Iran blames Israel for a sabotage attack on a nuclear facility and vows revenge.

In the U.S., the prosecution case nears its end in the trial of a former police officer charged in the death of George Floyd.

It’s been 60 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel in space.

And the AP offers a look at how the portrayal of Prince Philip in the Netflix drama “The Crown” compares with the real man, husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Friday.

Iran blames Israel for sabotage at Natanz nuclear site

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has blamed Israel for sabotage attack at underground Natanz nuclear facility. Saeed Khatibzadeh made the comment Monday, warning Iran……Read More

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Biden Republicans? Some in GOP open to president’s agenda

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jay Copan doesn’t hide his disregard for the modern Republican Party. A solid Republican voter for the past four decades, the 69-year-old quickly regretted casting his…..Read More

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Soviet cosmonaut made pioneering spaceflight 60 years ago

MOSCOW (AP) — Crushed into the pilot’s seat by heavy G-forces, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin saw flames outside his spacecraft and prepared to die. His voice broke the tense silence at groun…Read More

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Prosecution case nears end in ex-cop’s trial in Floyd death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd ‘s death enters its third week Monday, with the state nearing the end of a case built on searing w…Read More

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Prince Philip vs Philip of ‘The Crown’: Fact and fiction

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In “The Crown,” a dishy naval officer captures the heart of a future queen. But he chafes at playing royal second fiddle and crosses the boundaries of decorum and, maybe,….Read More

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]A conservative former banker, Guillermo Lasso, has won Ecuador’s presidential election following a run-off vote.

image copyrightGetty Images

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The only solution Claudia saw was to go back to working the streets.

“It was an income in order to eat, to pay the rent we owe,” said Claudia, who now owes only one month back rent. “It is hard to come back and see so many of my fellow workers from the old days, my era, going back to do the same thing … to see all the problems out there.”

Sex worker Laura, 62, waits for clients outside the Revolution subway station, in Mexico City, Saturday, March 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Laura, a 62-year-old transgender woman who began working Mexico City’s streets 40 years ago, wages a daily battle to stay housed. If she gets a client that day, she can perhaps afford a cheap hotel room for the night. If she doesn’t, she sleeps on the street.

Laura said many of her clients have lost their jobs and can no longer pay her. At one point she had to pawn her telephone, her only contact with some of her regulars.

“Some days you don’t have anything to eat. … You might eat one day and not the next,” said Laura. As for avoiding coronavirus, “I put my trust in God” and hand sanitizer.”

Things are even harder for older sex workers like Laura, because thousands of new sex workers have pushed onto the streets as the pandemic forced closure of restaurants and shops.

Sex workers raise their fists in solidarity after telling stories about their personal experiences, during a nationwide virtual event to advocate against human trafficking and in favor of rights and recognition for sex workers, ahead of International Women’s Day, at the offices the activist group Brigada Callejera or “The Street Brigade”, in Mexico City, Saturday, March 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A sign reminds sex workers to use “coronasutra” positions to reduce face-to-face contact and the risk of contracting COVID-19, at the offices of the activist group Brigada Callejera or “The Street Brigade”, in Mexico City, Friday, March 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Elvira Madrid, who leads the activist group Street Brigade in Support of Women said her group found 15,200 sex workers on Mexico City’s streets in August, about twice the number before the pandemic.

“The surprise was that there were more. On every street corner — it was surprising,” she said.

Madrid estimates 40% of those on the streets now are women who had left the trade but were forced to return by the pandemic, another 40% are new to the profession and 20% are part-time or occasional sex workers.

Full Coverage: Photography

“A lot of the other ones — the other 40% — had been waitresses who had never worked in the sex trade before,” she said. “You know, when they closed the restaurants, people have to eat and have to give their kids what they need. And then the single mothers — most of them worked in stores, clothing shops, bars, cosmetics.”

“They cried because they said, ‘I don’t want to do this, but I have to feed my kids,’” Madrid said. “But there was another 20% that surprised us more. They were housewives, women with grocery bags who did it for 50 pesos, or whatever they needed to buy food. They didn’t protect themselves (use condoms) because they didn’t consider themselves sex workers.”

Madrid said she knows of 50 sex workers in Mexico City who died of COVID-19. She and her longtime companion, fellow organizer Jaime Montejo, caught it themselves, and he died of it last May. The sex workers who congregate outside one subway station believe Montejo caught the coronavirus while helping them, and Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday last fall they erected an altar to him in the plaza where many of them work.

Sex worker Elena sheds tears as she describes the family sexual abuse and trafficking that led her into a life of prostitution starting at age 15, at the offices of Brigada Callejera or “The Street Brigade”, in central Mexico City, Saturday, March 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Madrid estimates sex workers have lost 95% of their income due to the pandemic.

