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Tennessee health officials say a small cluster of coronavirus infections has been linked to the June meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, according to The Tennessean.Epidemiologist Leslie Waller of Nashville’s Metro Public Health Department told the newspaper that about 10 infections had been found, but that the cluster was almost certainly larger. About 18,000 people attended the two-day annual meeting and then returned to their home states, the newspaper reported Friday.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked health officials to contact the Tennessee department if they find other cases, according to The Associated Press.Nashville had lifted its mask mandate and restrictions on large gatherings about a month before the convention, which filled the city’s indoor convention hall.Disinclined to get vaccinatedThose who attended were not likely to have been vaccinated. A March poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 40% of white evangelical Protestants said they likely wouldn’t get vaccinated, compared with 25% of all Americans, 28% of white mainline Protestants and 27% of nonwhite Protestants. A spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee said it had not told attendees about the infections but was working with health officials to determine what to do. FILE – A sign warning of COVID-19 danger is seen June 15, 2021, outside a state office building in Jefferson City, Mo. Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill in June limiting the duration of local public health restrictions such as workplace capacity limits.Infection clustersSeparately, Georgetown University researchers found clusters of coronavirus infections in 30 counties that have large populations and low vaccination rates, CNN reported Friday. What the university researchers described as the five most significant clusters, CNN said, cover large parts of eight states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Coronavirus cases are rising in more than half of U.S. states, and hospitalizations are up in 17 states, with patients who are almost entirely unvaccinated, CBS News reported Saturday. About half of all new cases, 52%, are attributable to the delta variant. “We’re seeing people that are extremely sick with it,” Dr. Greg Gardner, chief of emergency medicine at Mountain West Hospital in Tooele, Utah, told CBS. “We haven’t seen anybody that has been vaccinated.” According to the CDC, as of Saturday, 158,954,417 Americans were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Rolling average rises Also on Saturday, the CDC’s seven-day rolling average showed an increase of 16% in new cases from the previous seven-day measure. During Thursday’s weekly White House COVID Response Team briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the statistics showed “two truths”: The nation’s vaccination effort is significantly driving down cases, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 from their January peaks, but the areas with the lowest vaccination rates have the highest rates of new cases and highest percentages of the more contagious delta variant of the virus. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, CNN and CBS.
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One day after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the U.S. said it would respond to requests for help in investigating the attack. Experts said the U.S. should resist any temptation to intervene militarily in Haiti as it has in times of past upheaval.  VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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The foreign ministers of Egypt and Sudan appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to intervene in their dispute with Ethiopia over the operation of a mega dam on the Nile River.“We come here in search for a viable path towards a peaceful, amicable and negotiated solution, and to avert the dire consequences of our inability to reach a settlement to this matter,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry speaks in New York City about Ethiopia’s contentious dam project on July 7, 2021.“Our expectation is that this council will take the necessary measures to ensure the parties engage in an effective process of negotiation that could yield an agreement that serves our collective interests,” he added.Tensions have escalated since Addis Ababa said Monday it had begun its second phase of filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam — or GERD, as it is known. Downstream neighbors Egypt and Sudan object, insisting that a legally binding agreement that governs how the dam is filled and operated must first be in place.“Silence from the council would send out the wrong message and would signify a tacit approval of the fact that this unilateral filling was acceptable,” Sudan’s foreign minister, Mariam al-Mahdi said.The Nile flows northward, with one tributary (the White Nile) beginning in South Sudan and the other (the Blue Nile) in Ethiopia. They merge in Sudan and continue flowing north to the Mediterranean Sea. Along the way, the river crosses through 11 countries, and populations have depended on its water for millennia.Ethiopia started building the GERD in 2011 on the Blue Nile as a major hydropower project. Construction is nearly complete, and Addis Ababa says the dam will help bring electricity to 65 million Ethiopians who do not have it.Seleshi Bekele Awulachew, Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy speaks during a news conference on the current status of Great Renaissance Nile Dam construction in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sept. 18, 2019.“We are dealing here with a hydroelectric dam. We are not building a nuclear plant,” said Seleshi Bekele Awulachew, Ethiopia’s minister for water, irrigation and energy. “It’s not the first of its kind in Africa or in the world.”He urged the council not to become involved in the issue, which the African Union is mediating.