Tag Archives: caribbean

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World View: Some Haitians Freed in US, Biden Urges Vaccine Donation, Racism Top Item at UN, More

Sep 22, 2021

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The Associated Press

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DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — Many Haitian migrants camped in a small Texas border town are being released in the United States, two U.S. officials said, undercutting the Biden administration’s public statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate…Read More

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President Joe Biden is set to push well-off nations to do more to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control around the world, as world leaders, aid groups and global health organizations sound the alarm about the slow pace of global vaccinations. …Read More

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NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday sued his estranged niece and The New York Times over a 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices that was partly based on confidential documents she provided to the newspaper’s rep…Read More

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Racism, the climate crisis and the world’s worsening divisions will take center stage at the United Nations on Wednesday, a day after the U.N. chief issued a grim warning that “we are on the edge of an abyss.” …Read More

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TOKYO (AP) — Guinness World Records has certified two Japanese sisters as the world’s oldest living identical twins at 107, in an announcement Monday coinciding with Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday in Japan….Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — The top U.S. military officer met with his Russian counterpart Wednesday, against the backdrop of U.S. struggles to get military basing rights …Read More

MADRID (AP) — A small Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean is struggling days after a volcano erupted, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people, and authorities ar…Read More

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Big Tech companies that operate around the globe have long promised to obey local laws and to protect civil rights while doing business. But whe…Read More

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A sports association official says seven female taekwondo athletes who fled Taliban-controlled Afghanistan have resettled in Melbourne. Aust…Read More

The post World View: Some Haitians Freed in US, Biden Urges Vaccine Donation, Racism Top Item at UN, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Panama and Costa Rica Smash Migrant Smuggling Network

SAN JOSE/PANAMA CITY, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Authorities in Costa Rica and Panama said on Tuesday they detained more than 40 people suspected of operating a cross-country people-trafficking organization by smuggling migrants overland to the United States.

The network handled migrants from Asian and African countries and to a lesser extent people from Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela, according to the Costa Rican security ministry.

Panamanian authorities carried out 35 raids and 21 arrests, while on Costa Rican soil 15 operations were reported in border municipalities and another 21 people were captured.

An investigation that lasted more than a year revealed that the organization charged each migrant $14,000 to $25,000 to take them to the United States, said Costa Rican Security Minister Michael Soto.

In Panama, police agents also confiscated three vehicles and a boat used to transport migrants, the Public Ministry said in a statement.

Reporting by Alvaro Murillo in San Jose and Elida Moreno in Panama City; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Stephen Coates

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Angry Scenes at Haiti Airport Over Expulsions

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti/CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Angry scenes broke out at Haiti’s main airport on Tuesday among migrants sent home from a squalid Texas border camp, as U.S. President Joe Biden faced mounting pressure to stop an expulsions policy the U.N. refugee chief said may be illegal.

Nearly 10,000 migrants, mainly Haitian, remain in worsening conditions in the impromptu camp that sprang up under a bridge spanning the Rio Grande from the Texas town Del Rio to Mexico’s Ciudad Acuna.

In recent days, U.S. authorities have removed at least 4,000 people from the site for processing in detention centers. Some 523 Haitians have been deported to their homeland on four flights, with repatriations set to continue on a regular basis, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.

Returnees reacted angrily as they stepped off flights at Port-au-Prince airport after spending thousands of dollars on arduous voyages from the troubled Caribbean nation via South America hoping for a better life in the United States.

On Tuesday, they found themselves back where they started.

A group of men in white T-shirts rushed back toward the plane after they disembarked in Port-au-Prince, with one man attempting to get back on board, Reuters witnesses said.

The migrants broke into a restricted area of the airport as they attempted to recover passports and personal belongings, and ground staff closed the door of the plane before the man could scale the steps back into the cabin.

Tempers ran high, exacerbated by news the Haitian government had accepted the deportations.

“I am angry at the government. We were told in prison that the Haitian government had signed to send us back to Haiti. They are all bad people, these authorities,” said Yranese Melidor, 45, who arrived on an earlier flight.

The disturbances underscored the instability in the Caribbean nation, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, where a presidential assassination, rising gang violence and a major earthquake have spread chaos in recent weeks.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the U.N refugee agency, said U.S. expulsions to such a volatile situation might violate international law and could constitute refoulement, or exposing people seeking shelter to life-threatening situations.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also called out Biden, a fellow Democrat, on Tuesday, saying it “defies common sense” to expel the migrants to Haiti and expressing anger over tactics used by border guards to control the crowds at the camp.

Vice President Kamala Harris said the situation was complex and that the United States needed “to do a lot more” to support the basic needs of people in Haiti.

“People want to stay home, they don’t want to leave home, but they leave when they cannot satisfy their basic needs,” she told reporters.

Republican politicians with an eye on the 2022 midterm elections, when they hope to retake control of Congress, have been quick to portray the sprawling camp in Texas as the result of Democrats’ push to end some migration restrictions.

The camp’s population peaked at up to 14,000 at the weekend, according to the U.N’s refugee agency.

