TIG Post

Tag: United States

  • Russia about to run out of steam in Ukraine – MI6 chief

    Russia will struggle to maintain its military campaign and Ukraine may be able to hit back, the head Britain’s foreign intelligence service says.

    MI6 chief Richard Moore said Russia had seen “epic fails” in its initial goals; removing Ukraine’s president, capturing Kyiv and sowing disunity in the West.

    He was speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, in a rare public appearance.

    He called the invasion “the most egregious naked act of aggression… in Europe since the Second World War.”

    He said recent Russian gains were “tiny” and that Russia was “about to run out of steam”.

    “Our assessment is that the Russians will increasingly find it difficult to find manpower and materiel over the next few weeks,” Mr Moore told the conference in Colorado. “They will have to pause in some way and that will give the Ukrainians the opportunity to strike back.”

    That view may be seen as optimistic and Ukraine’s ability to counter-attack may well depend on greater supplies of Western weaponry, which its officials say has often been too slow in arriving.

    The MI6 chief said some kind of battlefield success would be an “important reminder to the rest of Europe that this is a winnable campaign” – particularly ahead of a winter which was likely to see pressure on gas supplies.

    “We are in for a tough time,” he said. A further reason to maintain support to help the Ukrainians win, or “at least negotiate from a position of significant strength”, he said, was because China’s leader Xi Jinping was “watching like a hawk”.

    “There’s no evidence that [President Vladimir] Putin is suffering from ill-health,” he replied when asked, echoing comments from his US counterpart CIA Director William Burns at the Forum yesterday.

    Around 400 Russian intelligence officers operating under cover have been expelled across Europe, he said, reducing Russia’s ability to spy in the continent by half.

    “Our door is always open,” he said when it came to recruiting disaffected Russian officials to spy for Britain.

    Source: bbc

    MI6 puts most effort on China

     

    On China, he said MI6 had “never had any illusions whatsoever about Communist China”.

    He revealed MI6 now devoted more effort to China than to any other single subject – the effort in this field having just moved past that devoted to counter-terrorism.

    He said it was “too early to tell” what lessons China would draw from Putin’s actions in Ukraine, but there were lots of signs officials in Beijing were going into overdrive to work out what they thought. “It is quite difficult to read at the moment,” he said.

    He said it was “important” to remind China’s leadership of how an invasion of Taiwan could go wrong. He said China’s leadership underestimated US resolve and power and this might lead them to miscalculate. “I don’t think it is inevitable,” he said when asked about a major conflict.

    On Iran, he said a nuclear deal was “absolutely on the table”, but he was sceptical that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wanted to sign a deal.

    For all the limitations, he said the previous deal was still the best means available to constrain the Iranian nuclear programme.

    Asked if the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan last year made it harder to deal with threats, he acknowledged “this was a reverse for us when it happened and it is now more difficult”. He said it would require finding “different ways” to deal with the Islamist terrorist threat, including working with partners who MI6 may not normally deal with.

    Asked to reflect on the state of politics and violence in the United States, the MI6 chief sidestepped the question, but stressed his “huge affection” for the US, where he had studied and taken his first paid job as a teenager.

    He corrected the interviewer to say this job had been as a beach attendant rather than a lifeguard. “I didn’t have the body for that,” he said to laughter from the audience.

  • United States passes one million Covid-19 deaths

    The US has passed more than one million Covid-related deaths, says the White House.

    President Joe Biden said the country was marking “a tragic milestone” and each death was “an irreplaceable loss”.

    It’s the highest official total in the world – although the World Health Organization believes the true death toll may be much higher elsewhere.

    The US has also recorded more than 80 million Covid cases, out of a 330 million population.

    The first confirmed case was reported on 20 January 2020, when a man flew home to Seattle from Wuhan in China.

    The 35-year-old survived, after 10 days of pneumonia, coughs, fever, nausea and vomiting. But deaths began to be reported just a few weeks later.

    In the two years since, death rates have ebbed and flowed as waves of the virus swept across the country – reaching highs of more than 4,000 a day in early 2021.

    Public health experts give several reasons for the high US death toll – including high rates of obesity and hypertension, overworked hospital systems, some vaccine hesitancy and a large older population.

    Each US state may have a slightly different way to define a Covid death, and such deaths are often not solely because of the virus.

    “One million Covid deaths, one million empty chairs around the family dinner table, each irreplaceable losses,” said President Biden in a televised statement on Thursday morning.

    “Our heart goes out to all those who are struggling, asking themselves, how do we go on without him, how do we go on without her?”

    The president ordered the White House flags to be lowered to half mast to mark the milestone.

    Source: BBC

  • Ghanaian member of ISIS jailed for life in US

    A British-born terrorist of Ghanaian descent, Alexander Kotey has been sentenced to life by a federal judge in Virginia, United States of America.

    Alexander Kotey, was sentenced by a federal Judge, Thomas Selby Ellis at Alexandria District Court in Virginia on Friday, April 29, 2022

    The 38-year-old was condemned to life imprisonment for his central role in the kidnap, torture, and killing of western hostages who were held by the Islamic State in Syria.

    He was a member of a brutal ISIS cell of Britons called the IS Beatles, a nickname given to them by their victims due to their accent.

    The group, which included ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, El Shafee Elsheikh, and Alexander Kotey, was responsible for the murders of a number of hostages in the mid-2010s.

    The convict pleaded guilty to multiple charges against him in September 2021, guaranteeing he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

    It is widely reported that, during the sentencing on Friday April 29, 2022, British and American families read statements describing their shattered lives.

    Alexander Kotey sat quietly and listened to parents and siblings recount their horror before and after the deaths of their loved ones whom he was directly involved in slaying.

    According to news.sky.com, he showed no emotions as he was handed eight life sentences for his crime.

    He admitted to being directly involved in the detention and hostage-taking of four Americans in 2012 and 2013 who had traveled to Syria as journalists or to provide humanitarian aid and died in Islamic State custody as well as inflicting torture on hostages, including waterboarding and electric shocks with a stun gun.

    Meanwhile, the leader of the group, Mohammed Emwazi was killed in a drone strike in 2015.

    Source: www.ghanaweb.com

  • Ghana beats Nigeria in latest World Happiness Ranking

    Ghana has been ranked 111th in the just-released 2022 World Happiness Report, a UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network publication.

    This indicates a drop by 16 places from the 95th position last year, 2021.

