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A second volcano erupted Saturday near the eastern DR Congo city of Goma, a week after Mount Nyiragongo roared back into life, causing devastation and sparking an exodus.”Today the Murara volcano near an uninhabited area of Virunga erupted,” government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said, referring to a wildlife reserve that is home to a quarter of the world’s population of critically endangered mountain gorillas.The eastern DR Congo city of Goma was eerily deserted after nearly 400,000 of its inhabitants fled following warnings that nearby Mount Nyiragongo volcano may erupt again.Goma, DRCThe wider Goma area has a population of around two million.The authorities arranged transport towards Sake, but the roads became choked with cars, trucks, buses and people seeking safety on foot.Many spent the night in the open or slept in schools or churches.Evacuee Eugene Kubugoo said the water was giving children diarrhea, adding: “We don’t have anything to eat or any place to sleep.”Tens of thousands had fled Goma last Saturday night but many returned when the eruption ended the following day.’Limnic’ riskFriday’s report, issued after experts carried out a risk assessment at the volcano’s summit, said “seismicity and ground deformation continues to indicate the presence of magma under the Goma area, with an extension under Lake Kivu.”People should remain vigilant and listen to news bulletins, as the situation “may change quickly”, it warned.People carry their belongings as they evacuate from recurrent earth tremors as aftershocks after homes were covered with lava deposited by the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo May 25, 2021.Volcanologists say the worst-case scenario is of an eruption under the lake.This could release hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) that are currently dissolved in the water’s depths.The gas would rise to the surface of the lake, forming an invisible cloud that would linger at ground level and displace oxygen, asphyxiating life.In 1986, one of these so-called limnic eruptions killed more than 1,700 people and thousands of cattle at Lake Nyos in western Cameroon.Empty cityOn Friday, almost all the shops and banks in central Goma were closed, and just a handful of people and some motorcycle taxis were on the usually bustling streets.In the poorer districts in the north of the city, a handful of stores were open and there were more people, including children who gamboled near a water truck.”I will stay in the city. I know that I’m in imminent danger, but I don’t have a choice,” said Aline Uramahoro, who has a beer store.”I will leave when the volcano starts spitting.”Nearly 3,500 meters high, Nyiragongo straddles the East African Rift tectonic divide.Its last major eruption, in 2002, claimed around 100 lives and the deadliest eruption on record killed more than 600 people in 1977.Herman Paluku, who gave his age as 94, said he had seen them all — and insisted he wouldn’t budge this time.”There is a small hill near here which means that the lava does not reach us. And that’s what protects us a bit,” he said in Swahili, his hands sweeping the air.”I can never leave here, in this situation. I can’t.”
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The United States is warning Ethiopia and Eritrea that they may face further U.S. actions, including Magnitsky Act sanctions, if those stoking violence against civilians in the Tigray region do not reverse course. As VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, leading U.S. lawmakers also support tougher measures to end the atrocities.
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday will ask Congress for the authority to spend nearly $6 trillion in 2022, which would give him the resources to begin implementing an ambitious agenda of infrastructure investment and expanded social programs. However, the blueprint would also increase federal spending to a nearly unprecedented share of the U.S. economy and drive the national debt to new highs. The budget request will forecast continued increases in federal spending over the next decade, eventually rising to $8.2 trillion in 2031, according to The New York Times. Much of that increase reflects the $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan and $1.8 billion education and families plan the president wants to begin rolling out, though neither has yet passed Congress. Much of the new spending would be paid for with proposed tax increases on the wealthy and on corporations. However, the administration projects that the federal government will still run deficits of more than $1.3 trillion per year over the coming decade before the budget begins to trend back toward balance. FILE – A concrete pump frames the Capitol Dome during renovations and repairs to Lower Senate Park on Capitol Hill, May 18, 2021. President Joe Biden hopes to pass a massive national infrastructure plan.The