Thursday, June 30, 2022

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'We cannot pause our lives': Ukrainians begin rebuilding

Posted: 29 Jun 2022 11:56 PM PDT

ON THE outskirts of a Ukrainian village stand the remnants of a small school that was partially destroyed in the early weeks of the Russian invasion.Surrounded by tall pine trees, the school's broken windows offer glimpses of abandoned classrooms that are unlikely to see students again anytime soon. It is just one of many buildings in Yahidne that were shattered by the war.But this village and others are gradually returning to life a few months after Russian troops retreated from the northern Chernihiv region. Now people are repairing homes, and the sound of construction tools fills the air. Volunteers from all over Ukraine, and from other countries, are coming to help because there is so much to do before another winter approaches.Among the workers are a copywriter and a cameraman who have been repairing the roof of the apartment block in front of the school for several days under a scorching sun.Denys Ovcharenko, 31, and Denys Huschyk, 43, came from the capital, Kyiv. They joined a volunteer building organization called Dobrobat, a name that combines "dobro," or kindness, with "bat" for battalion.The men and 22 other volunteers help their compatriots return to their homes as soon as possible."While the guys are protecting us, we work here," Huschyk said, referring to troops at the front.No one in the village yet plans to rebuild the school, which was used by the Russians as a base. Villagers prefer not to mention the place at all.Most of Yahidne's residents — almost 400 people — spent a month in the school's basement, where they were held around the clock as human shields to protect against an attack by the Ukrainian army.Only occasionally did the Russian troops allow villagers to climb upstairs and enter the yard. But that was not enough. Ten people died in the dark, crowded basement. Survivors blame the lack of fresh air.The Russians left the village at the end of March.The Dobrobat group plans to repair the roofs of 21 houses in the coming weeks. The volunteers include teachers, athletes and programmers. About 80% of them have no experience in construction.Yahidne is just one of the villages in northern Ukraine that suffered from Russia's aggression. And Dobrobat is just one of the groups responding, sometimes drawing volunteers from beyond Ukraine.A father and son from the Czech Republic decided to spend their annual family trip in Ukraine this year. Michal and Daniel Kahle see each other for only a few weeks each summer, as the son studies in the United States."We wanted to do something meaningful instead of just being tourists," said Daniel, 21.That's how they came to the town of Makariv in the Kyiv region. Many buildings there were destroyed or damaged in the first weeks of the war.Father and son joined the youth volunteer movement Building Ukraine Together, which since 2014 has helped restore damaged buildings in eastern Ukraine. For several days, together with young people from different parts of Ukraine, they worked to rebuild the Makariv fire department, which was hit by an artillery shell on March 12."It's a long game. We cannot pause our lives, sit at home and wait for the war to end," said Tetyana Symkovych, the volunteer group's coordinator in Makariv.Many Ukrainians volunteer because they want to be helpful. But that is not the only reason Yulia Kapustienko comes to the fire department every morning to putty the walls. At the end of April, the young woman left Mariupol after spending two months in the besieged port city."I saw dead bodies and burned houses. Still, when I see a normal house, I automatically imagine what will happen to it after the rocket hits," she said. "It is impossible to erase this from your mind. But at the same time, I try not to get stuck in the past, so it is important for me to do something, to take responsibility."The 23-year-old is originally from Horlivka in the eastern Donetsk region. Her first experience of armed occupation was in 2014. After that, she cried for three years, unable to endure the loss of her hometown.This time, she chose a different strategy."I know now that you need to do something," Kapustienko said. "I don't care what to rebuild. The main thing is for it to be in Ukraine." (AP)

Why captions are suddenly everywhere and how they got there

Posted: 29 Jun 2022 01:13 AM PDT

PEOPLE with hearing loss have a new ally in their efforts to navigate the world: Captions that aren't limited to their television screens and streaming services.The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted daily life for people everywhere, but many of those with hearing loss took the resulting isolation especially hard. "When everyone wears a mask they are completely unintelligible to me," said Pat Olken of Sharon, Massachusetts, whose hearing aids were insufficient. (A new cochlear implant has helped her a lot.)So when her grandson's bar mitzvah was streamed on Zoom early in the pandemic, well before the service offered captions, Olken turned to Otter, an app created to transcribe business meetings. Reading along with the ceremony's speakers made the app "a tremendous resource," she said.People with hearing loss, a group estimated at roughly 40 million U.S. adults, have long adopted technologies to help them make their way in the hearing world, from Victorian-era ear trumpets to modern digital hearing aids and cochlear implants.But today's hearing aids can cost upward of $5,000, often aren't covered by insurance and don't work for everyone. The devices also don't snap audible sound into focus the way glasses immediately correct vision. Instead, hearing aids and cochlear implants require the brain to interpret sound in a new way."The solutions out there are clearly not a one-size-fits-all model and do not meet the needs of a lot of people based on cost, access, a lot of different things," said Frank Lin, director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. That's not just a communication problem; researchers have found correlations between untreated hearing loss and higher risks of dementia.Cheaper over-the-counter hearing devices are on the way. But for now, only about 20% of those who could benefit from hearing aids use one.Captions, by contrast, are usually a lot easier to access. They've long been available on modern television sets and are cropping up more frequently in videoconferencing apps like Zoom, streaming services like Netflix, social media video on TikTok and YouTube, movie theaters and live arts venues.In recent years, smartphone apps like Otter; Google's Live Transcribe; Ava; InnoCaption, for phone calls; and GalaPro, for live theater performances, have emerged. Some are aimed at people with hearing loss and use human reviewers to make sure captions are accurate.Others, like Otter and Live Transcribe, instead rely on what's called automatic speech recognition, which uses artificial intelligence to learn and capture speech. ASR has issues with accuracy and lags in transcribing the spoken word; built-in biases can also make transcriptions less accurate for the voices of women, people of color and deaf people, said Christian Volger, a professor at Gallaudet University who specializes in accessible technology.Jargon and slang can also be a stumbling block. But users and experts say that ASR has improved a lot.While welcome, none of these solutions are perfect. Toni Iacolucci of New York says her book club could be draining even when she was using Otter to transcribe the conversation. The captions weren't always accurate and didn't identify individual speakers, which could make it hard to keep up, she said."It worked a little bit," said Iacolucci, who lost her hearing nearly two decades ago. After coming home, she would be so tired from trying to follow the conversation that she had to lie down. "It just takes so much energy." She got a cochlear implant a year ago that has significantly improved her ability to hear, to the point where she can now have one-on-one conversations without captions. They still help in group discussions, she said.Otter said in a statement that it welcomes feedback from the deaf and hard of hearing community and noted that it now provides a paid software assistant that can join virtual meetings and transcribe them automatically.Transcription lag can present other problems -- among them, a worry that conversation partners might grow impatient with delays. "Sometimes you say, 'I'm sorry, I just need to look at my captions in order to hear,'" said Richard Einhorn, a musician and composer in New York. "That doesn't mean I'm not aware sometimes it's a hassle for other people."Other issues crop up. When Chelle Wyatt of Salt Lake City went to her doctor's office, the Wi-Fi there wasn't strong enough for the transcription app to work. "It was gestures and writing things down and making sure I got a written report afterward so I knew what was said," she said.Movie theaters provide devices that amplify sound, as well as glasses and individual screens that show captions to go with the movie. But those aren't always comfortable and sometimes aren't well-maintained or just don't work. Many people with hearing loss want more films to run captions on the big screen, just like you'd have in the comfort of your own home.A new law that took effect In New York City on May 15 requires movie theaters to offer captions on the screen for up to four showtimes per movie each week, including during the most popular hours to go to the movies — Friday nights and weekends. Hawaii passed a state law in 2015 that required two screenings a week of each movie with captions on the screen. AMC, the big movie chain, also says it screens some movies with captions at about a third of its U.S. theaters.Captions are more available now for live performances, too. Several Broadway theaters promote a smartphone app that captions live performances; there are also handheld individual devices that show captions. Theaters also have a few performances with "open captions" everyone can see.During the pandemic, the shift to online meetings and school meant videoconferencing services became a tool of survival — but captions came only after a big push. Zoom added live transcription to its free service only in October 2021, but the meeting's host has to enable them. Google Meet was quicker to make captions available to everyone for free in May 2020; Microsoft Teams, a workplace messaging app, did so that June."We need captioning everywhere and we need people to be more sensitive," Olken said. "The more I advocate the more other people benefit." (AP)

