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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is pulling aid from El Salvador’s national police and a public information institute and will instead redirect the funding to civil society groups, the agency’s head said in a statement Friday.The statement cited concerns over votes earlier this month by legislative allies of President Nayib Bukele to oust the attorney general and top judges.USAID Administrator Samantha Power expressed “deep concerns” with the dismissals as well as “larger concerns about transparency and accountability” in the Central American country.The earmarked funds will now go to “promoting transparency, combating corruption and monitoring human rights” in concert with local civil society groups, the statement said, without specifying the amount of money in question.In an apparent response to Power, Bukele heaped scorn on the civil society groups that were poised to benefit from the shift in U.S. funding in a post on Twitter minutes after the announcement.”It’s good they receive foreign financing, because they will not receive a cent from the Salvadoran people,” Bukele wrote.USAID, the international development arm of the U.S. government, provides funding to a wide variety of programs in mostly poor countries across the globe.”Respect for an independent judiciary, a commitment to the separation of powers and a strong civil society are essential components of any democracy,” it said in its statement.Growing disputeIt is the latest salvo in an intensifying spat between the two countries. On Tuesday, the U.S. government released a list of allegedly corrupt Central American politicians, including a couple with close ties to Bukele. That prompted the Salvadoran leader to praise China, in an apparent swipe at Washington.Bukele, 39, who is popular at home, has argued that the high-profile dismissals were justified and legal.Bukele’s party accused the five ousted judges of impeding the government’s health strategy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the attorney general of lacking independence.The abrupt votes to remove them were criticized as a dangerous power grab by the tiny opposition to Bukele in El Salvador, as well as the U.S. government and international rights groups like Amnesty International.Bukele’s critics also accuse him of misusing the national police and the public information institute for political ends.El Salvador, which has an economy closely tied to the United States by trade and a large migrant population, is negotiating a more than $1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where Washington wields significant influence.The IMF earlier this week cited progress in the ongoing talks.
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Apple’s online marketplace would become a “toxic” mess if the iPhone maker were forced to allow third-party apps without reviewing them, chief executive Tim Cook said in testimony at a high-stakes trial challenging the company’s tight control of its platform.Cook, the last scheduled witness in the case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games, delivered a strong defense of Apple’s procedures for reviewing and approving all the apps it offers for iPhone and iPad users.”We could no longer make the promise … of privacy, safety and security,” Cook said under questioning from Apple attorney Veronica Moye in federal court in California.Cook said Apple’s review process helps keep out malicious software and other problematic apps, helping create a safe place for consumers.Without this review, the online marketplace “would become a toxic kind of mess,” he said.”It would also be terrible for the developer, because the developer depends on the store being a safe and trusted place.”Cook’s testimony caps a high-profile trial which opened earlier this month in which Apple is accused of abusing a monopoly on its marketplace by creating a “walled garden” that squeezes app makers.’Not about money’Under cross-examination, Cook sparred with Epic lawyer Gary Bornstein about the profitability of the App Store.Cook disputed Epic’s contention that its profit margin on apps was some 80%, but the exact figure was not disclosed in court due to confidentiality.The Apple executive said the proprietary payments system challenged by Epic was about convenience for consumers, more than about profits.”We always put the user at the center of everything we do,” Cook said. “It has nothing to do with money.”During his testimony, Cook defended Apple’s policy of barring apps directing consumers to other platforms to purchase subscriptions or credits for games and other services.”It would be akin to Best Buy advertising that you can go across the street to the Apple Store to buy an iPhone,” he said.Epic, maker of the popular Fortnite video game, is seeking to force Apple to open up the marketplace to third parties seeking to circumvent Apple’s procedures and commissions of up to 30%.Apple booted Fortnite from its App Store last year after Epic dodged revenue sharing with the iPhone maker.Apple does not allow users of its popular devices to download apps from anywhere but its App Store, and developers have to use Apple’s payment system, which takes its cut.The Epic lawyer also questioned Cook about Apple’s arrangement with Google to be the default search engine for the iPhone maker’s Safari browser, another area scrutinized by antitrust officials.Cook acknowledged that Google pays for this position but added that Apple made the arrangement “in the best interest of the user.”The case before District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland comes with Apple feeling pressure from a wide range of app makers over its control of the App Store, which critics say represents monopolistic behavior.The European Union has formally accused Apple of unfairly squeezing out music streaming rivals based on a complaint brought by Sweden-based Spotify and others, which claim the California group sets rules that favor its own Apple Music.A recently formed Coalition for App Fairness, which includes both Spotify and Epic, have called for Apple to open up its marketplace, claiming its commission is a “tax” on rivals.Closing arguments in the bench trial in California were expected early next week, with the judge expected to rule within several weeks.