On Tuesday, the camp on the U.S. side of the river had expanded into a nearby forest area as migrants sought shade and cover. Some families built makeshift tents with branches and leaves, while parents washed their children using jugs of river water. One toddler had an untreated hernia on his stomach.

Migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. wade through the Rio Grande river from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico toward Del Rio, Texas, U.S. while carrying supplies, in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico September 21, 2021. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Haitian migrants board an airport bus aftter U.S. authorities flew them out of a Texas border city after crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico, at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti September 21, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol
Haitian migrants collect their belongings after U.S. authorities flew them out of a Texas border city after crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico, at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti September 21, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

Haitian migrants board an airport bus aftter U.S. authorities flew them out of a Texas border city after crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico, at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti September 21, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

Migrants said food remained scarce and there were not enough portable toilets. In a small tent she had pitched under trees, a Haitian mother cradled her 15-day-old baby.

Fearful of the expulsions, some of the migrants have set up a new camp on the Mexican side of the river.

Mexican authorities also prepared flights and buses to Mexico’s southern states after it began detaining Haitians in Ciudad Acuna, just across the border from Del Rio. The removal transport appeared aimed at reducing the concentration around the camps.

Mexican and Haitian authorities held talks on Tuesday about how to deal with the migrant influx, with Mexico set to offer space for Haiti’s government to open consular offices in the southern cities of Tenosique and Talisman, close to the Guatemalan border.

They also agreed to schedule repatriation flights to Haiti for “for all those people of Haitian origin who wish to return to their country”, Mexican authorities said.

“HELPING GREATLY”

The new camp on the Mexican side has been growing, with migrants aided by groups, including the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, as well as the U.N’s migration agency.

Residents from Ciudad Acuna brought food.

Surreane Petit, who clutched her 3-year-old son at her side, said staying in Mexico was a huge improvement over the U.S. camp. “Here the Mexican people are helping greatly.”

“Over there we were hungry,” Petit said. “Under the bridge there was no help, no help.”

She said she had lived the last five years in Chile, where her son was born, but decided to leave after pandemic lockdowns made it hard to leave her house to find work.

Following an outpouring of anger over an incident in which mounted U.S. border agents in cowboy hats used horse reins like whips to intimidate the migrants, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas emphasized that U.S. border agents were delivering medical attention and working with the Red Cross.

Mayorkas said he was horrified by the images, echoing increasingly strident criticism from the White House, which said the footage “does not represent who we are as a country.”

The agents under investigation have been assigned administrative duties and are no longer dealing with migrants, Mayorkas said. He also ordered that the conduct of personnel in Del Rio be consistent with the policies, training and “the values of this department.”

Despite the risk of being returned to Haiti, many migrants remained in the Del Rio camp.

Carly Pierre, 40, said he was staying there because he saw a chance to make it into the United States with his wife and two children, ages 3 and 5, after several years living in Brazil.

“There are deportees and there are people who will make it in,” he said, his shorts still wet from having crossed the river to buy ice and soda at a convenience store on the Mexican side.

Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Ciudad Acuna and Gessika Thomas in Port-au-Prince; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Mica Rosenberg in New York, and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Leslie Adler

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Brazil: Bolsonaro Gives Rosy Picture of Country as Health Minister Tests Positive for COVID

United Nations Headquarters, NY (CNN) With Covid-19 and the environment at the top of the agenda at this year’s United Nations’ General Assembly, observers braced for the first world leader to speak in the UN headquarters’ storied hall: Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, notorious for both his off-the-cuff comments and controversial handling of the pandemic and the environment.

The Brazilian President’s speech was calmly given, even monotone at times, opening with a numbing sales pitch of his country to investors that touted developments in sanitation and transportation services. He was presenting “a new Brazil whose credibility has been recovered in the world” — one very different from the country devastated by the coronavirus on his watch and lashed by fires in the Amazon, where Bolsonaro has pushed for development.

The conservative populist leader stuck to established provocations on social and pandemic issues, repeatedly alluding to the importance of “the traditional nuclear family” and criticizing pandemic lockdown measures. Doctors should be free to prescribe the use of “off-label” medications against Covid-19, added the president, who has long championed the unproven malaria medicine hydroxychloroquine as a treatment.

Brazil traditionally goes first in the General Assembly’s weeklong roster of speeches by member states, and Bolsonaro, who is up for reelection next year, had already set a pugnacious tone for his appearance, publicly flouting the UN’s “honor system” that calls for foreign delegations to be vaccinated before entering the building. Bolsonaro declared last week that he would not get vaccinated, because he already had Covid-19.

“Why do you take a vaccine? To have antibodies, right? My antibodies rate is really high. I can show you the document,” he said in a live social media broadcast. He added that he will only make a decision about getting vaccinated “after everyone in Brazil gets the vaccine” — a dissonant voice as the General Assembly pushes this year to increase vaccination throughout the globe, and cajoling wealthier nations to share more doses with poorer ones.

But while the Brazilian President has tended to use appearances at the UN to reject foreign authority — showing a similar allergy to being told what to do when it comes to another globe-spanning crisis: global warming — he seemed to sidestep any direct confrontation on that front.