US officials announce more steps against monkeypox outbreak

Posted: 28 Jun 2022 05:12 PM PDT

NEW YORK — Reacting to a surprising and growing monkeypox outbreak, U.S. health officials on Tuesday expanded the group of people recommended to get vaccinated against the monkeypox virus.They also said they are providing more monkeypox vaccine, working to expand testing, and taking other steps to try to get ahead of the outbreak."We will continue to take aggressive action against this virus," said Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator, who has also been playing a role in how the government deals with monkeypox.The administration said it was expanding the pool of people who are advised to get vaccinated to include those who may realize on their own that they could have been infected. That includes men who who have recently had sex with men at parties or in other gatherings in cities where monkeypox cases have been identified.Most monkeypox patients experience only fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.The disease is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals. It does not usually spread easily among people.Last month, cases began emerging in Europe and the United States. Many — but not all — of those who contracted the virus had traveled internationally. Most were men who have sex with men, but health officials stress that anyone can get monkeypox.Case counts have continued to grow. As of Tuesday, the U.S. had identified 306 cases in 27 states and the District of Columbia. More than 4,700 cases have been found in more than 40 other countries outside the areas of Africa where the virus is endemic.There have been no U.S. deaths and officials say the risk to the American public is low. But they are taking steps to assure people that medical measures are in place to deal with the growing problem.One of the steps was to expand who is recommended to get vaccinated. Vaccines customarily are given to build immunity in people before they are ever infected. But if given within days or even a few weeks of first becoming infected, some vaccines can reduce severity of symptoms.A two-dose vaccine, Jynneos, is approved for monkeypox in the U.S. The government has many more doses of an older smallpox vaccine — ACAM2000 — that they say could also be used, but that vaccine is considered to have a greater risk of side effects and is not recommended for people who have HIV. So it's the Jynneos vaccine that officials have been trying to use as a primary weapon against the monkeypox outbreak.So far, the government has deployed over 9,000 doses of vaccine. U.S. officials on Tuesday said said they are increasing the amount of Jynneos vaccine they are making available, allocating 56,000 doses immediately and about 240,000 more over the coming weeks. They promised more than 1 million more over the coming months.Another change: Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that vaccines be given after exposure to people whom health officials identify as close personal contacts of cases. But on Tuesday, CDC officials say they are expanding the recommendation to people who were never identified but may realize on their own that they may have been infected.That can include men who have sex with men who have recently had multiple sex partners in a venue where there was known to be monkeypox or in an area where monkeypox is spreading."It's almost like we're expanding the definition of who a contact might be," said the CDC's Jennifer McQuiston. If people have been to a party or other place where monkeypox has been known to spread "we recommend they come in for a vaccine," she said.The CDC's expansion follows similar steps taken in New York City and the District of Columbia.The District of Columbia has identified 19 cases, but case-tracking investigations revealed that some of the infected men had been in gatherings where they were hugging, kissing or in other forms of close intimate contact with people they didn't know, said Anil Mangla of the D.C. health department.It was clear that "we were missing something here," and needed to start offering services to others, said Mangla, an epidemiologist.Last Thursday, New York City's health department — armed with 1,000 of doses of Jynneos from the federal government — announced it was opening a temporary clinic to offer the vaccine to all gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men who have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the previous two weeks.But all the appointments quickly filled up that day, and the last round of appointments was Monday. "Until we receive more supply we are unable to release additional vaccination appointments," said Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for the city's health department, in an email.On Monday, the District of Columbia's health department took a similar step. The department started taking appointments at 1 p.m. Monday but had to stop after 20 minutes, Mangla said.The department only had 200 doses of Jynneos, and it was clear at the point that it the department didn't have the vaccine supply or staffing to continue to sign up new people, he said. (AP)