“If the council consents to the path preferred by Egypt and Sudan, it will certainly be entangled in resolving disputes on all transboundary rivers,” Ethiopia’s minister said.After 10 years of negotiations, the three countries still have not resolved the situation. Council members urged them to find the political will and momentum to quickly resume substantive negotiations to resolve outstanding differences.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, speaks to reporters during a news conference at U.N. headquarters, March 1, 2021.“A balanced and equitable solution to the filling and operation of the GERD can be reached with political commitment from all parties,” U.S. envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “Egypt and Sudan’s concerns over water security and the safety and operation of the dam can be reconciled with Ethiopia’s development needs.”She said the African Union is the most appropriate body to address the dispute and that Washington would provide political and technical support. The U.N., the European Union and South Africa have also been involved as observers to these talks, which recently stalled.Russia went a step further, proposing that the parties undertake a round of negotiations with the African Union chair while the three ministers are all in New York.Vassily Nebenzia, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council at U.N. headquarters in New York, April 10, 2019.“We believe that this would be the best contribution the council could make to finding a solution to the situation,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said.Egypt and Sudan asked the council to adopt a resolution put forward by council member Tunisia. It demands that Ethiopia stop filling the dam and calls for the three countries to resume negotiations and reach a legally binding agreement within six months.Sudan’s foreign minister acknowledged after the meeting that the council appeared to have little appetite to adopt the resolution.But Cairo and Khartoum insist the issue is an important national security issue.“This is a situation that Egypt cannot and will not tolerate,” Shoukry told the council. 
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A United Nations investigator is calling for international coordinated action to stem abuse by Myanmar’s military leaders against its people.   In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N. special rapporteur lists measures for bringing the country’s generals into compliance with international human rights norms.  Human rights investigator Tom Andrews accuses the international community of failing the people of Myanmar.   In an impassioned speech to the U.N. council, he presented documented evidence of widespread, systematic attacks by the military junta against the people of Myanmar. Since the Junta’s overthrow of the country’s democratically elected government five months ago, he says military forces have killed about 900 people.  He says they have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands, tortured many and arbitrarily detained nearly 6,000 people. “Some in Myanmar have lost hope that help from the international community will be forthcoming and have instead sought to defend themselves through the formation of defense forces and acts of sabotage, while some are reportedly targeting suspected junta collaborators and officials — and the junta’s pattern of the use of grossly disproportionate force in response will likely lead to an even greater loss of life,” he said.  FILE – Protesters react after tear gas is fired by police during a demonstration against the military coup in the northwestern town of Kalay, March 2, 2021.Andrews says the people of Myanmar desperately need the support of the international community to end this nightmare, yet he says little action has been taken beyond international protestations of condemnation, the imposition of sanctions by some nations and resolutions by U.N. bodies.The U.N. investigator is calling for the establishment of a so-called Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar.  The plan proposes a series of five key measures he says would impose significant costs on the junta.  First and foremost, he asserts cutting off the junta’s source of income could reduce its ability to attack its citizens.  Therefore, he is calling on nations to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar’s oil and gas industry. “Oil and gas sector revenues are a financial lifeline for the junta and are estimated to be close to what is needed for the junta to maintain the security forces that are keeping them in power,” he said.  “They should be stopped.  Second, an Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar could outlaw the export of arms to Myanmar military, as called for in last month’s General Assembly resolution.”   The plan also calls for the pursuit of universal jurisdiction cases and filing charges against Myanmar’s senior security officials.  Other measures include ensuring that humanitarian aid goes directly to the people of Myanmar, and the denial of any claims of legitimacy by the junta, such as the false claim that it is recognized by the United Nations. 
