countries are said to be interested in following in South Africa’s footsteps.

So is there also a question of the rich countries paying others to do what they struggle to do at home?

More on climate summit top strapline

 

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ICC to Probe Venezuela Over Alleged Crimes Against Humanity

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will investigate whether crimes against humanity were committed during Venezuela’s crackdown on anti-government protests in 2017

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said the state respects the decision to investigate, but does not share it.

More than 100 people died during the clampdown on protesters.

The demonstrations started after the Supreme Court decided to dissolve the opposition-dominated National Assembly.

The ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced the move after a three-day trip to Caracas.

Both Venezuela’s opposition and its government have urged the ICC to investigate alleged crimes carried out by their opponents.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who claims to be Venezuela’s interim president and has the backing of more than 50 countries, welcomed the development.

Writing on Twitter, he said it would enable the victims and their families to “claim the right to obtain justice that has been denied in Venezuela”.

Human Rights Watch said the investigation “offers a pathway to justice for victims of atrocities” by Mr Maduro’s government.

“The ICC’s first investigation in the Americas comes on the back of the extreme repression the Maduro government has inflicted on the Venezuelan people,” José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Mr Khan said his job was to uphold the rule of law, not to settle political scores.

“I ask everybody now, as we move forward to this new stage, to give my office the space to do its work,” he said. “I will take a dim view of any efforts to politicise the independent work of my office.”

Mr Maduro has complained that the government was not granted access to documents and information during the ICC’s preliminary investigation in 2018.

“We were blind in that stage,” the president said.

Some 150 police and military members have been charged or sentenced for human rights violations over Venezuela’s 2017 crackdown, according to the public ministry.

The opposition says these prosecutions were simply an effort to avoid an ICC probe.

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First Pill to Treat Covid Gets Approval in UK

By Jim Reed
Health reporter

BBC

The first pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid has been approved by the UK medicines regulator.

The tablet – molnupiravir – will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease.

In clinical trials the pill, originally developed to treat flu, cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said the treatment was a “gamechanger” for the most frail and immunosuppressed.

In a statement he said: “Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for Covid.”

First oral treatment

Molnupiravir, developed by the US drug companies Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is the first oral antiviral medication for Covid which can be taken as a pill rather than injected or given intravenously.

It targets an enzyme that the virus uses to make copies of itself, introducing errors into its genetic code. That should prevent it from multiplying, so keeping virus levels low in the body and reducing the severity of the disease.

Merck said that approach should make the treatment equally effective against new variants of the virus as it evolves in the future.

The UK regulator, the MHRA, said the tablet had been authorised for use in people who have mild to moderate Covid and at least one risk factor for developing severe illness such as obesity, old age, diabetes or heart disease.

The organisation’s chief executive, June Raine, described the treatment as “another therapeutic to add to our armoury against Covid-19”.

“It is the world’s first approved antiviral for this disease that can be taken by mouth rather than administered intravenously,” she said.

“This is important, because it means it can be administered outside of a hospital setting, before Covid-19 has progressed to a severe stage.”

The UK has initially ordered 480,000 courses of molnupiravir to be delivered by the end of the year, along with 250,000 courses of a similar experimental drug currently being developed by US drug company Pfizer.

The UK government has not revealed how much the contract is worth.

But the US government has made an advance purchase of 1.7 million courses of the drug at a cost of roughly $1.2 billion, or roughly $700 (£513) for each course.

Other countries including Australia, Singapore and South Korea have made purchase agreements.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said: “The NHS stands ready to support the planned study on molnupiravir and other antivirals in patients at higher risk of complications, and to provide wider roll out if it is shown to be clinically and cost effective in reducing hospitalisations and death.”

Clinical trials

Earlier clinical trials of molnupiravir on 775 patients who had recently caught Covid found:

  • 7.3% of those given the drug were hospitalised
  • that compares with 14.1% of patients who were given a placebo or dummy pill
  • there were no deaths in the molnupiravir group, but eight patients who were given a placebo in the trial later died of Covid

The data was published in a press release and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Trial results suggest molnupiravir needs to be taken early after symptoms develop to have an effect. An earlier study in patients who had already been hospitalised with severe Covid was halted after disappointing results.

Global rollout

Merck is the first company to report trial results of a pill to treat Covid, but other companies are working on similar treatments.

Its US rival Pfizer has started trials of two different antiviral tablets, while Swiss company Roche is working on a similar medication.

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WHO Okays India’s Own COVID-19 Vaccine, COVID Rate Down in Americas, More

,Newsweek- The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted emergency use authorization to a COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, co-developed by India’s medical research agency and drugmaker Bharat Biotech. This is India’s first homegrown COVID vaccine.