budget is an important statement of the president’s policy goals and ambitions, but it’s up to Congress to determine how much will actually be spent in the coming year and how that government spending will be financed. Democrats currently hold slender majorities in the House and Senate, but Republicans will have an important say on spending and tax decisions in the coming months. In remarks delivered Thursday in Cleveland, Biden made the case for what he describes as an investment in the country’s future. “Now is the time to build [on] the foundation that we’ve laid to make bold investments in our families and our communities and our nation,” he said. “We know from history that these kinds of investments raise both the floor and the ceiling over the economy for everybody.” No big surprises The budget request is not expected to contain many surprises when the full details are released Friday. In April, the administration released a detailed description of its plan for fiscal 2022 discretionary spending — that is, funds the government is not obligated to spend under existing law as it must for entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. The budget will reflect a sharp divergence from the priorities of former President Donald Trump’s administration, which sought major cuts in many government agencies shortly after Trump took office. For example, the Department of Education budget would grow by 41% under Biden’s plan, the Commerce Department would get a 28% increase, the Department of Health and Human Services would get a 24% increase, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget would jump by 21%. Next year’s budget beginning October 1 will be free of spending caps, in place since 2013, which had kept discretionary defense spending and discretionary nondefense spending growing at approximately the same rate. The administration is expected to propose a 16% increase in nondefense outlays to $769 billion next year, but only 1.7% more in defense spending, bringing the Pentagon’s annual budget to $753 billion. Some priorities omitted There are a number of items on Biden’s broader agenda that are conspicuously absent from the proposal, including a pledge to forgive up to $10,000 per person in federal student loans.  Also left out are funds for a “public option” health insurance plan that would allow Americans to buy into Medicare coverage, and measures to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. However, in presenting the budget, Biden is expected to encourage Congress to authorize such a program. Critics note that those programs would entail further government spending that would have to be paid for by tax increases, more deficit spending or reduced spending elsewhere. Approaching WWII spending levels The extraordinary efforts by the government to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 temporarily drove government spending as a percentage of economic output to the highest level since World War II. FILE – A woman walks past the signs of an employment agency, in Manchester, N.H., March 2, 2021.While the Biden budget will gradually reduce government spending as a share of the economy from the current highs, it still anticipates spending well above average levels for the past 70 years.  The budget plan relies on economic growth forecasts that see the U.S. economy growing at a rapid pace in the near term as it recovers from the pandemic, but then reverting to a growth rate of less than 2%. Biden’s plan would have the government spending nearly 25% of GDP on average over the next decade. Soaring national debt The total federal debt held by the public was already in excess of 100% of GDP when the pandemic struck, and the combination of lower output and even more borrowing drove it higher. However, even when the economy has recovered, the Biden budget forecasts a decade in which the debt stays well above the size of the GDP, cresting at an estimated 117% in 2031. “That’s a big debt number,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “Prior to the Great Recession, debt was 40% of GDP. Prior to the pandemic, it was 80%. This year, it started the year at 100%, and 106% is our World War II record — 117% just blows past that. That’s a lot more borrowing.” He pointed out that in addition to ignoring some of the administration’s other stated goals, such as student loan forgiveness and unemployment insurance reform, those numbers also assume no more crises that require government spending, such as another pandemic, a recession or military conflict, potentially leaving the country without the fiscal space to respond. “I don’t think that their plans are going to do enough to reduce our long-term structural debt, which is really going to require getting the costs of health and retirement programs under control and or fully financed,” Goldwein said. 
