More than 131,000 people are displaced in 39 accessible locations of Ethiopia’s Tigray region and neighboring Afar and Amhara, according to a survey. 

In a statement Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) survey is the first official data of this type on the crisis in Northern Ethiopia, which began in November 2020.

On Nov. 3, 2020, the now-outlawed Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and its special forces attacked the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, killing soldiers and looting military hardware.

The following day, the country launched what has been dubbed as a large-scale law enforcement operation in Tigray in which the TPLF was largely defeated and some of its top leaders and fighters either neutralized or captured.

Although Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared that the military operation was over on Nov. 28, there have been sporadic clashes between government forces and fighters loyal to the TPLF.

More than 60,000 Ethiopians fled the fighting to neighboring Sudan, while international organizations have been calling for scaled-up humanitarian assistance in the region for civilians affected by the conflict.

“The data are not indicators of the total number of persons displaced due to the crisis but rather represent only the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in sites accessible to DTM surveyors,” according to the IOM.

“Almost 70% (91,046) are in Tigray, 26% (34,091) are in Afar and 5% (6,453) are in Amhara. Many displaced persons – including women and children – reportedly are in need of emergency shelter, food and access to clean and safe drinking water,” it added.

The IOM said its Displacement Tracking Matrix will continue to expand its assessment coverage in the northern part of the country so that the needs of more internally displaced persons can be assessed.

“The assessment was conducted in Western, Northwestern, Southeastern and Southern zones of Tigray region, as Central and Eastern zones were not accessible during the time of data collection,” it added./aa

French authorities deliberately concealed the impact of radioactive contamination on the health of Polynesians for more than 50 years, a new investigation on nuclear testing on the Pacific islands has revealed. 

The Moruroa files were released Tuesday through a collaborative project between investigative journalism media platform Disclose, spatial designers working on environmental issues at NGO Interprt and researchers from Princeton University’s Science and Global Security program.

The two-year-long investigation based on a scientific assessment, declassified French Defense Ministry documents and health surveys presents new evidence on the French military tests.

It reveals that almost the entire Polynesian population, approximately 110,000 people, were infected with high levels of radiation from the 193 nuclear tests conducted by France. These tests were carried out from 1966 to 1996 at the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls, including 46 open-air atmospheric explosions, until 1974.

At the time of these tests, the military did not undertake preventive measures of evacuating the people inhabiting the islands around the testing sites, said the report, citing declassified documents from 2013.

However, an on-ground investigation carried out by Disclose on Mangareva island in the Gambier archipelago showed a high occurrence of breast cancer and thyroid cancer among the families who were present during the tests.

The report mentions official documentary evidence on cancer cases among the Polynesians and French military personnel who were involved during the tests. A February 2020 report on the consequences of the tests conducted for the French Polynesian Health Ministry officially recognizes the “role of ionizing radiation...in the advent of this excess of cancer [cases].”

Similarly, email exchanges on compensation among different services of the French Defense Ministry in February 2017 estimate the possibility of around 2,000 staff members who “resided on the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa between 1966 and 1974 contracting a “radio-induced cancer.”

Moreover, the public agency French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA, “underestimated the doses of exposure to ionizing radiation” in its 2006 evaluation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Disclose investigation re-evaluated the estimations of the doses of radioactivity using information from declassified French military archives and scientific processes and found a number of errors in the CEA’s study. The CEA’s calculations of the maximum dose received by the local inhabitants were between twice to 10 times lower than their estimates, the investigation report said.

Although the French government set up a commission called Civen in 2010 to compensate claims by civil and military victims of the nuclear testing campaign, only 454 people, including 63 local inhabitants, were paid financially. More than 80% of the claims have been rejected./aa

Buckingham Palace is to address the issue of racism within its institutions following an eventful interview between US talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle where allegations of racism where made against the royal house. 

In a statement released on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, the palace said various issues raised during the two-hour interview, including that of race, were concerning and that the family was saddened to hear of the struggles faced by the couple.

“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,” the statement said.

"The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members," it added.

The palace has been under mounting pressure to respond to the allegations of racism after Markle, the first mixed-race member of the royal family, revealed that questions were asked on “how dark” their son Archie’s skin might be and “what that might mean” for the palace.

During the interview, which took place on Sunday in California, she revealed that she was having suicidal thoughts due to a racist onslaught of lies and deceit by British tabloids and how she was being treated by certain individuals within the palace.

She described in painstaking detail how she felt trapped in the institution following the confiscation of her passport and driver’s license and the refusal in allowing her to meet her friends.

More importantly, when she sought professional help after the deterioration of her mental health due to the attacks by the press, Meghan was refused by palace authorities and told that nothing could be done in this regard.

Later joined by her husband, Harry, the pair told Winfrey that the palace had also withdrawn their private security detail when they moved to Canada, which in turn led to the couple relocating to California in the US and officially stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family.

In January 2020, the royal couple officially stepped back from their senior positions in the royal family and are no longer using their official titles, His/Her Royal Highness (HRH), which are usually given to senior members of the House of Windsor.