    The ranking was based on variables such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and views of corruption, as well as other qualities that tend to lead to better happiness.

    Although no African country was among the first 50 countries, Mauritius secured the 52nd position, dropping by only two places.

    Ghana also trails Libya -86th position, Ivory Coast 88th position, South Africa 91st position, Gambia 93rd position Algeria 96th position, Liberia 97th position, Congo Brazzaville 99th position and Morocco 100th position.

    However, neighbouring country Nigeria ranked behind Ghana in 118th place.

    In 2021, the most populated African country fell by 57 places to rank 116th after they had ranked 59th in the 2020 Report.

    Meanwhile, Finland maintained its position for the fifth time in a row ranking 1st in the Report.

    It was closely followed by its neighbours, Denmark and Iceland securing 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.

    Also, Canada was ranked 15th followed by the United States -16th and the United Kingdom 17th.

    Source: MyJoyOnline.com

  • Nine family members killed in US drone strike

    Nine members of one family including six children were killed in a US drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, a relative of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN.

    The US carried out a defensive airstrike in Kabul, targeting a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed an “imminent” threat to the airport, US Central Command said Sunday.

    The youngest killed was a 2-year-old girl, according to a brother of one of those killed. They were “an ordinary family,” he said. “We are not ISIS or Daesh and this was a family home where my brothers lived with their families.”

    Neighbors and witnesses at the scene of the drone strike in Kabul told CNN that several people were killed, including children.

    “All the neighbors tried to help and brought water to put out the fire and I saw that there were five or six people dead,” a neighbor told CNN. “The father of the family and another young boy and there were two children. They were dead. They were in pieces. There were [also] two wounded.”

    The US military acknowledged later Sunday that there are reports of civilian casualties following the strike.

    “We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties. It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further,” Capt. Bill Urban, the spokesman for US Central Command, said in a statement.

    “We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life,” he added.

    US forces have been racing to complete their evacuation operation before Tuesday’s deadline and under the threat of a new terror attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. A suicide bombing outside the airport gates on Thursday killed 13 US service members and at least 170 others.

    Sunday’s drone strike on a vehicle is the second by US forces targeting the ISIS-K terror group in the space of three days. A US official confirmed the location of the strike as being in Kabul’s Khaje Bughra neighborhood.

    “U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International Airport,” said US CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Bill Urban.

    “We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.”

    The Taliban, which is now in control of Afghanistan, condemned the strike later Sunday, saying the US had violated the country’s sovereignty.

    Bilal Kareemi, a Taliban spokesperson, told CNN that it was “not right to conduct operations on others’ soil” and that the US should have informed the Taliban. “Whenever the US conducts such operations, we condemn them,” he said.

    How the strike happened

    The vehicle that was targeted by the US in Sunday’s airstrike on Kabul was next to a building and contained one suicide bomber, a US official told CNN.
    It remains unclear if the vehicle was intended to be a car bomb, or if the suicide bomber was using it for transport. “It was loaded up and ready to go,” the official tells CNN.

    A Pentagon official told CNN that according to initial reports, the target was a vehicle believed to be containing multiple suicide bombers. The threat could also have been a car bomb or someone with a suicide vest, he said, citing initial reports.

    Urban said earlier Sunday the US military was “assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties, though we have no indications at this time” and would remain vigilant against potential future threats.

    One man told a journalist working with CNN who visited the compound that “a rocket hit and six people were in there who have been killed. There was a car inside.” The journalist was not allowed to enter the compound.

    Another man said that he heard the sound of a rocket and gained access to the scene from a neighbor’s house. “First we managed to remove a 3- to the 4-year old child. The fire and smoke had engulfed the whole area,” he said.

    He added that “three people were inside the car” and three others were outside the car. The injured, who included children, were taken to the hospital, he said.

    US President Joe Biden said Saturday that military commanders had advised that “another terrorist attack on Kabul’s airport is “highly likely in the next 24-36 hours,” and the US Embassy in Kabul warned all US citizens to leave the airport area immediately.

    The White House said Sunday morning that about 2,900 people were evacuated from Kabul from 3 a.m. ET Saturday to 3 a.m. ET Sunday. Those evacuations were carried out by 32 US military flights and nine coalition flights.
    The mission is clearly winding down, with fewer people brought out than during the same time period on preceding days.

    Biden traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday to mourn with the families of the 13 US service members killed in Thursday’s attack as their bodies were brought back to US soil.

    US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the 13 would be remembered as heroes. “These men and women made the ultimate sacrifice so that others could live,” he said.

    ISIS in Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, has claimed that an ISIS militant carried out the suicide attack, but provided no evidence to support the claim. US officials have said the group was likely behind the bombing.

    On Saturday, the Pentagon said two “high profile” ISIS targets had been killed and another injured in a US drone strike late Friday in Jalalabad, in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, in a retaliatory strike for Thursday’s attack.

    Vulnerable people left behind

    After a desperate, two-week effort to evacuate their citizens and Afghan allies from the country following the Taliban’s seizure of power, Western governments now face the challenge of how to deal with an Islamist militant group they’ve spent the past two decades fighting.

    French President Emmanuel Macron has said he intends, alongside the United Kingdom, to submit a resolution to an emergency session of the UN Security Council (UNSC) that would focus on the creation of a “safe zone” in Kabul for Afghans leaving the country.

    “Our draft resolution aims to define, under UN protection, a safe zone in Kabul that would allow humanitarian operations to continue,” Macron told French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, adding that he intends to “maintain pressure on the Taliban” in doing so. The UNSC session is due to convene Monday.

    US: ‘We will use leverage’ in dealings with Taliban

    US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the Biden administration was committed to a “safe passage” of Americans and Afghans who helped the US government after the withdrawal deadline.

    “August 31 is not a cliff. After August 31, we believe that we have substantial leverage to hold the Taliban to its commitments to allow safe passage for American citizens, legal permanent residents, and the Afghan allies who have travel documentation to come to the United States,” Sullivan told CNN.

    “We will use that leverage to the maximum extent and we will work with the rest of the international community to make sure the Taliban does not falter on these commitments.”

    Roughly 250 Americans who are attempting to leave Afghanistan remain in the country, according to new figures from a US State Department spokesperson. About 50 evacuations have taken place in the past day, bringing the total number of American citizens evacuated to 5,500.

    The US State Department, along with governments from numerous other countries, released a statement Sunday saying they would hold the Taliban to their promises that they would allow people to leave the country after August 31.

