US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that guilty verdicts for the three white men who murdered a 25-year-old Black man in Georgia reflect the US justice system "doing its job," but noted that alone is "not enough." 

Biden said Ahmaud Arbery's murder, which was recorded on a widely-circulated cellphone video taken by one of the men who was found guilty on Wednesday, "is a devastating reminder of how far we have to go in the fight for racial justice in this country."

"While the guilty verdicts reflect our justice system doing its job, that alone is not enough," the president said in a statement.

"Instead, we must recommit ourselves to building a future of unity and shared strength, where no one fears violence because of the color of their skin. My administration will continue to do the hard work to ensure that equal justice under law is not just a phrase emblazoned in stone above the Supreme Court, but a reality for all Americans," he added.

All of the men convicted of Arbery's killing were charged with murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, attempted false imprisonment, and criminal contempt to commit a felony.

Travis McMichael, the man who fatally shot the 25-year-old Black man in the port city of Brunswick in February 2020, was found guilty by the predominantly white jury of all charges against him, including malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of false imprisonment and criminal contempt to commit a felony.

His father, Gregory McMichael, was found not guilty of malice murder, but was found guilty of all other charges. Their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, Jr., who joined in the pursuit and whose cellphone footage documented the tragedy, was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal contempt to commit a felony.

All three men still face federal hate crime charges in a trial expected to take place in early 2022./aa

US space agency Wednesday began its first test mission of a planetary defense system by launching a spacecraft that is intended to strike an asteroid with the hopes of causing a measurable change.

The DART, or Double Asteroid Redirection Test, was launched aboard a SpaceX rocket at 1.21 a.m. EST (0621GMT) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California.

The spacecraft is intended to intentionally collide with an asteroid at such speeds that it will change the asteroid's motion by a level that is measurable by land-based telescopes.

“DART is turning science fiction into science fact and is a testament to NASA’s proactivity and innovation for the benefit of all,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

“In addition to all the ways NASA studies our universe and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home, and this test will help prove out one viable way to protect our planet from a hazardous asteroid should one ever be discovered that is headed toward Earth,” he added.

DART detached from the rocket at 2.17 a.m. (0717GMT) and began a two-hour process to unfurl its 28-foot (8.5 meters) long solar arrays, which will be used to power the spacecraft and its ion engine.

The spacecraft will cruise for about one year until it reaches its target: a pair of asteroids known as the Didymos system, and will crash into the smaller one, Dimorphos, at nearly 15,000 miles per hour (241,402 kilometers per hour), or 4 miles per second (6 kilometers per second). NASA stresses that the mission is just a test and the asteroids are not a threat to Earth.

It is expected to reach the Didymos system between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1, 2022.

The resulting collision is expected to only alter the speed of the moonlet by less than 1%, but NASA said in September that the crash "will change the orbital period of the moonlet by several minutes – enough to be observed and measured using telescopes on Earth."

DART’s flight is intended to demonstrate the feasibility of next-generation ion engine technology, which NASA hopes to use in future space missions./aa

In one of the worst disasters to occur during the dangerous crossings to reach the United Kingdom, at least 31 migrants were reported dead as a boat capsized off the French coast of Calais on Wednesday.  

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin, who rushed to the site in the evening, announced the arrest of four smugglers who are suspected of being involved and primarily responsible for organizing the boat journey. Among the dead are five women and a little girl and there are two survivors who are admitted in the emergency, he said while speaking to media from Calais. 

Darmanin said the deaths marked great mourning for France and Europe and called for "an international, coordinated and very harsh response to this despicable tragedy." 

"This is the greatest tragedy we have known," he said. 

President Emmanuel vowed to not "let the Channel become a cemetery" while also calling for "the immediate reinforcement" of European border and coast guard agency Frontex, BFMTV news reported. He called for "an emergency meeting of European ministers" and assured to do everything to find those responsible behind the tragedy. 

In a statement released by the Downing Street, British Premier Boris Johnson said he was shocked and deeply saddened at the deaths. 

Urging the French and the European countries to act together, he said, it was now time to use "every possible power and leave no stone unturned to demolish the business proposition of the human traffickers and the gangsters" who are getting away with "murder." 

The incident was brought to attention when a fishing vessel sounded an alarm after locating several bodies floating in the sea. 