Oil price cap could strike Russia’s war chest — if enforced

Posted: 28 Jun 2022 03:33 AM PDT

LEADERS of the world's biggest developed economies are weighing a cap on the price of Russian oil meant to strike at the main pillar of the Kremlin's finances following its invasion of Ukraine—and to limit the havoc that high energy prices are wreaking worldwide.Details haven't been agreed at the Group of Seven summit in Elmau, Germany, but the basic idea would be to tie the price cap to the services that make trading oil possible. For instance, insurers would be barred from dealing with shipments that are above the cap, wherever it winds up being set.Because such service providers are largely based in the European Union and United Kingdom, Russia would be expected to face difficulty finding large-scale workarounds.Limiting the price would reduce the Kremlin's income from oil—at the start of the war, it was about $450 million per day from Europe alone. The cap also would limit the impact of higher oil prices on inflation in consuming countries, with the cost of gasoline and diesel squeezing consumers and businesses.But much would depend on whether Asian countries like India would go along with the price cap. A key question is enforcement, and European officials are also cautious about side effects."We want to go more into the details. ... We want to make sure that the goal is to target Russia and not to make our life more difficult," said Charles Michel, head of the European Union's 27-member council of governments. "We need to have a clear common understanding about what are the direct effects and what could be the collateral consequences."The EU has agreed to phase out the 90 percent of Russian oil that comes by ship by the end of the year but is chagrined that it is still paying into the Kremlin's war chest. EU countries, however, need time to line up new sources of oil and are under pressure from the high price of crude.Governments are facing calls for even tougher action, such as an immediate end to Russian oil and natural gas shipments, a move that many economists say would trigger a recession in Europe.Already, fears that supply from Russia would be lost to the global market has helped send global oil prices sharply higher, along with recovering demand from the Covid-19 pandemic.The OPEC+ alliance of oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, has increased output but too slowly to lower prices. (AP)

Russian missile strike hits crowded shopping mall in Ukraine

Posted: 28 Jun 2022 01:17 AM PDT

RESCUERS searched through charred rubble of a shopping mall Tuesday looking for more victims of a Russian missile strike that killed at least 18 and wounded scores in what Ukraine's president called "one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history."President Volodymyr Zelensky said many of the more than 1,000 afternoon shoppers and workers inside the mall in the city of Kremenchuk managed to escape. Giant plumes of black smoke, dust and orange flames billowed from the wreckage as emergency crews combed through broken metal and concrete for victims. Drones whirred above, clouds of dark smoke still emanating from the ruins several hours after the fire was extinguished.Casualty figures rose as rescuers sifted through the smoldering rubble. The regional governor, Dmytro Lunin, said at least 18 people were killed and 59 others sought medical assistance, of whom 25 were hospitalized. The region declared a day of mourning Tuesday for the victims of the attack."We are working to dismantle the construction so that it is possible to get machinery in there since the metal elements are very heavy and big, and disassembling them by hand is impossible," said Volodymyr Hychkan, an emergency services official.At Ukraine's request, the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting in New York on Tuesday to discuss the attack.In the first Russian government comment on the missile strike, the country's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, alleged multiple inconsistencies that he didn't specify, claiming on Twitter that the incident was a provocation by Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied it targets civilian infrastructure, even though Russian attacks have hit other shopping malls, theaters, hospitals, kindergartens and apartment buildings in the four-month war.On Tuesday, Russian forces struck the Black Sea city of Ochakiv in the Mykolaiv region, damaging apartment buildings and killing two, including a 6-year-old child. A further six people, four of them children, were wounded. One of them, a 3-month-old baby, is in a coma, according to local officials.The missile strike on Kremenchuk occurred as Western leaders pledged continued support for Ukraine and the world's major economies prepared new sanctions against Russia, including a price cap on oil and higher tariffs on goods. Meanwhile, the U.S. appeared ready to respond to Zelenskyy's call for more air defense systems, and NATO planned to increase the size of its rapid-reaction forces nearly eightfold — to 300,000 troops.Zelenskyy said the mall presented "no threat to the Russian army" and had "no strategic value." He accused Russia of sabotaging "people's attempts to live a normal life, which make the occupiers so angry."In his nightly address, he said it appeared Russian forces had intentionally targeted the shopping center and added, "Today's Russian strike at a shopping mall in Kremenchuk is one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history." He said Russia "has become the largest terrorist organization in the world."Russia has increasingly used long-range bombers in the war. Ukrainian officials said Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flying over Russia's western Kursk region fired the missiles, one of which hit the shopping center and another that struck a sports arena in Kremenchuk.The Russian strike echoed earlier attacks that caused large numbers of civilian casualties — such as one in March on a Mariupol theater where many civilians had holed up, killing an estimated 600, and another in April on a train station in eastern Kramatorsk that killed at least 59 people."Russia continues to take out its impotence on ordinary civilians. It is useless to hope for decency and humanity on its part," Zelenskyy said.The United Nations called the strike "deplorable," stressing that civilian infrastructure "should never ever be targeted," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Group of Seven leaders condemned the attack in a statement late Monday saying "indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime. Russian President Putin and those responsible will be held to account."The attack coincided with Russia's all-out assault on the last Ukrainian stronghold in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk province, "pouring fire" on the city of Lysychansk from the ground and air, according to the local governor. At least eight people were killed and more than 20 wounded in Lysychansk when Russian rockets hit an area where a crowd gathered to obtain water from a tank, Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said.The barrage was part of Russian forces' intensified offensive aimed at wresting the eastern Donbas region from Ukraine. Over the weekend, the Russian military and their local separatist allies forced Ukrainian government troops out of Lysychansk's neighboring city, Sievierodonetsk.To the west of Lysychansk on Monday, the mayor of the city of Sloviansk — potentially the next major battleground — said Russian forces fired cluster munitions, including one that hit a residential neighborhood. Authorities said the number of victims had yet to be confirmed. The Associated Press saw one fatality: A man's body lay hunched over a car door frame, his blood pooling onto the ground from chest and head wounds. The blast blew out most windows in the surrounding apartment blocks and the cars parked below, littering the ground with broken glass."Everything is now destroyed," said resident Valentina Vitkovska, in tears as she spoke about the blast. "We are the only people left living in this part of the building. There is no power. I can't even call to tell others what had happened to us."The Russian forces also pummeled other Ukrainian cities, killing at least five people and wounding 15 others in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city and striking the key southern Black Sea port of Odesa where a missile attack destroyed residential buildings and wounded six people, including a child, according to Ukrainian authorities.In Lysychansk, at least five high-rise buildings and the last road bridge were damaged over the past day, Haidai said. A crucial highway linking the city to government-held territory to the south was rendered impassable. (AP)