    “We will continue issuing travel documentation to designated Afghans, and we have the clear expectation of and commitment from the Taliban that they can travel to our respective countries,” the statement said.

    Wife: ‘They will kill him’

    For those at risk in Kabul and elsewhere, the picture appears bleak.
    Florence, a Frenchwoman living in a Paris suburb, believed her Afghan husband of 18 years would fly out of Kabul to safety on Thursday. Florence’s husband was in Afghanistan for his father’s funeral and had been due to fly out on a commercial flight on August 22.

    But the airport suicide bombing left him stranded in the Afghan capital. France wrapped up its evacuation mission on Friday leaving Florence, whose last name CNN is not using for safety reasons, terrified for her husband’s fate.

    “My husband is completely lost, he’s stressed, he’s scared, he doesn’t know which way he’ll come back to France. Now he’s thinking maybe to take the road,” Florence said.

    Her husband is just one of potentially thousands of people still in Afghanistan who fear their lives could be in danger under Taliban rule, both Afghans and other nationalities.

    Despite having a French residency permit and being on the French foreign ministry’s passenger list for evacuation, he never made it past US forces guarding the airport gates in Kabul, she said.

    He is terrified at what will befall his country under Taliban rule.
    “It’s horrible when you go back to the same conditions as 20 years ago because when you don’t know, you are just living the moment but when you know exactly who these people are, what will happen to you, it’s much more terrible,” she said.

    Her husband also fears for his own safety, as being found in possession of the French documents that could give him a way out represents a massive danger in itself.

    “It’s already a huge problem if they understand that he is married to a French citizen, there is not one minute of his life still, there is not one minute of his life possible anymore, they will kill him,” Florence said.

    Johnson: ‘We will use every lever we have’

    Britain concluded its own evacuation mission from Afghanistan on Saturday, with its last remaining diplomatic staff, pulled out alongside military forces.

    While nearly 15,000 people were brought to safety, according to the UK ambassador to Kabul, the head of the UK’s armed forces, Gen. Nick Carter, told the BBC that people eligible to be brought outnumbering in the “high hundreds” had been left behind.

    UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday that diplomatic recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan’s “new regime” would be dependent on the organization’s actions, stressing that Britain would “engage with the Taliban, not on the basis of what they say, but what they do.”

    “If the new regime in Kabul wants diplomatic recognition, or to unlock the billions that are currently frozen, they will have to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave the country, to respect the rights of women and girls, and to prevent Afghanistan from, again, becoming an incubator for global terror,” Johnson said.

    “We will use every lever we have political, economic, diplomatic to help the people of Afghanistan and to protect our own country from harm,” he added. The UK embassy will now relocate to Doha, Qatar.

    Johnson added that the UK government would increase its development assistance to Afghanistan to £286 million (about $394 million).

    At the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was following the situation in Afghanistan “with great concern” as he delivered his Angelus Prayer, and thanked those working for peace and to help people in need.

    Source: cnn.com

  • FBI warns of plans for nationwide armed protests ahead of Biden’s inauguration

    The FBI has warned of armed protests being planned for Washington and all 50 U.S. state capitals in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a federal law enforcement source said on Monday.

    Threatened with more violence from outgoing President Donald Trump’s supporters following last Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol, the FBI issued warnings for next weekend that run at least until Inauguration Day, the source said.

    In other steps to safeguard the U.S. capital, the National Guard was authorised to send up to 15,000 troops to Washington, and tourists were barred from visiting the Washington Monument until Jan. 24.

    The chief of the National Guard Bureau, General Daniel Hokanson, told reporters he expected about 10,000 troops in Washington by Saturday to help provide security, logistics and communications.

    He said the number could rise to 15,000 if requested by local authorities.

    At least one lawmaker asked the Pentagon to do more.

    Senator Chris Murphy, who said he was sending a letter to the acting secretary of defense on Monday, said it was unclear if the National Guard would be sufficient to protect the nation’s capital and that active-duty troops may be needed also.

    “I’m not afraid of taking the oath outside,” Biden told reporters in Newark, Delaware, referring to the traditional setting for the swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol grounds. But he said it was critically important that people “who engaged in sedition and threatened people’s lives, defaced public property, caused great damage” be held accountable.

    Biden’s inaugural committee said on Monday the theme of the Jan. 20 ceremony would be “America United.” Trump, who has sought unsuccessfully to overturn the Nov. 3 election results with false claims of widespread fraud, said last week he would not attend the ceremony, a decision the president-elect supported.

    Washington monument closed to tours

    The Park Service said it would suspend tours of the Washington Monument, an obelisk honouring the country’s first president, due to safety concerns from threats to disrupt the inauguration.

    Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called for the U.S. Interior Department to cancel public-gathering permits through Jan. 24. “This inaugural planning period has to be very different than all the others,” she told reporters on Monday.

    In a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf made public on Sunday, Bowser called for a fresh approach to security after what she called last week’s “unprecedented terrorist attack.”

    Bowser asked Wolf to extend the National Special Security Event period from Monday through Jan. 24. The Secret Service heads security operations for events, including presidential inaugurations, considered to be nationally significant.

    Wolf said in a statement he had instructed the Secret Service to begin National Special Security Event operations for the inauguration effective Wednesday, instead of Jan. 19 as previously scheduled. The acting secretary told his staff he was stepping down on Monday.

    The assault on the Capitol, challenging the certification of Biden’s election victory, sent lawmakers into hiding and left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Dozens of people have been charged in the violence and hundreds more cases are expected.

    The assault occurred shortly after Trump urged supporters to march on the Capitol during a rally where he repeated false claims his resounding defeat in November’s election was illegitimate.

    Democrats in Congress began a push on Monday to force Trump from office, introducing an article of impeachment that accuses him of inciting insurrection.

    The presidential inaugural committee and Bowser have told Americans not to travel to the inauguration, and said Washington’s National Mall would be covered with 191,500 flags of different sizes, to represent the missing crowds.

    A presidential inauguration traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Washington, but the ceremonies have been scaled back dramatically because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In state capitols, governors are on high alert ahead of the inauguration.

    In Wisconsin, a swing state where Trump alleged election fraud, Governor Tony Evers authorised the Wisconsin National Guard to support the state’s Capitol Police.

    In Michigan, another swing state where Biden’s victory was contested by Trump, the state’s Capitol Commission, which oversees the legislature, issued an order to ban the open carrying of weapons inside the Capitol building in Lansing.