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Australia is urging China to apply “basic international standards of justice” to the case of a Chinese-born Australian writer on trial in Beijing for espionage.After more than two years in detention, Australian Yang Hengjun will be tried Thursday for espionage in a closed court in China.Yang has been held in custody since January 2019 after flying into the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou for the Lunar New Year. He was placed under investigation for allegedly harming China’s national security, but was later charged with spying, although officials have given no specific details about his alleged crimes.Yang is a former Chinese diplomat but became an Australian citizen and was based in Sydney. During his incarceration in China, the Australian government said the writer had been held in “harsh conditions.”Yang has denied any wrongdoing.Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said Australia is hoping for a fair hearing but has not been given any explanation or evidence by Beijing for the charges.“I very much hope that we have a transparent and open process,” she said. “We are not interfering in China’s legal system. The concerns that we have raised are legitimate ones, but we do expect those basic international standards of justice to be met.”Yang’s family said they were “nervous and worried” about the trial because of recent diplomatic tensions between the two nations.There have been disputes over human rights, Chinese military expansion in the South China Sea and the suppression of democracy protests in Hong Kong. Australia’s call for a global inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus, which was first detected in China, also aggravated Beijing, which, in apparent retaliation, has imposed a range of economic sanctions on Australian exports.Chinese officials have, in the past, accused Australia of “anti-China hysteria.”In a letter written in prison, Yang suggested his prosecution was “revenge” by China for his outspoken online commentary about Chinese politics.Media reports have previously suggested that if convicted he could face years in prison or the death penalty. 
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Tensions mounted in Iraq’s capital on Wednesday after the arrest of a militia commander on terrorism charges, prompting a dangerous showdown by the detainee’s paramilitary supporters and the Iraqi government.The confrontation began after Iraqi security forces arrested at dawn militia leader Qassim Mahmoud Musleh based on a judicial investigation and arrest warrant on terrorism charges, Iraq’s military said in a statement. The statement said he was being questioned by a joint investigative committee.Musleh is the head of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Anbar province. The PMF is a state-sanctioned group comprised of an array of militias formed to defeat the Islamic State group in 2014. Among the most powerful members of the group are Iran-backed Shiite militia groups.Shortly after the arrest, forces affiliated with the PMF, which maintains offices inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, were deployed surrounding Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s headquarters.Tensions reached fever pitch when Iraqi security forces and the elite Counter-Terrorism Service were deployed to protect the government and diplomatic missions, sparking fears of violence. Some armed PMF factions gathered around the Green Zone’s entrance gates.The presence of the PMF inside the seat of Iraq’s government was considered by some senior Iraqi government officials as a way to pressure al-Kadhimi to release Musleh.The prime minister described the show of force as “a serious violation of the Iraqi constitution and the laws in force,” adding in a statement “we have directed an immediate investigation into these movements.”Al-Kadhimi later held a meeting with senior Shiite political leaders who hold sway over the PMF. The premier also ordered the formation of an investigative committee comprised of intelligence from both defense and interior ministries and the PMF security and National Security.Three PMF officials said after the meeting Musleh was transferred from the custody of the Joint Operations Command, which oversees an array of Iraqi security forces, to PMF security.An Iraqi intelligence official said Musleh’s arrest was recommended by the Anti-Corruption Committee headed by Lt. Gen. Ahmed Abu Ragheef, and was done based on a judicial order. The charges accuse Musleh of corruption and complicity in the assassinations of Iraqi activists in the southern city of Karbala. All four officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject.The incident highlights the government’s struggles to assert the rule of law and rein in powerful militia groups. Attempts to arrest militia-affiliated individuals in the past have unfolded along a similar pattern: Pressure from militia groups and concessions on the part of the government.A raid carried out by the CTS last summer against the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah led to over a dozen arrests. All were eventually released after pressure and threats of escalatory violence against the government.The rising number of assassination of outspoken activists sparked outrage and protests this week particularly after prominent protest organizer Ehab al-Wazni was gunned down in Karbala this month.International condemnation flooded in from the United Nations and other diplomatic missions in Baghdad.”Any arrest case should run its course, as goes for any Iraqi,” tweeted U.N. Special Representative to Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. “Nobody should resort to a show of force to get their way. Such behavior weakens the Iraqi state and further erodes public trust. State institutions must be respected at all times. Nobody is above the law.”
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New research provides encouraging signs that COVID-19 vaccines may continue to provide protection even as the coronavirus mutates into variants.A less understood branch of the immune system, T cells, may step in when variants undermine the first line of defense, antibodies, according to a new study.Antibodies block viruses from entering cells, which prevents infection. Several variants have raised concerns because antibodies do not work as well against them.T cells do not prevent infection. Instead, “as soon as you are infected, they’re actually needed to clear the virus from your body,” said Erasmus University Medical Center virologist Rory de Vries, co-author of the new research.De Vries and colleagues studied blood samples from 121 Dutch health care workers who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Antibodies from those samples were two to four times less potent against the variant first spotted in South Africa than they were against the original virus.’Didn’t really seem to care’The T cells were a different story.”The T cells didn’t really seem to care” whether they were facing the original virus or a variant, de Vries said. “They were just as active against all viruses.”If a variant is able to evade antibodies, he said, “these T cells might swing into action” and stop them from spreading in the body. A person might get infected but not get sick.”It’s important to not blindly focus on antibody responses and assume that if an antibody response to a variant is four times lower that the vaccine works less,” de Vries said. Even if antibodies do not work as well, he added, “there are different components of the immune system that could very well protect us from disease.”Moderna Says COVID-19 Vaccine Safe and Effective for 12 – 17 Year Olds Tests conducted on 3,700 adolescents produced same results as adults Other experts were cautious.There is a lot that scientists do not know about how important this side of the immune system is, noted New York University Grossman School of Medicine virologist Nathaniel Landau, who was not involved with the study.”I think the critical question is: Is the protection that’s provided by the vaccine caused by the antibodies, or is it caused by the T cells, or is it both?” he asked. “It’s pretty clear that antibodies are very important. What we don’t know yet is how important the T cell response is.”Based on animal studies, he added, “my guess is that it is very important.”Cancer patients with impaired antibody responses were more likely to survive COVID-19 if they had stronger T cell responses, according to another study.”The bottom line is, yes, there is immunological evidence that [vaccines] are priming more than just neutralizing antibodies and that these other parts of the immune response are important,” said University of Pennsylvania immunologist John Wherry.Relative roles unclearIt is not clear what the relative contributions of antibodies and T cells are, he added, “but it is likely that vaccines will provide some protection from severe disease, even if antibodies are suboptimal,” he said.The new study looked only at the Pfizer vaccine. The Moderna vaccine is very similar, and experts said the results likely would be, as well. It is less clear how they translate to the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which are a different type. Those studies are up next.Another important finding: One dose of vaccine may be enough for people who have recovered from COVID-19.One dose of the Pfizer vaccine produced the same level of immune response as two doses did in people who had not been infected before, noted study co-author and Erasmus University Medical Center virologist Corine Geurts van Kessel.Given the limited supply of vaccines, “you can imagine that in countries where a lot of people have encountered COVID that this can really make a difference,” she said.
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The Taliban called on Afghanistan’s neighbors Wednesday not to allow the United States to use their territory or air space for any future military operations against the war-torn nation. 
  
