| Letter from Africa: Why Kenyans are no longer cheering their constitution Posted: 30 Aug 2020 04:49 PM PDT  It is a time of reflection 10 years after the country was promised a rebirth, writes Waihiga Mwaura.
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| Non-stop protests keep pressure on Belarus' president to resign Posted: 30 Aug 2020 04:02 PM PDT  On display was the first major demonstration since Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he would send in security forces "if necessary."
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| Africa's week in pictures: 21-27 August 2020 Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:14 PM PDT  A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond.
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| 'Fanning the flames': Dems accuse Trump of stoking violence Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:13 PM PDT  Democrats on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of trying to inflame racial tensions and incite violence to benefit his campaign as he praised supporters who clashed with protesters in Portland, Oregon, where one man died overnight, and announced he will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid anger over the shooting of another Black man by police. Trump unleashed a flurry of tweets and retweets the day after a man identified as a supporter of a right-wing group was shot and killed in Portland, where a large caravan of Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed in the city's streets. Trump praised the caravan participants as "GREAT PATRIOTS!" and retweeted what appeared to be the dead man's name along with a message to "Rest in peace."
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| Alarm as FDA willing to issue Covid-19 vaccine before stringent safety testing Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:12 PM PDT  FDA under intensifying pressure from Trump, who wants to see a vaccine come on stream or ready to announce before the electionPublic health experts have reacted with alarm to remarks by the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that he might give the green light for a US Covid-19 vaccine before the normal clinical trial process had reached its conclusion.As the US was on the verge of 6m coronavirus cases on Sunday, Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday that he was prepared to issue emergency use authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine before the end of Phase 3 human trials that put the drug through stringent testing for safety and efficacy.He said the standard he would apply instead would be "that the benefit outweighs the risk in a public health emergency".Hahn told the newspaper that his decision would not be swayed by political pressure amid the febrile atmosphere of the upcoming US presidential election. "This is going to be a science, medicine, data decision. This is not going to be a political decision," he said.But several public health experts expressed their concern on Sunday about an apparent willingness to consider fast-tracking a vaccine outside what is considered the gold standard testing process.The FDA has come under intensifying pressure in recent weeks from Donald Trump, who wants to see a vaccine come on stream or ready to announce before the November election, and has a public-private vaccine development funding program underway called Operation Warp Speed.Trump has openly attacked the FDA, baselessly citing a supposed "deep state" within it of dragging its feet on the vaccine approval process, despite no evidence to support the latest version of a right-wing conspiracy theory that even one of its most enthusiastic, original Trump administration propagators, Steve Bannon, has dismissed.The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 was approaching 6m in the US by Sunday afternoon, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, while recorded deaths stand at a catastrophic 182,612 – almost a quarter of all global fatalities.Over the weekend California became the first state to pass 700,000 confirmed cases.Since the beginning of the pandemic in January, Trump has consistently downplayed the severity of the crisis and sidelined scientists, including those at the FDA.Hahn has been criticized for misleading the public about the efficacy of convalescent plasma treatment which takes blood plasma from Covid-19 survivors and injects it into sufferers.At a White House media launch last week Hahn, standing beside Trump, said the plasma treatment would save 35 lives out of every 100 patients when in fact studies put the figure at 3 to 5 lives. He was forced to apologise.Scientists and public health specialists were quick to issue warnings about Hahn's comments about cutting short the vaccine trials.Dr Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at New York's Columbia University, said: "We absolutely cannot tolerate or accept an emergency authorization for any Covid-19 vaccine without reliable safety and efficacy data from phase three clinical trials".Writing on Twitter, she said it would be unethical to give the go-ahead before the trials had conclusively proved that both the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.It would place "huge numbers of people at risk for massive potential harm" and would deal "a catastrophic blow to public confidence in both vaccines and the regulatory mechanisms in place", she wrote.Eric Topol of the Scripps Translational Research Institute said that it would take many months for the safety of the vaccine to be fully determined at trial, "irrespective of Stephen Hahn's subservience to Trump… Any shortcuts will imperil the ultimate rollout of the vaccine and lose the public trust for getting immunized, which is already compromised."Hahn's predecessor as head of the FDA, Scott Gottlieb, told CBS's Face the Nation that "I don't know what is meant by saying before the phase 3 trials are completed… They are going to wait for these trials to read out before they can make a decision about the efficacy of these vaccines."The news earlier this month that Russia had produced a vaccine was greeted with widespread skepticism because it had been approved and was being given to people, including one of Vladimir Putin's daughters, before phase three trials.
