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As the nation marked 500,000 deaths because of COVID-19, U.S. President Joe Biden at twilight Monday walked to a White House South Portico decorated with black bunting and 500 candles.Alongside the president were first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is known as the second gentleman. They stood silently as the Marine Corps band played the Christian hymn, “Amazing Grace.”As the music concluded, Biden, a Catholic, made the sign of the cross.A few minutes earlier at the Cross Hall on the first floor of the White House, Biden asked the nation to join in the moment of silence and, in a subdued tone, directed remarks to those who had lost loved ones to the virus.”It seems unbelievable, but I promise you the day will come when the memory of the one you have lost brings a smile to your lips before a tear to your eye,” the president said. “We will get through this, I promise you.”He also spoke of the cruelty of death amid the pandemic.”So many of the rituals that help us cope, that help us honor those we loved, haven’t been available to us,” the president noted. “As a nation, we cannot and we must not let this go on.”The president on Monday ordered U.S. flags on federal property lowered to half-staff for five days.President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Doug Emhoff participate in a moment of silence during a ceremony to honor the 500,000 Americans that died from COVID-19, at the White House, Feb. 22, 2021.The National Cathedral in Washington, meanwhile, tolled its bells 500 times to honor the lives lost to the coronavirus.It was a year ago Tuesday that President Donald Trump declared to reporters on the White House South Lawn as he departed for India that “we have it very much under control,” adding “very interestingly, we’ve had no deaths.”The first fatality from the virus in the United States had actually occurred more than two weeks before the president’s remarks, but it was not until April 2020 that authorities confirmed 57-year-old Patricia Dowd of San Jose, California, had died of COVID-19.Amid the gloom of a half-million deaths and the emergence of variants of the virus, there are expressions of optimism from top U.S. government officials.The seven-day average of deaths in the country is continuing to decline, according to Dr. Rochelle Wolensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.A nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign is under way and about 13% of the population has received at least one dose, although winter weather in recent days has slowed the pace of immunization in some states.Officials continue to plead for people to wear masks in public and maintain social distancing as the United States is “still seeing a lot of disease – 66,000 cases per day,” Wolensky said during a video briefing with reporters Monday.The president’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also cautioned “we are still at an unacceptably high baseline level,” preventing the resumption of normal society.The United States has suffered the most deaths from the coronavirus and accounts for nearly 20% of total global deaths from the virus, although it is home to just 4% of the world’s population.That is partly blamed on a lack of coherent federal response to the pandemic during the Trump administration. Trump, who left office January 20, had clashed with his own health experts and he primarily left it to the individual 50 states to figure out how to combat the virus.Biden’s team “inherited a mess,” Florida’s emergency management director, Jared Moskowitz, told a state legislative committee last month.In 2020, the virus shaved a full year off the average life expectancy in the United States, the biggest decline since World War II.The loss of so many lives is “a horrific human toll of staggering proportions and incomprehensible sadness,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday in a statement, in which she called for swift action by Congress to approve the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan “to put an end to this pandemic and to stem the suffering felt by so many millions.”The $1.9 trillion plan by the president is intended to increase the country’s recovery from the economic and health effects of the pandemic.Some lawmakers have expressed concern about the proposed legislation’s total cost and what it covers.“I’m prepared to hear ideas about how to make the American Rescue Plan better and cheaper,” Biden said in remarks delivered earlier Monday. “But we have to make clear who we’re helping and who it would hurt.”Katherine Gypson contributed to this report. 
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Among those seeing an opportunity for change in Venezuela under the new U.S. administration is Leopoldo López, one of the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition who fled the country in 2020. López now lives in Madrid and sat down for an interview with VOA. Alfonso Beato has more on his interview, in this report narrated by Roderick James. 