In 2020 at the UNGA podium, as flames raged in the Amazon, he told the hand-wringing world to back off, claiming foreign agents were overhyping the wildfires in “the most brutal misinformation campaign.” He has long painted the environmental concerns expressed by foreign governments, local indigenous groups, and organizations as prelude to an imagined foreign invasion of the Amazon.

This year, a quieter Bolsonaro acknowledged “environmental challenges” but boasted that the Amazon region had seen a drop of 32% deforestation in August compared to the prior year, citing numbers from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research indicating 918 square kilometers of deforestation. The number is still nearly double what was registered in August 2018, before the Bolsonaro administration, however.

In contrast, data from the Amazon Institute of Man and Environment (Imazon) — which monitors the deforested areas by satellite — suggest 1,606 square kilometers of deforestation in August, a 7% rise in comparison to the same month last year. It is also the highest rate for August in a decade, according to Imazon´s satellites imagery.

The president also called on other countries to do their part by fulfilling commitments to climate funding “at substantial amounts.” His own government has previously received significant foreign aid from other countries to help halt deforestation — a tactic that some environmental advocates in Brazil criticize, pointing out that not all the money allocated for environmental work in Brazil is spent in the first place.

Bolsonaro, never a fan of pandemic restrictions, acknowledged as much in Tuesday’s speech before world leaders, saying that while he regrets “all of the deaths that took place in Brazil and worldwide,” the toll of unemployment must be balanced against that of the coronavirus. Over the past year, he had frequently raged against municipal and state-level lockdown orders in Brazil, even during the grimmest moments of the pandemic, when hospitals filled to capacity and whole cities ran out of oxygen. Over half a million Brazilians have died in the pandemic — the highest death toll in the world after the United States.

A more moderate tone had been expected from Bolsonaro this year, said Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly and vice president for policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas. For one thing, the assembly’s mood was simply different, with fewer fellow right-wing populist leaders to join Bolsonaro in giving international busybodies the middle finger.

“Bolsonaro is more isolated than ever,” Winter told CNN. “Trump left, Netanyahu is gone. The main country that really aligns with his brand of right-wing conservatism is Victor Orban’s Hungary,” he says. (Bolsonaro did have a sit-down scheduled with Poland’s conservative, anti-LGBTQ president Andrzej Duda before he took the stage Tuesday, though.)

This year, too, the stakes of climate change have never been clearer, with catastrophic fires and floods seen around the world. Brazil’s vast forest works as an “air conditioner” for the globe, influencing global temperature and rainfall patterns, and absorbing carbon dioxide, and Winters says Bolsonaro had already previewed a new “constructive” tone on coordinating climate protection during a summit convened by US President Joe Biden this spring, when Bolsonaro presented a plan to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030 and neutralize greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

In a meeting Monday with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Bolsonaro showed the same mild-mannered stubbornness that he later displayed at the podium. The two leaders discussed climate and Covid-19, and Bolsonaro “affirmed Brazil’s commitment to sustainable development,” a Brazilian Foreign Ministry statement read after the meeting.

But when it came to getting vaccinated per the United Nations’ request, he was as unmoving as ever.

During footage of the meeting at the UN headquarters, Johnson could be heard telling Bolsonaro, “AstraZeneca, it’s a great vaccine. Get the AstraZeneca vaccine. I had it twice.” Bolsonaro laughed the tip off. “No, not yet,” he said.

Reporting contributed by CNN’s Rodrigo Pedroso in Sao Paulo.

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Brazilian health minister tests positive for Covid-19 while in New York for UN meeting

By Rodrigo Pedroso and Jessie Yeung, CNN

(CNN)  Brazilian Minister of Health Marcelo Queiroga has tested positive for Covid-19 while in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Brazilian president’s office announced Tuesday evening.

Queiroga was part of Jair Bolsonaro’s Presidential Committee, according to the statement, which added he was “doing well.” So far, other members of the Brazilian delegation have tested negative for the virus.

Queiroga told CNN affiliate CNN Brasil on Tuesday that he would quarantine in New York for 14 days, and wouldn’t leave the United States with other members of his delegation. Some delegation members have canceled their participation due to the risk of infecting members from other countries, Queiroga said.

‘Isolated’ but defiant, Brazil’s Bolsonaro defends handling of Covid and climate at UN

Queiroga, a cardiologist, is Brazil’s fourth health minister since the coronavirus pandemic began. He was appointed earlier this year.

He had been vaccinated with the Chinese-made CoronaVac vaccine, the minister said last week. He did not say when he received the shot.

CNN Brasil was first to report on the minister’s condition ahead of the release of the presidential statement.

A spokesman for the UN secretary-general declined to comment, saying they had “a contact tracing protocol in place in case of cases arising” at the UN headquarters.

Earlier this week, Queiroga came under fire for responding to protesters in New York with an obscene gesture, according to CNN Brasil. Videos went viral on social media, showing the moment he appeared in the window of a minibus and gestured to protesters in front of the residence of the Brazilian Mission at the UN, CNN Brasil reported.