    Source: france24.com

  • Pro-Trump mob storm US Capitol

    Police are clearing supporters of President Donald Trump from the US Capitol after they breached one of the most iconic American buildings, engulfing the nation’s capital in chaos after Trump urged his supporters to fight against the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

    Shortly after 1 p.m. ET hundreds of pro-Trump protesters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers “traitors” for doing their jobs. About 90 minutes later, police said demonstrators got into the building and the doors to the House and Senate were being locked. Shortly after, the House floor was evacuated by police.

    An armed standoff took place at the House front door as of 3 p.m. ET, and police officers had their guns drawn at someone who was trying to breach it. A Trump supporter was also pictured standing at the Senate dais earlier in the afternoon. A woman is in critical condition after being shot in the chest on the Capitol grounds, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The sources could not provide further details on the circumstances of the shooting. Multiple officers have been injured with at least one transported to the hospital, multiple sources tell CNN.

    Smoke grenades were used on the Senate side of the Capitol, as police work to clear the building of rioters. Windows on the west side of the Senate have been broken, and hundreds of officers are amassing on the first floor of the building.

    The Senate floor was cleared of rioters as of 3:30 p.m. ET, and an officer told CNN that they have successfully squeezed them away from the Senate wing of the building and towards the Rotunda, and they are removing them out of the East and West doors of the Capitol.

    It’s not clear if any of the individuals have been taken into custody.

    Vice President Mike Pence was also evacuated from Capitol, where he was to perform his role in the counting of electoral votes.

    The stunning display of insurrection was the first time the US Capitol had been breached since the British attacked and burned the building in August of 1814, during the War of 1812, according to Samuel Holliday, director of scholarship and operations with the US Capitol Historical Society.

    Trump has directed the National Guard to Washington along with “other federal protective services,” according to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

    The entire DC National Guard has been activated by the Department of Defense following a pro-Trump mob breaching the United States Capitol.

    “The D.C. Guard has been mobilized to provide support to federal law enforcement in the District,” said Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman. “Acting Secretary Miller has been in contact with Congressional leadership, and Secretary McCarthy has been working with the D.C. government. The law enforcement response will be led by the Department of Justice.”

    The Department of Defense had earlier received a request from the US Capitol Police for additional DC National Guard forces but a decision has not been made, according to a senior defense official.

    The official said DC National Guard was not anticipating to be used to protect federal facilities, and the Trump administration had decided earlier this week that would be the task of civilian law enforcement, the official said.

    The shocking scene was met with less police force than many of the Black Lives Matter protests that rolled across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers last year. While federal police attacked peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square outside the White House over the summer, clearing the way for Trump to take a photo in front of a nearby church at the time, protesters on Wednesday were able to overrun Capitol police and infiltrate the country’s legislative chambers.

    House and Senate leadership is safe and in an undisclosed locations, according to a person familiar. A separate lawmaker said House members have been evacuated to a location that this source would not disclose.

    The US Capitol Police are working to secure the second floor of the Capitol first, and will then expand from there. Outside the Capitol, the DC Metropolitan Police Department continues to mass, but no major move has been made yet toward the crowd.

    The Capitol police officer in the House chamber told lawmakers that they may need to duck under their chairs and informed lawmakers that protesters were in the building’s Rotunda. Lots of House members were seen wearing gas masks as they move between Capitol buildings. Members were calling family to say they are OK.

    Trump finally called on his supporters to “go home” hours after the riot started, but spent a large amount of time in the one-minute video lamenting and lying about his election loss.

    In one stunning line, Trump told the mob to “go home,” but added, “We love you. You are very special.”

    Trump struck a sympathetic tone to the rioters he himself unleashed saying, “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.”

    Others inside the President’s orbit tweeted their calls for calm as the mob repeatedly attempted to take over the building.

    Donald Trump Jr., the President’s son, said that his supporters who mobbed the Capitol were “wrong and not who we are.”

    “Be peaceful and use your 1st Amendment rights, but don’t start acting like the other side. We have a country to save and this doesn’t help anyone,” he tweeted.

    The protesters have breached exterior security barriers, and video footage shows protesters gathering and some clashing with police near the Capitol building. CNN’s team on the ground saw a number of protesters trying to go up the side of the Capitol building. Several loud flash bangs have been heard.

    Protesters could be seen pushing against metal fences and police using the fences to push protesters back, while other officers reached over the top to club people trying to cross their lines.

    Flash bangs could be heard near the steps of the Capitol as smoke filled the air. In some instances officers could be seen deploying pepper spray. Tear gas has been deployed, but it’s not clear whether by protesters or police, and people wiped tears from their eyes while coughing.

    Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser just announced a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday until 6 a.m. ET Thursday.

    Federal and local law enforcement are responding to reports of possible pipe bombs in multiple locations in Washington DC, according to a federal law enforcement official. It’s unclear if the devices are real or a hoax, but they’re being treated as real.

    A pipe bomb was found at the Republican National Committee’s headquarters earlier Wednesday, an RNC official told CNN. The device was found on the ground outside, along the wall of the headquarters. It was safely detonated by the police, the RNC official said.

    At least two suspected pipe bombs have been rendered safe by law enforcement, including the one at the building that houses RNC offices and one in the US Capitol complex, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. The official said these were real explosive devices and they were detonated safely.

    The Democratic National Committee was also evacuated after a suspicious package was being investigated nearby, a Democratic source familiar with the matter told CNN.

    The party had preemptively closed the building ahead of the protests, the source said, but a few security and essential personnel were evacuated.

    Source:  CNN.com

  • US tops daily record for coronavirus deaths, hospitalisations

    The latest numbers of newly reported coronavirus deaths and hospitalisations shattered records in the United States on Wednesday.

    There were 3,054 reported deaths, the highest single-day total to date and nearly 300 deaths higher than the previous record set in May, according to the organization, data from the Covid Tracking Project showed.

    The highest-ever number of people – 106,688 – are hospitalised with Covid-19, according to the organization, the latest in a weeks-long streak of record-setting daily figures.

    According to Johns Hopkins University data released on Wednesday, the country logged a record 215,860 new infections a day earlier.

    New cases per day have rocketed to more than 200,000 on average.

    While vaccines are within sight, health experts expect the upcoming Christmas holidays to further fuel the widespread surge.