The Islamist insurgent group issued the warning as Washington plans to reposition some U.S. troops in the region to carry out Afghan counterterrorism missions once U.S. and NATO militaries exit from the landlocked South Asia nation.   
The Taliban cautioned in their statement that facilitating U.S. military operations by neighboring countries in the future will be a “grave historical mistake and a disgrace.” It denounced the presence of foreign forces as “the root cause” of insecurity and war in the region. 
  
“The people of Afghanistan will not remain idle in the face of such heinous and provocative acts,” the group warned without elaborating further.  
  
President Joe Biden announced last month that the remaining an estimated 2,500 American troops, along with thousands of NATO partners, will leave Afghanistan by September 11 to end what he said was the “forever war.”  
  
The drawdown stemmed from a peace-building agreement the United States signed with the Taliban in February 2020. But the insurgents have not reduced violence nor have their U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Afghan government achieved any breakthroughs, raising concerns the country would descend into more chaos and bloodshed once the foreign troop drawdown is complete.  
  
The pact binds the Taliban not to allow Afghan soil for terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies.  
  
However, continuing and intensified hostilities between the Afghan parties to the conflict have raised concerns that transnational terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and Islamic State, could turn Afghanistan again into a sanctuary. 
  
“As we have repeatedly assured others that our soil will not be used against security of others, we are similarly urging others not to use their soil and airspace against our country,” the Taliban reiterated Wednesday. 
  
“If such a step is taken, then the responsibility for all the misfortunes and difficulties lies upon those who commit such mistakes.” 
  
There are no U.S. bases in any of the six countries that border Afghanistan.  
  
Pakistan, which shares a 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan, on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of hosting a U.S. Base, or of allowing “kinetic drone” operations in Afghanistan from Pakistani soil.   FILE – In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov attends the talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 7, 2021.On Monday, Russia’s presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have both assured Moscow that hosting military bases was “impossible” for them, narrowing options for Washington for its military posture once the withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete. 
  
Iran also shares a long border with Afghanistan, but Tehran’s persistent tensions and mistrust with Washington, experts say, leave that option out. 
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A confrontation between two members of U.S. Congress is the latest flash point of political incivility in America. VOA’s Steve Redisch examines the issue.Producer: Kimberlyn Weeks 
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Aung San Suu Kyi made her first in-person court appearance Monday since she was deposed as Myanmar’s de facto leader in the February 1 military takeover.
 
Her lawyers told journalists in the capital Naypyitaw they were allowed to meet with Suu Kyi for 30 minutes before the hearing to discuss the case. They said the 75-year-old Nobel Peace laureate sounded and looked healthy, and wished the people of Myanmar good health.
 
Suu Kyi also issued a defiant message about her National League for Democracy party, saying “the people grew out of the people so it will exist as long as people support it.”
 
The lawyers also briefly met with ousted President Win Myint, who served in the government Suu Kyi led as state counsellor.
 
Suu Kyi has been detained since the coup.  She is facing multiple criminal charges, the most serious an allegation that she accepted $600,000 in illegal payments.  She has also been charged with the possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies, violating COVID-19 restrictions, breaching telecommunication laws and incitement to cause public unrest.
 
The civilian government was overthrown nearly three months after the NLD won parliamentary elections in a landslide. The junta has cited widespread electoral fraud in the November 8 election as a reason for the coup, an allegation the civilian electoral commission denied.  The junta has threatened to dissolve the NLD over the allegations.
 
The coup triggered a crisis in the Southeast Asian country that led to deadly anti-junta demonstrations and clashes between several armed ethnic groups and the ruling junta.
In a campaign to quell the protests, the government has killed more than 800 protesters and bystanders since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks casualties and arrests.
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Thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo fled their homes to escape lava flows from an erupting volcano near Goma. While most of the city was spared, those who returned to the outskirts Goma Sunday found their homes destroyed. At least 15 people have died.
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The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas over Gaza continues as the conflict puts a spotlight on U.S. President Joe Biden’s approach to international challenges. Michelle Quinn reports.Produced by: Mary Cieslak    
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The United States on Sunday announced visa restrictions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials accused of fueling the 6-month-old war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, saying those involved had “taken no meaningful steps to end hostilities.”
 
“People in Tigray continue to suffer human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities, and urgently needed humanitarian relief is being blocked by the Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries as well as other armed actors,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
 
“Despite significant diplomatic engagement, the parties to the conflict in Tigray have taken no meaningful steps to end hostilities or pursue a peaceful resolution of the political crisis,” he added.
 
Blinken also announced wide-ranging restrictions on economic and security assistance to Ethiopia, adding that the U.S. would continue humanitarian aid in areas such as health, food and education.
 