Camera: Alfonso Beato, Miguel Angel Trejo
 
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Indian police have arrested a 22-year-old climate activist for sharing a “toolkit” for farmers protesting controversial new agriculture laws.Police over the weekend took Disha Ravi, founder of India’s branch of Fridays for Future, a climate movement started by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, from her home in Bangalore to the capital, New Delhi.Officers said the arrest was part of an investigation into how protesters for farmers’ rights breached the historic Red Fort in Delhi late last month. The police believe the “toolkit,” a document with resources on how to support protesting farmers, was full of misinformation.”The main aim of the ‘toolkit’ was to create misinformation and disaffection against the lawfully enacted government,” Delhi police official Prem Nath told reporters.Disha Ravi, arrested by CyPAD Delhi Police, is an Editor of the Toolkit Google Doc & key conspirator in document’s formulation & dissemination. She started WhatsApp Group & collaborated to make the Toolkit doc. She worked closely with them to draft the Doc. @PMOIndia@HMOIndiahttps://t.co/e8QGkyDIVv— #DilKiPolice Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) February 14, 2021But the police did not specify the charges against Ravi but said she was a “key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination,” according to Reuters. Activists worry she is being held under a colonial-era sedition law, which has been used against journalists.According to NDTV news, Ravi told the court that she “did not make the toolkit. We wanted to support the farmers. I edited two lines on 3 February.” A Delhi court on Sunday ordered Ravi to be held in police custody for five days, according to Reuters.Ravi’s arrest was met with protests and condemnation from politicians and activists on Monday and comes as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces allegations it is suppressing dissent, a charge the government denies.Legal experts have questioned why the 22-year-old was taken to a magistrate so far from her home — about 2,100 kilometers — a move they argue is illegal under Indian law.“Such illegal actions by Delhi Police would amount to a kidnapping under the pretense of law,” the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms wrote in a statement.Our Statement on Delhi Police’s illegal&malafide arrest of environmental activist #DishaRavi for playing a small role in preparing a digital campaign toolkit for the farmer’s protest. The Magistrate in mechanically remanding her to police custody also abdicated his responsibility pic.twitter.com/RMZSISlqLV— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) February 15, 2021Thunberg tweeted her support for the farmers’ protests in February. Her comments were condemned by Indian politicians who claimed the protests were an internal affair. The toolkit prompted investigations by Delhi police.Here’s an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)#StandWithFarmers#FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/ZGEcMwHUNL— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 3, 2021Since late last year, farmers in India have been protesting three new proposed laws, which would end government-regulated pricing of crops. Talks between the government and the protesters have broken down, and demonstrations continue, despite roadblocks and a heavy security presence around the capital.The government says the laws at issue will reform Indian agriculture, draw in private investment and improve incomes, but farmers fear they will eventually eliminate state support for crops and dent their livelihoods.
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Americans commemorate Presidents Day Monday, a federal holiday honoring all U.S. presidents.  The holiday is observed on the third Monday of February, the birth month of two of the country’s most prominent presidents – George Washington, the nation’s first president, and Abraham Lincoln, who led the country through the Civil War. While some U.S. workers have the day off, including federal employees and bankers, many do not.    Taking place in the middle of winter, the holiday is not associated with the barbeques and picnics of summer holidays and is often used as an opportunity for companies to offer discounted car and retail sales.   This year, a Boston-based auction house, RR Auction, is timing an auction of presidential memorabilia around the holiday.  