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| Key air monitors offline after Laura hits Louisiana gas hub Posted: 30 Aug 2020 11:13 AM PDT  Hazardous emissions from a chlorine plant fire, abruptly shuttered oil and gas refineries and still-to-be assessed plant damage are seeping into the air after Hurricane Laura, regulators say, but some key state and federal monitors to alert the public of air dangers remain offline in Louisiana. While the chlorine fire was being monitored as a potential health threat, Louisiana environmental spokesman Greg Langley says he knows of no other major industrial health risks from the storm in the state. With dozens of petroleum, petrochemical and other industrial sites, Louisiana is home to communities with some of the nation's highest cancer risks, according to Environmental Protection Agency rankings.
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| Floods in Sudan hit capital hard, over 90 dead nationwide Posted: 30 Aug 2020 10:47 AM PDT |
| French virus surge threatens nationwide back-to-school plan Posted: 30 Aug 2020 09:21 AM PDT  Not all French classrooms can safely reopen Tuesday, the country's education minister acknowledged Sunday, as a persistent rise in coronavirus infections jeopardizes the government's push to get France's 12.9 million schoolchildren back into class this week. Like many governments around the world, France and Britain want to reopen schools starting Tuesday to reduce the learning gaps between rich and poor students that were worsened by the virus lockdown this spring, and to get parents back to work and revive the ailing economy. With several thousand new infections now reported in France every day, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that some classes will remain closed when the nationwide reopening begins Tuesday, but "as few as possible."
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| Austrian law extends citizenship to descendants of Jewish refugees Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:38 AM PDT  Descendants of Jewish refugees expelled from Austria under Nazi rule can apply for Austrian citizenship under a new law that goes into effect Tuesday.About 120,000 Jews living in Austria fled persecution after Nazi Germany annexed its neighbor in 1938, with many going to the United States and the United Kingdom. Most refugees, The Observer notes, became naturalized citizens in their new countries, but post-war Austria banned dual citizenship, meaning those who left were considered foreigners in their homeland. Eventually, in 1993, former refugees were able to reclaim their Austrian citizenship, but descendants were left out, preventing the country from restoring its pre-war Jewish community, which numbered 200,000. That's unlikely to happen even now since the applicants will be dual citizens and won't necessarily reside in Austria. For instance, a major factor for eligible U.K. citizens, per the Observer, will likely be the desire to regain European Union citizenship post-Brexit through the program.Still, campaigners believe the law represents both historic justice and could potentially help sway change in Austria, where some citizens believe anti-minority sentiment is on the rise. Bini Guttman, the Austrian president of the European Union of Jewish Students, said the law can "help deliver justice" for the applicants' "successors here and for the future" if they exercise their voting rights.Hannah Lessing, secretary general of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, applauded the law, but said "it can never truly make amends for the Holocaust." Read more at The Observer.More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention Air travel in the coronavirus era Biden's latest ad puts Trump's weirdest moments and empty rallies to a Bad Bunny song
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| The woman leading the fight against Putin '24/7' after poisoning of Navalny Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:35 AM PDT  Lyubov Sobol was already among the most visible dissidents in Vladimir Putin's Russia. At 32, she has fronted a protest movement, calling thousands to the streets when she and other opposition candidates were barred from standing in Moscow city elections last year. She staged a hunger strike and a sit-in at the offices of the Moscow election commission, eventually being lifted out of the building on a sofa after she refused to stand for police officers. A laughing Ms Sobol broadcast the incident live from her phone to her vast social media following. She has been sued by one of the most powerful businessmen in the country, and her husband has survived a poisoning. In 2016 an unknown assailant jabbed a syringe into his leg and injected a psychotropic substance that left him convulsing and unconscious, an attack Ms Sobol believes was linked to her activism. Now, with opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a coma in a German hospital after another suspected poisoning, the telegenic lawyer finds herself at the helm of his anti-Kremlin organisation. Doctors at Berlin's Charite Hospital, where Mr Navalny was transferred from a Siberian clinic, have said he will probably survive the ordeal but may sustain long-term damage.