    The US, which has a population of around 330 million, has recorded 15.4 million infections since the start of the pandemic and is approaching 300,000 deaths – far more than any other nation.

    Source: GNA

  • Nigeria refutes U.S. on religious freedom blacklist

    Nigerian government has formally rejected an allegation by the United States that the west African country is engaged in violation of religious freedom.

    Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry said in an official statement reaching Xinhua on Wednesday that the engagement with the U.S. government on the development will be “vigorous”.

    The reaction followed Nigeria’s listing by the U.S. amongst “Countries of Particular Concern” for religious freedom, accusing Nigeria and other countries of violation of religious freedom.

    The statement said the development was “surprising”, noting as a secular country, the government remained committed to ensuring “respect and protection of all citizens’ right to religious freedom and promotion of religious tolerance and harmony”.

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria received the news with surprise, that a secular country under a democratic government will be so designated,” the statement said.

    Although Nigeria is multi-religious and multi-ethnic, the constitution expressly states that the government shall not adopt any religion as a state religion, the statement said.

    “Furthermore, section 38 of the constitution guarantees that every Nigerian citizen is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion including freedom to change his/her religion or belief. And freedom to manifest and propagate his/her religion or belief. Religious liberty in Nigeria has never been in question, therefore any claim contrary to that is completely false and untrue,” it added.

    Source: GNA

  • Morocco normalizes relations with Israel under US brokered deal

    A big day for Morocco.

    Donald Trump announced on twitter the US had recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region.

    The announcement is part of a deal, which makes Morocco the latest Arab league country to agree to normalize relations with Israel.

    With US help, the kingdom becomes the fourth state to normalize relations with Israel since August.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel celebrated the announcement at a prearranged, televised Hanukkah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.

    “I think that this is the foundation on which we can now build. This peace will resume liaison offices quickly between Israel and Morocco and work as rapidly as possible to establish full diplomatic relations. We’ll also institute direct flights between Morocco and Israel and Israel and Morocco giving this bridge of peace an even more solid foundation. This will be a very warm peace. Peace as never. The light of peace on this Hanukah day has never shown brighter than today in the Middle East.” Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel:

    Netanyahu had been accompanied by David M. Friedman, the American ambassador to Israel.

    On the subject of the Western Sahara, Morocco has always maintained the region is part of its territory although the African Union recognizes it as an independent state.

    The disputed region which is a former Spanish colony, was annexed by Morocco in 1975. It has since then been the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Morocco and its indigenous Saharawi people, which is led by the pro-independence Polisario Front.

    Source: africanews.com

  • Coronavirus: US death toll passes 200,000

    The US coronavirus death toll has passed 200,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

    More than 6.8 million people are known to have been infected in the US, more than in any other country.

    The milestone comes amid an increase in cases in a number of states, including North Dakota and Utah.

    President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the new death toll was a “horrible thing” and claimed China “should have stopped” the virus.

    He also defended his record, claiming that had the US not taken action, “you could have two million, 2.5 or three million” dead.

    JHU reported the new death toll of 200,005 on Tuesday. The university has been collecting US and global coronavirus data since the outbreak began late last year in China. The first case in the US was confirmed in January.

    President Trump’s administration has been repeatedly criticised over its handling of the outbreak.

    “Due to Donald Trump’s lies and incompetence in the past six months, [we] have seen one of the greatest losses of American life in history,” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Monday.

    “With this crisis, a real crisis, a crisis that required serious presidential leadership, he just wasn’t up to it. He froze. He failed to act. He panicked. And America has paid the worst price of any nation in the world.”

    But on the same day, Mr Trump said he and his administration had done “a phenomenal job” and gave himself an “A+” for his handling of the pandemic.

    He said the US was “rounding the corner on the pandemic, with or without a vaccine”.

    Source: bbc.com

  • Top US law official slammed for comparing lockdown to ‘slavery’

    US Attorney General William Barr, a top Trump appointee and the highest ranking US law enforcement official, has drawn fire for comparing Covid-19 lockdown orders to the historical US enslavement of black people.

    “You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history,” he told a college in Michigan on Wednesday.

    In a CNN interview, Democratic Congressman James Clyburn – the highest-ranked African-American in the House of Representatives – slammed the remark as “the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful thing I’ve ever heard”.

    “It is incredible that the chief law enforcement officer in this country would equate human bondage to expert advice to save lives. Slavery was not about saving lives, it was about devaluing lives.” He pointed out that the federal government never instituted a lockdown, and they were instead ordered by the states.

    Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who is also black, took issue with Barr’s description of slavery as a form of “restraint,” telling CNN it was actually “one of the worst crimes against humanity ever committed”.

    Source: bbc.com

  • US imposes visa restrictions over Nigeria elections

    The US has imposed visa restrictions on a number of people in Nigeria accused of undermining democratic principles ahead of elections in Edo and Ondo states.

    The state department said the individuals – who have not been named – had operated with impunity at the expense of the Nigerian people.

    It urged all parties – including the security forces – to ensure free and fair elections.

    The US also announced visa restrictions on individuals involved in elections in two other states that were marred by violence last year.

    In August the US had expressed concern over the deteriorating political climate in Edo State. It said it was disappointed with the role played by some political actors in the state, especially with regards to allegations of interference by security forces in political matters.

    Source: bbc.com

  • US will not take part in global vaccine search

    The Trump administration has indicated that it will not participate in international coalition efforts to find and distribute a vaccine for COVID-19 because the World Health Organization (WHO) is involved.

    The Washington Post newspaper reported that the White House would not join 172 other countries participating in a WHO-led initiative to “ensure equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, once they are licensed and approved”.

    White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that the US would “continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat the virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organisations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China”.

    US President Donald Trump has attacked the WHO over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, accusing it of being biased towards China in how it issued its guidance.

    Source: bbc.com

  • US pledges to reduce Iraq troops as tensions ease

    The United States said Thursday it would reduce troops in Iraq in the coming months as friction between the two countries eased under a new US-friendly premier in Baghdad.

    The United States also promised support to prop up the struggling Iraqi economy as the two nations held their first strategic dialogue in more than a decade.

    Tensions skyrocketed following a US strike on Baghdad in January that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, with lawmakers in Baghdad demanding the expulsion of the roughly 5,200 US troops in the country.

    President Donald Trump responded by threatening crippling sanctions and, according to US military sources, Washington began planning a vast bombing spree against groups blamed for the rockets.