46 dead after trailer carrying migrants found in San Antonio

Posted: 27 Jun 2022 09:08 PM PDT

FORTY-SIX people were found dead in and near a tractor-trailer and 16 others were taken to hospitals in a presumed migrant smuggling attempt into the United States, officials in San Antonio said.It's among the deadliest tragedies to have claimed thousands of lives of people attempting to cross the U.S. border from Mexico in recent decades. Ten migrants died in 2017 after being trapped inside a truck that was parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.South Texas has long been the busiest area for illegal border crossings. Migrants ride in vehicles though Border Patrol checkpoints to San Antonio, the closest major city, from which point they disperse across the United States.A city worker at the scene on a remote back road in southwest San Antonio was alerted to the situation by a cry for help shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, Police Chief William McManus said. Officers arrived to find a body on the ground outside the trailer and a partially opened gate to the trailer, he said.Hours later, body bags lay spread on the ground near the trailer as a grim symbol of the calamity. Bodies still remained inside.Of the 16 taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses, 12 were adults and four were children, said Fire Chief Charles Hood. The patients were hot to the touch and dehydrated, and no water was found in the trailer, he said."They were suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion," Hood said. "It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer, but there was no visible working AC unit on that rig."San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the 46 who died had "families who were likely trying to find a better life.""This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy," Nirenberg said.Those in the trailer were part of a presumed migrant smuggling attempt into the United States, and the investigation was being led by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, McManus said.Three people were taken into custody, but it was unclear if they were absolutely connected with human trafficking, McManus said.Big rigs emerged as a popular smuggling method in the early 1990s amid a surge in U.S. border enforcement in San Diego and El Paso, Texas, which were then the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.Before that, people paid small fees to mom-and-pop operators to get them across a largely unguarded border. As crossing became exponentially more difficult after the 2001 terror attacks in the U.S., migrants were led through more perilous terrain and paid thousands of dollars more.Heat poses a serious danger, particularly when temperatures can rise severely inside vehicles. Weather in the San Antonio area was mostly cloudy Monday, but temperatures approached 100 degrees.Some advocates drew a link to the Biden administration's border policies. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, wrote that he had been dreading such a tragedy for months."With the border shut as tightly as it is today for migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, people have been pushed into more and more dangerous routes. Truck smuggling is a way up," he wrote on Twitter.Stephen Miller, a chief architect of former President Donald Trump's immigration policies, said, "Human smugglers and traffickers are wicked and evil" and that the administration's approach to border security rewards their actions.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican running for reelection, was blunt in a tweet about the Democratic president: "These deaths are on Biden. They are a result of his deadly open border policies."Migrants — largely from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — have been expelled more than 2 million times under a pandemic-era rule in effect since March 2020 that denies them a chance to seek asylum but encourages repeat attempts because there are no legal consequences for getting caught. People from other countries, notably Cuba, Nicaragua and Colombia, are subject to Title 42 authority less frequently due to higher costs of sending them home, strained diplomatic relations and other considerations.U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 557 deaths on the southwest border in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, more than double the 247 deaths reported in the previous year and the highest since it began keeping track in 1998. Most are related to heat exposure.CBP has not published a death tally for this year but said that the Border Patrol performed 14,278 "search-and-rescue missions" in a seven-month period through May, exceeding the 12,833 missions performed during the previous 12-month period and up from 5,071 the year before. (AP)

Int’l court prosecutor seeks to reactivate PH probe

Posted: 27 Jun 2022 06:34 AM PDT

BRUSSELS - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Friday, June 24, he has asked judges for authorization to resume his investigation "as quickly as possible" into the so-called war on drugs in the Philippines.Judges last September authorized Prosecutor Karim Khan to investigate alleged crimes against humanity between Nov. 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019, linked to the deadly crackdown.However, the probe was suspended last November after the Philippines said in a letter to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan that it is already investigating the crimes and so the international court doesn't have jurisdiction."The court may only exercise jurisdiction where national legal systems fail to do so, which is certainly not the case in the Philippines," the letter said, citing domestic investigations.Deferral not warrantedHowever, Khan has now sought to resume his probe, saying in a statement that "I have concluded that the deferral requested by the Philippines is not warranted, and that the investigation should resume as quickly as possible." More than 6,000 mostly poor drug suspects have been killed, according to government pronouncements, but human rights groups say the death toll is considerably higher and should include many unsolved killings by motorcycle-riding gunmen who may have been deployed by police.Outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has defended the crackdown as "lawfully directed against drug lords and pushers who have for many years destroyed the present generation, especially the youth." Duterte has denied condoning extrajudicial killings of drug suspects although he has openly threatened suspects with death and has ordered police to shoot suspects who dangerously resist arrest.The ICC is a court of last resort for cases that countries are unwilling or unable to prosecute. Under the court's rules, a country can request deferral of an investigation if it is already investigating the crimes. (AP)

UK’s crown prince denies any wrongdoing over bags-of-cash claim

Posted: 27 Jun 2022 03:35 AM PDT

LONDON — Prince Charles' office has denied there was any wrongdoing in the heir to the British throne accepting bags full of cash as charity donations from a Qatari politician.The Sunday Times said the prince was given a total of 3 million euros ($3.2 million) by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar.It said the money was handed over to Charles at private meetings between 2011 and 2015 — on one occasion in a suitcase, and on another in shopping bags from London's Fortnum & Mason department store.The newspaper said the money was deposited into the accounts of the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund. It did not allege that anything illegal was done.Charles' office, Clarence House, said in a statement that the donations "were passed immediately to one of the prince's charities who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed." The prince's charitable fund told the newspaper it had verified "that the donor was a legitimate and verified counterparty ... and our auditors signed off on the donation after a specific enquiry during the audit.There was no failure of governance." Qatar's government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (AP)