The deaths come after last week's agreement between France and Britain to prevent illegal crossings of the migrants in small boats from the French coast. The two countries have been locked in high tension and blame game, with Britain accusing France of lack of action, and France claiming the UK responsible for encouraging migrants to land on its shores.

The top leadership of the French government deplored the incident and held the human traffickers responsible for the "tragedy". Prime minister Jean Castex said the dead were the "victims of the criminal smugglers who exploited their distress and misery. Interior minister Gerald Darmanin rushed to the Calais in northern France, said he was filled with "strong emotions" on the many deaths. "We cannot say enough about the criminal nature of the smugglers who organize these crossings," he said on Twitter./aa

The COVID-19 digital vaccination certificate developed by Togo will be accepted in EU countries, the country's Digital Transformation Ministry and the bloc's delegation in Togo said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

"The EU has just formalized the recognition of the Togolese COVID-19 digital vaccination certificate by its 27 countries. Togo thus becomes the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to obtain this equivalence. Congratulations," Joaquin Tasso Vilallonga, the ambassador of the EU in Togo, said.

This measure will be effective from Nov. 25 and will allow fully vaccinated Togolese travelers to access places subject to the presentation of the certificate across Europe, the joint statement said.

Togolese state, through this digital device, could establish "in record time the reciprocity with the European system of vaccination certificates against COVID-19,” it added.

"This is good news for Togolese, especially those in the diaspora and European businessmen making regular trips to Togo," Vilallonga also said.

This recognition attests to the importance for Togo to build interoperable digital solutions that meet international norms and standards, according to Cina Lawson, Togo's digital economy and digital transformation minister.

She also welcomed "a first step in the effort to digitalize the health sector in Togo."

The West African country's immunization strategy is "effective" and places it "among the best-immunized countries in the sub-region," according to the joint release.

Moustapha Mijiyawa, Togo's public health minister, reported an immunization rate of 12%, with more than 500,000 people fully immunized out of a population of over 8 million./aa

A jury in the US state of Georgia found three white men charged with the 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery guilty on Wednesday in a case that has prompted nationwide attention.

All of the men were charged with murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, attempted false imprisonment, and criminal contempt to commit a felony.

Travis McMichael, the man who fatally shot the 25-year-old Black man in the port city of Brunswick in February 2020, was found guilty by the predominantly white jury of all charges against him, including malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of false imprisonment and criminal contempt to commit a felony.

His father, Gregory McMichael, was found not guilty of malice murder, but was found guilty of all other charges. Their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, Jr., who joined in the pursuit and whose cellphone footage documented the tragedy, was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal contempt to commit a felony.

Georgia Superior Court judge Timothy Walmsley said he would begin the scheduling process for sentencing within the next couple of weeks.

All three men still face federal hate crime charges in a trial expected to take place in early 2022.

The National Bar Association, the US's oldest network of predominantly Black attorneys and judges, hailed the verdict, saying it "provides some indication that all hope is not lost for the American justice system" after Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on charges related to the shootings of three men at a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin.

The verdict, the association said, "hopefully sends a message to racists that you cannot just take the law into your own hands, kill Black people, and get away with it."

"True justice would be Ahmaud spending Thanksgiving with his family, but today’s verdict is the next best consolation,” association President Carlos Moore said in a statement.

Arbery's murder added to a growing chorus of calls for racial justice in the US after the video taken by Bryan, Jr. circulated widely on the internet, prompting widespread outrage. All three men were arrested months after the fatal confrontation after the footage leaked online.

Arbery was first shot in the center of his chest before engaging Travis McMichael, who shot him again in his upper left chest and his wrist, Dial said.

Richard Dial, the lead investigator in Arbery's case, ruled out the possibility that Travis McMichael could have been acting in self-defense during testimony he gave in June, saying he believes it was Arbery who was doing so.

"Mr. Arbery was being pursued, and he ran till he couldn't run anymore," he said. "Mr. Arbery's decision was to just try to get away, and when he felt like he could not escape, he chose to fight."/aa

The World Health Organization and an advisory body are reviewing the need for vaccinating children and adolescents with the currently available COVID-19 vaccines, the UN health body said on Wednesday.

"WHO, with support of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization and its COVID-19 Vaccines Working Group, is reviewing the emerging evidence on the need for and timing of vaccinating children and adolescents with the currently available COVID-19 vaccines," WHO said in what it called “an interim statement.”