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| Coronavirus worries force election officials to get creative Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:34 AM PDT  The coronavirus has upended everyday life in ways big and small. Thousands of state and local election officials across the U.S are sharing ideas and making accommodations to try to ensure that voters and polling places are safe amid an unprecedented pandemic. Others are testing new products, installing special equipment or scouting outdoor voting locations.
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| Huge protest on Belarus leader's birthday demands he resign Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:32 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied Sunday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk to begin the fourth week of daily protests demanding that the country's authoritarian president resign. The protests began after an Aug. 9 presidential election that protesters say was rigged but that election officials say gave President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. Protesters initially tried to gather at Independence Square in Minsk, but barriers and riot police blocked it off.
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| In Israel, Kushner says 'stage is set' for Mideast progress Posted: 30 Aug 2020 06:47 AM PDT  White House adviser Jared Kushner on Sunday trumpeted the recent agreement by Israel and the United Arab Emirates to establish diplomatic relations as a historic breakthrough and said "the stage is now set" for other Arab states to follow suit, but he gave no indication that any new deals were imminent. Appearing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Kushner spoke a day before he is to join a senior Israeli delegation on the first commercial flight from Israel to the UAE.
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| Italy acts to reduce migrant overcrowding on Lampedusa Posted: 30 Aug 2020 05:52 AM PDT  Italian officials hastily chartered more ferries Sunday and put other measures into place to fight severe overcrowding at migrant centers on the tiny island of Lampedusa, where the arrival of 450 migrants on a rickety fishing boat triggered protests by islanders. Meanwhile, a fire triggered an explosion Sunday on smuggling boat off of southern Italy, tossing 21 migrants into the sea and killing at least 3 of them, the local prefect's office said. The twin developments were just the latest challenges in Italy's unending struggle to handle the thousands of migrants and refugees who cross the Mediterranean Sea each year in search of a better life.
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| UN labor body: Qatar 'dismantles' kafala employment system Posted: 30 Aug 2020 05:42 AM PDT  New labor rules in the energy-rich nation of Qatar "effectively dismantles" the country's long-criticized "kafala" employment system, a U.N. labor body said Sunday. The International Labor Organization said as of now, migrant workers can change jobs before the end of their contracts without obtaining the permission of their current employers. Qatar also has adopted a minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals ($275) for workers, which will take effect some six months after the law is published in the country's official gazette, the ILO said.
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| Lebanon leaders name favorite for PM before Macron's visit Posted: 30 Aug 2020 05:37 AM PDT  Lebanon's ambassador to Germany appeared slated to become the crisis-stricken country's next prime minister after getting the support of senior Sunni politicians on Sunday. Mustapha Adib was named by four former prime ministers on the eve of binding consultations between the president and parliamentary blocs on their choice for the post. The announcement came a day before French President Emmanuel Macron was due to arrive for a two day-visit, during which he is expected to press Lebanese officials to formulate a new political pact to lift the country out of its multiple crises, political stalemates, and entrenched corruption and of mismanagement.
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| Voting groups scramble to reach college students in pandemic Posted: 30 Aug 2020 04:48 AM PDT  Chase Gaines wishes he could get more young people in North Carolina to answer their front doors and take his GOP flyer. The two college students are on opposite ends of the political universe but facing the same challenge: reaching young voters when campuses are empty and students are scattered across the country. "The pandemic really did hit us significantly," said Hart, an unpaid student volunteer at Morehouse College who was working in Georgia on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, but is now back at his parents' home in Laurel, Maryland.