He said the visa restrictions targeted “current or former Ethiopian or Eritrean government officials, members of the security forces, or other individuals — to include Amhara regional and irregular forces and members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).”
 
The Tigray conflict erupted in early November when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to detain and disarm leaders of the regional ruling party, the TPLF.
 
Abiy said the move came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps.
Eritrean troops, who teamed up with the Ethiopian military, have been implicated in multiple massacres and other atrocities during the Tigray conflict, allegations Asmara denies.
 
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the killings, forced removals, systemic sexual violence, and other human rights violations and abuses,” Blinken said.
“We are equally appalled by the destruction of civilian property including water sources, hospitals, and medical facilities, taking place in Tigray.”
 
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Members of George Floyd’s family, and others who lost loved ones to police encounters, joined activists and residents in Minneapolis on Sunday for a march that was one of several events planned nationwide to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death.Hundreds of people gathered for the rally in front of the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis where the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin concluded a month ago, many carrying signs with pictures of Floyd, Philando Castile and other Black men who died while in police custody.  Amid chants of “no justice, no peace!” and “Say his name,” Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter watched alongside a dozen of Floyd’s family members as speakers called for justice for the families of the victims.”It has been a long year. It has been a painful year,” Floyd’s sister Bridgett told the crowd Sunday. “It has been very frustrating for me and my family for our lives to change in the blink of an eye — I still don’t know why.”Tuesday will mark one year since Floyd, who was Black, died after Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck as Floyd pleaded for air. Chauvin, who is white, has since been convicted of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death, which sparked worldwide protests and calls for change in policing in the U.S.Speakers at the event included several local activists, Floyd family attorney Ben Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who called on the U.S. Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The legislation, which would bring about the most significant changes to policing on the federal level, would ban the use of chokeholds and establish a national database of police misconduct.Family members of Daunte Wright march for the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 23, 2021.”We want something coming out of Washington. We want something that will change federal law,” Sharpton said. “There’s been an adjournment on justice for too long. It’s time for them to vote and make this the law.”The George Floyd Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Floyd was born, is hosting a series of events in Minneapolis this weekend and early next week to honor Floyd on the anniversary.  The nonprofit was launched by Floyd’s siblings in September 2020 to help combat racial inequities in Black and brown communities in their brother’s honor.  Other events in Minneapolis ahead of the anniversary include a virtual “day of action” that encourages people to organize remotely and two panels with the families and other activists on Monday, followed by a community festival and candlelight vigil on Tuesday.In New York on Sunday, Floyd’s brother, Terrence, attended a Brooklyn gathering in his brother’s memory organized by Sharpton and told supporters not to forget his brother or victims of racist violence.”If you keep my brother’s name ringing, you’re going to keep everybody else’s name ringing,” Terrence Floyd said. “Breonna Taylor, Sean Bell, Ahmaud Arbery, you could go through the whole list. There’s a lot of them.”Executive director Jacari Harris said the group has received donations from the Minneapolis Foundation, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation and athletic shoe and apparel retailer Finish Line, among others. Despite large grants from corporations and other organizations, Harris the average donation to the nonprofit was $47.Harris said the group has also funded an initiative in Fayetteville to help reduce homelessness, a scholarship program for law school students and an internship program at Texas A&M University, where Floyd went to school.
 