21 dead in South African nightclub; cause not yet known

Posted: 27 Jun 2022 03:27 AM PDT

JOHANNESBURG — South African police were investigating the deaths of at least 21 people at a nightclub in the coastal town of East London early Sunday and authorities said most of the victims were minors as young as 13 years old.It is unclear what led to the deaths of the young people, who were reportedly attending a party to celebrate the end of winter school exams.Local newspaper Daily Dispatch reported that bodies were strewn across tables and chairs without any visible signs of injuries."At this point we cannot confirm the cause of death," said health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana. "We are going to conduct autopsies as soon as possible to establish the probable cause of death." Police minister Bheki Cele said the victims' ages ranged from 13 to 17, raising questions about why the underaged teenagers were being served alcohol.President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed condolences to the families of those who died."The President is, however, concerned about the reported circumstances under which such young people were gathered at a venue which, on the face of it, should be off limits to persons under the age of 18," Ramaphosa said in a statement.The death toll from the incident rose to 21.The owner of the club, Siyakhangela Ndevu, told local media he was called to the scene early Sunday morning."I am still uncertain about what really happened, but when I was called in the morning I was told the place was too full and that some people were trying to force their way into the tavern," he said. "However, we will hear what the police say about the cause of death." (AP)

Death toll of children in Afghanistan quake rises to 155

Posted: 27 Jun 2022 01:04 AM PDT

The death toll of children in last week's devastating earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan has risen to at least 155, the United Nations said as the scope of the deadliest quake to hit the impoverished country in two decades comes into focus.The U.N.'s humanitarian coordination organization, OCHA, said on Sunday that another 250 children were injured in the magnitude 6 temblor that struck the mountainous villages in the Paktika and Khost provinces near the country's border with Pakistan, flattening homes and triggering landslides. Most of the children died in Paktika's hard-hit Gayan district, which remains a scene of life in ruins, days after the quake.Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have put the total death toll from the quake at 1,150, with hundreds more injured, while the U.N. has offered a slightly lower estimate of 770, although the world body has warned the figure could still rise.The quake has also left an estimated 65 children orphaned or unaccompanied, the U.N. humanitarian office added.The disaster — the latest to convulse Afghanistan after decades of war, hunger, poverty and an economic crash — has become a test of the Taliban's capacity to govern and the international community's willingness to help.When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan as the United States and its NATO allies were withdrawing their forces last August, foreign aid stopped practically overnight. World governments piled on sanctions, halted bank transfers and froze billions more in Afghanistan's currency reserves, refusing to recognize the Taliban government and demanding they allow a more inclusive rule and respect human rights.The former insurgents have resisted the pressure, imposing restrictions on the freedoms of women and girls that recall their first time in power in the late 1990s, triggering Western backlash.Aware of their limitations, the Taliban have appealed for foreign aid. The U.N. and an array of overstretched aid agencies in the country that have tried to keep Afghanistan from the brink of starvation have swung into action. Despite funding and access constraints, convoys of aid have trickled into the remote provinces.The U.N. children's agency said on Monday it was working to reunite children that had been separated from their families in the chaos of the quake. It also has set up clinics to offer mental health and psychological support to children in Gayan traumatized by the disaster. (AP)

Tokyo warned of power crunch as Japan endures heat wave

Posted: 27 Jun 2022 12:21 AM PDT

THE Japanese government warned of possible power shortages Monday, June 27, 2022 in the Tokyo region, asking people to conserve energy as the country endures an unusually intense heat wave.Weather officials have announced the earliest end to the annual summer rainy season since the Japan Meteorological Agency began keeping records in 1951. The rains usually temper summer heat, often well into July.The economy and industry ministry urged people living in the region serviced by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. to conserve power in the afternoon, especially when demand peaks at 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.Kaname Ogawa, director of electricity supply policy at the ministry, said electicity demand Monday was bigger than expected because the temperature is higher than Sunday's forecast."We are struck by unusual heat for the season," Ogawa said. "Please cooperate and save as much power as possible."Ogawa, however, said people should use air conditioning appropriately and take precautions against heat stroke.TEPCO is expecting contributions from the Tohoku Electric Power Co., which serves Japan's northern prefectures, to help ease the crunch.The Japanese archipelago has seen record high temperatures for June in some areas. In Isezaki, north of Tokyo, the temperature rose to 40.2 Centigrade (104.4 Fahrenheit) on Saturday, the highest ever for June. Temperature in downtown Tokyo rose to nearly 35C (95F) on Monday , higher than the forecast Sunday of 34C (93F).With humidity at about 44 percent, temperatures felt still warmer.With hot air coming from a powerful high atmospheric pressure system stalled over the Pacific Ocean, high temperatures were expected until early July, the meteorological agency said.More than 250 people were taken to hospitals in Tokyo over the weekend for treatment of heat stroke, according to the Mainichi newspaper.The power supply is relatively tight after Japan idled most of its nuclear reactors after 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima. It also has been closing down old coal plants to meet promises for reducing carbon emissions.Japan also faces a potential shortage of fossil fuel imports amid sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. (AP)

Tokyo warned of power crunch as Japan endures heat wave

Posted: 27 Jun 2022 12:20 AM PDT

TOKYO — The Japanese government warned of possible power shortages Monday in the Tokyo region, asking people to conserve energy as the country endures an unusually intense heat wave.Weather officials have announced the earliest end to the annual summer rainy season since the Japan Meteorological Agency began keeping records in 1951. The rains usually temper summer heat, often well into July.The economy and industry ministry urged people living in the region serviced by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. to conserve power in the afternoon, especially when demand peaks at 4-5 p.m.Kaname Ogawa, director of electricity supply policy at the ministry, said electicity demand Monday was bigger than expected because the temperature is higher than Sunday's forecast."We are struck by unusual heat for the season," Ogawa said. "Please cooperate and save as much power as possible."Ogawa, however, said people should use air conditioning appropriately and take precautions against heat stroke.TEPCO is expecting contributions from the Tohoku Electric Power Co., which serves Japan's northern prefectures, to help ease the crunch.The Japanese archipelago has seen record high temperatures for June in some areas. In Isezaki, north of Tokyo, the temperature rose to 40.2 Centigrade (104.4 Fahrenheit) on Saturday, the highest ever for June. Temperature in downtown Tokyo rose to nearly 35C (95F) on Monday , higher than the forecast Sunday of 34C (93F).With humidity at about 44%, temperatures felt still warmer.With hot air coming from a powerful high atmospheric pressure system stalled over the Pacific Ocean, high temperatures were expected until early July, the meteorological agency said.More than 250 people were taken to hospitals in Tokyo over the weekend for treatment of heat stroke, according to the Mainichi newspaper.The power supply is relatively tight after Japan idled most of its nuclear reactors after 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima. It also has been closing down old coal plants to meet promises for reducing carbon emissions.Japan also faces a potential shortage of fossil fuel imports amid sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. (AP)