Even before UNGA began on Tuesday, there were concerns the international gathering might pose a health risk — especially with much of the US still battling severe Covid-19 outbreaks. The US government issued a letter in August encouraging world leaders to consider joining virtually, and not in person, to help avoid “a super spreader event.”

Still, more than 100 heads of state and government arrived in person for the event — with some of them unvaccinated.

Most vocal among them has been President Bolsonaro, who has long downplayed the severity of the pandemic and advocated for the use of unproven drugs. Last week, he declared point-blank on social media that he would not get vaccinated because he had once contracted the virus.

On Tuesday, Bolsonaro fulfilled the tradition of delivering the first speech at the meeting, with the rest of the Brazilian delegation in attendance. The President has so far had meetings with several leaders, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

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Barbados PM Wants 50K Residents Vaccinated in 5 Weeks, COVID & Vaccine News, World Stats

CNW- Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley wants at least 10,000 people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 every week for the next five weeks, which she said would determine when curfews and other restrictions would be eased and eventually lifted.

Addressing the nation on Saturday, Mottley said if vaccinations pick up to the level she wants, Barbados would be much closer to herd immunity.

Currently, just under 6,500 persons are being vaccinated in Barbados weekly, and while saying she was happy to see an increasing number of people coming forward to be vaccinated, she urged more Barbadians to get inoculated.

“We are trending in the right direction, but the overall rate does need still some pumping up; it is still a little bit too low,” Prime Minister Mottley said.

“Let us agree to aim to get as close to 10,000 persons per week being vaccinated…. If we can do that, and we can maintain that each week for the next five weeks, then we will have the majority of those persons fully vaccinated before the end of November, before Independence Day [November 30] and Christmas, such that we may as a country, consider then the options of significant review and removal of restrictions that we have in place….  There will then be a clear and justifiable case for the Government to take to the doctors and the public health specialists, that will allow us to gradually remove the restrictions.”

Barbados is currently under a 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew Mondays to Saturdays, and a 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew on Sundays.

The Prime Minister stressed, however, that with any removal of restrictions, members of the public would still have to wear masks, sanitise and engage in physical distancing.

Noting that the six people who have died from COVID-19 this past week were unvaccinated, Mottley pleaded: “Help us by protecting yourselves, by taking the vaccinations.”

“There is a small percentage… of seven percent, who are likely to have the breakthrough cases among the vaccinated people, but if we catch them early as well we can ensure that none of them go the way of the others who regrettably have gone to the great beyond,” she added, reiterating her view that the COVID-19 pandemic is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Health authorities recently started a mobile vaccination drive and the Prime Minister said that has been reaping success.

She noted that the pop-up vaccination sites in the community had made a “clear and visible difference” and that discussions were held earlier this week about increasing the number of locations.

Mottley further disclosed that some private sector entities had asked if their premises could be used for some of the community pop-ups and those discussions were ongoing.

Training for private medical doctors who will be administering COVID-19 vaccines began Sunday.

Prime Minister Mottley also told the nation that she wanted to get and distribute oximeters to a number of households across the country, so persons could test the proportion of oxygenated haemoglobin in their blood, so they would present to health officials earlier for diagnosis and treatment.

So far, about 125,000 people have received at least their first jab of one of the three vaccines available – AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sinopharm.

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What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

People queue to receive a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during a night of vaccinations with music, at the Arena Treptow vaccination centre in Berlin, Germany, August 9, 2021. John Macdougall/Pool via REUTERS

People wait at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination centre installed inside a supermarket in Brussels, Belgium, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Bart Biesemans

Sept 22 (Reuters)

U.S. to donate an additional 500M COVID-19 vaccines

The United States plans to donate an additional 500 million COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE to nations around the world, lifting the total the country is sharing to more than 1 billion doses, according to a source familiar with the plans.

President Joe Biden is hosting a virtual summit on COVID-19 on Wednesday and is likely to announce the new pledge then. The United States is pushing global leaders to endorse its targets for ending the COVID-19 pandemic, including ensuring 70% of the world’s population is vaccinated by this time in 2022, according to a draft U.S. document viewed by Reuters. read more

Johnson & Johnson Claim 94% Protection with 2nd Shot

Johnson & Johnson announced on Tuesday that the protection offered by its COVID-19 vaccine increased to 94 percent when a booster shot was given two months after the initial dose.

According to the company’s Phase 3 study, a two-month booster shot resulted in 100 percent protection against severe cases of COVID-19 and 94 percent protection against symptomatic cases in the U.S.

When a booster shot was administered six months after the initial dose, Johnson & Johnson reported a ninefold increase in antibodies that grew to a 12-fold increase in the four weeks after the injection, regardless of age.

What J&J is saying: “Our single-shot vaccine generates strong immune responses and long-lasting immune memory,” Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at Johnson & Johnson, said in the company’s announcement. “And, when a booster of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is given, the strength of protection against COVID-19 further increases.”

The pharmaceutical company also reported that a study had found that a single shot of its coronavirus vaccine was 79 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 infections and 81 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations. This efficacy rate is significantly higher than the 66 percent rate that was shared when the vaccine was first authorized for emergency use.