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The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched another barrage of rockets at Israeli neighborhoods Thursday, and Israel responded with more airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, as efforts to halt the escalating violence moved forward.
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Israeli ground troops joined its air force in the attack on the Gaza Strip early Friday, the military said in a statement.Israel Defense Forces had tweeted that its troops were “currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.” But later, citing an internal miscommunication, it clarified that the troops were firing artillery from inside the Israeli border.”I said we would extract a very heavy price from Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement. “We are doing that, and we will continue to do that with heavy force.”An explosion lights the sky following an Israeli airstrike on Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2021.Gaza residents near the border with Israel confirmed to Reuters that they had seen no sign of Israeli ground forces inside the enclave, but they reported heavy artillery fire and dozens of airstrikes.As the violence entered its fifth day, the U.N. Security Council announced it agreed to convene Sunday to discuss the situation, after plans to secure a meeting had been delayed by concerns from the United States.The American ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, wrote on Twitter:The UN Security Council will meet to discuss the situation in Israel and Gaza on Sunday. The U.S. will continue to actively engage in diplomacy at the highest levels to try to de-escalate tensions.— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) Palestinians inspect the rubble of their destroyed homes after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, May 13, 2021.The deadly exchange of rocket fire and airstrikes, the biggest battle between the Palestinian militant group and Israeli forces since the 2014 war in Gaza, was sparked by growing unrest over control of Jerusalem and attempts by Jewish settlers to take over Arab-controlled communities.The tensions have spilled over into the West Bank, where bloody street fights have broken out in several Arab-Jewish cities. Authorities have imposed a nighttime curfew in the central city of Lod, where at least one person was shot this week, while several hundred people in Lod and other cities have been arrested. A mob of right-wing Jewish residents in the town of Bat Yam brutally attacked an Arab motorist, beating him unconscious.Global mediation efforts to end the fighting took a significant step forward Thursday when Egyptian security officials met with Hamas leaders in Gaza and with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv, according to two Egyptian intelligence officials.Palestinians carry the body of a child found in the rubble of a house belonging to the Al-Tanani family, that was destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, May 13, 2021.As word of the officials’ arrival spread, Hamas fired about 100 rockets toward south and central Israel.U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday expressed his support for Israel’s right to defend itself, while saying he hoped the fighting would end “sooner than later.”After U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke Wednesday with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Gantz, the Pentagon released a statement saying Austin informed Gantz of the Pentagon’s “ironclad support for Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself and its people.”The statement said Austin “strongly condemned the launching of rockets by Hamas and other terrorist groups that targeted Israeli civilians” and “reiterated the importance of all involved parties to take steps to restore calm.”U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken similarly condemned the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians in a conversation with Netanyahu, declaring “Israel has the right to defend itself,” while the Palestinians must be afforded the right “to live in safety and security.” Blinken also called for de-escalation.I spoke with @IsraeliPM today about the ongoing situation in Israel including rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip targeting Israeli civilians. Israel has the right to defend itself. Palestinians need to be able to live in safety and security. It’s vital now to deescalate.— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 12, 2021Blinken also said he instructed Hady Amr, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Israel and Palestinian affairs, to leave immediately for the Middle East to urge Israeli and Palestinian officials to de-escalate.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday denounced the “indiscriminate” rocket launches from Gaza toward Israeli population centers while urging Israel to exercise “maximum restraint.”German Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said Wednesday that Germany is “strongly on the side of Israel” and added it “has the right to defend itself.”Lambrecht also criticized recent antisemitic acts such as Israeli flag burnings near synagogues in Germany, saying they show “nothing but horrible disrespect for human dignity.”During a conversation Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced support for the Palestinians.Erdogan said the global community should “give Israel a strong and deterrent lesson” over its attacks on Palestinians, according to Turkey’s Presidential Communications Directorate.The directorate said Erdogan suggested to Putin that the establishment of an international force to protect the Palestinians should be considered.