The decision could be a major boon for the COVAX initiative to supply poorer countries,

The vaccine is the seventh to win WHO backing following two mRNA shots from Pfizer and Moderna, adenovirus vector vaccines by AstraZeneca and J&J and inactivated vaccines from Sinovac. Covaxin was approved by India’s drug regulator in January even before clearing the third-stage clinical trials, sparking criticism and concern around the jab.

The vaccine was approved for use in two doses in all age groups 18 and above. The WHO’s nod has paved the way for the first “Made-in-India” vaccine to be accepted as a valid vaccine by other countries and for its widespread distribution around the world. The approval on the eve of India’s largest festival, Diwali, is welcome news for both Bharat Biotech as well as for the nation’s prime minister whose government had heavily promoted the vaccine.

What happens now? Following the approval, the U.S. has given a green light to travelers vaccinated with Covaxin, and the revised rules will come into effect from November 8. It will also clear the way for India to commit to supplies to the global COVAX vaccine sharing program.

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COVID-19 has retreated across the Americas, regional health agency says

By

 

A woman receives a dose of Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine during a vaccination campaign inside the University of Santiago, Chile June 30, 2021. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

A woman receives a dose of Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine during a vaccination campaign inside the University of Santiago, Chile June 30, 2021. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

BRASILIA, Nov 3 (Reuters) – COVID-19 deaths and infections have declined across the Americas for the 8th consecutive week, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday, warning that a very high percentage of hospitalized cases now are unvaccinated people.

In North America, all three countries reported drops in weekly cases and deaths, and there has been a notable decline in hospitalizations in the United States and Canada, PAHO said, with similar declines in South and Central America.

The regional health branch of the World Health Organization said 46% of the Latin American and Caribbean population have been fully vaccinated, and a majority of countries have already reached the WHO’s 40% vaccination coverage target set for the end of the year.

“Vaccine inequity remains the biggest barrier to reaching our coverage targets,” PAHO Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa said in a briefing.

Given the limited supply of vaccines, he urged authorities to prioritize the elderly, frontline workers, and people with pre-existing conditions, to protect them and also to prevent health systems from becoming overburdened with severe cases.

PAHO recommends providing booster doses to people who are immunocompromised, including cancer patients, HIV positive individuals, patients on corticoids and transplant recipients.

PAHO said people over the age of 60 who received inactivated virus vaccines made by China’s Sinovac Biotech (SVA.O) and Sinopharm should also get booster shots.

Barbosa dismissed as “fake news” the view that people who had coronavirus are immune to COVID-19 and do not need to get vaccinated. He pointed to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study published on Friday that found people who are not vaccinated but previously tested positive are 5.49 times more likely to get reinfected than those who are fully vaccinated.

In Brazil, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, a vaccine skeptic who caught COVID-19 in July 2020, has said he is immune and has no need for a vaccine.

“That is not true. It is fake news,” Barbosa said. “The protection the disease gives you naturally is insufficient and people can get infected with the new variants,” he said.

Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Giles Elgood
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Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now from Reuters

China keeps close vigil at ports of entry

China is on high alert at its ports of entry as strict policies on travel in and out of the country are enforced to reduce COVID-19 risks amid a fresh domestic outbreak, less than 100 days from the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on Thursday it would continue to guide citizens not to go abroad for non-urgent and non-essential reasons. While some countries have removed quarantine requirements for vaccinated inbound travellers, China still insists that most people arriving from outside the mainland to be quarantined for weeks, regardless of their vaccination status. read more

England sees record COVID prevalence in Oct -Imperial study

COVID-19 prevalence in England rose to its highest level on record in October, Imperial College London said on Thursday, led by a high numbers of cases in children and a surge in the south-west of the country. Researchers said rates had doubled in older groups compared to September, a concerning sign as the government races to give booster shots to the most vulnerable. read more

The Imperial study found there was nearly a four-fold increase in prevalence in the southwest, the area impacted by an error at a private lab that resulted in an estimated 43,000 people wrongly being given negative PCR test results. read more

Asia tourism reopens with big-spending Chinese stuck at home

Asia’s gradual easing of international travel curbs is proving a welcome relief for the region’s hard-hit tourism operators – with one giant exception. China, previously the world’s largest outbound tourism market, is keeping international air capacity at just 2% of pre-pandemic levels and has yet to relax tight travel restrictions as it sticks to zero tolerance for COVID-19, leaving a $255 billion annual spending hole in the global tourism market.