Instagram tests using AI, other tools for age verification

Posted: 26 Jun 2022 04:39 AM PDT

INSTAGRAM is testing new ways to verify the age of people using its service, including a face-scanning artificial intelligence tool, having mutual friends verify their age or uploading an ID.But the tools won't be used, at least not yet, to block children from the popular photo and video-sharing app. The current test only involves verifying that a user is 18 or older.The use of face-scanning AI, especially on teenagers, raised some alarm bells Thursday, given the checkered history of Instagram parent Meta when it comes to protecting users' privacy. Meta stressed that the technology used to verify people's age cannot recognize one's identity — only age. Once the age verification is complete, Meta said it and Yoti, the AI contractor it partnered with to conduct the scans, will delete the video.Meta, which owns Facebook as well as Instagram, said that beginning on Thursday, if someone tries to edit their date of birth on Instagram from under the age of 18 to 18 or over, they will be required to verify their age using one of these methods.Meta continues to face questions about the negative effects of its products, especially Instagram, on some teens.Kids technically have to be at least 13 to use Instagram, similar to other social media platforms. But some circumvent this either by lying about their age or by having a parent do so. Teens aged 13 to 17, meanwhile, have additional restrictions on their accounts — for instance, adults they are not connected to can't send them messages — until they turn 18.The use of uploaded IDs is not new, but the other two options are. "We are giving people a variety of options to verify their age and seeing what works best," said Erica Finkle, Meta's director of data governance and public policy. (AP)

Rick Astley revisits career-making song with ‘gratitude’

Posted: 26 Jun 2022 02:44 AM PDT

HOW does Rick Astley handle one of his songs being part of the biggest internet meme of all time? He rolls with it, obviously."Listen, let's face it, 'Never Gonna Give You Up' has sort of become something else," he said. "The video and the song have drifted off into the ether and become something else, and I'm ever so grateful for it."That song turns 35 this year and is still very much alive, buoyed by a second chapter as a gentle joke wherein someone baits you with an enticing online link, which points instead to the video for this 1987 dance-pop smash. It's called Rickrolling.Thirty-five years later, Astley is singing it this summer on tour with New Kids on the Block, Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue for the 57-date "The Mixtape Tour 2022." A remastered version of his 1987 debut album also has been released featuring, of course, "Never Gonna Give You Up.""I'm never going to have a song as big as that ever, and I kind of knew that while it was happening. I kind of thought, 'We're never going to beat this.' But I also kind of thought, 'Well, how bad is that?'"There has always been much more to Astley than just that song. After blowing up in the late 1980s, he left show business frustrated and has only recently reemerged with the strong albums "50" in 2016 and "Beautiful Life" in 2018."Often the second act can be more enjoyable because you're more in control and you savor every minute," said Alistair Norbury, president of repertoire and marketing at BMG UK, which signed Astley.The passage of time—and the fact that Astley is such a sweet guy—has softened any sharpness. He says he understands how the past can look different with rose-colored glasses. Rock stars have lately told him they love his voice."And I'm like, 'Really? I thought you would have strung me up in the village square," he said, laughing. "They probably would have done at the time, but I think over time, I think it just changes your perspective."Astley, 56, is the youngest of four who grew up near Manchester, England. His sister played a lot of progressive rock and adored David Bowie. A brother was a huge Queen fan, and he remembers Queen's "Night at the Opera" album played on a loop. Astley soaked it all in, from Stevie Wonder to The Smiths.He was in a band in school—they once performed "So Lonely" by The Police with Astley on drums and singing—that wiped the floor with rivals at a battle of the bands. He would go to gigs and dream of being a music star.He remembers being astounded one day when he spotted the bass player of The Smiths walking through town. "This can happen?" he recalls thinking. "You can be from a town that I buy my records in but last week you were on 'Top of the Pops?'"Astley was only in his early 20s while recording his debut album, "Whenever You Need Somebody," with the songwriting and record production trio known as Stock Aitken Waterman, who had crafted songs for Bananarama and Dead or Alive."I sold a lot of records. I was having a lot of hits, and then it was getting to a point where it's like touch and go—how is this going to go now because you have to make another record?"Burned out and frustrated, he walked away at 27. "I think I just didn't have it in me. I just didn't. I didn't want to do it," he said.He admires pop stars like Madonna or Kylie Minogue for their longevity. "I actually don't know how they've done it," he said.Being a pop star messes with your head and Astley said that happened to him, too. "I think my days were numbered anyway, but I think I just managed to get out before they threw me out, you know?" He didn't perform for 15 years.Unlike other pop stars, he hadn't invested his ego in his looks or others' perceptions. "I was never cool. I wasn't cool when I had my hit records," he said. Astley has nothing but compassion for those chewed up by the fame monster. "It must be unbelievably painful."Astley reemerged from self-exile in 2016 with "50," named, with a hat-tip to Adele, for his age at the time, a strong album that veers from gospel to electro-funky.Norbury recalls hearing the first few demos on the album and being impressed. He asked Astley's manager who wrote them. The answer was "Rick Astley." He asked who was the co-writer?" The answer was, "Nobody." Who produced? "Rick." Then who played all the instruments? "He played all the instruments."Norbury calls Astley "probably one of the hardest working people in this business and always does it with good humor and with a spirit of collaboration and partnership." (AP)

WHO panel: Monkeypox not a global emergency 'at this stage'