    In a joint statement, the United States said that the reason for its military’s return to Iraq in 2014 – defeating extremists from the Islamic State group – had made major headway.

    “The two countries recognized that in light of significant progress towards eliminating the ISIS threat, over the coming months the US would continue reducing forces from Iraq,” a joint statement said.

    “The United States reiterated that it does not seek nor request permanent bases or a permanent military presence in Iraq.”

    The coalition has already consolidated to just three bases in recent months, down from a dozen.

    The joint statement, hashed out ahead of time, did not give figures and Thursday’s dialogue was brief, with David Schenker, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, telling reporters the delegations did not discuss a timeline for reducing troops.

    Due to coronavirus travel restrictions, top-level talks expected to take place in Baghdad were demoted to a brief online kick-off session.

    New PM changes tone

    Tensions have calmed substantially since Mustafa Kadhemi – an ex-spy chief with close ties to the US and its allies in the region – took the reins as Iraq’s premiere in May.

    Two Iraqi officials said Kadhemi has been invited to the White House this year, a diplomatic olive branch his predecessor Adel Abdel Mahdi had never received.

    “There was a lack of confidence in the relationship with the previous government,” one of the officials said.

    Iraq in the joint statement promised to protect US bases that have seen a barrage of rocket fire blamed on paramilitary groups tied to Iran, a top adversary for the Trump administration.

    The United States said it would look to encourage investment and promote economic reform in Iraq, which was rocked last year by major protests against unemployment and corruption.

    “We will support the new government through the international financial institutions to help it meet the challenge of COVID-19 and declining oil revenues,” Schenker said.

    Iraq’s economy relies almost exclusively on oil exports, with faltering prices and low demand drastically shrinking the government’s ability to pay wages, pensions and welfare to eight million Iraqis.

    After Kadhemi took charge, the United States extended a waiver from American sanctions to let Iraq keep importing needed gas from Iran, although the exemption runs out in September.

    “The entire US-Iraq bilateral relationship will not be fixed in a single day,” said Robert Ford, an analyst at the Middle East Institute and a US diplomat in Baghdad during the last round of strategic talks in 2008, which ironed out the US drawdown from the occupation that began after the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

    “But for once, we seem to have the right people in the right place at the right time,” he said.

    Eyes on troop future

    A dramatic or sudden drop could hamper the coalition’s efforts to back an Iraqi fightback against IS sleeper cells, which have escalated attacks in recent weeks.

    “Whatever comes out of the dialogue is going to set the future of our strategic relationship,” a top American official from the coalition told AFP.

    “Am I still going to fly surveillance drones or not? Do you still want our intelligence?” he added.

    Other coalition countries are watching closely.

    “The ability of non-US members of the coalition to be in Iraq depends on whether the US can stay. We’re tied down by this dialogue, too,” a Western diplomat told AFP.

    The spokesman for the pro-Iran Fatah bloc, Ahmad al-Assadi, has insisted on a six-month deadline for foreign troops’ departure.

    On Monday and Wednesday, two rockets hit near Baghdad airport and the American embassy, after weeks of calm.

    But the rhetoric was more tempered than usual, with even the hardline Kataeb Hezbollah saying it would take a formal stance on the talks only after the first session.

    “These groups are retrenching, which gives Kadhemi some space with the Americans,” Ford said.

    Source: france24.com

  • Coronavirus: US-China virus row flares with senator’s comments

    The row between the US and China over the coronavirus outbreak has flared again with a US senator accusing Beijing of trying to block the development of a vaccine in the West.

    Rick Scott said evidence had come via “our intelligence community” but provided no details to back it up.

    China meanwhile issued a document defending its virus actions, saying it briefed the US as early as 4 January.

    Deaths caused by the virus passed 400,000 worldwide on Sunday.

    The figure is provided in a count by Johns Hopkins University, which also shows confirmed global infections close to the 7 million mark.

    What did Rick Scott say?

    The Republican senator for Florida, who serves on the armed services and homeland security committees among others, was speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

    He said: “We have got to get this vaccine done. Unfortunately we have evidence that communist China is trying to sabotage us or slow it down.”

    Mr Scott was pressed on the issue twice. He said: “China does not want us, and England and Europe to do it first. They’ve decided to be an adversary to America and democracies around the world.”

    Mr Scott, who has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, was questioned again, saying the “evidence” had come through the intelligence community and armed services, adding: “There are things I can’t discuss… I get provided information.”

    He said if “England or the US does it first, we’re going to share. Communist China, they are not going to share.”

    What is the background to this?

    The Trump administration has consistently attacked China over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

    Mr Trump has referred to coronavirus regularly as the “China virus”. He also said he has proof Covid-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was “enormous evidence” to back the theory, which Beijing has dismissed.

    The Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which includes the UK and the US, said there was no such evidence, as did the World Health Organization (WHO).

    But the WHO is another point of contention for Mr Trump’s administration. It has pulled out of the body, accusing it of being China’s puppet.

    Mr Trump accused Chinese officials of covering up the virus early on and saying they could have stopped the disease from spreading.

    This week he threatened to bar passenger flights from China from 16 June, after which Beijing said it would loosen restrictions on international air travel.

    Then there is the backdrop of the US-China trade dispute, which saw the imposition of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tariffs on each another’s goods.

    What is China’s side of the story?

    It has not yet responded specifically to Mr Scott’s accusations but in a new document it has published on its response to the virus, Beijing says it briefed the United States as early as 4 January, when the disease was still largely unknown.

    It lists a telephone briefing given by the head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to his US counterpart.

    China says in the document it has acted in an open, transparent and responsible manner.

    The WHO has praised China’s actions, saying they helped slow the spread of the virus, particularly with the quick and voluntary sharing of the virus’s genetic code.

     

    China’s foreign ministry has repeatedly accused the Trump administration of trying to distract from its own problems tackling the crisis.

    The US has more infections and deaths than any other nation.

    One Chinese foreign ministry spokesman also promoted the idea – without evidence – that Covid-19 might have originated in the US.

    Where are we with a vaccine?

    Dozens of groups around the world are researching vaccines, with some entering clinical trials.

    The first human trial data appears positive, showing patients produced antibodies that could neutralise the virus.

     

    However, no-one knows how effective any of these vaccines will be.

    A vaccine would normally take years, if not longer, to develop, although given the huge effort some experts believe there could be a vaccine by mid-2021, but again there are no guarantees.