Many experts expect China to keep such stringent measures such as up to a three-week quarantine for those returning home until at least the second quarter of next year and possibly then open gradually on a country-by-country basis. An emerging trend in surveys of Chinese travellers is a preference for natural scenery, and tourism operators will need to adapt accordingly, experts say. read more

Mothers’ COVID-19 antibodies provide unexpected benefit

COVID-19 antibodies passed from infected mothers to their breastfeeding newborns provide more benefit to the baby than researchers expected, according to a report published on Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. Researchers studied 21 babies born to mothers who were infected with the coronavirus at the time of delivery. Two months later, the researchers found a class of immune molecule in the breast milk, known as IgA antibodies, had stimulated active immunity in the newborns, triggering their immune systems to produce their own IgA antibodies.

“We have shown for the first time that the mother can also trigger the active immune response of the newborn through the transfer of (immune molecules) in breast milk resulting in the production of salivary antibodies,” Dr. Rita Carsetti of Bambino Gesu Children Hospital and Dr. Gianluca Terrin of Sapienza University, both in Rome, said in an email. They are performing further studies to see whether vaccine-induced antibodies in breast milk have the same effect. read more

Move to vaccinate young U.S. children gets going

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday after the United States started administering the COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 5 to 11 that there will be enough COVID-19 vaccines by next week for children and the shots will be available at about 20,000 locations around the country. read more

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in August found that about a quarter of parents want their young children vaccinated “right away,” with another quarter in the “definitely not” camp. In interviews, pediatricians and public health experts said parents appear to be growing less hesitant as time goes on. read more

Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Kim Coghill

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WORLD VIEW: Ethiopia War, US Cyber Crackdown, Corona Effect-World CO2 Levels Dropped, More

Nov 04, 2021

Alternate text

The Associated Pres

The Rundown

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Urgent new efforts to calm Ethiopia’s escalating war are unfolding Thursday as a U.S. special envoy visits and the president of neighboring Kenya calls for an immediate cease-fire while the country marks a year of conflict….Read More

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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The dramatic drop in carbon dioxide emissions from the pandemic lockdown has pretty much disappeared in a puff of coal-fired smoke, much of it from China, a new scientific study found. …Read More

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NEW DELHI (AP) — Indians across the country began celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, on Thursday amid concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and rising air pollution. Diwali is typically celebrated by socializing and exchanging gi…Read More

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Former champion team Parsons upset by Sylvers in #7 Domino League

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, November 3, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — Six of the seven games on Tuesday evening November 2 in the eleventh segment of play in the 26th edition of Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League, played at the new Lodge-Ottley’s Community Centre, saw winning teams humble and muzzle their opponents to earn maximum point.

This was however not the case as it related to the seventh game, as it went down to the wire with Phillips Domino Club winning by the skin of their teeth over Small Corner Bar Domino Club whom they edged out 13-12 to share the spoils, as the losing team collected one point.

First results of the evening were posted by Captain of the defending champion team Tabernacle Domino Club, Lionel Nisbett, after his team that was leading 12-5 crushed Ottley’s Domino Club with a splendid final game by Kerone Roache and Ryan St. Marie who handed their opponents a 100-0 whitewash that earned them a bonus game for the overall 14-5 win.

Moschina Cramer-Carlisle of Molineux Domino Club makes a move as her team outclassed Christ Church Domino Club 13-9.

 

The team from Hidden Alley in Lodge Village, and the only one in the fourteen-team tournament captained by a female, Sylvers Domino Club, sent shock waves around the ultra-modern community centre, by handing former champion team Parsons Domino Club a 13-5 beating.

Current points standing table leader and former champion team, Unity Domino Club, handed Saddlers Domino Club a similar beating – 13-5, while the other former champion team Lodge Domino Club beat Mansion Domino Club 13-6; Unstoppable Domino Club beat Guinness Domino Club 13-7; and Molineux Domino Club beat Christ Church Domino Club 13-9.

In a rescheduled game that was played on Sunday October 31, at the new Lodge-Ottley’s Community Centre, Mansion Domino Club edged out Molineux Domino Club 13-12.

Meanwhile, at an arbitration meeting held on Sunday October 31, it was decided that the disputed game between defending champion team Tabernacle Domino Club and Saddlers Domino Club will continue on Sunday November 7. The game will resume at 4-2 in favour of the defending champion team.

At the end of the eleventh segment of play in the 26th edition of Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League, former champion team Unity is still firmly at the top on the points standing table with 54 points. It is followed by Lodge who have 44 points, Phillips 41 points, and Molineux 38 points.

