Day: July 12, 2021

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) criticized a recent decision by Canada to close its borders to international arrivals not vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

“@AfricaCDC warned that the scenario was imminent once some countries have vaccinated a substantial portion of their population. This decision by Canada will further exacerbate inequities and make it harder to win the global fight against COVID-19,” John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa CDC, said on Twitter.

Last week, Canadian President Justin Trudeau told a press conference in British Columbia that unvaccinated international travelers would not be allowed into the country.

African countries have so far vaccinated less than 2% of the continent’s population against COVID-19 as calls for measures to ameliorate global inoculation inequities continue to grow.

According to the Africa CDC’s latest updates, 70.4 million doses of vaccines have been supplied across the continent, while the number of doses administered stood at 52.8 million.

Africa has recorded 5,926,224 total cases, 151,386 deaths and 5,162,088 recoveries, according to figures last updated on Sunday by the African CDC.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

A prominent Haitian doctor with longstanding ties to the US state of Florida was arrested Sunday on suspicion of being one of the main actors in the assassination last week of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, local media reported, citing Haitian authorities.

Christian Emmanuel Sanon has lived on and off in Florida for more than 20 years, according to reports.

Haitian National Police Director National Leon Charles said Sanon’s name was called by one of the suspects after being captured.

A number of items were found at Sanon’s home following his arrest, including a cache of arms and ammunition, four Dominican license plates and a hat emblazoned with the logo of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The country’s security forces are continuing to investigate the incident.

Haitian police said 19 suspects, including 17 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, were arrested during operations after Moise’s assassination.

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

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

Egypt’s Suez Canal recorded the highest annual revenue in its history during the last fiscal year that ended last June, amid an improvement in navigation traffic.

Osama Rabie, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said in a statement on Sunday, that the world’s most important shipping waterway recorded the highest annual revenue in its history at the end of June, with a value of $5.84 billion, compared to $5.72 billion for the fiscal year 2019/2020.

Rabie said that maritime traffic through the canal improved significantly as of early 2021 to 9,763 ships, compared to 9,546 ships on an annual basis, with an increase of 2.3%.

About 12% of the total world trade passes through the Suez Canal which shortens the distance between east and west by 35% compared to the Cape of Good Hope route.

The canal’s revenue during the first half of 2021 amounted to $3 billion, compared to $2.76 billion during the same period last year, marking an 8.6% increase.

“The flexible marketing and pricing policies adopted by the authority succeeded in maintaining the rate of ships crossing the canal and gaining the confidence of customers,” Rabie said.

He went on to say: “The granted incentives and reductions played a prominent role in achieving a boom in the increase in transit rates of liquefied natural gas [LNG] carriers, container ships, car carriers and dry bulk ships in the first half.”

According to the official, LNG carriers increased by 24%, container ships by 9.7%, car carriers by 27.8%, and dry bulk ships by 5% during that period.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he intends to maintain dialogue with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, who called him on Sunday to congratulate him on assuming office.

“I spoke this evening with the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who called to congratulate me on entering my new role. In my words of thanks, I emphasized that I intend to continue to maintain ongoing dialogue with him as previous Israeli presidents have done,” Herzog wrote on Twitter.

He also shared his hope of “assisting in advancing relations and the hope for peace between two peoples living side by side.”

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Abbas emphasized during the phone call that it is necessary to achieve lasting peace in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Israel’s Channel 12 previously reported that Abbas was drafting a list of demands in case Palestinian-Israeli peace talks were restarted.

Talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders were halted in April 2014 due to Tel Aviv’s refusal to release Palestinians jailed since before 1993 and to halt settlement activity on occupied Palestinian land.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

Turkish security forces arrested a person for suspected links to the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group in central Turkey, local authorities said on Monday.

As part of an anti-terror operation, security forces raided a house in the Kocasinan district of the Kayseri province, and arrested a Syrian national identified as M.T., said a statement by the provincial governor’s office.

In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a terrorist organization.

The country has since been attacked by the terror group multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed assaults.

In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

China on Monday said it expelled a US warship from its territorial waters in the disputed South China Sea.

A spokesperson for Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said a US guided-missile destroyer had intruded into China’s maritime borders, according to Chinese daily Global Times.