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Martin Bashir, the BBC journalist who tricked princess Diana into giving an explosive interview, on Sunday apologized to Princes William and Harry, but said claims linking his actions to her death were “unreasonable.” A report by retired senior judge John Dyson published on Thursday found that Bashir commissioned faked bank statements that falsely suggested some of Diana’s closest aides were being paid by the security services to keep tabs on her. FILE – Princess Diana arrives at the Royal Geographical Society in London for a speech on the dangers of landmines throughout the world, June 12, 1997.Bashir, 58, then showed them to Diana’s brother Charles Spencer in a successful bid to convince him to arrange a meeting between himself and Diana and earn her trust. Bashir told the Sunday Times he was “deeply sorry” to Diana’s sons Prince William and Prince Harry. “I never wanted to harm Diana in any way, and I don’t believe we did,” he told the paper. But William said Bashir’s actions and the interview had made “a major contribution” to the demise of his parents’ relationship and “contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation” in her final years. In this image made from video on May 20, 2021, provided by ITN, Britain’s Prince William makes a statement following the publication of Lord Dyson’s investigation into former BBC News religion editor Martin Bashir.In his own release, Harry said that the deceptive practices had played a part in his mother’s death. “The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life,” he said. Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997, aged 36. Bashir disputed the accusations, saying “I don’t feel I can be held responsible for many of the other things that were going on in her life, and the complex issues surrounding those decisions. “The suggestion I am singularly responsible I think is unreasonable and unfair,” he told the paper. ‘I loved her’ He argued that the 1995 interview had been conducted on Diana’s terms, and that they remained firm friends after it aired to an audience of 22.8 million people. “My family and I loved her,” he said, revealing that Diana had visited Bashir’s wife and newborn child in hospital and that the princess threw a birthday party for his eldest child at Kensington Palace. Bashir has said that he regretted showing Diana’s brother forged documents, but that it had “no bearing” on the revelations aired during the interview. In it, Diana famously said “there were three people” in her marriage — her, Charles and his long-time mistress and now wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles — and also admitted adultery. Bashir was little-known at the time but went on to have a high-profile career on U.S. television networks and interviewed stars such as Michael Jackson. The pop singer’s family also blame Bashir for his death, saying the fallout from the interview led to him to increasingly depend on drugs. Bashir worked for the BBC as religion editor until he stepped down just last week, citing ill health, hours before Dyson’s report was submitted to BBC bosses. Former BBC chief Tony Hall, whom Dyson criticized for his “woefully ineffective” 1996 probe into Bashir’s deception, resigned as chair of Britain’s National Gallery on Saturday. A government review of the BBC’s funding and governance is due next year, which Home Secretary Priti Patel on Sunday called a “very, very important moment.” “There’s no question about that trust and confidence has been undermined, and now it’s a time for the BBC to absolutely reflect upon the findings of this report and rebuild that trust and confidence,” she told Sky News.  
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Two doses of the COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca are about as effective against the coronavirus variant first found in India as they are against the variant first found in England, according to a study by Public Health England announced Saturday.The study found that Pfizer’s vaccine is 88% effective against B.1.617.2, or the Indian variant, and 93% effective against B.1.1.7, now known as the Kent variant. AstraZeneca’s vaccine is 60% effective against the Indian variant and 66% effective against the English variant.FILE – A nurse picks a syringe containing a dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Barcelona, Apr. 26, 2021.In both cases, the effectiveness was measured two weeks after the second shot and against symptomatic disease. The Kent variant is the dominant strain in England, but health officials fear the Indian strain may outpace it.In England, health authorities have stretched the time between the two doses to as much as three months in order to get more shots in more arms and stop the coronavirus in its tracks. But against the variants, two shots are better than one, so for clinically vulnerable people or those older than 50, the period between the two shots will be cut to eight weeks.”I’m increasingly confident that we’re on track for the road map [to reopening], because this data shows that the vaccine, after two doses, works just as effectively [against the Indian variant],” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told broadcasters.A man reacts as a health worker in protective suit takes his nasal swab sample to test for COVID-19 in New Delhi, India, May 22, 2021.The Indian government said Saturday that COVID-19 infections remained high as they spread to overburdened rural areas but added that infections were stabilizing in some parts of the country.India’s health ministry reported more than 250,000 new COVID-19 cases and nearly 4,200 deaths in the previous 24-hour period, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Health ministry official Lav Agarwal told reporters during a virtual briefing that infections were rising in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.But Agarwal also said infections had dropped in the last two weeks in the southwestern Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka and the coastal state of Kerala.’Appropriate behavior’“To break the chain of transmission, it is very important to follow COVID-appropriate behavior,” Agarwal said.As India struggles with a faltering health care system and vaccine shortages, experts have warned of a third wave of infections in the coming months.As of Saturday evening EDT, India was second only to the U.S. in infections, with nearly 26.3 million, and in COVID-19 deaths, with more than 295,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.FILE – People line up at a coronavirus testing center after the COVID-19 alert rose to Level 3 in Taipei, Taiwan, May 18, 2021.In other developments, Taiwan’s health minister urged the island’s residents to stay calm following a report of a crop of new coronavirus cases. Chen Shih-chung said Saturday that there were 321 new infections. The minister also said there were 400 more new cases over a six-day period whose positive results had not been included in previous reports.”There’s no explosion in the pandemic development,” he said. The new infections were reported to be concentrated in the northern part of the island in and around Taipei. The government urged people to stay home.’Cognitive warfare’Meanwhile, Taiwan’s deputy interior minister warned Saturday that China, which claims the island, was spreading misinformation about Taiwan’s COVID-19 outbreak. Chen Tsung-yen said, “The reason we are continuing to explain the contents of the fake information to everyone is to call attention to it. We must immediately intercept this and not let cognitive warfare affect Taiwan’s society.”As of late Saturday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 166.4 million global COVID-19 infections. The U.S. had more than 33.1 million, while Brazil ranked third with just over 16 million.
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India’s health ministry reported Saturday more than 250,000 new COVID-19 cases and more than 4,100 deaths in the previous 24-hour period.   
 