Nearly 300 presidential artifacts are available to be bid on in the online auction, including John F. Kennedy’s crimson Harvard sweater, locks of Washington’s hair, and a signed photograph of Lincoln. The auction also includes documents from many presidents, including John Quincy Adams, James Madison, and Ulysses S. Grant.  Beginnings Presidents Day got its beginnings with the celebration of Washington’s birthday every year on February 22.   Congress officially made the day a federal holiday in 1968, when it also moved it to the third Monday of February to make a three-day weekend.George Washington, president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and America’s first U.S. president, was born into a landowning family and married a wealthy widow.At that time, some argued the holiday should include a celebration of Lincoln’s birthday, which falls on February 12, and be renamed from Washington’s Birthday to Presidents Day.   Lawmakers rejected that idea, and the holiday is still officially named Washington’s Birthday. However, the day is now commonly known as Presidents Day and is seen by most as a celebration of all U.S. presidents. 46th president   When Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20, he became the country’s 46th president. He is the 15th president to previously have served as vice president. Of those, eight assumed the presidency because of the death of a president, while one – Gerald Ford – took office after the resignation of a president – Richard Nixon.  Biden, who served under President Barack Obama, is only the second vice president to capture the presidency after waiting out a term. The only other person to do this was Nixon, who served as President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president from 1953 to1961 but did not win the presidency until 1968.   Biden, who also served in the Senate for 36 years, follows a trend of presidents previously serving in Congress, becoming the 26th president to have been a representative or senator. Seventeen senators have become president, including Biden, but only three senators moved directly from the Senate to the White House — Warren G. Harding, Kennedy and Obama.   The new president is only the second Catholic president, after Kennedy, with all other presidents having been Protestant. No presidents have been Jewish or Muslim and while none have publicly professed atheism, Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln, and William Howard Taft were thought by some to be agnostic or atheist.   Biden has the distinction of being the oldest president to enter the White House at age 78, surpassing Donald Trump who was previously held the title, assuming office in 2017 at age 70.  The youngest president, Theodore Roosevelt became president at 42, followed by Kennedy, who came to the White House at age 43. 
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Syria’s army said on Monday the country’s air defenses intercepted an “Israeli aggression” over the capital, Damascus, in the latest stepped-up bombing of Iranian targets inside the country.State media did not give details of what was hit by the Israeli air force in the latest strikes by Israel against Iranian-backed military targets inside the country in the past two months.Israeli military planes flew over the Golan Heights to hit select targets on the edge of the capital, an army statement said, without mentioning casualties but adding that air defenses downed most of the missiles.”Our air defenses are continuing to repel the Israeli missile attacks over the skies of the capital,” the Syrian army said in a statement.Report: Israeli Missiles Hit Syrian Army, Pro-Iranian Militia Positions Along Golan HeightsIsraeli escalation against pro-Iranian forces in Syria and Lebanon in recent days could be a message to Tehran
  Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the latest strike, but its senior military officials have acknowledged the escalating attacks inside Syria had the goal of ending Tehran’s entrenched military presence in Syria.Western intelligence sources say Iran’s military influence has expanded in Syria in recent years prompting Israel to escalate a campaign to prevent its archrival from establishing a major military foothold along its border that posed a threat to its security.Witnesses heard heavy explosions on the southern edge of Damascus, an area where Iranian-backed militias are entrenched, residents said.Iran’s proxy militias led by Lebanon’s Hezbollah now hold sway over vast areas in eastern, southern and northwestern Syria, as well as several suburbs around Damascus. They also control Lebanese Syrian border areas.