Posted: 25 Jun 2022 06:44 PM PDT

THE World Health Organization (WHO) said the escalating monkeypox outbreak in more than 50 countries should be closely monitored but does not warrant being declared a global health emergency.In a statement Saturday, a WHO emergency committee said many aspects of the outbreak were "unusual" and acknowledged that monkeypox — which is endemic in some African countries — has been neglected for years."While a few members expressed differing views, the committee resolved by consensus to advise the WHO director-general that at this stage the outbreak should be determined to not constitute" a global health emergency, WHO said in a statement.WHO nevertheless pointed to the "emergency nature" of the outbreak and said controlling its spread requires an "intense" response.The committee said the outbreak should be "closely monitored and reviewed after a few weeks." But it would recommend a re-assessment before then if certain new developments emerge — such as cases among sex workers; spread to other countries or within countries that have already had cases; increased severity of cases; or an increasing rate of spread.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus convened the emergency committee on Thursday after expressing concern about the epidemic of monkeypox in countries that haven't previously reported the disease."What makes the current outbreak especially concerning is the rapid, continuing spread into new countries and regions and the risk of further, sustained transmission into vulnerable populations including people that are immunocompromised, pregnant women and children," the WHO chief said.Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and west Africa, but until last month, the disease had not been known to cause significant outbreaks in multiple countries at the same time and involving people with no travel links to the continent.Declaring a global health emergency means that a health crisis is an "extraordinary" event requiring a globally-managed response and that a disease is at high risk of spilling across borders. WHO previously made similar declarations for diseases including COVID-19, Ebola in Congo and West Africa, Zika in Brazil and the ongoing effort to wipe out polio.The emergency declaration mostly serves as a plea to draw more global resources and attention to an outbreak. Past announcements have had mixed impact, given that WHO is largely powerless when trying to convince countries to act.WHO said this week it has confirmed more than 3,200 monkeypox infections in about 40 countries that haven't previously reported the disease. The vast majority of cases are in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men and more than 80% of the cases are in Europe.A leading WHO adviser said last month the spike in cases in Europe was likely tied to sexual activity by men at two raves in Spain and Belgium, speculating that its appearance in the gay and bisexual community was a "random event." British officials have said most cases in the U.K. involve men who reported having sex with other men in venues such as saunas and sex clubs.Scientists warn that anyone in close, physical contact with someone infected with monkeypox or their clothing or bedsheets is at risk of catching the disease, regardless of their sexual orientation.People with monkeypox often experience symptoms like fever, body aches and a rash; most recover within weeks without needing medical care.Monkeypox in Africa mostly affects people who come into contact with infected wild animals, like rodents or primates. There has been about 1,500 reported cases of monkeypox, including 70 deaths, in Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.To date, scientists haven't found any mutations in the monkeypox virus that suggest it's more transmissible or lethal, although the number of changes detected show the virus has likely been spreading undetected for years.The version of the disease transmitting beyond Africa typically has a fatality rate of less than 1%, while the version seen in Africa can kill up to 10 percent of people affected.WHO is also creating a vaccine-sharing mechanism for monkeypox, which could see vaccines go to rich countries like Britain, which currently has the biggest outbreak beyond Africa.Some experts warned that could entrench the deep inequities seen between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic."France, Germany, the U.S. and U.K. already have a lot of resources and plenty of vaccines to deal with this and they don't need vaccines from WHO," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, an expert in disaster preparedness and response at Columbia University."What we should be doing is trying to help the countries in Africa where monkeypox has been endemic and largely neglected," he said. "Monkeypox is not Covid, but our attention should not be so distorted that it only becomes a problem when it is seen in rich countries." (AP)

Abortion foes, supporters map next moves after Roe reversal

Posted: 25 Jun 2022 05:53 PM PDT

A TEXAS group that helps women pay for abortions halted its efforts Saturday, June 25, 2022, while evaluating its legal risk under a strict state ban. Mississippi's only abortion clinic continued to see patients while awaiting a 10-day notice that will trigger a ban. Elected officials across the country vowed to take action to protect women's access to reproductive health care, and abortion foes promised to take the fight to new arenas.A day after the Supreme Court's bombshell ruling overturning Roe v. Wade ended the constitutional right to abortion, emotional protests and prayer vigils turned to resolve as several states enacted bans and both supporters and opponents of abortion rights mapped out their next moves.In Texas, Cathy Torres, organizing manager for Frontera Fund, a group that helps pay for abortions, said there is a lot of fear and confusion in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, where many people are in the country without legal permission.That includes how the state's abortion law, which bans the procedure from conception, will be enforced. Under the law, people who help patients get abortions can be fined and doctors who perform them could face life in prison."We are a fund led by people of color, who will be criminalized first," Torres said, adding that abortion funds like hers that have paused operations hope to find a way to safely restart. "We just really need to keep that in mind and understand the risk."Tyler Harden, Mississippi director for Planned Parenthood Southeast, said she spent Friday and Saturday making sure people with impending appointments at the state's only abortion clinic — which featured in the Supreme Court case but is not affiliated with Planned Parenthood — know they don't have to cancel them right away. Abortions can still take place until 10 days after the state attorney general publishes a required administrative notice.Mississippi will ban the procedure except for pregnancies that endanger the woman's life or those caused by rape reported to law enforcement. The Republican speaker of the Mississippi House, Philip Gunn, said during a news conference Friday that he would oppose adding an exception for incest. "I believe that life begins at conception," Gunn said.Harden said she has been providing information about funds that help people travel out of state to have abortions. Many in Mississippi already were doing so even before the ruling, but that will become more difficult now that abortions have ended in neighboring states like Alabama. Right now Florida is the nearest "safe haven" state, but Harden said, "we know that that may not be the case for too much longer."At the National Right to Life convention in Atlanta, a leader within the anti-abortion group warned attendees Saturday that the Supreme Court's decision ushers in "a time of great possibility and a time of great danger."Randall O'Bannon, the organization's director of education and research, encouraged activists celebrate their victories but stay focused and continue working on the issue. Specifically, he called out medication taken to induce abortion."With Roe headed for the dustbin of history, and states gaining the power to limit abortions, this is where the battle is going to be played out over the next several years," O'Bannon said. "The new modern menace is a chemical or medical abortion with pills ordered online and mailed directly to a woman's home."Protests broke out for a second day in cities across the country, from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City to Jackson, Mississippi.In the LA demonstration, one of several in California, hundreds of people marched through downtown carrying signs with slogans like "my body, my choice" and "abort the court."Turnout was smaller in Oklahoma City, where about 15 protesters rallied outside the Capitol. Oklahoma is one of 11 states where there are no providers offering abortions, and it passed the nation's strictest abortion law in May."I have gone through a wave of emotions in the last 24 hours. ... It's upsetting, it's angry, it's hard to put together everything I'm feeling right now," said Marie Adams, 45, who has had two abortions for ectopic pregnancies, where a fertilized egg is unable to survive. She called the issue "very personal to me.""Half the population of the United States just lost a fundamental right," Adams said. "We need to speak up and speak loud."Callie Pruett, who volunteered to escort patients into West Virginia's only abortion clinic before it stopped offering the procedure after Friday's ruling, said she plans to work in voter registration in the hope of electing officials who support abortion rights. The executive director of Appalachians for Appalachia added that her organization also will apply for grants to help patients get access to abortion care, including out of state."We have to create networks of people who are willing to drive people to Maryland or to D.C.," Pruett said. "That kind of local action requires organization at a level that we have not seen in nearly 50 years."Fellow West Virginian Sarah MacKenzie, 25, said she's motivated to fight for abortion access by the memory of her mother, Denise Clegg, a passionate reproductive health advocate who worked for years at the state's clinic as a nurse practitioner and died unexpectedly in May. MacKenzie plans to attend protests in the capital, Charleston, and donate to a local abortion fund."She would be absolutely devastated. She was so afraid of this happening — she wanted to stop it," Mackenzie said, adding, "I'll do everything in my power to make sure that this gets reversed."The Supreme Court's ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.Since the decision, clinics have stopped performing abortions in Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Women considering abortions already had been dealing with the near-complete ban in Oklahoma and a prohibition after roughly six weeks in Texas.In Ohio, a ban on most abortions from the first detectable fetal heartbeat became law when a federal judge dissolved an injunction that had kept the measure on hold for nearly three years.Another law with narrow exceptions was triggered in Utah by Friday's ruling. Planned Parenthood Association of Utah filed a lawsuit against it in state court and said it would request a temporary restraining order, arguing it violates the state constitution.Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, where abortion remains legal, signed an executive order shielding people seeking or providing abortions in his state from facing legal consequences in other states. Walz also has vowed to reject requests to extradite anyone accused of committing acts related to reproductive health care that are not criminal offenses in Minnesota."My office has been and will continue to be a firewall against legislation that would reverse reproductive freedom," he said.In Fargo, North Dakota, the state's sole abortion provider faces a 30-day window before it would have to shut down and plans to move across the river to Minnesota. Red River Women's Clinic owner Tammi Kromenaker said Saturday that she has secured a location in Moorhead and an online fundraiser to support the move has brought in more than half a million dollars in less than three days.Republicans sought to downplay their excitement about winning their decades-long fight to overturn Roe, aware that the ruling could energize the Democratic base, particularly suburban women. Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said she expects abortion opponents to turn out in huge numbers this fall.But Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said Saturday he believes the issue will energize independents and he hopes to translate anger over Roe's demise into votes."Any time you take half the people in Wisconsin and make them second-class citizens," Evers said, "I have to believe there's going to be a reaction to that." (AP)