Context: This announcement from Johnson & Johnson comes shortly after Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster was recommended by a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel for use in people over the age of 65 and those in high-risk groups.

The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been the least administered in the U.S. out of the three authorized, making up more than 14.8 million doses out of the U.S.’s total of over 386 million doses.

Read more here.

PFIZER RESULTS OFFER HOPE AMID WORSENING PANDEMIC FOR KIDS

Pfizer’s test results that its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective among children ages 5 to 11 provides a glimmer of hope to parents desperate to get their younger children protected against the virus.

The vaccine manufacturer’s announcement, which didn’t include specific data from the trial, comes as COVID-19 has taken a greater toll on the pediatric population in recent weeks than previously in the pandemic.

Both child cases and hospitalizations have reached new heights amid the delta variant’s spread and the back-to-school season.

The uptick has raised the pressure on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials to authorize a vaccine for children younger than 12.

With the Pfizer results and the FDA’s previous statement that it will review submitted data “likely in a matter of weeks rather than months,” experts say the emergency authorization for the age group could come as early as next month. But they cautioned that the timing is far from certain.

“So, practically speaking, we’re talking about the prospect of having all school-aged kids fully vaccinated when school opens after the winter holidays,” Jeffrey Gerber, an attending physician in the division of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Hill.

“That is, if we can make it easy for them to get it and their parents choose for their children to be vaccinated,” he added.

Read more here.

Locked-down Melbourne beefs up security as protesters gather

Australia’s Victoria state on Wednesday reported a jump in new COVID-19 infections as Melbourne braced for a third straight day of protests against lockdown restrictions, with police deploying in strength to disperse crowds. Television footage showed crowds of protesters walking in the middle of streets in different parts of the city, with police sometimes giving chase.

Melbourne is in its sixth lockdown, the most of any Australian city since the pandemic began. Authorities are aiming for a staggered reopening, easing some curbs when the full vaccination rate for the adult population reaches 70%. The rates of people aged 16 and older who are fully vaccinated is 45% in Victoria. read more

Chinese city in semi-shutdown after first cases since Feb

China’s northeastern city of Harbin, population 10 million, went into semi-shutdown after reporting new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases for the first time since early February. Three of 16 new local cases reported in China for Sept. 21 were in Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Wednesday.

Indoors venues such as cinemas, gyms and mahjong parlours were shut, and tourist sites were ordered to limit visitor traffic at half of their capacity, state television reported on Tuesday. The city would also suspend offline classes at all kindergartens, primary schools and high schools for a week from Wednesday, state television said late on Tuesday. read more

New Zealand says it may not get to zero COVID-19 cases again

New Zealand may not get back to having zero coronavirus cases in the community, the director general of health said on Thursday, as the country continues efforts to stamp out the infectious Delta variant of the virus.

“The important thing is we are going to keep finding any infections and basically continue to contact trace, test and isolate people so that we stop the virus circulating in the community,” Ashley Bloomfield, the director general of health told Radio New Zealand.

“Get that vaccination rate up over 90% … that’s absolutely our new means whereby we will be able to get back to the freedoms we had,” he said. read more

IMF calls for coordinated action, accountability in COVID-19 battle

The chief economist of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday called for coordinated action and greater accountability to ensure that the world meets a target of vaccinating 40% of people in every country against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

“It’s not enough to make announcements and pledges. You have to come through on it,” said Gita Gopinath, adding it was critical to allocate adequate supplies of vaccines, especially to African countries with big deficits, by year’s end, even if some shots did not get into people’s arms until early next year. read more

Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Sam Holmes
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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

230,339,030

Deaths:

4,723,115

Recovered:

207,048,429
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

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Latest News

September 22 (GMT)

Updates

  • 1,767 new cases and 43 new deaths in Japan [source]
  • 12,521 new cases an

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I’m Not Trump: Biden Seeks to Reassure Worried Allies with UN Speech

By Niall Stanage
The Hill
The Memo: Biden seeks to reassure aggrieved allies

President Biden’s debut speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday could have been boiled down to a single sentence: Remember, I’m not Trump.

Whether that sentiment will be enough to reassure restive allies in Europe and beyond remains to be seen.

The specifics of Biden’s speech dealt primarily with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and human rights.

“We stand, in my view, at an inflection point in history,” he said.

The broader thrust of the address was to promise a return to normalcy after the tumult of former President Trump’s four years in office. Biden’s favored phrase that “America is back” is in many ways the international-facing complement to his domestic promise to “restore the soul of America.”

Biden made a point of praising NATO, the European Union and the World Health Organization — all bodies that Trump and his administration had taken pride in disdaining. He noted that his administration had signed up for the Paris climate accord, which Trump had trashed.

The speech was also an expression of faith in the international community itself. Biden talked about the importance of reacting to challenges in a way that would “amplify our collective strength and speed.”

Moments later, he added, “Our security, our prosperity and our very freedoms are interconnected … as never before. And so, I believe we must work together as never before.”

That’s the kind of sentiment that will have heads nodding among career diplomats at the State Department and within Washington’s foreign policy establishment — two constituencies that were often appalled by Trump.