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The streets of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, were mostly empty Wednesday following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise at his private residence in the early-morning hours. Businesses were closed, most people remained home and armored police vehicles were seen on the main roads. Armed guards stood watch in key locations of the capital.A state of siege was declared by interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who said he was in charge of the country.Haitian officials said heavily armed gunmen posing as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers who spoke Spanish and English shot and killed the president in a “highly coordinated” attack. His wife, Martine Moise, was gravely injured and remained in critical but stable condition at a Miami hospital.Haitian media reported the late president’s “alleged assassins” had been intercepted late Wednesday, although details about the arrest were scarce as the investigation continued amid a national border lockdown.Speaking to people on the street about the president’s killing, VOA Creole received a diverse range of responses.One resident of the president’s Pelerin neighborhood, a wealthy suburb of the capital, said she heard the gunfire but was confused about what was happening at the time. She told VOA Creole the gunfire lasted for about an hour.A forensic investigator carries a bagful of bullet casings collected at the residence of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, where he was killed by gunmen in the early morning hours, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 7, 2021.”We are victims of our own insecurity,” the woman, who declined to give her name, said. “We hope this will not happen again, but, hopefully, the next president will do better so this type of event doesn’t repeat itself.”A man in his 20s who spoke to VOA Creole near the downtown area of the capital said he worried that the killing would damage Haiti’s image abroad.”I think this presents a problem for the country’s image,” he told VOA. “Jovenel should have been brought to justice to explain his actions. I blame him for the impunity that exists currently and for putting guns in the hands of young people. He likened himself [in a speech] to a fish bone stuck in the Haitian people’s throat. I would have liked to ask him to explain what he meant by that. The people need to unite now and take hold of our government and choose a leader who can represent us well, improve our image and allow us to move forward.”Another man in his 30s who spoke to VOA Creole near the national palace, and who also did not want to give his name, said, “It really hurts me to hear Jovenel Moise died this way. This is not what I wished for. I would have preferred he be imprisoned for all the bad things he did [while in power] and explain what happened with the PetroCaribe funds, the Bel Air massacre, the La Saline massacre. I did not wish for his death.”Security forces investigate the perimeters of the residence of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 7, 2021. Gunmen assassinated Moise and wounded his wife in their home early Wednesday.PetroCaribe is a corruption scandal linked to profits from oil sold to Haiti by Venezuela at a discount, which were supposed to be used for social, educational and infrastructure projects. Most of the money was allegedly misused, and efforts to bring those responsible to justice have so far failed.Moise was blamed by some Haitians — as well as U.S. officials such as U.S. Representative Maxine Waters  and Ambassador Michele Sison — for failing to bring to justice those responsible for the mass killings of residents in the capital’s Bel Air and La Saline slums. Gangs with ties to the president were blamed for the killings.Another man in his 20s who spoke to VOA Creole in a downtown neighborhood expressed sorrow over Moise’s death. “It pains me to hear President Jovenel Moise was assassinated. Today his death does not make us feel good at all,” he told VOA. “We would prefer to have a real government leading us. For now, all we can say is, ‘Rest in peace.’ “A man who described himself as a Moise supporter said he thought the killing was politically motivated.”I believed in Jovenel Moise. I believe he was assassinated today because of his political convictions,” the man, who did not give his name, said. “[Moise] is a Haitian citizen who was fighting against the oligarchs and greedy people. I blame those oligarchs for his murder. This was a heinous act.”Former government attorney Francisco Rene, who spoke to VOA at his office in Port-au-Prince, expressed concern about the gravity of the event.”This is serious. It impacts the future of our democracy, the future of the country,” he said. “It’s also serious with regards to the economic fallout. Many countries may decide to prevent their citizens from traveling to Haiti. This has diminished our standing in the world.”It was unclear how long the state of siege would be in effect. Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic and its airports were closed until further notice.
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Darnella Frazier, the teenager who videoed George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis last year, said Wednesday that a man killed during a high-speed police chase in the city early Tuesday was her uncle.Police confirmed that the man, Leneal Lamont Frazier, was not involved in the chase.”Minneapolis police has cost my whole family a big loss … today has been a day full of heartbreak and sadness,” Frazier posted on her Facebook page. According to police, a squad car collided with two other vehicles during a high-speed pursuit of a driver linked to a carjacking and multiple robberies.Police confirmed Wednesday that the driver of one of those vehicles was taken to a hospital, where he later died, but they have not released the name of the victim, The Associated Press reported.”Another black man lost his life in the hands of the police!” Frazier wrote.Frazier was given a Pulitzer Prize special citation last month for capturing the murder of Floyd on video. She testified earlier this year in the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of murdering Floyd after he kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes last year.”When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad. I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles, because they are all Black. I look at how that could have been one of them,” she told the jury at the time.Floyd’s murder sparked global protests over racial injustice and police brutality. Locally, the Minneapolis Police Department has come under intense scrutiny, with calls to defund the police seriously considered by the city’s government over the past year.