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The Italian president swore in the former chief of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, as prime minister on Saturday at the head of a unity government called on to confront the coronavirus crisis and economic slump.All but one of Italy’s major parties have rallied to his side and his cabinet includes lawmakers from across the political spectrum, as well as technocrats in key posts, including the finance ministry and a new green transition portfolio.Much now rests on Draghi’s shoulders.He is tasked with plotting Italy’s recovery from the pandemic and must immediately set to work on plans for how to spend more than 200 billion euros ($240 billion) in European Union funds aimed at rebuilding the recession-bound economy.If he prevails, Draghi will likely bolster the entire eurozone, which has long fretted over Italy’s perennial problems. Success would also prove to Italy’s skeptical northern allies that by offering funds to the poorer south, they will fortify the entire bloc.But he faces enormous challenges. Italy is mired in its worst downturn since World War Two, hundreds of people are still dying of COVID-19 each day, the vaccination campaign is going slowly and he only has limited time to sort things out.Italy is due to return to the polls in two years time, but it is far from certain that Draghi will be able to survive that long at the head of a coalition that includes parties with radically opposing views on issues such as immigration, justice, infrastructure development and welfare.Highlighting Italy’s political instability, Draghi’s government is the 67th to take office since 1946 and the seventh in the last decade alone.CABINET MIXPresident Sergio Mattarella asked him to take over after the previous coalition collapsed amid party infighting. Draghi has spent the past 10 days drawing up his plans and unveiled his 23-strong cabinet on Friday, which included eight women.Eight of the ministries went to technocrats, with the rest split amongst the six main parties that back the government — four for the 5-Star Movement, the largest group in parliament, three each for the Democratic Party, the League and Forza Italia and one apiece for Italia Viva and LEU.As finance minister, Draghi called on an old colleague, Daniele Franco, the deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, while the sensitive job of justice minister was handed to the former head of the constitutional court, Marta Cartabia.He also looked outside the political sphere for two new roles — technological innovation, which was entrusted to the former head of telecoms firm Vodafone, Vittorio Colao, and ecological transition, given to physicist Roberto Cingolani.These twin positions play into demands by the European Union that a sizeable chunk of its recovery fund should be used to promote the digitalisation of the continent and to shift away from a dependence on fossil fuels.Draghi, a reserved figure who has no profile on social media platforms, will unveil his program in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday and the lower house on Thursday.Confidence votes will be held in both chambers and with just the far-right Brothers of Italy outside the cabinet, he looks likely to win the biggest majority in Italian history.However, some members of the 5-Star Movement, which was created in 2009 as an anti-system, anti-euro protest group, have said they might vote against Draghi, threatening a party schism. 
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Twelve United Nations personnel and three civilian staff members were killed in the line of duty in 2020, bringing the total number of deaths over the last decade to 440, according to findings of the Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service of the United Nations Staff Union. In a press release Monday, the organization said the deliberate killings involved the use of improvised explosive devices and other weapons, targeted assassinations and suicide attacks. “We learn time and time again of the many colleagues serving around the world in the most dangerous places who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the United Nations flag,” said Patricia Nemeth, president of the U.N. Staff Union. Four of those killed were from Burundi, and three were from Chad. Three other peacekeepers who died were Egyptian citizens, one Indonesian and a Rwandan. The civilians killed were from the Central African Republic, Myanmar and Syria. The organization said the Indonesian casualty was serving with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and died in an armed ambush. In Syria, armed violence led to the death of a science teacher working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), while a staff driver for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Myanmar was killed in an attack while delivering COVID-19 samples. ‘Depth of sacrifice’Over the years, the U.N. has recorded numerous deaths of its staff in the field who were trying to ease the burden of people living in some of the most troublesome parts of the world. The highest number of deaths occurred in 2017 with 71 killings, followed closely with 61 personnel deaths in 2014. While the killings in 2020 pale against the 2019 total of 28 deaths, Nemeth said the deaths are sacrifices that are hard to come to terms with. “Even though we may not be directly affected by the wars raging around the globe, some of us may not fully comprehend the depth of sacrifice that is being made in our name,” she said. Suspects on trialNot all perpetrators have escaped the consequences of their crimes. So far, one suspect, 76-year-old Mahmoud Bazzi, who kidnapped and killed two Irish peacekeepers in the 1980s, was sentenced to 15 years.  Also, the trial of Congolese militia leader Trésor Mputu Kankonde began in October 2020 for the 2017 murders of U.N. experts Zaida Catalan of Sweden, Michael Sharp of the United States and their interpreter, Betu Tshintela.  Nemeth urged stakeholders to take a firmer stance against perpetrators of these killings. “There comes a point when we have to say, ‘enough is enough,’” she said. “We don’t see any other choice but to continue calling on the United Nations and the member states to enhance the security measures to protect the lives of our colleagues.” Additionally, the organization challenged the U.N. and member states to increase resources to civilian, military and police personnel on the front lines.  The efforts and memories of the lost souls “will not be forgotten as they rest in the sacred and blessed grounds, marking their devotion to humankind around the world,” Nemeth noted. 