     

    Source: BBC 

  • US prevents UN Security Council vote on pandemic truce

    The United States on Friday prevented a vote in the UN Security Council on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in various countries around the world so they can better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said.

    “The United States cannot support the current draft,” the country’s delegation told the 14 other stunned members of the Security Council.

    When asked for an explanation of the US move, a State Department official told AFP that China had “repeatedly blocked compromises that would have allowed the Council to move forward.”

    Diplomats told AFP that the language used in the draft to describe the World Health Organization was behind the US move to prevent the vote.

    Last month, US President Donald Trump announced he was suspending funding to the World Health Organization, accusing it of downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak to shield China.

    On Thursday, Washington had accepted an implicit mention of the WHO in the UN text as a compromise.

    Other sources said Washington wanted the Council to return to an initial draft of the resolution which highlighted the need for “transparency” in global cooperation in tackling the pandemic.

    The procedure blocked by the United States would have allowed the sponsors of the resolution, France and Tunisia, to put it to a vote.

    The latest version of the text — which has been the subject of tense negotiations since March, and was obtained by AFP — called for a cessation of hostilities in conflict zones to allow governments to better address the pandemic.

    It called on all nations to “enhance coordination” in the virus fight.

    It also highlighted the “urgent need to support all countries, as well as all relevant entities of the United Nations system, including specialized health agencies, and other relevant international, regional, and sub-regional organization.”

    This wording, which implicitly refers to the WHO without explicitly mentioning it, was seen as a compromise that could win support from both the United States and China.

    “In our view, the Council should either proceed with a resolution limited to support for a ceasefire, or a broadened resolution that fully addresses the need for renewed member state commitment to transparency and accountability in the context of COVID-19,” the State Department official said Friday.

    The US is the largest contributor to the WHO, offering more than $400 million each year, which also goes to combat other diseases around the world including polio and malaria.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been pushing for a cessation of hostilities around the world since March 23, urging all sides in conflict to lay down arms and allow war-torn nations to combat the coronavirus.

    Source: france24.com

  • U.S. says will not take part in WHO global drugs, vaccine initiative launch

    The United States will not take part in the launching of a global initiative on Friday to speed the development, production, and distribution of drugs and vaccines against COVID-19, a spokesman for the U.S. mission in Geneva told Reuters.

    “There will be no U.S. official participation”, he said in an email reply to a query.”

    “We look forward to learning more about this initiative in support of international cooperation to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 as soon as possible.”

    U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a suspension of funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), where it is the largest donor.

    French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will help launch the global initiative on Friday, the U.N. agency said ahead of the 1300 GMT event.

    Source: vanguardngr.com

  • Coronavirus: Trump to defy ‘voluntary’ advice for Americans to wear masks

    US President Donald Trump has said he will not wear a face mask despite new medical guidance advising Americans to do so.

    He could not see himself greeting “presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens” in the Oval Office while wearing one, he said.

    He stressed that the guidance released on Friday was “voluntary”.

    “You do not have to do it,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.”

    The guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the government’s public health advisory agency, came as the US reported at least 270,473 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with nearly 7,000 deaths.

    Until now, US health authorities had said that only the sick, or those caring for patients of coronavirus, should wear masks, but newer studies suggest that covering up one’s face is important to prevent inadvertent transmission.

    “From recent studies we know that the transmission from individuals without symptoms is playing a more significant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood,” Mr Trump said on Friday.

    However, he told reporters after announcing the CDC’s new guidance: “I just don’t want to do it myself.”

    “Sitting in the Oval Office… I somehow don’t see it for myself.”

    Americans are now advised to use clean cloth or fabric to cover their faces whilst in public. Officials have stressed that medical masks remain in short supply, and should be left for healthcare workers.

    The guidance comes as the number of cases globally climbs past one million.

    Source: bbc.com

  • US tops world in coronavirus cases, overtakes China and Italy

    The United States on Thursday took the grim title of the country with the most coronavirus infections and reported a record surge in unemployment as world leaders vowed $5 trillion to stave off global economic collapse.

    More than 500,000 people around the world have now contracted the new coronavirus, overwhelming healthcare systems even in wealthy nations and triggering an avalanche of government-ordered lockdowns that have disrupted life for billions.

    In the United States, more than 83,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19, edging out Italy, which has reported the most deaths, and China, where the virus was first detected in December in the metropolis of Wuhan.

    The US has recorded 1,178 deaths, while the global death toll stood at 23,293.

    With about 40 percent of Americans under lockdown orders, Trump urged citizens to do their part by practising social distancing: “Stay home. Just relax, stay home.”

    Source: punchng.com

  • Pregnant teen dies after falling from US-Mexico border wall

    A pregnant 19-year-old migrant from Guatemala died after trying to climb over a border fence in Texas, authorities said on Thursday. Doctors were not able to save her child.

    United States media, quoting a statement from Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported that the woman, Miriam Estefany Giron Luna, fell on her back from the top of an 18-foot-high (5.5-metre) span of steel mesh fencing while trying to cross with the child’s father. Giron Luna, who was 30 weeks pregnant, died from her injuries on Tuesday.

    Tekandi Paniagua, a Guatemalan consular official based in the state of Texas, told the Washington Post that new restrictions imposed by US President Donald Trump have been causing asylum seekers to take more risks and that since October, at least five other Guatemalans have suffered broken bones and other serious injuries after falling from the border wall.

    “This is a very worrisome trend,” he told the Washington Post. “People are taking more and more risks, and they’re losing their lives.”

    Trump, who has made a crackdown on immigration a central focus of his presidency and his re-election campaign, has put in place measures that have made it increasingly more difficult for migrants to apply for asylum in the US. At least 60,000 asylum seekers have been sent back to Mexico to wait while their cases are processed in the US under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” programme.

    Meanwhile, during the 2019 fiscal year, US authorities took into custody more than 470,000 migrants who arrived amid a record influx of Central Americans who are fleeing violence, poverty and political persecution in their countries.

    Those measures have led to a 75 percent drop in border detentions since May, US authorities say, even as the latest figures show a slight uptick in the number of single Mexican adults and unaccompanied minors attempting to cross.

    With the addition of taller and more formidable barriers along the border, including more than 135 miles (217km) of new 30-foot-tall (nine-metre) border fencing the Trump administration has installed, smuggling organisations have been using improvised ladders to take migrants over the top.