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| Lukashenko gets birthday call from Putin as Belarus protests rumble Posted: 30 Aug 2020 04:39 AM PDT |
| Lebanon arrests 3 Egyptian suspects in Cairo gang rape case Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:21 AM PDT  Lebanese security forces have arrested three Egyptian men wanted in their home country on charges of involvement in an alleged gang rape at a luxury Cairo hotel six years ago. The arrest, reported late Saturday, followed an Interpol notice for the suspects at the request of Egypt. A Lebanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Sunday that "legal and administrative procedures" were underway to deport the three men, who are in their early 30s.
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| Protester killed in Portland as mayor, Trump trade blame Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:30 AM PDT  The mayor of Portland, Oregon, and President Donald Trump engaged in a real-time argument Sunday as the president sent a flurry of critical tweets about Ted Wheeler as the mayor was holding a press conference about the fatal shooting of a right-wing supporter in his city the night before. After Trump called Wheeler, a Democrat, a "fool" and blamed him for allowing violence to proliferate in the liberal city, the visibly angry mayor lashed out at the president, addressing him in the first person through the TV cameras. Donald Trump and Ted Wheeler working together to help move this country forward.
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| Afghanistan people want real peace and stability states AHMADZAI Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:13 AM PDT  Meladul Haq Ahmadzai Meladul Haq Ahmadzai, 2020.OTTAWA, Aug. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Afghanistan war which has been ongoing for almost two decades has a final chance to come to a peaceful end. The truth is that this war has not been won by any group; internal nor foreign. In February 2020, the USA and Taliban formally signed an agreement to put an end to the conflict in Afghanistan between the two forces. This peace-war analysis is written by Meladul Haq Ahmadzai, CEO of Taleam Systems based in Canada.The credit should now go to the people who sacrificed their lives in the war. They served to protect humanity.Millions of widows are now counting on the non-profit organizations in Afghanistan to help them because the government is unable. Real peace and stability will pave the way for much needed support to be delivered to these vulnerable people.While the discussion today is about bringing peace, but simultaneously there needs to be debates on how to best help the people. The people want education, healthcare and jobs.Yes, peace will come to Afghanistan as the agreement between Taliban forces and American government is now signed, but still the foreign military has yet to leave the soil which is doubting the peace efforts undertaken by Afghan government.Today, Afghanistan is working for friendly relations with Pakistan, India and Iran, but tensions with Iran and Pakistan have reached climax for Afghanistan since there has been increased killings on the border line and drowning of migrants.To conclude, Afghanistan people want real peace and stability. How and when that can happen is when foreign forces fully withdraw from Afghan soil.US President Donald Trump said that all American forces will withdraw from Afghanistan by early next year. This is the longest combat mission for the American people.Media contact:Meladul Haq Ahmadzai CEO, Taleam Systems Phone: 613-521-9229
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| Afghan president names council for peace deal with Taliban Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:41 AM PDT  Afghanistan's president has appointed a council for national reconciliation, which will have final say on whether the government will sign a peace deal with the Taliban after what are expected to be protracted and uncertain negotiations with the insurgents. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree late Saturday establishing the 46-member council, led by his former rival in last year's presidential election, Abdullah Abdullah, who is now in the government.
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| School's back. But for some countries, so is the coronavirus. Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:30 AM PDT  "Children should not become the losers of the pandemic," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
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| School's back. But for some countries, so is the coronavirus. Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:30 AM PDT  While the United Nations warned Wednesday of a "global education emergency" if kids could not return to school after months of lockdowns, teachers are concerned about safety and a lack of contingency planning as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. "We do have the impression that German politicians are under pressure to reopen schools without knowing how to best do it," Heinz-Peter Meidinger, the head of the German Teachers' Association, told NBC News earlier this month. At least 41 schools in the capital, Berlin, have reported coronavirus cases among staff and students since they reopened earlier this month.