 
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that the United States should lift all sanctions if Washington wants Tehran to reverse its nuclear steps. “Iran has fulfilled all its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, not the United States and the three European countries … If they want Iran to return to its commitments, the United States must lift all sanctions first,” Khamenei wrote on Twitter. “After verifying whether all sanctions have been lifted, then we will return to full compliance,” he wrote. U.S. President Joe Biden, who took office last month, has said that if Tehran returned to strict compliance with the 2015 nuclear pact, Washington would follow suit and use that as a springboard to a broader agreement that might restrict Iran’s missile development and regional activities. Former U.S. President Donald Trump exited the nuclear accord between Iran and six powers in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran has breached the deal in a step-by-step response to Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy, but it has repeatedly said it could quickly reverse those violations if U.S. sanctions are removed.    
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The Wyoming Republican Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to censure U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney for voting to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.Only eight of the 74-member state GOP’s central committee stood to oppose censure in a vote that didn’t proceed to a formal count. The censure document accused Cheney of voting to impeach even though the U.S. House didn’t offer Trump “formal hearing or due process.””We need to honor President Trump. All President Trump did was call for a peaceful assembly and protest for a fair and audited election,” said Darin Smith, a Cheyenne attorney who lost to Cheney in the Republican U.S. House primary in 2016. “The Republican Party needs to put her on notice.”Added Joey Correnti, GOP chairman in Carbon County where the censure vote was held: “Does the voice of the people matter and if it does, does it only matter at the ballot box?”Cheney in a statement after the vote said she remained honored to represent Wyoming and will always fight for issues that matter most to the state.”Foremost among these is the defense of our Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees. My vote to impeach was compelled by the oath I swore to the Constitution,” Cheney said.Cheney will remain as the third-ranking member of the House GOP leadership, however, after a 145-61 vote by House Republicans on Wednesday to keep her as conference committee chair.Trump faces trial in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday over allegedly inciting insurrection when a mob of supporters stormed into and rampaged through the Capitol after a nearby rally led by Trump and close allies.
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The U.S. government has ended a controversial agreement with Guatemala that sent asylum-seekers processed at the U.S.-Mexico border to the Central American country to await hearings, according to a U.S. State Department statement and the Guatemalan government.Guatemala’s foreign ministry said in a statement Friday that U.S. officials had informed it of the cancellation of the program, which was negotiated under the administration of former President Donald Trump.The agreement with Guatemala was signed in 2019, just as similar pacts were negotiated with El Salvador and Honduras, all in a bid by Trump to force other countries in the region to help the United States alleviate a surge of asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S. southern border by agreeing to take them in for prolonged waits.Transfers under the U.S.-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement had been paused since mid-March 2020 because of COVID-19 measures, and the agreements with El Salvador and Honduras were never implemented, according to a State Department statement Saturday.“To be clear, these actions do not mean that the U.S. border is open,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the statement. “While we are committed to expanding legal pathways for protection and opportunity here and in the region, the United States is a country with borders and laws that must be enforced.”Criticism of pactsRights groups sharply criticized the pacts, saying they added to the misery of asylum-seekers, many of whom fled violent gangs from the same impoverished countries.The agreements allowed the U.S. to send asylum-seekers to one of the three Central American countries to apply for asylum there and have their claims reviewed.Earlier this week, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered a review of asylum processing at the U.S.-Mexico border, part of a broad effort to chart a less-restrictive immigration system during the first weeks of his term.Among the measures announced, Biden called for a review of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a Trump program also known as “Remain in Mexico” that ordered tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court dates.He also signaled the imminent end of the asylum deals with the Central American countries.Senior aides to Biden have nevertheless cautioned that administration’s broader immigration agenda will take time to roll out, as the new president seeks to be both more accepting of migrants and asylum-seekers while also seeking to prevent a surge in unlawful border crossings.  