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A U.N. investigator accuses Belarusian authorities of enforcing a policy of repression aimed at purging its society of what the country’s leadership describes as undesirable, dissident elements.   The U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus has submitted her report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.  U.N. investigator Anais Marin has issued a blistering attack against the brutal methods employed by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko to keep its population in line.  She says Belarus has suffered an unprecedented human rights crisis since the August 9 presidential election, widely viewed as fraudulent.    Over the past year, she notes more than 35,000 people have been arbitrarily detained for exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly or in support of victims of abuse.  Marin accuses the Belarusian authorities of launching a full-scale assault against civil society.  “Thousands of people are undergoing violence, beatings, humiliation and intimidation from the police.  I have been told of a systematic use of torture or other forms of degrading or inhuman treatment directed against people in detention,” she said.Marin says the government’s violent crackdown on civil society and the fear of reprisals have driven tens of thousands of people to seek safety abroad.  However, she adds opponents no longer feel safe anywhere.  This, since Belarus forced a civilian airplane to land in the capital, Minsk, on May 23 for the sole purpose of arresting a dissident aboard.FILE – In this May 23, 2021, photo, a Ryanair jet that carried opposition figure Raman Pratasevich was diverted to Minsk, Belarus, after a bomb threat.“This incident, which shocked the international community highlights the desire of the authorities to put an end to any form of dissidence,” she said.  “Purging society of those elements which it considers to be undesirable.  And I am deliberately using the word purge… It is a form of purge reminding us of those which totalitarian regimes practice.”    FILE – Belarusian blogger Raman Pratasevich is said to be seen in a pre-trial detention facility in Minsk, Belarus May 24, 2021, in this still image taken from video. (Telegram@Zheltyeslivy/Reuters TV)Polish Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Zbignew Czech delivered a joint statement on behalf of 46 states.  He condemned the forced diversion and landing of the Ryanair jet and the arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich and his partner, Sofia Sapega by Belarusian authorities. “This act apparently endangering the lives of passengers and crew was an attack on human rights and an affront to international norms,” he said. “We deplore the ongoing and systematic repression of the Belarusian people… We stand in solidarity with the imprisoned journalists and of all the Belarusian political prisoners reaching 500.”On behalf of the 46 states, Czech called on Belarus to immediately and unconditionally release Pratasevich and his partner and all those unjustly detained.   Belarus boycotted the meeting so was not present to take the floor as a concerned country. 
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A press watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders, named 37 world leaders Monday as media “predators” who “crack down massively” on press freedom, including for the first time a Western European leader, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The Paris-based group, in its first such list in five years, included two women, Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s prime minister since 2009, and Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region since 2017.Reporters Without Borders said the “most notable” name on the new list “is undoubtedly Saudi Arabia’s 35-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is the center of all power in his hands and heads a monarchy that tolerates no press freedom. His repressive methods include spying and threats that have sometimes led to abduction, torture and other unthinkable acts. [Journalist] Jamal Khashoggi’s horrific murder exposed a predatory method that is simply barbaric.”The group said the officials it cited all “trample on press freedom by creating a censorship apparatus, jailing journalists arbitrarily or inciting violence against them, when they don’t have blood on their hands because they have directly or indirectly pushed for journalists to be murdered.”The group said Orban “has steadily and effectively undermined media pluralism and independence since being returned to power in 2010” by using “varied predatory techniques.”  “The methods may be subtle or brazen, but they are always efficient,” the report said. The watchdog group said oligarchs close to Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party controls more than 80% of the media in the country, while private media is discriminated against and characterized as publishing “fake news.”Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs assailed the report and said the watchdog should be called “Fake News Without Borders.”Reporters Without Borders said Hasina’s “predatory exploits” in Bangladesh included “the adoption of a digital security law in 2018 that has led to more than 70 journalists and bloggers being prosecuted.”It said Lam “has proved to be the puppet of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and now openly supports his predatory policies towards the media.” The watchdog condemned the recent closing of Hong Kong’s leading independent newspaper, Apple Daily, and the jailing of its founder, Jimmy Lai.Christophe Deloire, the watchdog’s secretary-general, urged world governments to disavow the attacks on media by the 37 leaders it cited.”We must not let their methods become the new normal,” he said.This report includes information from the Associated Press.
 
