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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador applauds during a ceremony marking the 108th anniversary of the Marcha de la Lealtad or March of Loyalty, at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.

Mexico City- President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lashed out Monday at audits of some of his pet infrastructure projects by the country’s equivalent of the congressional office of management and budget.

The office said López Obrador had underestimated by billions of dollars the cost of canceling his predecessor’s project to build a new Mexico City airport on a former lakebed.

The auditing office said the cost of canceling construction contracts and paying off bonds backing the project could reach $14.5 billion, compared to López Obrador’s estimate of $4.5 billion.

López Obrador said Monday the audit was “exaggerated.”

“Their data are wrong, I have other facts,” López Obrador said.

Instead of continuing the partly built airport at the east-side suburb of Texcoco, on which at least $2 billion was spent, the president decided to refurbish and expand a military airfield at the Santa Lucia Airbase further north of the capital.

Though the new project is projected to cost $4.1 billion, López Obrador had claimed it represented a cost-saving even considering losses from canceling the Texcoco airport.

López Obrador claims the canceled airport could have cost as much as $15 billion when finished, and would have been subject to flooding and sinking because of the water-logged soil.

Opposition congresswoman Verónica Juárez Piña of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party said “Instead of attacking the ASF (auditing office), he should clear up the irregularities, waste and lack of transparency in the use of government money in practically all areas of his administration, especially for his mega-projects.”

The president has ordered ambitious building projects like a new Gulf coast refinery and a $6.8 billion project to construct a train line that would run some 950 miles (about 1,500 kilometers) in a rough loop around the Yucatan peninsula, connecting beach resorts with Maya ruin sites.

Critics say that few of those projects had appropriate feasibility or environmental impacts studies, and they could become white elephants.

The audit report presented over the weekend also contained harsh criticism of the Maya train project, which is being overseen by the government Fonatur tourism agency and will be run by the army once it is completed in several years.

The audit found that Fonatur “did not demonstrate that it had an operating project or a financial model that would identify the financing plan” for the train.

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Trudeau and cabinet abstain from vote

Jack Beyrer – February 23, 2021 1:05 PM

A resolution in Canada’s parliament to declare China’s human-rights abuses against Uighur Muslims a genocide passed unanimously on Monday.

The 266-0 vote opens the door to further policy action from the Canadian government. Though the resolution received resounding support in parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and most of his cabinet declined to attend the vote. One cabinet member, foreign affairs minister Marc Garneau, abstained on behalf of the government.

Trudeau previously objected to the use of the term “genocide” to describe the mass incarceration and coercive population control ongoing in western China, saying the issue warrants further study.

Both conservative and liberal members of parliament, however, emphasized the need for decisive action to call out China’s human-rights abuses. Canada’s four major political parties all called for sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials and urged that the 2022 Winter Olympics be moved from Beijing.

Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.) applauded the Canadian parliament’s action but blasted Trudeau for his silence on China. 

“While I’m heartened to see our friends in Canada vote to declare genocide is occurring in Xinjiang and open the door for moving the Olympics, it’s absolutely shameful Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet abstained from voting,” Waltz told the Washington Free Beacon. “Trudeau and his government can’t turn a blind eye to what’s taking place in western China and I hope Canada will ultimately participate in boycotting the winter games in Beijing.” 

Waltz was among the first members of Congress to support a boycott of the Olympics over China’s crackdown on human rights and political freedoms, which he announced last week. House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Rep. John Katko (R., N.Y.) joined Waltz’s effort on Monday with his own letter to the Biden administration, demanding swift action to demonstrate that China’s behavior will not stand.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this month that President Joe Biden currently has no plans to consider a boycott of the 2022 Olympics. Psaki referred reporters to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which said it opposes boycotts because they have proved counterproductive in “effectively addressing global issues.”

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One of three men accused of planting and detonating the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 has pleaded guilty to the crime and been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Vincent Muscat is the first person to be convicted of the killing, which has embroiled Malta’s ruling Labour party in political scandal and led to the resignation of its prime minister in late 2019.

In a day of dramatic developments, police made three new arrests, apprehending the brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, and their associate Jamie Vella, on suspicion of having supplied the bomb used to murder Caruana Galizia.

News of the arrests emerged just after Muscat’s lawyer announced in court that his client was ready to change his plea to guilty.

Muscat, who is believed by police to have acted as a hitman in a contract to kill the journalist, is reported to have negotiated a more lenient sentence in exchange for supplying state prosecutors with information on others involved. He has also been granted a presidential pardon to help shed light on an entirely separate case – the 2015 murder of a lawyer, Carmel Chircop.

Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, and his cabinet are understood to have approved the request for Muscat’s pardon on Monday. Chircop died aged 51, killed by gunmen on his way to work. The case has never been solved.

In a statement to the court, a lawyer for Caruana Galizia’s family hailed Muscat’s conviction, saying “this step will begin to lead to full justice”.

The journalist is survived by her widower and three sons. Their lawyer, Jason Azzopardi, said: “A person who has admitted his involvement in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia has denied her her right to life and has denied her her right to enjoy her family, including her grandchildren who were born after she was killed.

“The macabre murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia was intentional and should have been prevented.”

Muscat has admitted to all six charges in the Caruana Galizia case: wilful homicide, causing an explosion which led to the death of a person, illegal possession of explosives, conspiracy to carry out a crime, promotion of a group intending to carry out criminal acts and participation in such a group. He could be released as early as 2027, with reductions to his sentence for time already served and good behaviour.

Evidence that he provided in hours of police recordings is expected to assist in prosecuting others. Arrested in December 2017, Muscat was charged alongside the brothers George and Alfred Degriorgio, who are still denying any involvement.