Conditions that have always been tough for the women who ply the trade in Mexico City — violence by clients and gangs who prey on prostitutes and shakedowns by corrupt police — got even worse during the pandemic.

Rules of the partial lockdown forced many hotels to close, and others raised the prices they charge sex workers. That left some earning the equivalent of only $3 or $4 from each client.

Madrid said that after hotels closed or raised prices, some people started renting rooms or storefronts to sex workers, who found the landlords were taping them with clients and demanding payment in exchange for not posting the videos on the internet.

Now, Madrid said, the women have to take clients wherever they can.

“Everybody finds wherever they can to have sex, in cars, on the sidewalks,” she said. “They have started to look for someplace safer to work, because the hotels closed.”

Most of the hotels have reopened, but many have raised their prices.

In spite of fewer clients, lower earnings and more risks, thousands of women see no option amid the pandemic but to stay out on the streets of the capital, spending hours waiting in the hot sun or on dark corners. And on many days they still go home to hungry families with no income at all.

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La Soufriere’s eruptions have left large swathes of areas covered in ash.

The first eruption in Saint Vincent on April 9 made evacuation difficult in the face of very poor visibility.

The second eruption tipped the scales even further. This is what the UWI-SRC Observatory in Saint Vincent looked like after the explosion on April 11.

Overnight ashfall left cars and vegetation covered in volcanic ash — tiny jagged particles of rock and natural glass that a volcano blasts into the air.

The wind can carry this ash for thousands of miles. According to the UWI Seismic Research Centre, ash fall is the most far-reaching and pervasive volcanic hazard.

The problem with ash is that it needs to be cleaned up before it starts to clog sewage pipes, and its impact can linger for years to come.

And, the ash from La Soufriere is impacting everything from vehicles to communication systems.

The weight of the ash can cause branches to fall or for trees to collapse.

However, in the long run, volcano ash helps keep soil very fertile. It contains dozens of minerals like magnesium, calcium, sodium, sulfur and others, which are important for plant growth.

Weak buildings may not be able to bear the weight.

Even after ash-producing eruptions come to an end, wind and human activity can stir up fallen ash for years to come. Not only is it a long-term health hazard, but an economic hazard as well.

The volcanic eruption of La Soufriere isn’t just a danger to Saint Vincent, but also to its surrounding countries.

UNICEF has announced humanitarian assistance to about 5,000 children affected by the volcano.

(Image: CDEMA

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EMA says four serious cases reported, one fatal, and also expands inquiry into AstraZeneca vaccine

Of the four serious cases of clotting and low platelets, three occurred in the US during the rollout of J&J’s vaccine from its Janssen pharmaceuticals unit, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Friday, adding that one person had died and one case was reported in a clinical trial. It was the first news of EMA’s inquiry into the J&J vaccine.

The EMA has already confirmed possible links between AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine and very rare blood clots in the brain and abdomen.

J&J, which is based in the US, said it was aware of the reports of blood clots possibly related to its Covid vaccine and others, and was working with regulators to assess the data and provide relevant information.

“At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine,” the company said in an emailed statement.

The EMA also said it was not yet clear if there was a link between the two vaccines and the reported conditions, and that its safety committee would decide if regulatory action such as label changes were needed.

Some countries in Europe and Asia have restricted the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Vaxzevria, in younger people after an update by EU and UK regulators this week that found a link between the events and the shot. Regulators have said the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.

J&J’s single-dose vaccine has been approved for EU use but the rollout has yet to begin. It is mainly being used in the US.

The EMA also said five cases of capillary leak syndrome in people who received AstraZeneca’s vaccine were reported.

The condition, in which blood leaks from the smallest of vessels into muscles and body cavities, is characterised by swelling and a drop in blood pressure.

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US Not Ready to Share Surplus Vaccine with World

The Biden administration is taking initial steps toward an expanded role in global COVID-19 vaccination efforts, while stopping short of sharing excess doses on a wide scale.

The federal government has been amassing doses, growing its supply into what will likely become a surplus as the rest of the world struggles with shortages.

In fact, the U.S. has purchased enough vaccines to immunize every adult in the country three times over. Aid groups now say it’s past time to start giving away the surplus.

The administration, however, remains hesitant to do so.

The U.S. vaccination campaign has been relatively successful to date, averaging close to 3 million shots administered every day. About a quarter of all adults have been fully vaccinated, and the Biden administration is well on its way to achieving its goal of inoculating 200 million people by the end of April.

But most of the U.S. international support has come in the form of money, with the administration committing $4 billion to the World Health organization-backed COVAX vaccine initiative.