To a question by Anadolu Agency, WHO's chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said: "If you look at people under the age of 25, less than 0.5% of global deaths have occurred in that age group. And if you look at children less than five (years of age), it's 0.1%, and five to 10, it's also 0.1%."

"So, the one thing that's clear, and that's been consistent from the beginning up to now is children certainly get infected almost as much as adults do," she said, adding that "the risk of severe illness and death has been consistently very, very low" for children.

Children do get severely ill

Swaminathan, however, said that there are children who get severely ill.

Some children develop post-long-COVID, and there are children who develop multi-system inflammatory syndrome as well, but a tiny proportion.

She said whether children get vaccinated or not will depend a lot on how other priority groups can be covered.

"We also need to then wait for more vaccines, to have the data on children before we can make further recommendations firstly," she said.

WHO said that most COVID-19 vaccines are only approved for use in adults aged 18 years and older, and yet an increasing number of vaccines are now also being authorized for use in children.

"Some countries have given emergency use authorization for mRNA vaccines for use in the adolescent age group (aged 12-17 years): BNT162b2 developed by Pfizer, and mRNA 1273 developed by Moderna," said the WHO.

Earlier in November, WHO said that China, “a stringent regulatory authority,” approved the "mRNA vaccine BNT162b2" for use in children aged 5-11.

It said trials in children as young as three were completed for two inactivated vaccines (Sinovac-CoronaVac and BBIBP-CorV) approved by Chinese authorities for those aged 3-17.

These vaccine products had received WHO’s emergency use listing for adults only.

Covaxin, an "adjuvanted inactivated vaccine" developed by Bharat, was approved in India for those aged 12-17 years; but has not yet received WHO’s emergency use listing for this age group.

The Indian regulatory authorities approved ZycovD, a novel DNA vaccine, for people aged 12-17 years; however, this vaccine has not yet received a WHO listing.

Several COVID-19 vaccines are undergoing trials in younger age groups (including as young as six months of age), but results are still unpublished.

Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) is continuously reviewing the literature and has reached out to vaccine manufacturers, researchers, and WHO member states to obtain the most complete and recent data, said the WHO./aa

European markets closed mixed on Wednesday with the stock exchanges in Italy and the UK finishing in positive territory.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, rose 0.44, or 0.09%, to close at 479.69.

London’s FTSE 100 increased 19 points, or 0.27%, to end the day at 7,286.

Italy’s FTSE MIB 30 was the best performer of the day by gaining almost 170 points, or 0.63%, to end the day at 27,109.

Germany’s DAX 30, on the other hand, was the worst performer of the day by falling 58 points, or 0.37%, to finish at 15,878.

France’s CAC 40 was almost flat by shedding only 2.4 points, or 0.03%, to 7,042.

Spain’s IBEX 35 plummeted 23 points, or 0.26%, to close at 8,792./aa

Catalan officials are calling on schools to defy a Supreme Court ruling that forces 25% of classes in the northeastern region of Spain to be taught in Spanish.

“We want you to continue working exactly the same as you are today,” Catalan Education Minister Josep Gonzalez-Cambray wrote in a letter to school directors on Wednesday.

In the same letter, the minister called the ruling “a serious attack on the Catalan educational model from a court that is far removed and unaware of the sociolinguistic reality of our educational centers.”

Catalan language has co-official status in Spain. But the Supreme Court said that the use of Spanish is “residual” in many Catalan schools, even though the law stipulates that students have the right to receive education in both Spanish and Catalan.

Pere Aragones, leader of Catalonia’s separatist government, called on Spain’s central government to defend the Catalan education system.

“Catalan, as long as Catalonia is part of the Spanish state, must be protected,” he said on Wednesday.

Yet, Spain’s progressive central government has made no indication that it will back the Catalan government’s stance on the issue. Instead, Justice Minister Pilar Llop insisted that the Supreme Court decision is final and the Catalan government must comply.

Meanwhile, Pablo Casado, leader of the right-wing Popular Party, said the government should take control of Catalonia’s education system.

He said the government can count on his support if it wants to activate the famous Article 155 of the Spanish constitution.

In 2017, the article was used by the Popular Party to trigger direct Spanish rule over Catalonia as the region’s government attempted to unilaterally break away from Spain.

Although schooling is mostly in Catalan, Spanish is the first language of the majority of the region’s residents. Catalan is the mother tongue of just 31.5% of those living in Catalonia, whereas 52.7% are native Spanish speakers, according to 2019 data from the Catalan Institute of Statistics./aa