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At his first large event since his inauguration, President Joe Biden hosted a party at the White House in honor of the Fourth of July holiday Sunday.
 
“America is coming back together,” Biden said.
 
“Today, we’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.”
 
The White House was open to hundreds of invited guests Sunday, serving up hamburgers and other dishes.
 
Among the guests were essential workers who helped with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as military families.
In his remarks to his guests Sunday, Biden encouraged those who have not yet been vaccinated against the coronavirus to do so.
 
“My fellow Americans – it’s the most patriotic thing you can do,” he said.Attendees listen as President Joe Biden speaks during an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, July 4, 2021.The administration had set a goal of having 70% of American adults vaccinated by the holiday. The nation got close: about 67% have had at least one shot.
 
Sunday also marked one of the first times that fencing, which had been erected around the White House during the anti-police violence protests in 2020 and in the wake of the January 6th assault on the Capitol, was removed. Visitors can now walk up to the North Lawn fence in front of the White House.  
 
Though the event is the largest since Biden took office in January, the crowds are much smaller than White House Independence Day events in previous years.  
 
With fireworks and gatherings, Americans celebrated their country’s 245th Independence Day this year with a sense of renewal as new cases of COVID-19 continued to drop but also with the reminder that more than 600,000 in the U.S. — the most of any country — have died of the disease.
 Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
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As the last U.S. forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of fighting, the American commander says he is worried about the territorial advance of Taliban insurgents attempting to take back control of the country. U.S. Army Gen. Scott Miller, in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” show, said the Taliban is “gaining strength.” “We should be concerned,” he said. “The loss of terrain is concerning.” For the Afghans trying to maintain control, he said, “Hope matters. Morale matters.” “I don’t like leaving friends in need,” Miller said as he oversaw the last U.S. troops leaving the mammoth Bagram Airfield this past week. “You look at the security situation and it’s not good.” he said. “The Taliban is on the move.” The Taliban have captured more 100 districts since early May. U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. troop withdrawal, a position also favored by former President Donald Trump before he left office in January. In April, Biden announced, “It is time to end the forever war” in Afghanistan, saying that the United States had accomplished its stated goal of denying terrorists a haven in the country. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to combat al-Qaida terrorists who had been training there in advance of their September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon outside Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. Miller said there were “judgments” that had to be made about the withdrawal. He said there were U.S. victories in the Afghan fighting, even as 2,300 U.S. troops were killed over two decades. But he also said, “The amount of self-reflection [about the U.S. military performance in Afghanistan] will be important.” 
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Ukrainian authorities found themselves buried in controversy Friday after official pictures showed women soldiers practicing for a parade in heels.Ukraine is preparing to stage a military parade next month to mark 30 years of independence following the Soviet Union’s breakup, and the defense ministry released photographs of fatigue-clad women soldiers marching in mid-heel black pumps.”Today, for the first time, training takes place in heeled shoes,” cadet Ivanna Medvid was quoted as saying by the defense ministry’s information site ArmiaInform.”It is slightly harder than in army boots, but we are trying,” Medvid added in comments released on Thursday.The choice of footwear sparked a torrent of criticism on social media and in parliament, and led to accusations that women soldiers had been sexualized.”The story of a parade in heels is a real disgrace,” commentator Vitaly Portnikov said on Facebook, arguing that some Ukrainian officials had a “medieval” mindset.Another commentator, Maria Shapranova, accused the defense ministry of “sexism and misogyny.””High heels is a mockery of women imposed by the beauty industry,” she fumed.Several Ukrainian lawmakers close to Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko showed up in parliament with pairs of shoes and encouraged the defense minister to wear high heels to the parade.”It is hard to imagine a more idiotic, harmful idea,” said Inna Sovsun, a member of the Golos party, pointing to health risks.She also said that Ukraine’s women soldiers — like men — were risking their lives and “do not deserve to be mocked”.Ukraine has been battling Russian-backed separatists in the country’s industrial east, in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014.Olena Kondratyuk, deputy speaker of the legislature said authorities should publicly apologize for “humiliating” women and conduct an enquiry. Kondratyuk said that more than 13,500 women had fought in the current conflict.More than 31,000 women now serve in the Ukrainian armed forces, including more than 4,000 of whom are officers.
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The World Health Organization is calling for urgent action to stem the rapid spread of COVID-19 across Africa, which is being fueled by a surge of more contagious variants of the disease. Latest reports say COVID-19 cases in Africa have been rising by 25% every week for the past six weeks, bringing reported cases there to more than 5.4 million, including 141,000 deaths.WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, warns the rampant spread of the more contagious alpha, beta, and delta variants is raising the pandemic threat across the continent to a new level.”The speed and scale of Africa’s third wave is like nothing we have seen before,” said Moeti. “Cases are doubling every three weeks, compared to every four weeks at the start of the second wave.  Almost 202,000 cases were reported in the past week and the continent is on the verge of exceeding its worst week ever in this pandemic.”   In the same period, WHO reports deaths have risen by 15% across 38 African countries to nearly 3,000.  The jump is largely due to the highly transmissible coronavirus variants, which have spread to dozens of countries.  