The U.S. is also co-hosting a fundraising campaign for COVAX in the coming days, with the aim of calling on wealthy nations to join the United States and others in providing resources and commitments to accelerate global COVID-19 vaccinations.

In recent days, top financial and diplomatic officials have indicated they are thinking about next steps, and how to balance the humanitarian needs and possible political implications of vaccine diplomacy.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said he has been hearing the calls to share doses.

“I know that many countries are asking for the United States to do more, some with growing desperation because of the scope and scale of their COVID emergencies. We hear you. And I promise, we’re moving as fast as possible,” Blinken said.

In response to those calls, he announced the appointment of Gayle Smith as U.S. coordinator for global COVID-19 response and health security.

Smith most recently served as president and CEO of the ONE Campaign, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for ending poverty and preventable disease by 2030.

The ONE Campaign has been pressuring the administration to ship some of its vaccine supply to developing countries.

Late last month, the group joined a coalition of 30 nongovernmental organizations in sending a letter to Biden, urging him to immediately begin to develop a plan to share excess vaccine doses.

“It is estimated that there could be twice as many deaths from COVID-19 if rich countries monopolize the first doses of vaccines instead of making sure they are distributed globally,” the groups wrote.

The hope for advocates is that Smith, who helped lead the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014, will play a pivotal role in designing such a program.

In a dig at Russia and China, which have been more than willing to donate vaccines as a way to foster friendly relations, Blinken noted that when the time comes for the U.S. to send doses overseas, the nation “won’t trade shots in arms for political favors. This is about saving lives.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently spoke about the role wealthy countries need to play in helping to end the pandemic.

During a speech before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Yellen warned that the economic toll of the pandemic will push 150 million people into extreme poverty this year without a substantial increase in support for developing countries.

“Our first task must clearly be stopping the virus by ensuring that vaccinations, testing and therapeutics are available as widely as possible,” she said.

President Biden has so far only committed to providing about 4 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is not yet authorized in the U.S., to Mexico and Canada.

“The president remains committed to playing a constructive role in the global effort to defeat the virus,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday. “But as we’ve seen, this is an unpredictable virus and his first priority is ensuring the American people are vaccinated, and that means we need to plan for supply.”

Psaki said the administration is planning for contingencies, and cited the recent error at a manufacturing plant producing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that resulted in 15 million ruined doses. She also said the U.S. needs to plan for vaccinating children and the potential need for booster shots.

Tom Kenyon chief health officer at Project HOPE, a global health organization, said the appointment of Smith, and the remarks by Yellen and Blinken, is a sign the administration will eventually move to start sharing vaccines.

“But I think we have to move beyond the promise, to action,” Kenyon said. “This is a pandemic, and it’s an emergency.”

Kenyon said the U.S. should have already been sending surplus supplies to help other countries protect their health workers.

“This is a public health endeavor, not a diplomatic endeavor alone. We need diplomacy, but we need public health action,” Kenyon said.

======================================================

WORLD STATS

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The UK remains in mourning following the death of Prince Philip. The flag at Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom is flying at half-mast on Friday following an announcement from the royal family that Prince Philip had died. He was was the husband of the country’s monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and was the longest-serving consort in British history.

Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and father to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, had been hospitalized several times in recent years. Soon after the announcement, people began to line up outside Buckingham Palace to see the official death notice that had been attached to the gate.

Following the announcement, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Philip “earned the affection of generations here in Britain, across the Commonwealth and around the world.”

While the nation mourns, many remember the duke’s more often controversial and even racist remarks. He was also known to embody the British stiff upper lip but perhaps equally known for his awkward one-liners.

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The thick dust was also on the move, travelling 175 kilometres to the east and starting to affect the neighbouring island of Barbados.

“Barbadians have been urged to stay indoors as thick plumes of volcanic ash move through the atmosphere,” the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency said.

The whitish powder caked roads, homes and buildings in St Vincent after the powerful blasts from the La Soufriere volcano that began on Friday.

Visibility in some areas was extremely limited, while in the capital city Kingstown on the south of the island – the volcano is in the north – the ash caused a thin haze of dust, the portal said.

“Vincentians are waking up to extremely heavy ash fall and strong sulphur smells which have now advanced to the capital,” the local emergency management agency tweeted.

The eruptions prompted thousands of people to flee to safety. Around 16,000 people live in areas under evacuation orders.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said on Saturday that water had been cut off in most areas and the country’s air space was closed because of the ash. Around 3,000 people spent the night in shelters.

“It’s a huge operation that is facing us,” Mr Gonsalves told NBC News.

He said his government had been in contact with other countries that wanted to provide aid. Guyana and Venezuela were sending ships with supplies, Mr Gonsalves said.

