Bangladesh to lift lockdown for festival despite record infections

Bangladesh will lift its nationwide coronavirus lockdown for the country's second-biggest religious festival, the government said Tuesday, even as new infections soared to record levels.

The cabinet said all restrictions would be eased in the Muslim-majority country of 169 million people from Thursday ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival which will be celebrated from July 20 to 22 this year.

The removal of the curbs would "normalise economic activities" ahead of the celebrations, it added.

Tens of millions of people usually head back to their villages to mark Eid al-Adha with their families.

Bangladesh imposed its strictest-ever lockdown at the start of the month as new Covid-19 cases and deaths climbed to pandemic highs.

Under the lockdown, people were only allowed to leave home for emergencies and to buy essentials, with public transport, shops and offices shut.

But infections have continued to climb, with nearly 14,000 people testing positive on Monday -- a new daily record -- to take the total number of cases to just over one million.

The death toll has risen above 16,600. But experts say the real figures could be much higher amid fears of underreporting.

Mohammad Shahidullah, who heads a health committee that advises the government on how to manage the pandemic, said his group of experts opposed the easing of the lockdown.

"The committee opines that this strict lockdown should be continued till there is a declining trend in infections," Shahidullah told AFP.

"Amid the lockdown, there is an increasing trend of infections and fatalities. The infection level is still very high."

"It might cause a disaster. The coronavirus situation was already alarming," the World Health Organization's former Southeast Asia regional adviser Muzaherul Huq added.

There are also fears that crowding at markets to buy animals for slaughter and big gatherings during the festival could become super-spreader events.

The announcement came as authorities restarted the country's Covid-19 vaccination drive, which virtually ground to a halt in late April after imports of shots from neighbouring India were suspended to meet local demand amid a massive virus surge.

The revived inoculation programme kicked off on a large scale on Tuesday with two million shots of Sinopharm from China and 2.5 million Moderna doses from the United States via the Covax programme.

A further six million doses of Moderna and five million Sinopharm jabs are expected to arrive in August.

So far, 4.2 million people in Bangladesh have been fully vaccinated with two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine bought or donated from India.

A further 1.6 million have received one shot.

In nearby Bhutan, half a million Moderna doses arrived late Monday from the United States via Covax.

More shots are expected to be donated by Denmark, Croatia, Bulgaria, China and several other countries.

The tiny Himalayan kingdom, which has a population of 770,000, had pleaded for more shots after using up most of the 550,000 AstraZeneca doses donated by India.

It had inoculated more than 60 percent of its population with first doses in late March and early April.

"Vaccines are certainly a most scarce commodity at this time, so we are grateful to have so much support from the international community," Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said in a statement issued by UNICEF./agencies

The highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 accounts for 30% of new cases recorded in Senegal, the director of the Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance and Training (IRESSEF) said Thursday. 

Amid the third wave of the pandemic, the Alpha variant has disappeared to make way for the predominant Delta variant, which "constitutes 30% of new infections," Souleymane Mboup said at a meeting of the National Epidemic Management Committee (CNGE) relayed by the local press.

According to Mboup, one third of new infections is due to this variant amid a rapid spread of the virus and increase in the number of cases.

Senegal registered 674 new cases Thursday after reporting a new daily record of 733 infections Wednesday.

The country is experiencing a significant rise in COVID infections, according to Health Minister Abdoulaye Sarr.

"For the past five weeks, we have been recording a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. The figures for the last few days show that the virus is [rapidly] circulating," he said, speaking at the CNGE meeting.

The country has registered a total of 48,270 cases, including 1,209 deaths, since the beginning of the pandemic in the country.

In response, the authorities are continuing a vaccination campaign, with 595,850 people out of a population of more than 17 million inoculated.

However, "all the measures that have been taken so far must be reinforced because we have a much more contagious virus," Mboup said./aa

Protests erupted in several cities of Iran’s Khuzestan province Thursday over water shortages which have been exacerbated by low rainfall and resource mismanagement. 

Demonstrations against the cutoff of drinking water were held in six cities of Khuzestan, according to local sources.

The protesters burnt tires in the streets in some cities and police intervened in the demonstrations.

Mostly Arabs live in the province, where temperatures can reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer.

Most of Iran has been hit by water shortages this year after a decrease in precipitation in the winter and spring left water levels low in most dams and reservoirs. Water mismanagement has contributed to the crisis./agencies

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has confirmed charges against Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru, who surrendered to the ICC in November 2020. 

“Today, 15 July 2021, Pre-Trial Chamber A of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”) confirmed the charges of offences against the administration of justice against Paul Gicheru and committed him to trial,” the ICC said in a statement.

The court said that Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou based her decision on the evidence and submissions presented by the prosecutor and the defense.