The most contagious delta variant has been found in 16 countries.  It reportedly has become the dominant strain in South Africa.Moeti says more people are falling ill and requiring hospitalization, even people younger than 45 years.  She says evidence is growing that the delta variant is causing longer and more severe illness.With Africa’s lack of life-saving vaccines, Moeti says it is important for people to practice public health measures, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and frequent handwashing to prevent the disease from spreading.”With WHO’s guidance, countries are taking action to curb the rise in cases,” said Moeti. “All countries in resurgence in the region have put limits on people gathering to help with physical distancing. …They are using nuanced, risk-based approaches, informed by the local epidemiology, in an effort to avoid nationwide lockdowns that we know cause great harm to livelihoods, particularly for low-income households.”   Vaccines are proving highly effective against the COVID-19 variants and in ending devastating surges of severe cases of the disease. They are widely available in the world’s richest countries, but not Africa.Moeti is urgently appealing to countries to share their excess doses to help plug the continent’s vaccine gap, saying Africa must not be left languishing in the throes of its worst wave yet.
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New York Democratic voters continued to fret Thursday after a massive error in the tallying of votes for the mayoral primary election Tuesday cast doubt on the city’s election process.The first results released by the city’s Board of Elections, which showed candidate and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams with a healthy lead, mistakenly included 135,000 test ballots.The board quickly deleted the tally and posted results Wednesday showing Adams with a much slimmer lead over former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia.Final results could be weeks away as 125,000 absentee ballots still need to be counted.This is the first time the city has used ranked-choice voting, in which a candidate must garner 50% or more of the vote in the first round to win. Voters rank up to five candidates. Those with the fewest votes are eliminated, and their votes are then given to surviving candidates based on ranking until the candidate with half of the vote or more is declared the winner.”Yesterday’s ranked-choice voting reporting error was unacceptable, and we apologize to the voters and to the campaigns for the confusion,” Board of Elections President Frederic Umane and Board of Elections Secretary Miguelina Camilo said in a statement. “Let us be clear: (ranked-choice voting) was not the problem, rather a human error that could have been avoided. We have implemented another layer of review and quality control before publishing information going forward.”New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio called the city’s election system “broken,” while his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, characterized the Board of Elections as “worse than the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.”The Associated Press reported that the latest problem with New York City’s elections is just another in a long line of mishaps that includes names wrongly removed from voter rolls, long lines at polling stations and other equipment breakdowns.“It’s mishap after mishap after mishap,” said Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, according to AP.  “No other government entity could have such a dismal track record and face absolutely no accountability.”Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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American comedian Bill Cosby issued his first statement Wednesday after being freed from prison by the state of Pennsylvania Supreme Court, saying he has never changed his story and has always maintained his innocence.  On his Twitter account, Cosby went on to say, “Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law.” In 2018, Cosby received a sentence of three to 10 years based on testimony he gave in 2005 in a civil lawsuit brought against him by Andrea Constand, who accused him of sexual assault after he gave her a sedative without her knowledge, leaving her incapacitated. The state high court ruled Wednesday that the testimony he gave should have never been heard because a previous district attorney had promised he wouldn’t be charged if he gave it.  The 83-year-old Cosby returned to his Philadelphia-area home Wednesday hours after the court threw out his conviction. Constand’s accusation was one of dozens leveled against the popular entertainer, many of them going back decades. His conviction was one of the first in the so-called “Me Too” era, which saw scores of women coming forward to accuse powerful men in entertainment, media and politics of sexual assault and related crimes.    Constand and her lawyers issued a statement Wednesday calling the ruling disappointing, and expressed fear that it could discourage sexual assault victims from coming forward. The Associated Press news service and the Reuters news agency contributed to this report.  
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The decision by Myanmar’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to visit Russia before next-door neighbor China highlights his military’s easier relations with Moscow and hopes of drawing the Kremlin closer to avoid relying on Beijing alone, analysts say. Min Aung Hlaing visited Russia last week for a three-day international security conference.   China and Russia have been the junta’s most powerful allies since the military, or Tatmadaw, toppled Myanmar’s democratically elected government four months ago. Amid international rebuke of the military’s bloody crackdown on peaceful protests, Beijing and Moscow have blocked efforts in the United Nations Security Council to pressure the junta to back down. The two are also Myanmar’s main arms suppliers.   As a neighbor, China has the far older, deeper and intricate ties to Myanmar. It is the country’s top trade partner and a major investor. Myanmar also figures large in Beijing’s sprawling Belt and Road Initiative, offering China a new route to the Indian Ocean and vital oil and gas supplies in the Middle East.   Instead of making Beijing his first stop outside of Southeast Asia since the coup, though, Min Aung Hlaing headed to Moscow on June 20 for the security conference. The visit included meetings with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.   Those who watch Myanmar closely were not surprised by the choice.   “Moscow’s support for the new regime has been unequivocal and the junta chief was assured of a warm welcome from a major international power and the opportunity to discuss expanding military and economic cooperation,” said Anthony Davis, a Bangkok-based security analyst with Janes defense publications.   “The relationship with China has been far testier given Beijing’s dissatisfaction over the chaos triggered by the coup, and longstanding Tatmadaw suspicion over Chinese goals and support for certain ethnic insurgent groups,” he said.   Foul weather friend Smuggling, gambling operations and weapons flows between southern China and northeast Myanmar have been helping prop up ethnic minority rebel armies fighting the Tatmadaw for autonomy along the border for decades, a major thorn in the military’s side. Last year Min Aung Hlaing openly complained about a “foreign country” backing some of the rebels.   “Though he did not mention the name of this country, it was automatically known that he referred to China,” said Ye Myo Hein, who heads the Tagaung Institute for Political Studies, a Myanmar think tank.   He noted too that Min Aung Hlaing was speaking to Russian state media on a trip to Russia.   FILE – Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers his speech at the IX Moscow conference on international security in Moscow, June 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)As both a neighbor and big investor, China is also far more worried than Russia about the violence and economic nosedive the February 1 coup has sparked or inflamed, he added. Financial forecasters say Myanmar’s gross domestic product may plummet by as much as 20% this year. Assassinations and bomb attacks targeting government administrators and facilities are tearing through the country, while long-dormant standoffs between the Tatmadaw and some rebel armies have flared up.   Ye Myo Hein said Min Aung Hlaing traveled to Russia before China to avoid the added pressure that would come with a trip to Beijing to stick to a five-point plan for saving Myanmar from collapse drawn up by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.   “He knows China will not give blank check support, which the coup leaders will not be happy about. China has a great deal of concern with instability and the spillover effects in neighboring countries. That’s why it is pushing the five-point consensus from ASEAN, but the junta has not been ready to follow it,” he said.   Min Aung Hlaing reportedly agreed to the plan during a special meeting of the bloc in Jakarta in April, including an immediate end to violence and negotiations with “all parties concerned,” but has shown no sign of following though since then.   Balancing Beijing Davis said Russia also offers Myanmar “a critical great-power counterbalance to the sort of over-reliance on Beijing seen in the 1990s.”   Min Aung Hlaing’s decision to attend the security conference in Moscow rather than send a representative may signal his interest to draw Russia even closer, said Moe Thuzar, a Myanmar analyst at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.   “So the decision to make Russia the destination of his first visit out of the region would be motivated by Min Aung Hlaing’s interest to seek more legitimacy and more strategic support, and present that balancing and diversification element to existing relations with China,” she said.   To date, Russia has filled that role largely as an arms supplier, and an ever more important one. The Tatmadaw has bought more military hardware from China over its history. In the past two decades, though, it has sourced nearly as much from Russia as from China, according to data collected by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.   The same data show the Tatmadaw lately turning to Russia mainly for airpower, from surface-to-air missiles to helicopters and fighter jets. Davis said Russian hardware’s superior quality and competitive prices make them a better deal than their Chinese alternatives, and that the Tatmadaw’s possible purchase of more planes and armored vehicles — and interest in Kilo-class submarines — could soon make Russia Myanmar’s top arms supplier. Whether that happens will depend in large part on how much the junta can afford as the economy tumbles, he added.   Those financial woes are also why Min Aung Hlaing wants to move relations with Russia beyond the military-to-military level they are mostly at now, said Ye Myo Hein.   With Western governments imposing targeted sanctions and foreign companies holding off on new deals, he said the junta “urgently needs more investment as the economy is tremendously going down. Currently there will be investment only from China, and I think the junta is trying to invite more investments from other countries,” Russia included.   Value systems Ye Myo Hein said the junta will entice Russia with the promise of more weapons sales and may even offer up Myanmar’s ports for calls from Russia’s navy on any forays it makes into the Indian Ocean.   Ian Storey, another analyst at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said Russia would like to expand its presence in the ocean, having forged close security ties with India but has few friendly ports along the way from Vladivostok on Russia’s east coast. He said a reliable stop in Myanmar would help but added the limited number of warships in the Russian navy’s Western Pacific fleet would keep those trips modest “for the foreseeable future.”   The Russian navy may send the odd ship or two into the Indian Ocean using Myanmar as a stepping stone, but not in any numbers to shift the balance of power there, said Eugene Rumer, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.   He said Russia’s naval ambitions will remain elsewhere, including the north Atlantic and northeast Pacific.   Rumer said Moscow will seek some business concessions for the diplomatic cover it gives Myanmar’s junta but, like others, he does not expect Russia to prove the economic lifeline the junta may be looking for.   Analysts say that role will continue to go mainly to China.   What the junta does also offer Russia is another chance to chip away at the West’s push for an international relations regime based on democratic values, said Rumer. By coming to the aid of pariah states from Venezuela to Zimbabwe, and now Myanmar, he said Moscow hopes to advance a regime void of those values, much in line with Beijing.   “It undercuts U.S. insistence on values as being a major aspect of our foreign policy,” he said. “The flip side of it is that it helps show that the United States is not omnipotent; it brings it down a peg or two. And it brings Russia and China closer together, something that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has made part of his foreign policy priorities.”  
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The drought-plagued city of Los Angeles announced that a fireworks buyback program would be held Wednesday ahead of the U.S. July 4 holiday, hoping to rein in the explosives’ illegal use in a setup similar to gun buyback programs.
 