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Thailand recorded its highest number of coronavirus infections Thursday since the pandemic began after Bangkok prisons were found riddled with COVID-19, threatening an extension of a partial lockdown of the country that is hammering the economy.The latest wave of the virus emerged in April, dynamized by clusters at nightspots popular with Bangkok’s rich.It has forced the government of Prayuth Chan-ocha to order restaurants and bars to close and urge people to stay at home, leaving Thailand’s tourist and services economy on the brink. The country reported 4,887 infections Thursday, a record daily high after 2,835 prisoners tested positive at two jails in Bangkok.The current outbreak has left more than 400 dead so far, with hospital beds full and the government scrambling to roll out vaccines to a public that is increasingly anxious about the double hit of a health and economic crisis just as the country was preparing to reopen to foreign tourists. This handout from the Royal Thai Government taken and released on March 16, 2021, shows Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha receiving the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Bangkok.Prayuth this week promised to vaccinate everyone, insisting “herd immunity” through inoculation was the only way through the pandemic.But health authorities say just 640,000 people out of a population of nearly 70 million have received two vaccine jabs.Thailand has approved vaccines from Moderna, Sinovac, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. The kingdom will produce the AstraZeneca vaccine under a long-term license.But for now, it is racing to secure tens of millions of emergency doses to begin mass vaccinations in June, after going slow at the start of the year in its procurement when the virus appeared to be beaten back.Airport worker Sarayut Jumpa said he is one of the lucky ones to have received a second dose — in his case, the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine — administered at Bangkok’s main airport, Suvarnabhumi, where check-ins have been adapted to process inoculations.”The vaccine might not protect us 100%, but studies show the sickness will now be less severe if I contract the virus,” Sarayut said, adding that his next task was to convince his parents the vaccine is safe. The slow rollout in the kingdom has been matched by internet misinformation about the efficacy of vaccines.With upward of 4,000 airport workers vaccinated and travelers few and far between, the airport is now ready to be used by the public as soon as the government gives the order.”Before the pandemic, we used to receive 200,000 international travelers a day, now only about a thousand a day,” said Kittipong Kittikachorn, the airport’s deputy general manager.”The airport already has all the necessary amenities ready to turn into a vaccination station.”Muslim worshippers perform the morning Eid al-Fitr prayers on the street after authorities closed mosques in Thailand to prevent the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, May 13, 2021.Thailand thought it had escaped the worst of the public health crisis posed by the coronavirus through border closures and strict 14-day quarantines.Those measures instead crippled an economy that counts between a fifth and a quarter of its revenue from tourism.Thailand’s GDP withered by more than 6% last year. Hopes of a third-quarter rebound this year appear to be in jeopardy after the latest outbreak.Thai authorities are insisting on an October reopening date to vaccinated tourists, with Phuket Island aiming to reopen July 1 after a privately driven vaccination campaign. But the new wave has cast that into doubt. Hotels that have staggered on through a year of lost income have been forced to close again, while bars, restaurants and nightclubs in a country renowned for its wild nightlife have had to let staff go. The crisis is now fast becoming a serious political problem for Prayuth, an unpopular ex-army chief who seized power in a 2014 coup and has since been reinvented as an elected premier.  ”Whether or not the economy can recover will depend on the number of people vaccinated,” Krid Kanjanakit, 36, a hotel owner in the resort town of Pattaya, told VOA News. ”But the problem is, this government moves slowly with everything.”Opposition MPs Thursday urged the Office of National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate Prayuth for allegedly failing to procure vaccines on time, resulting in unnecessary fatalities.
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Several commanders of the Hamas militant group have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Israel announced Wednesday, as clashes between the two sides escalate. The tensions have spilled over into the West Bank, where hundreds of residents in Arab communities staged overnight protests against recent actions of Israeli security forces against Palestinians.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken released the State Department’s annual international religious freedom report, singling out Iran, Myanmar, Russia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and China as some of the world’s worst violators of what Blinken termed a core human right.  VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has the story. 
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Washington plans to lift many coronavirus restrictions and aims for a full reopening by mid-June. The U.S. capital has already vaccinated more than 70% of its residents. Saqib Ul Islam reports on a unique vaccine drive in the city.