The problem, for Biden, is that some of America’s allies do not believe that Washington’s deeds have matched its rhetoric so far.

The French, in particular, are irate about a recent deal done between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

With that deal, Biden is seeking to strengthen a U.S.-friendly alliance as a counterweight to Chinese expansionism in the Pacific.

The deal provides for Australia to get nuclear-powered submarines — only the second nation, after the U.K., with which Washington has shared that technological know-how. This element of the agreement has kiboshed an earlier deal for submarines between Australian and France, which had been worth more than $60 billion.

The French have withdrawn their ambassadors to both the U.S. and Australia in protest. They are particularly aggrieved that the trilateral deal was done without their knowledge and that they found out about it via media reports — though it’s not entirely clear how things could have been done differently.

But even though the French reaction is considered by some in Washington, and London, as rather performative and overdramatic, it is also given greater heft because it dovetails with other, bigger problems.

The biggest, by far, was the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The decision appears to have been made with minimal consultation among allies — something that evidently still rankles.

“The Europeans should not be left behind in a strategy chosen by the United States,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters on Monday.

That, in turn, appears to have sparked larger questions.

“There is a growing feeling in Europe — and I say this with regret — that something is broken in our transatlantic relations,” EU Trade Commissioner Thierry Breton said at an event organized by the Atlantic Council, according to The New York Times.

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, asked reporters on Monday: “What does it mean, ‘America is back?’ … We don’t know.”

It’s not all doom and gloom for Biden in Europe by any means.

The announcement this week that the U.S. would ease restrictions on air travel from Europe was welcomed across the bloc and was seen as an olive branch from Washington.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been among the most emphatic voices of praise for Biden.

In an interview with NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday, Johnson called Biden a “breath of fresh air” on the topic of climate change. Johnson met with Biden and, separately, with Vice President Harris on Tuesday.

There is, too, still widespread relief that Biden’s predecessor has gone.

During his “Today” interview, Johnson showed his penchant for British understatement when asked about the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Johnson praised America’s democratic values, before adding that “some of the scenes at the Capitol didn’t wholly correspond with that ideal.”

Some of the European skepticism about Biden can be put down to a feeling that the region may be being deprioritized as the president mulls how to deal with China.

Now, with huge challenges looming on everything from climate change to global corporate taxes, Biden needs to bring his allies closer into Washington’s embrace.

Tuesday’s speech started that process, but there will likely be more bumps in the road ahead.


The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

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Cuba Starts Legalizing Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises

On Monday, Cuba put into effect a new legal framework that for the first time legalizes small and medium-sized enterprises. Local entrepreneurs initiated the application process either online or by attending offices set up by the government across the country’s over 160 municipalities.

“The Platform of Economic Actors that came into force with the implementation of the new legal framework had already received 75 applications to create micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as non-agriculture cooperatives,” Cuban Deputy Minister of Economy Johana Odriozola tweeted.

The new measures would improve the performance of the Cuban economy and ameliorate the economic relations between state and non-state sectors.

“I will be permitted to receive donations from international companies and import raw materials,” said Nayvis Diaz, who runs a bike rental and repair shop.

“This is a huge change. We are even thinking of using bamboo, steel, and other materials to manufacture the bicycles we rent in Cuba,” she added

Under the new legal framework, small and medium-sized companies will be able to hire up to 35 and 100 employees respectively. The small and medium-sized enterprises will only be restricted to operate in a few fields, including education, public health, defense, garbage management, and mining.

Accounting for 13 percent of the nation’s workforce, local entrepreneurs on the island are now encouraged to export through state-operated enterprises. Among them is Juan Sotolongo, who works as the coordinator of RFR Colorin, a local development project that uses flexible polyvinyl chloride materials to manufacture rain boots. With the new measures adopted by the government, he dreams of exporting boots made in Cuba to the neighboring Caribbean nations.

“For the moment, we want to improve the quality of our products to reach foreign companies based at the Mariel Special Development Zone, but in the future, we want to extend the scope of our business,” he said.

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How Have Thousands of Haitian Migrants Made Their Way To Texas?

by Mabinty Quarshie   | USA TODAY

DEL RIO, TEXAS — Thousands of Haitian immigrants encamped at Del Rio, Texas, after entering the U.S. through the Rio Grande are awaiting either deportation from U.S. authorities or deciding to stay put and seek asylum.

But how did these Haitian migrants make their way to Texas instead of entering from Florida — a state that’s closer to the Caribbean nation?

Many of those migrants, experts say, were likely already in Central America, as powerful natural disasters and an often-dysfunctional government prompted a steady flow of out-migration for more than a decade.

But now, with economic opportunities drying up in Latin America as the pandemic continues, Haitian migrants are seeking asylum in the U.S.

“The end goal is always the United States,” said Eduardo Gamarra, professor of political science at the Florida International University. “And the pattern is one that wasn’t really begun by the Haitians, it was begun by the Cubans. They’re the ones who set this trail.”