“Specifically, with relation to eight witnesses, Mr. Gicheru and other members of the common plan allegedly identified, located and contacted the witnesses, offered and/or payed them financial or other benefits, and/or threatened or intimidated them in order to induce them to withdraw as prosecution witnesses, refuse to or cease cooperating with the prosecution and/or the court, and/or to recant the evidence which they had provided to the prosecution,” the court said.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta became the first head of state to appear before the ICC after being charged with crimes against humanity during the 2007-08 post-election violence.

Shortly after Mwai Kibaki was announced president in 2007 after closely beating opposition leader Raila Odinga, tribal conflicts erupted across the country.

Kenyatta was among others accused of orchestrating the post-election violence that claimed more than 1,000 lives and left more than half a million others internally displaced after being evicted in tribal wars that plagued communities./aa

The US is examining whether it can restore internet access in Cuba after the government there cut service amid mass popular demonstrations, President Joe Biden said Thursday. 

Biden said his administration is "considering whether we have the technological ability to re-instate" the internet in an effort that would sharply undercut the government's actions.

The president has come under pressure from some Cuban-Americans and US politicians to provide remote internet access to Cuba, which lies about 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the coast of the US state of Florida.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote a letter to Biden on Wednesday urging him "to assist in providing Internet access to the people of Cuba standing up against communist oppression and demanding a voice after decades of suffering under the yoke of a cruel dictatorship."

One person has died and hundreds of others have been arrested amid the demonstrations in Cuba. Cuba Decide, a pro-democracy group, said Tuesday that 219 people have been arrested or gone missing.

The group published a list of activists it said had been arrested by the authorities. Demonstrators took to social media to denounce the arrest of protesters Monday by Cuban security forces.

Among those detained was journalist Camila Acosta, who was covering the protests for Spain’s ABC newspaper. Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called for her immediate release in a tweet, saying that "Spain defends the right to free and peaceful demonstrations and calls on the Cuban authorities to respect it. We defend human rights."

Thousands of people took to the streets Sunday in cities and towns across the country to protest shortages of food, fuel and medicine as well as power outages amid an economic crisis. The protests are the largest upheaval to have erupted on the island in decades.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has blamed the US for maintaining a policy of "economic asphyxiation” that has “provoked social outbreaks in the country,” referring to the US embargo on the island nation.

The president said there were "criminals" in the protests.

Biden said he is prepared to provide Cuba with "significant amounts of" coronavirus vaccines -- one of the key items demanded by protesters -- "if, in fact, I was assured an international organization would administer those vaccines and do it in a way that average citizens would have access to those vaccines."

“Cuba is unfortunately a failed state and repressing their citizens," said Biden. "There are a number of things that we would consider doing to help the people of Cuba, but it would require a different circumstance, or a guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government."/aa

The death in custody of 84-year-old Catholic priest Stan Swamy, a renowned human rights advocate for over four decades, will forever remain "a stain on India's human rights record," a UN human rights expert said Thursday. 

Swamy, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, was jailed in October last year on "fabricated terrorism charges" and had been subjected to harassment and repeated interrogations, said Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders.

"I was devastated to hear that Father Stan, a Jesuit priest who had dedicated much of his life to defending the rights of indigenous peoples and the Adivasi minority, died in custody on July 5, despite many requests for his release as his health deteriorated in prison," she said.

"In early November 2020, UN experts joined me in raising his case with the Indian authorities, reminding them of their international human rights obligations. I now ask again why he wasn't released and why he had to die in custody?"

Swamy's Parkinson's condition meant he suffered from severe tremors in both hands, and he had great difficulty with daily activities such as eating, drinking and washing.

He also had severe hearing difficulties, requiring hearing aids in both ears.

Denied drinking straw

In November last year, authorities denied his requests for a drinking straw and warm winter clothes.

He also contracted COVID-19 in prison.

"There is no excuse, ever, for a human rights defender to be smeared as a terrorist, and no reason they should ever die the way Father Swamy died, accused and detained and denied his rights," said Lawlor.

Swamy was from Jamshedpur Province in Jharkhand State. He was the founder of Bagaicha, a social research and training center in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state.

He had been working for decades to protect the rights of the Adivasi minority indigenous peoples and the Dalit minority, in particular against violations involving forced displacement and illegal land acquisitions.

"We know that defenders working on environmental, land, or indigenous people's rights are among the most vulnerable to being targeted," said Lawlor.

The UN expert said Swamy's case should remind all states that human rights defenders and those detained without sufficient legal basis should be released.

Lawlor's call was endorsed by Fernand de Varennes, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, and Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health./aa

At least two civilians, including one child, were killed and 10 others wounded in the Afrin province of Syria when the YPG/PKK terror group targeted the city center with a rocket attack.

Terrorists fired seven rockets at central Afrin, according to initial reports. The rockets also caused property damage when several houses were struck.

The northwestern Afrin province was rid of terror elements thanks o Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield but the YPG/PKK maintains its occupation in the Tal Rifat district although it was supposed to evacuate in line with a deal between Turkey and Russia on Oct. 22, 2019. The terror group continues to target central Afrin.