Camera: Saqib Ul Islam      Producer: Saqib Ul Islam 
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Among the many stories of World War Two, Nazi Germany’s Siege of Leningrad —  the Soviet city now known as Russia’s Saint Petersburg —  stands among the most harrowing. It also helped shape the world we live in today, as Charles Maynes reports for VOA, from St. Petersburg.Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montañana
 
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The United States’ military footprint in Afghanistan is shrinking at a steady pace, according to U.S. military planners, though they are refusing to say how many troops are still in the country.U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday that it has completed “between 6-12% of the entire retrograde process,” removing the equivalent of more than 100 cargo planeloads of equipment from Afghanistan while turning over another 1,800 pieces of equipment to be destroyed.But Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Pentagon declined to share information on how many of the 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, citing security concerns.“We have an obligation to keep our people safe,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.“We have to assume that this is going to be an opposed retrograde,” he said. “If we assumed anything less it would be irresponsible of us.” The U.S. has sent elements of an Army Ranger task force to Afghanistan to help protect withdrawing U.S. and coalition forces. It has also sent six B-52 long-range bombers and 12 F-18 fighter-bombers to the region, and officials extended the deployment of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower carrier strike group to the North Arabian Sea to provide additional firepower, if necessary.US, NATO Troops Leaving Afghanistan as Fighting Escalates White House confirms troops, equipment have left the country, the start of the end of America’s longest warIn the weeks leading up to the official start of the U.S. withdrawal, Taliban officials repeatedly threatened to target U.S. and coalition forces, arguing the foreign troops needed to be gone by May 1 — the deadline under an agreement signed between the Taliban and the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.Despite those threats, though, Taliban commanders have focused their attacks on Afghan government forces.On Monday, Kirby told Pentagon reporters that while the level of violence in Afghanistan was “still too high,” U.S. commanders have not run into any problems that would slow down the U.S. pullout.Following months of internal deliberations and consultation with allies, U.S. President Joe Biden announced last month that all U.S. forces would leave Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which were planned by the al-Qaida terror group in Afghanistan.U.S. military and intelligence officials have voiced concern about the impact the withdrawal will have on their ability to collect information on terrorist groups and counter plots emanating from Afghanistan.U.S. military officials have said they will rely on “over-the-horizon” surveillance and strike capabilities once all U.S. troops have left Afghanistan. But so far, officials say there has been little progress on security needed basing agreements with other countries in the region.“There are very active discussions going on now inside the department to better define what over-the-horizon counterterrorism capabilities we’ll be able to avail ourselves of,” the Pentagon’s Kirby said Tuesday. 
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China on Monday named five foreign-born players for critical World Cup qualifiers starting later this month as the world’s most populous country steps up its controversial naturalization policy.China, who have big ambitions but are perennial underachievers ranked 77th in the world, began drafting in players born overseas in 2019 in a quick fix to reach the Qatar 2022 World Cup.Coach Li Tie has picked a 26-man squad that includes a trio of offensive players originally from Brazil — Elkeson, Fernando Henrique and Alan Carvalho.Also included is their Guangzhou FC teammate Tyias Browning, the former Everton central defender who was born in Liverpool and played for England youth teams.The fifth naturalized player is Nico Yennaris, the former Arsenal midfielder and another to have played for England youth teams before switching to China.In their previous World Cup qualifier, a 2-1 defeat to Syria under former coach Marcello Lippi in November 2019, only Elkeson and Yennaris featured.Some Chinese media, pundits and former internationals have questioned the move to bring in foreign players.China’s hopes of reaching the World Cup are in the balance but Li is boosted by the return of star forward Wu Lei, after he failed to make recent training squads because he was with his Spanish club Espanyol.Under former Everton player Li — who took over when Lippi quit following the Syria defeat — China are second in Asian qualifying Group A, eight points behind leaders Syria.Only the team that finishes top is guaranteed to reach the next stage of qualifying.The rest of the matches in Group A are set to take place in China from May 30 until June 15, with the hosts facing Guam, Maldives, Philippines and Syria.
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The death toll from a powerful bomb blast near a girls’ school in the Afghan capital Kabul has risen more than 60, with more than 100 others injured. No one immediately took responsibility for the deadly attack. The area in Kabul where Saturday’s bombing occurred has suffered deadly attacks previously, and most of them were claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group.