A third man, Melvin Theuma, has secured a presidential pardon. He claims to have acted as a middleman, hiring and paying the Degiorgio brothers to carry out the killing on behalf of the Maltese property and energy tycoon Yorgen Fenech.

The businessman, who was one of many targets of Caruana Galizia’s investigations, is currently in custody, charged with masterminding the crime. He denies involvement in the murder.

The guilty plea was entered just after 1.30pm on Tuesday, with Muscat standing in the dock in a heavily guarded courtroom, while the Degiorgio brothers looked on from the benches behind him. Judge Edwina Grima sentenced him to 15 years in prison shortly afterwards, and he was ordered to pay €42,930 (£37,000) in costs to the court.

The Agius brothers, and Vella, were arrested along with 10 others during police raids in December 2017. However, no charges were brought and they were released without charge. Last October, newspapers in Malta reported that a member of Muscat’s family had been offered hush money by Robert Agius and Vella in exchange for his silence. The approach was corroborated on behalf of his client by Muscat’s lawyer Marc Sant, who said the money had been refused.

Just before her death, Caruana Galizia had received a leak consisting of hundreds of thousands of emails and documents from a company partly owned by Fenech, which had secured a lucrative government contract to build a power station.

Police told a hearing in the case against Fenech last August that they believed the journalist was killed for what she was preparing to reveal about the power station, operated by a company called Electrogas.

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They suffered especially steep falls this week, tied to the firm’s recent risky $1.5bn (£1bn) investment in Bitcoin.

China is Tesla’s biggest source of sales after the United States

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Religious denominations and constituents of the St. Anne’s community have been invited to a parish meeting on February 25 at 5:00 p.m. at the Sandy Point Community Centre in an effort to sensitize them on the official utilization of the Public Cemetery at Farms Estate.
 
St. Christopher and Nevis Chapter 9.07 of the Cemeteries Act declared in 2014 a certain portion of lands located at Farms Estate, in the Parish of St. Anne’s to be a Public Cemetery.
 
The Honourable Shawn Richards, Parliamentary Representative Sandy Point has sought the assistance of the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs to have the land allocated for burial be effectively and officially utilized.

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — Twenty health professionals on Nevis received World Health Organization certification to participate in a training exercise “COVID-19 Vaccination Training for Health Care Workers” at the Disaster Management Department’s conference room on February 19.

Dr. Judy Nisbett, Chair of the Nevis COVID-19 Task Force said that the training will serve as a refresher course to administer the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine on Nevis.

“We are going to be doing a refresher course on vaccination, vaccination in general covering topics such as record keeping, the cool chain for example which involves keeping the vaccines cool throughout their journey from central stores to regional stores and eventually to the client so that their efficacy can be maintained.

“We will also be looking…at the AstraZeneca[-Oxford] vaccine,” said Dr, Nisbett. “All of this is in an effort to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine in the population. We have brought health care workers together so that they can be more prepared for this roll out of the vaccination.”

The participants were nurses, doctors, and some health care workers from the community health unit. Dr. Nisbett stated that the training session will not be the only one however, as the roll out commences. As it continues other health care workers would receive training to ensure a smooth roll out of the vaccination programme in the fight against COVID-19.

When the vaccination process commences, it will be available to the public at health centers across the island.

Dr. Nisbett, who is also the Medical Officer of Health in the Nevis Island Administration urged Nevisians and residents to get vaccinated to keep Nevis safe.

“I want to implore persons to take the vaccine,” said Dr. Nisbett. “It will protect you from severe COVID-19 and keep our country safe. Our country has to be safe for the economy to get going again. I implore people to take the vaccine and to ensure that our country is covered and safe.”

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — St. Kitts and Nevis launched its fight against the Novel Coronavirus on February 22 with a COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Launch and Ceremony at the Newtown Dental Clinic.

“We will start with a phased approach… in terms of the rollout of our Covid-19 vaccination programme,” explained Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws, Chair of the COVID-19 Vaccination Commencement Launch and Ceremony. “The goals of our programme are to decrease death and serious disease, preserve functioning society, and reduce the extra burden COVID-19 is having on our people who are already facing disparities.”

Seventy persons received their first jab of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University Vaccine, including members of the Executive Arm of the Government, health professionals, and members of the National COVID-19 Task Force.

“These individuals will receive their second jab in the next 10 weeks,” said Dr. Laws. “The vaccination drive will continue across the island in designated health centres.

“During this week, COVID-19 vaccinations will continue at the Newtown Health Centre, the Basseterre Health Centre, the Sandy Point Health Centre, and the Tabernacle Health Centre in St. Kitts and in Nevis, the Charlestown Health Centre, the Gingerland Health Centre, and the Combermere Health Centre.”

“The vaccine will be given to persons age 18- to 80-years,” said Dr. Laws. “Individuals who are over 10-years-old and wish to be inoculated should visit their regular practitioner or physician and be evaluated to determine their suitability for receiving this vaccine.”

Dr. Laws appealed to the public to get vaccinated, “We want every citizen and resident who is eligible to receive the vaccine to take the vaccine. Inoculation against the virus not only protects the individual who receives the vaccine, but the entire community.”

Individuals who fall into the high-risk category and who are interested in taking the vaccine are asked to visit their nearest health centre, or call 311 to make an appointment, as the vaccination drive will be operating on an appointment basis.

St. Kitts and Nevis is one of the few countries that has not recorded any deaths from the COVID-19. It has had under 50 positive cases, registering only 41 persons with the disease to date.

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