More: Criticized from all sides, Biden scrambles to address surge of Haitian migrants at southern border

2010 earthquake spurs migration

A devastating earthquake in 2010 earthquake displaced more than 1.5 million people from the island nation. Afterwards, many Haitians left their homeland for South and Central America.

In Brazil, Haitian migrants were granted work visas for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. They were also able to obtain permanent residency for humanitarian reasons. By August 2020, there were more than 143,000 Haitians in Brazil, according to El País, a daily newspaper in Spain.

In Chile, the Haitian population jumped. In 2017, there were 64,567 Haitians in Chile, with an estimated 150,000 Haitians there just a year later, according to the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think-tank.

Jacques Jonassaint, a former special envoy of President Emile Jonassaint to the Clinton administration, says in Chile many Haitians did not get work visas because of the country’s process.

“They did not obtain those visas; the Chilean government refused to give them the visas,” said Jonassaint. “And the reason for that is to get a permit to work in Chile there’s a process that is very lengthy and most Haitians don’t carry paperwork with them.”

Haitian nationals were able to obtain tourist visas in Chile, but in 2018, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera canceled temporary visas that allowed Haitians to move from tourists to migrants once they found a job.

Gamarra says it’s probable that many Haitians were undocumented in Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil and Ecuador, meaning they aren’t able to be deported legally to those countries.

“They can’t even be deported to Mexico because under international law, you have to be deported to the country where you have legal residence or a country has to agree to accept you,” he said. “And more than likely, none of these countries is willing to accept Haitian migrants because of their status.”

And the COVID-19 pandemic hit particularly hard in Latin America. Brazil, the region’s largest economy, shrank 4.1% last year, and nearly 600,000 people there have died from COVID-19.

What the border looks like now

For three weeks, migrants have freely crossed the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas – a city of about 35,000 people.

More: US closes part of Texas border at Del Rio, begins flying Haitians home

Images of U.S. border agents chasing Haitian migrants on horseback prompted outrage Monday, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki calling the images “horrific” and Democratic lawmakers demanding accountability.

Mexican authorities have also blocked entry to Ciudad Acuña and will start deporting Haitians. (Mexico only accepts migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.)

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas visited Del Rio on Monday and said an additional 600 Homeland Security personnel have been sent there.

More: White House calls video of border agents chasing Haitian migrants ‘horrific,’ DHS promises to investigate

Jonassaint also pointed to the lack of persecution Haitians from their government as a reason why they are being expelled so quickly out of the U.S.

“If you look at the strict adherence to the law, both U.S. laws and international laws, those people coming in from Chile or through Mexico should not come at all in the United States, legitimately, asking or requesting for asylum because there’s no persecution by their government against them,” he said.

But Haitians pointed to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and a recent destructive earthquake, both this year, in their homeland as reasons why they are fearful of returning to Haiti.

Karla M. McKanders, an immigration law expert at Vanderbilt University, said Haitian migration through Texas is not a new phenomenon.

“It’s important for people to recognize that Haitian nationals have been using this alternative route to get to the southern border for a few years, maybe even a little bit more than that,” McKanders said.

More than 320 migrants Haitians were flown back to Port-au-Prince on three flights Sunday, and Haiti says it is expecting six flights Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

Trump enacted Title 42, which allowed for quick expulsion of asylum seekers to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in holding facilities last year. President Joe Biden continued the policy; however, children and some families are exempt.

More: Biden sends hundreds of border agents, steps up flights to remove Haitian migrants from South Texas

Horace G. Campbell, professor of African American studies and political science at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, spoke strenuously against the deportations. “The United States is succumbing to white supremacist hysteria in this country by deporting these Haitians,” Campbell said.

Contributing: Sarah Elbeshbishi, Chelsey Cox, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

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Climate Crisis: History will Judge Failure to Act, UK’s Johnson says at UN

PM Boris Johnson warning to world’s richest countries comes amid suggestions US could commit more funds

Boris Johnson
Developing world bears brunt of climate crisis, says Johnson – video
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the world’s rich countries that “history will judge”, if they fail to act now to tackle the climate crisis, as US climate envoy John Kerry suggested President Biden was poised to commit more funds to the fight.

At the UN general assembly in New York, the prime minister urged other developed countries to increase their contributions, to help meet the target of $100bn (£73bn) in climate financing set more than a decade ago.

“The world will see, and your people will remember, and history will judge,” he said, underlining the importance of achieving an ambitious outcome to the Cop26 climate talks, which the UK is hosting in Glasgow in November.

The prime minister was speaking ahead of a roundtable of developing countries, which he co-chaired with UN secretary general António Guterres.

He added: “Cop26 will be staged in the full glare of the global spotlight. And when the summit ends, when most of the world has committed to decisive, game-changing action, it will be clear to all which of us has lacked the courage to step up,” he said.

Without singling out any individual countries, he added: “It is the biggest economies in the world that are causing the problem, while the smallest suffer the worst consequences. And while progress is being made all over the world, the gulf between what has been promised, what is actually being delivered, and what needs to happen … remains vast.”