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| India records world's biggest single-day jump in virus cases Posted: 30 Aug 2020 12:38 AM PDT  India registered 78,761 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the biggest single-day spike in the world since the pandemic began, just as the government began easing restrictions to help the battered economy. The surge raised India's tally to over 3.5 million, and came as the government announced the reopening of the subway in New Delhi, the capital. A country of 1.4 billion people, India now has the fastest-growing daily coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, reporting more than 75,000 new cases for four straight days.
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| Israel responds to explosive balloons with tank fire on Gaza Posted: 30 Aug 2020 12:30 AM PDT  The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in Gaza early on Sunday in response to continued launches of explosives-laden balloons out of the Hamas-run territory. Hamas-linked groups have launched a wave of incendiary balloons into Israel in recent weeks, torching wide swaths of farmland. Israel has responded with airstrikes and other attacks.
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| Lebanon’s powerhouse Hezbollah hit by backlash after blast Posted: 30 Aug 2020 12:05 AM PDT  Sara Jaafar joined a group of political activists gathered on Aug. 4 to discuss strategies to challenge Lebanon's entrenched rulers when their building was shaken and the windows blasted out by the giant explosion that rocked Beirut. No direct connection to Hezbollah has emerged in the explosion that wreaked destruction across the city and killed at least 190 people. Theories abound about what triggered the explosion, including even a possible Israeli strike against Hezbollah.
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| Montenegro opposition claims election victory in tight vote Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:03 PM PDT  Montenegro's pro-Serb and Russian opposition groups claimed victory against the ruling pro-Western party in a tense parliamentary election that could see a change in the course of the small Balkan state. The election was marked by by a dispute over a law on religious rights that is staunchly opposed by the influential Serbian Orthodox Church. The issue has fueled divisions in the nation of 620,000 people that has defied its traditional Slavic allies Serbia and Russia to become independent in 2006 and join NATO in 2017.
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| Home smashed: For one family, Hurricane Laura the 3rd strike Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:02 PM PDT  In 2005, Rita pushed a foot of floodwaters into his white, wooden home in Hackberry, Louisiana, a tiny Cameron Parish community 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gulf of Mexico. Laura outstripped them both. A retired welder who worked at many of the refineries that dot the Louisiana coast, the 62-year-old Beard climbed through the debris, laboring with two artificial knees.
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| How a German and a Syrian experienced the 2015 refugee crisis Posted: 29 Aug 2020 09:21 PM PDT  German Gracia Schuette and Syrian Aeham Ahmad both had their lives changed forever by Angela Merkel's decision in 2015 to leave Germany's doors open to hundreds of thousands of refugees.
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| 1 killed as Trump supporters, protesters clash in Portland Posted: 29 Aug 2020 06:46 PM PDT  One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, as a large caravan of President Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed in the streets, police said. It wasn't clear if the shooting was linked to fights that broke out as a caravan of about 600 vehicles was confronted by protesters in the city's downtown. The freelancer said the man was wearing a hat bearing the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group whose members have frequently clashed with protesters in Portland in the past.
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| China restaurant collapses during birthday party, killing 29 Posted: 29 Aug 2020 06:43 PM PDT  Rescue efforts ended at a two-story restaurant in a northern Chinese village that collapsed during a local resident's 80th birthday celebration, leaving 29 people dead, authorities said Sunday. The Ministry of Emergency Management said another 28 people were injured, seven of them seriously, when the building suddenly crumbled on Saturday. Hundreds of rescue workers using sniffer dogs, cranes and high-tech sensors had searched the rubble, lifting slabs of concrete in hopes of freeing survivors.
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| California moves to consider reparations for slavery Posted: 29 Aug 2020 05:27 PM PDT  California lawmakers are setting up a task force to study and make recommendations for reparations to African Americans, particularly the descendants of slaves, as the nation struggles again with civil rights and unrest following the latest shooting of a Black man by police. The state Senate supported creating the nine-member commission on a bipartisan 33-3 vote Saturday. "Let's be clear: Chattel slavery, both in California and across our nation, birthed a legacy of racial harm and inequity that continues to impact the conditions of Black life in California," said Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles.
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