Backed by the Syrian National Army, Turkey conducted Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20, 2018, to rescue Afrin from the YPG/PKK terror group and cleared the district of terror elements on March 18.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terror organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants./aa

The Pakistan army rescued 15 laborers who were kidnapped by terrorists last month in the northwest near the Afghanistan border, military officials said Thursday.

An army spokesman said 16 laborers working at a mobile tower site in the Kurram Tribal District were abducted June 26 by unknown terrorists.

"On 27 June, 10 out of 16 labourers were released and the body of one labourer was found. To rescue the remaining 5 abducted labourers, security forces launched a series of Intelligence Based Operations in the highly inhospitable terrain under extreme weather conditions," he.

The remaining five laborers were rescued Thursday.

During the operation, three militants were killed and two soldiers, including an officer, lost their lives on July 13, according to the army that said the operation is still ongoing to apprehend and eliminate the remaining terrorists in the area.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella of militant groups, has in the past claimed responsibility for kidnapping officials, NGO workers and laborers in the tribal districts along the Afghan border.

Some militants groups are kidnapping residents and asking for ransom.

Kurram, Khyber and Waziristan districts -- once dubbed the heartland of the militancy -- are among seven former semi-autonomous tribal regions in Pakistan where the army has carried out operations since 2014 to eliminate the TTP network.

Successive operations have pushed the TTP toward neighboring Afghanistan and Islamabad claims the network has set up bases across the border to attack Pakistani security forces and civilians, including kidnapping for ransom, target killings and extortion.

Military operations have also displaced more than 1 million people but the government claims most have returned.

In 2018, the tribal agencies were given the status of districts and merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province./aa

There are about 160 acres to search that may add to the 215 unmarked graves discovered in British Columbia at the former Kamloops Indian residential school, the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation said Thursday.

The first area searched was an apple orchard because a child's rib bone was found there, Sarah Beaulieu, a specialist in ground radar at the University of Fraser Valley, said at a news conference.

She said the subsequent discovery of a child's tooth in another area indicated a wider search was needed.

Chief Rosanne Casimir said tales about the school, which at one time was the largest in Canada with an enrollment of 500 in the 1950s, passed by word of mouth and that led to the finding of 215 unmarked graves in late May.

They were "carrying a burden of truth forward," she said. "This is a heavy truth. It has been referred to as a historic dark chapter but Indigenous people are very much alive with the repercussions that they're living today."

There have been three other disclosures of unmarked graves at former Indian residential schools, bringing the total to 1,308 since the Kamloops discovery.

At one time, 139 schools operated in Canada. The first opened in the 1920s - and in total, about 150,000 lndigenous children were, if necessary, taken from their families and forced to attend.

The goal was to eradicated Indigenous culture and replace it with white culture. The last school closed in 1996. It is believed that 4,000 died from disease, malnutrition and abuse and were buried at the schools often without their parent's knowledge. Many schools were run by religious orders.

Survivors of the Kamloops school also said they recalled children as young as 6 being rousted from their beds to dig graves in the apple orchard, said the chief.

Casimir demanded the release of attendance records from the federal government to help identify the children.

She also said the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Catholic order in charge of the school for decades, must release its records.

But the chief stressed the demand for disclosure and the search for bodies was not motivated by vengeance.

"We are not here for retaliation. We are here for truth-telling,” said Casimir. “We are mapping a way forward to bring peace to those missing children, their families and their communities."/aa

Some of the Colombian nationals who have been arrested in connection to the July 7 assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise received US training, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

"A review of our training databases indicates that a small number of the Colombian individuals detained as part of this investigation had participated in past U.S. military training and education programs, while serving as active members of the Colombian Military Forces," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman said in a statement.

Hoffman did not specify how many individuals received training, but said the instruction "emphasizes and promotes respect for human rights, compliance with the rule of law, and militaries subordinate to democratically elected civilian leadership."

The Pentagon's review of the matter is ongoing, added Hoffman.

A US team of top officials went to Haiti over the weekend after officials there requested American forces be sent to the Caribbean nation to help stabilize the country following Moise's killing.

The team met with Haitian officials, including Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph and Prime Minister-Designate Ariel Henry, as well as the Haitian National Police on Sunday, according to the White House.

The national police are leading the investigation into the killing.

Moise's assassination has led to a critical power vacuum in Haiti as officials scramble to form a plan of succession amid simmering civil unrest and gang violence.

Police have arrested at least 19 suspects, including 17 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, in relation to Moise’s assassination.

Moise, 53, took office in 2017 after a contested election. After he failed to hold legislative elections, the opposition demanded he step down.

One day before his death, Moise appointed a new prime minister, who was set to take office.

Haiti is scheduled to hold presidential and legislative elections on Sept. 26./aa