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Helmut Jahn, a prominent German architect who designed an Illinois state government building and worked on the design of the FBI headquarters in Washington, was killed in a bicycle accident outside Chicago. Jahn, 81, was struck Saturday afternoon while riding north on a village street in Campton Hills, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Chicago. Jahn failed to stop at a stop sign at an intersection and was struck by the two vehicles, headed in opposite directions, Campton Hills Police Chief Steven Miller said in a news release. Jahn was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Authorities say the driver of one of the vehicles that struck Jahn was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. A profile posted on the website of his firm, Jahn, says he was born in Germany in 1940 and graduated from Technische Hochschule in Munich. He moved to Chicago in 1966 to study under legendary architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a creator of modernist architecture, at the Illinois Institute of Technology.  Jahn’s professional career began in 1967 when he joined CF Murphy Associates, which later became Murphy/Jahn. He worked on several major projects, including Chicago’s McCormick Place and the United Airlines terminal at O’Hare International Airport, which includes a walkway famous for its colorful lighting. He also had a hand in the design of the J Edgar Hoover Building, the FBI headquarters in Washington.  Jahn’s work internationally includes the Sony Center in Berlin and the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.  “Helmut had an exceptional career both for its length and for the consistent quality of the work,” Reed Kroloff, dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, told the Chicago Tribune on Sunday. “At his height, he was one of the most influential architects in the world. Not only formally, but technically. He engaged early on with building-skin technologies that were very advanced. He created buildings of every variety.” One of his more controversial buildings was the James R. Thompson Building, a glass-sheathed, Illinois government office building in Chicago’s Loop that opened in 1985. It was put up for sale last week. State officials say the 17-story building is a drain on state finances because it is inefficient to operate and in need of hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs. Jahn taught at the University of Illinois Chicago, Harvard University, Yale University and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
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A landslide at an artisanal gold mine has killed at least 15 people in northeastern Guinea, the government said on Sunday. The disaster took place on Saturday in remote Siguiri province, 800 km (500 miles) from the capital Conakry. The zone holds some of the West African country’s largest gold reserves.In a statement the government said it had launched an investigation.The bodies of those killed have been recovered and two women were among the casualties, a local resident said by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity.The artisanal gold mines of Siguiri are notoriously dangerous with diggers working in narrow shafts without much protection. 
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  Russia showed off its military might with parades across the country on Sunday to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. President Vladimir Putin reviewed the main Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square, featuring some 12,000 troops, nearly 200 pieces of military hardware, and aircraft and helicopter flyovers. Putin watched the display with Soviet war veterans from a review platform. Since coming to power two decades ago, Putin has sought either as president or prime minister to restore symbols of the Soviet and Russian past to boost patriotism. Russian President Putin takes part in a commemoration ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Victory Day, in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2021. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)Putin, during his address on the 76th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, vowed that Russia will defend its national interests and denounced what he asserted was the return of “Russophobia.” “We will firmly defend our national interests to ensure the safety of our people,” Putin said. This year’s parade comes as the ruling United Russia party faces parliamentary elections in September, with polls showing declining support for the pro-Kremlin party to 27 percent. 
 
Russia’s relations with the West have also nosedived over everything from the fate of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to the conflict in Ukraine. 
 
In recent weeks, the United States and Russia have expelled each other’s diplomats in a series of retaliatory moves, while Moscow and EU member states been involved in similar tit-for-tat diplomatic disputes. 
 
The military parades come after Russia recently deployed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and in annexed Crimea. The buildup prompted alarm in Western capitals over Moscow’s intentions amid an uptick in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east. 
 
Russia has since withdrawn most of the troops but left behind some military equipment and continues to conduct naval exercises in the Black Sea. 
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The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said Saturday that the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey had seized an illicit shipment of weapons from a stateless dhow in international waters of the North Arabian Sea on Thursday and Friday.”The cache of weapons included dozens of advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades launchers. Other weapon components included advanced optical sights,” the Bahrain-based fleet said in a statement.It added that the materiel was in U.S. custody awaiting final disposition, while the source and intended destination of the materiel were under investigation.”After all illicit cargo was removed, the dhow was assessed for seaworthiness, and after questioning, its crew was provided food and water before being released,” the statement said.