The initial blast from La Soufriere, the highest peak in St Vincent and the Grenadines, sent plumes of hot ash and smoke 6,000 metres into the air on Friday morning.

A second, smaller eruption took place on Friday afternoon, belching out a 4,000-metre ash cloud, the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre said.

The centre’s director, Erouscilla Joseph, said late Saturday that there had been “additional explosions” throughout the day which had been accompanied by more ash.

“Unfortunately, we believe that more seismic unrest will be expected overnight,” she added.

The 1,235-metre La Soufriere – the name is French for “sulphur mine” – had not erupted since 1979, and its largest eruption happened over a century ago, killing more than 1,000 people in 1902.

It had been rumbling for months before it finally blew.

“We are trying to be OK. It’s deathly quiet outside and the mood is pensive,” said Vynette Frederick, 44, a lawyer in Kingstown.

North-west of Kingstown on the 30-kilometre island, Zen Punnett said things had calmed down after the initial panic as evacuation orders went out on Thursday night.

“It’s gotten hazier. We are staying inside,” she said.

The emergency management agency posted photos of a Coast Guard ship evacuating residents who had previously refused to leave. Standing on a dock, the air above the evacuees was a chalky gray.

Most of the people in the red zone had been moved to safety by Friday, authorities said.

Cruise ships were on the way to assist the evacuation effort.

================================================

St Vincent volcano: Power cuts after another ‘explosive event’

There has been another “explosive event” at a volcano on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, with power outages and water supplies cut off.

The La Soufrière volcano first erupted on Friday, blanketing the island in a layer of ash and forcing some 16,000 people to evacuate their homes.

Residents in Barbados, nearly 200km (about 124 miles) to the east, have also been urged to stay indoors.

Scientists warn that eruptions could continue for days – or even weeks.

On Sunday, St Vincent’s emergency management organisation Nemo tweeted: “Massive power outage following another explosive event at La Soufriere Volcano. Lightning, thunder and rumblings. Majority of the country out of power and covered in ash.”

image copyrightReuters

White-coloured dust has covered buildings and roads around the island, including in its capital Kingstown.

How are residents coping?

Nemo is urging people to “be careful on the roads, which have become treacherous as a result of the ash flow”.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said water supplies to most of the island had been cut off and its airspace closed because of the smoke and thick plumes of volcanic ash moving through the atmosphere.

Mr Gonsalves said thousands of residents had been sleeping in emergency shelters since Friday. “It’s a huge operation that is facing us,” he told NBC News.

He said earlier that a lot of volcanic ash had fallen over the sea. “We don’t know how much more is going to come out… so far, we have done well in that nobody got injured, nobody is dead.”

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

The Barbados Defence Force has been deployed to St Vincent to provide humanitarian assistance as part of a disaster response mission, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency said.

Homes across the island, which has a population of around 110,000, have been covered in white-coloured volcanic dust and rock fragments.

It prompted warnings from officials to stay indoors, while emergency groups advised caution for those suffering with respiratory problems.

“Be careful all. We are covered in ash and strong sulphur scents pervade the air. We ask that you take the necessary precautions to remain safe and healthy,” Nemo said.

How is the wider region being affected?

On Barbados, Chief Medical Officer Kenneth George advised residents to “stay in your house”. “This is to protect yourselves and your family,” he said.

People on the island of St Lucia, which is around 76km north of St Vincent, have been warned to expect air quality to be affected, with harmful gases potentially making it harder to breathe for people with conditions such as asthma, the island’s Rodney Bay Medical Centre said.

image copyrightReuters

One resident of St Lucia, Olivia, told the BBC she had never witnessed anything like this before and that she was worried about a possible change in wind direction and ash being carried northwards.

“I am terrified of all the effects that are unknown at this point, ash in the middle of a pandemic – no-one is prepared for that,” she said.

“Victoria Hospital has been transformed to become the Respiratory Hospital, and is treating Covid patients” she said, adding: “So technically, persons suffering from the effects of ash inhalation would be on the wards with Covid patients.”

More than 130 people who were due to leave St Vincent for Canada had to be taken by ship to St Lucia on Saturday after becoming stranded when their flight was cancelled.

Other Caribbean countries, including Antigua and Guyana, have offered to send emergency supplies to St Vincent. They also said they would open their borders to those fleeing the fallout from the eruption.

When did the new eruptions begin?

The volcano had been dormant since 1979, but in late 2020 it started spewing steam and smoke and making rumbling noises.

The first sign that an eruption was imminent came on Thursday evening, when a lava dome became visible on La Soufrière.

Just before 09:00 on Friday (13:00 GMT), seismologists from the University of the West Indies confirmed that an “explosive eruption” was under way.

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