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The Supreme Court is telling California that it can’t bar indoor church services because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it can keep for now a ban on singing and chanting indoors.The high court issued orders late Friday in two cases where churches had sued over coronavirus-related restrictions in the state. The high court said that for now, California can’t ban indoor worship as it had in almost all of the state because virus cases are high. The justices said the state can cap indoor services at 25% of a building’s capacity.The justices also declined to stop California from enforcing a ban put in place last summer on indoor singing and chanting. California had put the restrictions in place because the virus is more easily transmitted indoors and singing releases tiny droplets that can carry the disease.The justices were acting on emergency requests to halt the restrictions from South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista and Pasadena-based Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry, which has more than 160 churches across the state.Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that “federal courts owe significant deference to politically accountable officials” when it comes to public health restrictions, but he said deference “has its limits.”Roberts wrote that California’s determination “that the maximum number of adherents who can safely worship in the most cavernous cathedral is zero—appears to reflect not expertise or discretion, but instead insufficient appreciation or consideration of the interests at stake.”In addition to Roberts, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Amy Coney Barrett also wrote to explain their views. Gorsuch and Justice Clarence Thomas would have kept California from enforcing its singing ban. Barrett, the court’s newest justice, disagreed. Writing for herself and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, she said it wasn’t clear at this point whether the singing ban was being applied “across the board.”She wrote that “if a chorister can sing in a Hollywood studio but not in her church, California’s regulations cannot be viewed as neutral,” triggering a stricter review by courts. The justices said the churches who sued can submit new evidence to a lower court that the singing ban is not being applied generally.The court’s three liberal justices dissented, saying they would have upheld California’s restrictions. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent for herself, Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Sonia Sotomayor that the court’s action “risks worsening the pandemic.”She said that the court was “making a special exception for worship services” rather than treating them like other activities where large groups of people come together “in close proximity for extended periods of time.” In areas of California where COVID-19 is widespread, which includes most of the state, activities including indoor dining and going to the movies are banned.“I fervently hope that the Court’s intervention will not worsen the Nation’s COVID crisis. But if this decision causes suffering, we will not pay. Our marble halls are now closed to the public, and our life tenure forever insulates us from responsibility for our errors. That would seem good reason to avoid disrupting a State’s pandemic response. But the Court forges ahead regardless, insisting that science-based policy yield to judicial edict,” she wrote.Charles LiMandri, an attorney for South Bay United Pentecostal Church, said in a statement that he and his clients were “heartened by this order” and “thank the high court for upholding religious liberty.”The court’s action follows a decision in a case from New York late last year in which the justices split 5-4 in barring the state from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues. Shortly after, the justices told a federal court to reexamine California’s restrictions in light of the ruling.