An Associated Press report Saturday said “India always was expected to play a pivotal role in global efforts to immunize against COVID-19. But a mixture of overconfidence, poor planning and bad luck has prevented that from happening.”
 
In January, India seemed to “bask” in its early success when it initiated its domestic inoculation program, while reassuring the country that its vaccine exports “were calibrated according to the needs of the domestic immunization program,” according to AP.  
 
The South Asian nation, however, was caught off guard by “the speed at which vaccines were approved for use around the world, as well as the massive “eventual demand” for the vaccines at home and abroad, according to AP.
 
In addition, India’s two main vaccine manufacturers – the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, had trouble scaling up production of the vaccines.  
 
The Serum Institute had a fire in its facility earlier this year and a U.S. embargo on exporting raw materials needed for the shots forced the company to look elsewhere for supplies.  
 
In addition, Bharat Biotech had initially said its goal was to make 700 million doses of the vaccine this year, but Indian officials said recently that Bharat Biotech was making just 10 million shots a month.  
 
Taiwan’s health minister is urging the island’s residents to stay calm, following a report of a crop of new coronavirus cases.  Chen Shih-chung said Saturday there were 321 new infections.  In addition, the minister said there were another 400 new cases over a six-day period whose positive results had not been included in previous reports.
 
“There’s no explosion in the pandemic development,” he said.  The new infections are reported to be concentrated in the northern part of the island in and around Taipei. The government has urged people to stay home.  
 
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s deputy interior minister warned Saturday that China, which claims the island, is spreading misinformation about Taiwan’s COVID-19 outbreak.  Chen Tsung-yen said, ““The reason we are continuing to explain the contents of the fake information to everyone is to call attention to it. We must immediately intercept this, and not let cognitive warfare affect Taiwan’s society.”
 
U.S. and German vaccine partners Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday pledged to deliver 2 billion doses of their vaccine to low- and middle-income nations as part of a global effort to close the vaccine gap between rich and poor nations.  
 
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, speaking in Rome at the Global Health Summit, said the first billion doses of their vaccine will be delivered this year, and the second in 2022.  
 
U.S. pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Johnson & Johnson also pledged donations of 200,000 and 100,000 doses respectively.
 
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Saturday there are 166.1 million global COVID-19 infections.  The U.S. had 33 million, while India has 26 million.  Brazil is in third place with 15 million. 
 
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