Others, in order, are Parsons 37 points, Sylvers 36 points, Mansion 36 points, Christ Church 33 points, defending champion team Tabernacle 31 points, Saddlers 30 points, Unstoppable 22 points, Guinness 21 points, Small Corner Bar 20 points, and bringing up the rear is Ottley’s with 12 points.

Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League, which is the longest running such league in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, is sponsored by Prime Minister and Area Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Seven (Bellevue to Ottley’s), Dr the Hon Timothy Harris.

Twelfth segment of play in this single round of play in the 26th edition of the league plays off on Thursday November 4 at the new Lodge-Ottley’s Community Centre, where defending champion team Tabernacle will face it off with former champion team, Parsons, and leader on points standing table Unity will come up against Molineux.

Other games will be, Saddlers vs. Guinness, Mansion vs. Ottley’s, Phillips vs. Unstoppable, former champion team Lodge vs. Sylvers, and Small Corner Bar vs. Christ Church.

Still at the top: Leader on points standing table, Unity Domino Club, also handed a crushing defeat to Saddlers Domino Club whom they beat 13-5. Showing how they did it is Captain, Desmond ‘Fergie’ Rawlins.

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Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake Strikes Chile Seismological Centre

MEXICO CITY, 3rd November, 2021 (WAM) — A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has occurred near the city of Los Andes in Chile, Sputnik quoted the National Seismological Centre of the University of Chile as saying Wednesday.

According to the preliminary information, the earthquake took place at 00:17 am local time (03:17 GMT) with its centre located 35.57 kilometers (23 miles) east of Los Andes. The National Emergency Office of the Chilean Interior Ministry says there is no risk of tsunami.

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‘The Polluter Must Pay’ – PM Browne Seeks Legal Redress Against Major Polluting Nations

By Orville Williams

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has declared that a recently-formed commission, representing the climate change interests of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), is actively planning to seek legal redress from industrialised countries for their role in the impact of climate change on the SIDS.

The Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law was established on Sunday with an official agreement between Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

“It is the heavy polluters, they are the ones who are creating the problem and as far as we see it, the polluter must pay.

“There has to be a mechanism [to allow for] compensation for loss and damage, which incidentally is one of the areas that was not discussed in any significant way at this [event],” PM Browne said while speaking to the BBC at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

The partnership between Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu echoes the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of small islands in the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the South China Sea.

Two of those most important sentiments are that SIDS collectively contribute less than one percent of global carbon emissions, yet are arguably most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and that wealthier countries which are responsible for most of the world’s pollution are not contributing anywhere near the level of support – financial or otherwise – required to prevent and/or mitigate the climate change effects on SIDS.

For these reasons, Browne said, the time has passed for SIDS to be merely asking for the needed assistance.

“We’re now seeking legal advice on the issue of loss and damage, and to go the legal route to develop a compensatory mechanism for loss and damage.

“It’s unfair to these countries that repeatedly have to borrow to repair damaged infrastructure.”

The PM explained that, under the commission, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be tapped and they will contact the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea – the independent judicial body established by the convention – to “get some directions as to how we deal with the issue of the liabilities arising from these heavy polluters”.

He added that the judgement they receive from the tribunal will be used as a mechanism to force the “heavy polluters” to settle wherever there is damage [as a result of climate change].

The Prime Minister also spoke on the general discussions taking place at COP26, with many world leaders issuing ‘doomsday’ warnings and renewed commitments to address climate change.

He told the BBC that, for far too long, there have been countless empty promises and failed objectives. “We want to see increased ambitions, not just talk,” he stated.

And one of those “increased ambitions” he has been calling for for some time is an adjustment to the lending criteria that is based on GDP per capita. This, he maintained, does not adequately account for the significant losses faced by small states as a result of climate change.

“A country like Antigua and Barbuda has been placed at a significant disadvantage. We’re considered to be a wealthy small island state and, generally speaking, the international community does not take into consideration the vulnerability of the country.

“We’ve been pushing for the developed countries [and] the international financial institutions to eliminate that per capita income criteria and to [instead] look at the vulnerability of the country, because when your country is destroyed by a hurricane, you have human suffering and [they’re] using this per capita income criteria, then it is insensitive.”

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) kicked off in Glasgow last Sunday and is scheduled to run until November 12.

PM Browne led the Antigua and Barbuda delegation to the event and is joined in Scotland by Minister of Health, Wellness and the Environment, Sir Molwyn Joseph and Director of the Department of Environment, Ambassador Diann Black-Layne.

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