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India reported a record number of COVID-19 deaths in a single day Saturday, and a more contagious variant is partly to blame, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said.In an interview Saturday with AFP, Soumya Swaminathan warned that “the epidemiological features that we see in India today do indicate that it’s an extremely rapidly spreading variant.”Swaminathan said the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was clearly a contributing factor to the catastrophe in India, her homeland.”There have been many accelerators that are fed into this,” the 62-year-old pediatrician and clinical scientist said, stressing that “a more rapidly spreading virus is one of them.” She added, however, that large gatherings and a lapse in mask-wearing also played a role.The B.1.617 variant was first discovered in India last October. The U.S. and Britain consider it a “variant of concern,” which indicates it is more dangerous than the original virus.The number of cases and deaths are horrifying on their own, but Swaminathan said the additional danger was the increasing likelihood of variants that could outwit vaccines.”Variants which accumulate a lot of mutations may ultimately become resistant to the current vaccines that we have,” she warned.India’s health ministry Saturday reported more than 401,000 new COVID-19 infections and nearly 4,200 deaths in the previous 24-hour period, although public health experts believed the actual numbers were likely much higher.Lockdowns spreadingMore of India’s states imposed stringent lockdown measures in the absence of a national lockdown plan.FILE – Relatives mourn next to the body of a loved one who died of COVID-19, outside a mortuary in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, India, May 5, 2021.The southern state of Tamil Nadu said it would shift from a partial to a full lockdown after neighboring Karnataka state extended a full lockdown Friday.India’s main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to implement a national lockdown, accelerate the vaccination campaign and increase tracking of the virus and its mutations.“Allowing the uncontrollable spread of the virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world,” Gandhi said to Modi in a letter.EU summit, criticism of USOn the second day of a European Union summit in Portugal on Saturday, the EU approved a contract extension with Pfizer-BioNTech to provide up to 1.8 billion additional doses of its vaccine through 2023.Pfizer-BioNTech has already provided the EU with 600 million doses, as required in the initial contract.Also at the EU summit, the U.S. faced mounting criticism from EU leaders about U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise endorsement earlier this week of lifting COVID-19 vaccine patents to make more doses available to poorer countries.European Council President Charles Michel speaks during a media conference at an EU summit in Porto, Portugal, May 8, 2021.“We don’t think, in the short term, that it’s the magic bullet,” said EU Council President Charles Michel.Michel and other EU leaders said the U.S. should instead start boosting U.S. vaccine exports to have maximum impact on the global pandemic.“I’m very clearly urging the U.S. to put an end to the ban on exports of vaccines and on components of vaccines that are preventing them being produced,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.The U.S., like Britain, has limited exports of domestically developed vaccines so it can vaccinate its population first. The EU has become the world’s leading vaccine provider, distributing about 200 million doses to the 27-nation bloc and roughly an equal number to nearly 90 countries around the world.Pope Francis said he supported the temporary suspension of vaccine patents, according to news reports. He added that market forces, as they relate to the vaccines, must not predominate.WHO approves Sinopharm vaccineThe World Health Organization on Friday approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed in China for emergency use worldwide.The vaccine, from China’s state-owned drugmaker, Sinopharm, is the first vaccine manufactured by a non-Western country to be endorsed by WHO.FILE – Empty Sinopharm vaccine vials sit in a cup during a priority COVID-19 vaccination campaign of health workers at a public hospital in Lima, Peru, Feb. 10, 2021.WHO’s decision allowed the Sinopharm vaccine to be included in the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, an initiative to distribute vaccines to mainly low-income countries.North American numbersIn Washington, the White House COVID-19 Response Team said Friday that its focus was on meeting Biden’s new goal of fully vaccinating 160 million Americans by July 4, as infections, hospitalizations and deaths continued to decline.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of Saturday, 151,315,505 people had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 112,626,771 had been fully vaccinated.At the team’s briefing, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said that to help meet Biden’s goal, the government would make walk-up, no-appointment shots available at 20,000 pharmacies around the country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will also be shipping vaccines from high-volume vaccination centers around the country to smaller community-based sites, where they are more in demand.The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed nearly 3.3 million lives around the world, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. has suffered the most deaths, with more than 581,000. Brazil is second with more than 421,000 deaths, followed by India, with more than 238,200 deaths.There have been more than 157 million global infections, according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. has the most, with more than 32.7 million, followed by India, with nearly 21.9 million infections, and Brazil, with more than 15 million.
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