The UK is entering the final leg of a frantic diplomatic effort to ensure that the Glasgow summit produces a significant agreement. Cop26 president Alok Sharma has travelled to the US with Johnson to press the case with individual countries.

Sharma told journalists in New York that of the G20 countries, only the G7 plus Argentina had so far produced the emission reduction targets they had committed to set ahead of Cop26.

He urged the other G20 countries, which include China, India and Russia, to step forward. “The ball’s in their court and they need to deliver,” he said. “Warm words are not going to be enough; people need to come forward with commitments.”

It remains unclear whether China, a major polluter, will attend November’s summit. Beijing was irritated by the announcement of the Aukus defence and security deal on Indo-China.

Johnson’s official spokesperson said on Monday: “We’re obviously very keen that China attends, and will work with them.”

Developed countries promised more than a decade ago at the Copenhagen summit to make $100bn in public and private financing available to help developing countries transition to clean energy sources, and cope with the extreme weather triggered by global heating. But the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported last week that the target appeared likely to be missed by up to $20bn.

Johnson said en route to the US that he believed there was only a six in 10 chance of the target being reached before the Cop26 summit. But Joe Biden’s climate envoy Kerry, also attending the UN meeting, expressed more optimism. “I think we’re going to get it done,” he said, when asked about the $100bn.

Asked whether Biden would commit more US financing, he said: “I’m telling you to stay tuned to the president’s speech and we’ll see where we are,” in what appeared to be a heavy hint that the White House is preparing to make an announcement.

Johnson will discuss the prospects for a climate deal with the US president when the pair meet in Washington on Tuesday.

The prime minister has repeatedly made the point in statements this week that the developed countries owe a debt to their poorer counterparts, because they are largely responsible for climate change.

“It’s the developing world that are bearing the brunt of catastrophic climate change in the form of hurricanes and fires and floods, and the real long-term economic damage that they face, and yet it’s the developed world that for over 200 years has put the carbon in the atmosphere,” he said.

As well as boosting climate finance, the UK and UN are also hoping to persuade some rich countries to make more ambitious promises to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.

The general assembly meeting was intended by Guterres as a “wake-up call”, and he showed his frustration with the lack of progress in the buildup Cop26 so far, according to a senior UN official.

“He is really quite frustrated at where we are with emissions reduction, and that the decade-long commitment on climate finance has not been fulfilled,” said the official. “But the meeting definitely served its purpose in the sense of urgency and warning that if [countries] don’t step up ambition, there is a high risk of failure [at Cop26].”

Though the UN refused to say which countries needed to make fresh commitments to cut emissions, the G20, which includes China and India, were pinpointed as holding the key.

“It’s really clear that everyone knows the gap between what is needed and what is currently on the table is absolutely massive and requires the leadership of the G20,” said a senior UN official after the talks.

David Kabua, president of the Marshall Islands, who represented the High Ambition Coalition, which includes many of the most vulnerable countries, was more forceful. “With so much at stake, we have to follow talk with action,” he said, and urged the G20 leaders to take “drastic steps” to cut emissions.

Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, also called for more action. “Enhanced climate finance and enhanced ambitions are necessary. The richest countries and the biggest emitters need to lead the way,” she said.

Frederiksen committed to contribute at least 1% of the $100bn target and urged other countries to “aim high”.

 

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U.S. Adds Top Guatemalan, Salvadoran Officials to Corruption List

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, U.S., September 16, 2021. Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, U.S., September 16, 2021. Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS

MEXICO CITY, Sept 20 (Reuters) – The United States said on Monday it had put Guatemala’s attorney general and five Salvadoran Supreme Court judges on a list of “undemocratic and corrupt” officials, in a sign of the Biden government’s frustration with Central American authorities.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the move on Twitter, saying a top aide of Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras was also on the list, which adds to growing U.S. concerns about efforts to tackle graft in both countries.

Responding with a statement, Guatemala’s Public Ministry called the U.S. accusations “totally false and unfounded”, saying they were based on spurious media reports and unreliable sources.

Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei also tweeted to criticise what he called “a lack of respect towards international relations”.

The five Salvadoran magistrates mentioned were appointed by lawmakers from President Nayib Bukele’s party this year in a process Washington said was unconstitutional.

Bukele, who has a strained relationship with Washington, responded on Twitter saying: “It’s clear the list has NOTHING to do with “corruption”, it’s pure politics and the lowest kind of interference.”

Bukele questioned why no Salvadoran opposition figures were on the list, or anyone from the Honduran government.

“How strange,” he wrote.

Earlier this month, the judges ruled that the president can serve two consecutive terms, opening the door for him to stand for re-election in 2024, and sparking condemnation from Washington.

Bukele defends his actions on the grounds that he has widespread support in El Salvador. An avid user of social media, he changed his Twitter biography this week to “Dictator of El Salvador,” in an apparently ironic riposte to his critics. read more

The United States had previously said it had lost confidence in Porras, after she fired a prosecutor who investigated high level corruption.

Neither Porras or her aide responded to requests for comment.

Reporting by Mexico City newsroom; Additional reporting by Nelson Renteria and Sofia Menchu Editing by Sonya Hepinstall & Simon Cameron-Moore

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