    The tactic requires migrants to cling to the top of the structure, then climb a ladder down the other side or slide down by wrapping their arms and legs around the steel.

    According to the Washington Post report, Giron Luna was a social worker and a beauty pageant winner in her hometown in her country’s Quetzaltenango department. She reportedly slipped while trying to descend from the top of the barrier, landing on her back. The woman’s partner, Dilver Israel Diaz Garcia, 26, carried her away from the scene to seek help and encountered US Border Patrol agents, who radioed for an ambulance.

    According to the newspaper, doctors in El Paso tried to deliver the child via Caesarean section, and Giron Luna underwent multiple surgeries before dying. Her partner, Diaz Garcia, remains in US Border Patrol custody, where he faces deportation.

    Source: aljazeera.com

  • US imposes new travel restrictions after first coronavirus death

    The government of United States has announced additional travel restrictions affecting Iran, Italy and South Korea, which have emerged as major hotspots of the new coronavirus outbreak, following the first death from the virus in the country.

    Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday the existing travel ban on Iran would extend to foreign nationals who had been in that country the past 14 days. He also urged US citizens not to travel to affected areas of Italy and South Korea. The US has already imposed restriction on entry from China, where the virus originated late last year.

    “We want to lower the amount of travel to and from the most impacted areas, this is a basic containment strategy,” said Health Secretary Alex Azar at a joint news conference with President Donald Trump.

    Shortly before the news conference, the Washington state Department of Health confirmed that one person had died of the disease officially known as COVID-19, marking the first death linked to the new coronavirus in the US.

    The death in the western state comes amid a slowly growing number of cases of community transmission in the US. There are some 62 cases in the country, mostly evacuees from a cruise ship. Of the 22 cases in the US directly, around 15 are in recovery, while several remain ill.

    Trump told reporters at the White House that the deceased person was a “medically high-risk” woman in her late 50s, although a health official in Washington state later said it was a man.

    The victim appears to have become ill through local transmission, said Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “The investigation at this time shows no evidence of link to travel or a known contact,” Redfield said at the news conference.

    Redfield stressed that “the risk to the American public remains low,” echoing comments by Trump, who urged the media to exercise restraint.

    “If you are healthy, you will probably go through a process and you will be fine,” the president said. “There is no reason to panic at all. This is something that is being handled professionally.”

    Trump also announced he will meet on Monday heads of top pharmaceutical companies to discuss the novel coronavirus.

    Global spread
    The virus has now hit 61 countries worldwide, with more than 2,900 people killed and nearly 86,000 infected since it was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

    Its rapid spread beyond China’s borders in the past week has caused stock markets to sink to their lowest levels since the 2008 global financial crisis over fears the disease could wreak havoc on the world economy.

    Although the vast majority of infections have been in China, more daily cases are now logged outside the country.

    South Korea, which has the most infected people outside China, reported its biggest surge in new cases on Saturday with 813 more patients confirmed, bringing its total to 3,150. Italy, the epicentre of the outbreak in Europe, also reported a jump in new cases on Saturday, its number of infections exceeding 1,000 and the death toll jumping by eight to 29. Iran, meanwhile reported 205 new cases, with the overall number of infections now standing at 593 and the death toll at 43.

    France on Saturday cancelled all gatherings of 5,000 people or more in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak which has infected 100 people throughout the country.

    The virus has also spread to previously untouched areas in recent days, reaching new countries including Azerbaijan, Mexico and New Zealand, as well as the first case in sub-Saharan Africa with Nigeria reporting a case. Qatar and Ecuador both confirmed their first cases on Saturday.

    Source: aljazeera.com

  • We informed Nigeria of impending visa ban – US

    The United States Government has said it notified all foreign governments of a change in its performance metrics for identity-management and information sharing criteria since March 11, 2019, which led to the visa ban on those countries.

    The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had initially described the report of the visa ban as speculative, stressing however, that if it turned out to be true, the federal government would respond comprehensively.

    But the US government disclosed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified the worst-performing countries for further interagency review and for an assessment of the potential impact of visa restrictions.

    In a proclamation published on the White House website, the US said that Nigeria and the five other affected countries were among the worst-performing in the world.

    It stated: “The process began on March 11, 2019, when the United States government formally notified all foreign governments (except for Iran, Syria, and North Korea) about the refined performance metrics for the identity-management and information-sharing criteria,” the proclamation read.

    “DHS identified the worst-performing countries for further interagency review and for an assessment of the potential impact of visa restrictions.

    “In addition, the United States government, led by the department of state, continued or increased engagements with many countries about those countries’ deficiencies.”

    The US government noted that a number of foreign governments sent senior officials to Washington, D.C to discuss those issues, explore potential solutions, and convey views about obstacles to improving performance.

    It said that as a result of this engagement, one country made sufficient improvements in its information-sharing and identity-management practices and was removed from consideration for travel restrictions.

    It however said that there are prospects for near-term improvements for the six countries.

    In the proclamation, the US President, Mr. Donald Trump, said the acting secretary of homeland security submitted a report on September 13, 2019 recommending the actions to be taken on the countries identified including “incentivising those foreign governments to improve their practices”.

    The proclamation imposes a ban on the issuance of immigrant visas to Nigerian passport holders.

    The proclamation however forced President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a committee to study and address the issues that made the US place visa restrictions on Nigerian passport holders.

    Mohammed had initially described as ill-conceived, the plan by the US to add Nigeria to its existing list of visa travel ban countries.

    Speaking to international media and other think tank in London, he had reportedly said: “On the issue of the travel ban our position is that it is still speculative because we are yet to be communicated. When we are communicated we will respond comprehensively.

    “However, in our view it was not well thought out but based largely on negative narratives spread by naysayers.

    “I know that we are working very well with our neighbours to ensure that terrorism is addressed. We are working with international community including the EU and the U.S.

    “Our advice to the US is that it should have a rethink on the issue because any travel ban is bound to affect investment and growth in the country and those who will be affected are the most vulnerable people in Nigeria,” he said.

    President Buhari at the weekend, reacted to the suspension of the issuance of ‘immigrant visas’ to Nigerians by the United States’ Government by setting up a committee to look into the matter with a view to meeting the requirements of the new US’ policy on visa issuance.

    “The committee will work with the US Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented,” Presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, reportedly said in a statement.

    The new visa regime, which was announced by the US’ Government on January 31, comes into effect on February 21.

    Source: thisdaylive.com