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Some poorer countries, alarmed at watching rich countries receiving millions of COVID-19 vaccines, are deciding not to wait for vaccines from the World Health Organization and other groups, and have, instead, started striking their own vaccine deals.Juan Carlos Sikaffy, president of the Honduran Private Business Council, told the Associated Press that Honduras “cannot wait on bureaucratic processes or misguided decisions” to give citizens “the peace of mind” offered by the COVID-19 vaccine.  The Honduran Private Business Council participated in a vaccine-buying deal for the Central American country by providing a bank guarantee. WHO Calls for Drug Companies to Share Vaccine-Making FacilitiesAgency chief says 75% of all vaccinations are in just 10 countriesSerbia has also gone to the vaccine market even though it has already paid 4 million euros to WHO’s COVAX program, created to distribute the COVID vaccines fairly. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he could not wait for COVAX after watching rich countries buy up so many of the precious shots.“It’s as if they intend to vaccinate all their cats and dogs,” he said.The head of the World Health Organization called Friday for pharmaceutical companies to share manufacturing facilities to increase the production of COVID-19 vaccines.  Speaking at an online news briefing from Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said what is needed is “a massive scale-up in production.”He noted that France’s pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced it would make its manufacturing infrastructure available to support production of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and called on other companies to do the same. “We encourage all manufacturers to share their data and technology to ensure global, equitable access to vaccines.” He also repeated his call for rich nations to share doses with poorer countries once they have vaccinated health workers and older people.WHO: COVID-19 Vaccination Inequities Becoming Apparent Agency chief says 75% of all vaccinations are in just 10 countriesTedros said 75% of all COVID-19 vaccinations worldwide have been given in just 10 countries, while nearly 130 nations have not given a single vaccination. “The longer it takes to vaccinate those most at risk everywhere, the more opportunity we give the virus to mutate and evade vaccines,” said Tedros said, adding that unless the virus is suppressed everywhere, it could resurge globally. China’s Sinovac Biotech said Friday that late-stage trial data of its COVID-19 vaccine from Brazil and Turkey showed the vaccine prevented hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients in 100% of participants, but said it was only 50.65% effective at keeping people from getting infected. The trial of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine involved nearly 12,400 people and also found the vaccine was 83.7% effective in preventing COVID-19 cases that required any medical treatment.In the United States, President Joe Biden’s administration announced Friday that the Pentagon had approved the deployment of 1,100 active-duty troops to assist with COVID-19 vaccination efforts. It said that number will likely rise soon.Yankee Stadium was transformed Friday into a COVID-19 vaccination hub.  The iconic stadium is located in the Bronx, a mostly Black and Hispanic New York City borough that has experienced high infection and death rates from the coronavirus. Johnson & Johnson Seeks US Vaccine Approval for Emergency UseDrugmaker’s application for its single-dose vaccine to US Food and Drug Administration follows January report that found the vaccine had a 66% rate of efficacy in preventing infections Currently, only Bronx residents are eligible to receive the COVID shots at the stadium where members of the National Guard have been deployed to assist in the vaccine campaign. Jacqueline Soto, a 55-year-old school secretary from the Bronx, told Reuters Friday “I was on a wait list for three weeks, desperate to get a vaccine … I was unsuccessful. But today I’m here. I just went on the link yesterday and already I got the appointment today and I’m happy to be here.”The U.S. supermarket chain Kroger said Friday it would give $100 to workers who get a COVID-19 vaccination, joining a growing number of companies who are incentivizing employees to get vaccinated.Coronavirus cases in the United States have been decreasing in recent weeks. However, medical officials are urging U.S. residents to not turn Sunday’s Super Bowl, a yearly football game, into a superspreader event.  Fans usually gather at large home parties or in bars and restaurants to watch the game on television.  Medical authorities this year, however, are urging football fans to watch the game “with the people you live with.”     Greece has announced stricter lockdown restrictions in the capital, Athens, as well as other parts of the country to stop the spread of the pandemic. The restrictions include a curfew that will start at 6:00 pm Saturday.Also Saturday, South Korea begins easing its restrictions on businesses outside of the capital, allowing them to stay open an additional hour to 10 p.m.  Small business owners and self-employed people have been calling for an easing of restrictions imposed as the country seeks to control the coronavirus outbreak.  However, business in Seoul, the capital, will still close at 9 p.m.There are more than 105 million global GOVID-19 cases and 2.3 million deaths from the coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.The United States remains at the top of the list as the location with the most infections, with more than 26.8 million cases, followed by India with 10.8 million and Brazil with 9.4 million.  