The initiative will make it possible to anonymously hand in fireworks — whose sale and use are banned in the city — to the police in exchange for baseball tickets and other gifts.
 
The majority of California is under extreme drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, creating parched vegetation and conditions ripe for wildfires.
 
“Last year with the pandemic and the necessity of canceling public-sanctioned fireworks shows, we saw a 72% increase in calls” concerning illegal fireworks, Los Angeles Police Department chief Michel Moore said.
 
In total, more than 6,000 calls were received, and more than four tons of fireworks were seized, he said.
 
The buyback program is targeting the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles, in particular, an arid area susceptible to fires.
 
In addition to increased risk of fire and injury, fireworks launched by individuals also aggravate air pollution. According to air quality control authorities, the concentration of fine particles in the air on the night on July 4, 2020, was 70% higher than in previous years.
 
Moore warned that police would act against retailers and manufacturers who sell the products illegally.
 
Last week, the Los Angeles city attorney ordered major internet platforms, including Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, to remove posts selling fireworks within Los Angeles or face legal action.
 
The city of Pomona, east of Los Angeles, is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of people selling or storing fireworks illegally.
 
In neighboring Ontario, two people died last March when a large stock of fireworks exploded in the house they were in.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says a “grave incident” has threatened his country’s coronavirus prevention efforts — a rare admission by Pyongyang, which claims to be free of COVID-19.During a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim chastised senior officials for unspecified carelessness related to the coronavirus pandemic, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday.The officials “have caused a grave incident that poses a huge crisis to the safety of the nation and its people,” KCNA said. The report provided no details about the “grave incident” or how it posed a threat.  FILE – A station employee checks the temperature of a passenger to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, in Pyongyang, in this undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 29, 2020. (KCNA via KNS / AFP)North Korea continues to insist it has found zero cases of COVID-19, a nearly impossible claim that is widely disputed by global health experts.  It is not clear whether Wednesday’s admission of failure reflects any wider change in North Korea’s approach to the virus or if it was a pretext for other domestic plans. The KCNA report said that several senior officials were replaced during the Politburo meeting, though it did not say if the moves were related to the coronavirus incident. “The regime may … be using the incident as a way to engage in a small purge, getting rid of unwanted elements and underscoring Kim’s rule by fear,” said Mason Richey, a professor at South Korea’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. “The public statement also provides a built-in excuse for future economic downturns.” Since January 2020, North Korea has closed its borders, restricted domestic travel and even cut off nearly all trade with its economic lifeline, China.  FILE – A health worker sprays disinfectant as part of preventative efforts against COVID-19, at the Okryu restaurant in Pyongyang, Oct. 21, 2020.Kim has repeatedly warned of a “prolonged” lockdown amid what he says is a worsening global pandemic. State media have warned vaccines produced overseas are no “panacea.”COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing program, had expected to send nearly 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to North Korea by the first half of this year. But that has been delayed in part because of ongoing negotiations between COVAX and Pyongyang. An outbreak in North Korea could be extremely dangerous because many parts of the country are impoverished and lack an adequate health care system.In a report last week, the World Health Organization said North Korea claimed it had conducted over 31,000 COVID-19 tests, all of which came back negative.Last July, North Korea seemed to briefly admit that COVID-19 might have entered its borders. State media blamed a North Korean “runaway” who had fled for South Korea but returned to the North.  North Korea said the man was “suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus” but later said his COVID-19 test results were “uncertain.” 
 
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