“The PLA Southern Theater Command tracked, monitored and warned off the USS Benfold destroyer when it trespassed Chinese territorial waters near Xisha Islands without Chinese government’s authorization on Monday,” Tian Junli, the PLA Southern Theater Command spokesperson, was quoted as saying.

Latest development in the disputed South China came on a day which marks the fifth anniversary of the South China Sea Arbitration ruling by the Hague-based UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration favoring the Philippines in July 2016, invalidating China’s nine-dash line territorial claim over the South China Sea. Beijing has rejected the verdict.

“US military’s move seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, damaged peace and stability in the South China Sea. It marks another irrefutable evidence of US’ militarization in the region with navigational hegemony,” the spokesperson said.

The South China Sea is claimed by China and several other regional countries, and the continuing US naval operations in the Taiwan Strait have angered Beijing.

China has drawn, what it calls, “nine-dash line” – purple dashes on official Chinese maps that make it seem as if Beijing is formally claiming virtually the entire South China Sea.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

The online offensive and racist abuse targeting England’s three players after missing penalties in last night’s UEFA EURO 2020 final against Italy will be investigated, British police said in a statement on Monday.

“We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the EURO 2020 final,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

“This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated.”

The statement came after the racist social media abuse on England stars Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the team’s defeat to Italy at Wembley Stadium last night.

A number of social media users posted abusive comments about the three Black players, accusing them for the defeat in the first major football competition final that came after decades.

“This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter.

The Football Association (FA) has also released a statement to condemn the racist abuse.

“The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media,” the FA said in a statement.

It said: “We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behavior is not welcome in following the team.

“We will do all we can to support the players affected whilst urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.”

During the EURO 2020, English players took a knee before matches to raise awareness for the fight against racism and discrimination.

England lost to Italy Sunday night 3-2 on penalty shootouts after a successful tournament, which was postponed last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, Italy have been crowned the EURO 2020 champions, winning their first European Championship trophy since the EURO 1968.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

Police in South Africa Monday said at least six people have lost their lives since the start of violent protests against the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma.

Police spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said law enforcement agencies have arrested 219 people for the violence – 96 in the Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, and 123 in the coastal KwaZulu-Natal province.

Protests and looting which started Thursday in KwaZulu-Natal and spread to Johannesburg on Saturday continued early Monday with major malls and shopping centers being ransacked. The Brookside Mall in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal was set on fire on Monday morning.

Zuma, 79, started serving a prison sentence for contempt of court in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday night, and ensuing protests had so far largely been restricted to the coastal province.

Most of the shops targeted in Johannesburg on Saturday were largely run by migrants from countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Somalia, but the looting has spread to target major South African-owned stores at malls.

Businesses on the outskirts of Johannesburg and parts of the central business district remained shut Monday. Streets in parts of Johannesburg remained filled with debris, evidence of a weekend of violent running battles between police and rioters.

On Monday morning, police officers were seen in running battles with looters in Soweto township and Eldorado, south of Johannesburg. Protesters were seen fleeing with stolen goods, including electronics, food items, and even mattresses. Some protesters were seen hurling stones at the police, who responded with rubber bullets and stun grenades.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency

More than 3.42 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered worldwide, according to figures Sunday on Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.

China leads the global count with over 1.37 billion jabs, followed by India with 376.32 million.

The list continued with mostly Western countries, with the US having administered 333.57 million shots, Brazil 112.77 million, Germany 81.33 million, the UK 80.33 million and France 59.12 million.

Turkey ranked eighth on the list with over 57.8 million doses, followed by Japan, Italy, Indonesia and Mexico.

The country with the most doses administered by population is the United Arab Emirates, with 160.92 doses per 100 people.

Following the UAE are the island nations of Malta with 159.43 doses per 100 people and Seychelles with 141.98, Iceland 132.44, San Marino 131.59, Bahrain 128.5, Israel 126.15, Chile 123.96, Uruguay 123.03, Mongolia 118.96, the UK 118.33, Qatar 117.68, and Canada with 111.87.

Most COVID-19 vaccines are administered in two doses, so the number of shots given is not the same as the number of individuals fully vaccinated.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 4.02 million lives across the world, with more than 186.68 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

Soruce: Anadolu Agency