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Far beneath the ocean surface, a cacophony of industrial noise is disrupting marine animals’ ability to mate, feed and even evade predators, scientists warn. With rumbling ships, hammering oil drills and booming seismic survey blasts, humans have drastically altered the underwater soundscape – in some cases deafening or disorienting whales, dolphins and other marine mammals that rely on sound to navigate, researchers report in a metastudy published online Thursday and in the Friday edition of the journal FILE – A large crevasse forms near the calving front of the Helheim glacier near Tasiilaq, Greenland, June 22, 2018.”It’s a chronic problem that certainly weakens the animals all the way from individuals to populations,” Duarte said in an interview. “This is a growing problem, one that is global in scope.” These noises and their impacts need more attention from scientists and policymakers, particularly the effects on sea turtles and other reptiles, seabirds, seals, walruses and plant-eating mammals such as manatees, the study says. The international team of researchers called for a global regulatory framework for measuring and managing ocean noise. Much of the human-caused noise should be easy to reduce, Duarte said. For example, measures such as building quieter ship propellers and hulls and using drilling techniques that do not cause bubbles and water vibrations could cut noise pollution in half, he said. Having the world use more renewable energy would lessen the need to drill for oil and gas. The benefits to marine life could be dramatic, he said, noting a resurgence in marine activity during April 2020 when shipping noise, typically loudest near coastlines, died down as countries went into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. But humans have not only added noise to the ocean, they have also eliminated natural sounds, the study found. Whaling in the 1900s, for example, removed millions of whales from the world’s oceans – along with much of their whale song. And the chirp and chatter around coral reefs is growing quieter as more corals die from ocean warming, acidification and pollution. Climate change has also changed the soundscape in parts of the ocean that are warming by altering the mix of animals living there, along with the noises they make. Oceanographer Kate Stafford at the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory praised the timing of the metastudy, as the United Nations calls on governments to set aside 30% of the world’s land and sea areas for conservation. “The review makes it clear that, to actually reduce anthrophony [human noise] and aim for a well-managed future … we will need global cooperation among governments,” Stafford said. 
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On this edition of Africa 54, former Ugandan rebel commander Dominic Ongwen is convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a ruling at the International Criminal Court; More than 350 former Peace Corps volunteers and a trio of former U.S. ambassadors write to U.S. Congressional representatives urging them to condemn the violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
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Internet providers in Myanmar, including state-owned telecom MPT, were blocking access to Facebook Inc.-owned services in the country on Thursday, days after military leaders seized power in a coup.A letter posted online by the Ministry of Communications and Information overnight said Facebook would be blocked until February 7 for the sake of “stability.”Some users in Myanmar reported they were not able to access several Facebook services.Network monitoring group NetBlocks confirmed state-owned telecom MPT, which says it has 23 million users, had blocked Facebook as well as its Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp services.Norway’s Telenor Asa said it had just blocked Facebook to comply with the directive.Facebook spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged the disruption.”We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information,” he said.Half of population affectedHalf of Myanmar’s 53 million people use Facebook, which for many is synonymous with the internet.”Currently, the people who are troubling the country’s stability … are spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding among people by using Facebook,” the ministry letter said.Telenor expressed “grave concern” about the directive, which it said had been received by all mobile operators and internet service providers on Wednesday.It said in a statement it was directing users to a message saying Facebook websites cannot be reached because of a government order.”While the directive has legal basis in Myanmar law, Telenor does not believe that the request is based on necessity and proportionality, in accordance with international human rights law,” it said.On Tuesday, the military warned against the posting of what it said were rumors on social media that could incite rioting and cause instability.U.N. human rights investigators have previously said hate speech on Facebook had played a key role in fomenting violence in Myanmar. The company has said it was too slow to act in preventing misinformation and hate in the country.This week, Facebook said it was treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency and taking temporary measures to protect against harm such as removing content that praises or supports the coup, according to a spokeswoman. 
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The United States is calling Myanmar’s military arrest of civilian leaders a coup, which triggers a review of U.S. assistance to the country formerly known as Burma. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington.
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COVID-19 testing tents are popping up in the French capital as extensions of local pharmacies that allow people to walk in and get a free COVID screening. More with VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo.  
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