The decision was a result of intense media scrutiny of the couple by British tabloids who were accused of bullying and intruding in the personal lives of the royals. It is understood that Buckingham Palace was disappointed with the decision and were not even consulted beforehand.

In September 2019, Meghan sued the Associated Newspapers after their affiliates, the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, published a private letter that Meghan had written to her estranged father and sought damages for alleged misuse of private information, copyright and infringement as well as a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Last month, the Duchess of Sussex won a high court privacy case against the Mail on Sunday after a two-year legal battle./aa

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain's tourism minister said Tuesday that the government plans to start reopening the country's tourism sector when 30-40% of the Spanish population is vaccinated against the coronavirus. 

Speaking to local broadcaster Canal Sur, Maraa Reyes Maroto said the government expects this could be achieved by spring and that she was "optimistic" about the summer tourism season.

"In April, we'll receive 5 million doses from Pfizer alone. Add that to the doses of Moderna, AstraZeneca and Jansen, which is just one dose and should be approved in the next few days," she said.

Within the EU, Spain is strongly advocating for "health passports" that would show whether or not a traveler has been vaccinated against COVID-19, taken a test or been infected in the past.

Last summer, Spain launched an aggressive international tourism campaign but the industry has been devastated by the pandemic.

At the moment, 1.4 million people in Spain have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the country has administered 4.8 million doses.

According to calculations by local daily El Espanol, if all the doses arrive as planned, everyone in Spain older than 45 years of age should be fully immunized by July.

Meanwhile, new infections in Spain remained low despite reopenings and the increasing dominance of the UK variant.

Spain's Health Ministry reported just over 4,000 new cases, although technical issues meant it did not include data from Catalonia.

Fatalities remained high, however, with nearly 300 more people reported dead from COVID-19. In total, 71,727 people have officially lost their lives to the disease in Spain./aa

Galatasaray sealed a deal with Turkish energy company Enerjisa on Tuesday that will install a solar energy power plant on the roof of its football stadium that will produce electricity for the venue.

Galatasaray President Mustafa Cengiz, club officials and Enerjisa CEO Murat Pinar attended the signing ceremony at Istanbul's Turk Telekom Stadium.

Cengiz said the project will make an important contribution to the club and thanked Enerjisa for its cooperation.

Galatasaray's deputy chair Yusuf Gunay emphasized the importance of local and renewable energy.

"The project will contribute to Galatasaray and the Turkish economy. The power plant will have an at least 100-million-Turkish lira ($13.1 million) contribution to Galatasaray during its 25-year-life," said Gunay.

He added that Enerjisa will produce and install the plant on a 40,000-square-meter (9.8 acres) area on the roof and will operate it for 10 years.

After that, Galatasaray will take control of the operation.

Pinar said the company is saving 200,000 trees as part of the project and the energy that will be produced at Galatasaray's home will be able to supply 2,000 houses.

He said that it is an investment for nature, Turkey's future and the country's future generations.

Pinar said that Enerjisa is planning to complete the project in 12 months.

Turkish football club Fraport TAV Antalyaspor's home, Antalya Stadium - opened in 2015 - has solar panels on its roof to produce electricity.

Meanwhile, famed European football stadiums such as Ajax Amsterdam's Johan Cruijff Arena and Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park have been using the renewable energy technology./aa

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday announced the blacklisting of two Iranian officials for their alleged role in rights violations.

In a statement, Blinken said he designated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) interrogators Ali Hemmatian and Masoud Safdari "for their involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (CIDTP) of political prisoners and persons detained during protests in 2019 and 2020 in Iran."

Blinken said the US will continue to consider all appropriate tools to impose costs on those responsible for human rights violations and abuses in Iran.

The designated individuals and family members are ineligible for entry into the US.

"We will also work with our allies to promote accountability for such violations and abuses," said Blinken.

At his briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price defended the designations, citing that the US acts in accordance with its values.

"It is consistent with our values to make clear that there will be consequences for the sort of gross violations of human rights that these individuals engaged," he said.

Relations between Tehran and Washington has been tense since former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a nuclear accord in 2018, reinstated economic penalties and added new ones amid mounting tensions between the rivals./aa

WASHINGTON

The US is "committed" to reviewing a decision made in the waning days of the Trump administration to label Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House said Tuesday.

Spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that an overhaul of Washington’s policy vis-a-vis Cuba "is not currently among President Biden’s top priorities," but said the US is "committed to making human rights a core pillar of our US policy."

"And we’re committed to carefully reviewing policy decisions made in the prior administration, including the decision to designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism," she said.

Cuba is just one of four countries on the terrorism list alongside Iran, North Korea and Syria.

A little more than one week before he left office, former President Donald Trump moved to re-list Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism in an action sharply decried by Cuban officials. Havana had been removed from the list in 2015 by former President Barack Obama amid what was then a rapprochement between the Cold War rivals.

Relations sharply soured during Trump's time in office as he moved to roll back much of the diplomatic opening brought about by his predecessor.