WHO considers declaring monkeypox a global health emergency

Posted: 25 Jun 2022 06:28 AM PDT

LONDON — The World Health Organization convenes its emergency committee Thursday to consider if the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency.But some experts say the WHO's decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could entrench the grotesque inequities that arose between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic.Declaring monkeypox to be a global emergency would mean the U.N. health agency considers the outbreak to be an "extraordinary event" and that the disease is at risk of spreading across even more borders, possibly requiring a global response. It would also give monkeypox the same distinction as the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio.The WHO said it did not expect to announce any decisions made by its emergency committee before Friday.Many scientists doubt any such declaration would help to curb the epidemic, since the developed countries recording the most recent cases are already moving quickly to shut it down.Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the recent monkeypox epidemic identified in more than 40 countries, mostly in Europe, as "unusual and concerning." Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and west Africa, where one version of the disease kills up to 10 percent of people infected. The version of the disease seen in Europe and elsewhere usually has a fatality rate of less than 1 percent and no deaths beyond Africa have so far been reported."If WHO was really worried about monkeypox spread, they could have convened their emergency committee years ago when it reemerged in Nigeria in 2017 and no one knew why we suddenly had hundreds of cases," said Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups. "It is a bit curious that WHO only called their experts when the disease showed up in white countries," he said.Until last month, monkeypox had not caused sizeable outbreaks beyond Africa. Scientists haven't found any mutations in the virus that suggest it's more transmissible, and a leading adviser to the WHO said last month the surge of cases in Europe was likely tied to sexual activity among gay and bisexual men at two raves in Spain and Belgium.42 countriesTo date, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 3,300 cases of monkeypox in 42 countries where the virus hasn't been typically seen. More than 80 percent of cases are in Europe. Meanwhile, Africa has already seen more than 1,400 cases this year, including 62 deaths.David Fidler, a senior fellow in global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the WHO's newfound attention to monkeypox amid its spread beyond Africa could inadvertently worsen the divide between rich and poor countries seen during Covid-19."There may be legitimate reasons why WHO only raised the alarm when monkeypox spread to rich countries, but to poor countries, that looks like a double standard," Fidler said. He said the global community was still struggling to ensure the world's poor were vaccinated against the coronavirus and that it was unclear if Africans even wanted monkeypox vaccines, given competing priorities like malaria and HIV."Unless African governments specifically ask for vaccines, it might be a bit patronizing to send them because it's in the West's interest to stop monkeypox from being exported," Fidler said.The WHO has also proposed creating a vaccine-sharing mechanism to help affected countries, which could see doses go to rich countries like Britain, which has the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa — and recently widened its use of vaccines.VulnerableTo date, the vast majority of cases in Europe have been in men who are gay or bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, but scientists warn anyone in close contact with an infected person or their clothing or bedsheets is at risk of infection, regardless of their sexual orientation. People with monkeypox often experience symptoms like fever, body aches and a rash; most recover within weeks without medical care.Even if the WHO announces monkeypox is a global emergency, it's unclear what impact that might have.In January 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 an international emergency. But few countries took notice until March, when the organization described it as a pandemic, weeks after many other authorities did so.The WHO was later slammed for its multiple missteps throughout the pandemic, which some experts said might be prompting a quicker monkeypox response."After COVID, WHO does not want to be the last to declare monkeypox an emergency," said Amanda Glassman, executive vice president at the Center for Global Development. "This may not rise to the level of a COVID-like emergency, but it is still a public health emergency that needs to be addressed."Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and vice chancellor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said the WHO and others should be doing more to stop monkeypox in Africa and elsewhere, but wasn't convinced that a global emergency declaration would help."There is this misplaced idea that Africa is this poor, helpless continent, when in fact, we do know how to deal with epidemics," said Abdool Karim. He said that stopping the outbreak ultimately depends on things like surveillance, isolating patients and public education."Maybe they need vaccines in Europe to stop monkeypox, but here, we have been able to control it with very simple measures," he said. (AP)
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