Turkey Says Supports Political Solution that Protects Syria's Unity
Arab World
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazzak
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chairs a meeting of National Security Council at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey on March 30, 2021. (AA)
Turkey’s National Security Council has called on actors in Syria to halt actions that could worsen the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country, stressing the importance of achieving permanent and sustainable peace that preserves Syria's political unity. In a three-hour meeting chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in AnkaraTuesday, Turkish officials discussed foreign policy, terrorism and regional developments. During the meeting, they affirmed that Ankara would support any initiative that bolsters peace and stability in Syria and the region. This came as Turkish forces combed the Latakia-Aleppo international road in the countryside of Idlib province, for the second day in a row, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. On Tuesday, SOHR activists said Turkish forces were running a patrol on Latakia-Aleppo international highway “M4”, as the patrol set off from Tarnabeh village in the east of Idlib and headed to Jisr Al-Shughour in the western countryside of Idlib. Meanwhile, in the western countryside of Raqqa, the Observatory said oil tankers were seen entering from areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to regime-held areas through the crossing of Al-Tabqa. The crossing has been closed for ten days to the commercial and civil movements due to the Russian-Iranian differences. The Observatory said hundreds of tanks used to enter daily, but now only dozens of tanks enter since its closure on March 22 due to the conflict between the Russian and Iranian factions. Moreover, oil tanks from SDF-held areas in the eastern Euphrates continue to reach areas controlled by the “Euphrates Shield” operating room factions. The tanks wait in queue daily near Manbij to enter the areas held by faction in Jarabulus, northeast of Aleppo, according to the Observatory.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893791/turkey-says-supports-political-solution-protects-syrias-unity
4 People, Including Child, Shot and Killed in California
World
Asharq Al-Awsat
Two police officers stand outside an office building where a shooting occurred in Orange, Calif., Wednesday, March 31, 2021. AP
Four people, including a child, were shot and killed Wednesday evening at an office building in Southern California, police said. The shooter, whose motivations are so far unknown, was shot by an officer and taken to hospital, police said, adding that the suspect's condition was not known. Police did not release any more information about the victims, but said that a fifth individual was hospitalized. The incident began around 5:30 pm local time (0030 GMT) on the upper floor of a small office building in the city of Orange. Police and the suspect exchanged fire, according to the Los Angeles Times. "The situation has been stabilized and there is no threat to the public," the Orange Police Department said in a post to their Facebook page. A Facebook livestream posted by a resident who lives near the office appeared to show officers carrying a motionless person from the building and officers providing aid to another person. California governor Gavin Newsom posted on Twitter: "Horrifying and heartbreaking. Our hearts are with the families impacted by this terrible tragedy tonight." "I'm deeply saddened by reports of a mass shooting in Orange County, and I'm continuing to keep victims and their loved ones in my thoughts as we continue to learn more," US Representative Katie Porter from California also tweeted. The city of Orange is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Los Angeles and home to about 140,000 people. Orange Police Lt. Jennifer Amat said the shooting was the worst in the city since December 1997, when a gunman armed with an assault rifle attacked a California Department of Transportation maintenance yard. Wednesday’s attack comes after two other high-profile mass shootings earlier this month, which set off a renewed debate about gun control measures in the United States. On March 22, 10 people were killed in a shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, less than a week after a man shot and killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at spas in Atlanta, Georgia.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893786/4-people-including-child-shot-and-killed-california
Russia's Top Diplomat Says Dividing Syria Is A Serious Threat
Arab World
Moscow - Raed Jabr
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addresses the UN Human Rights Council on February 28, 2018 in Geneva (Fabrice Coffrini, AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Wednesday of the consequences of dividing Syria if Washington continues to encourage separatism in the war-torn country. Speaking at a special session of the Valdai International Discussion Club’s Middle East Conference, Lavrov said the frozen state of the Syrian conflict is fraught with a breakup of the country, stressing that Russia is exerting efforts to avert this issue. "It is fraught with a collapse of the country, which would be particularly tragic not just because of the Kurdish factor that will immediately acquire regional dimension. There could be unpredictable consequences," said Lavrov. "We are making every effort to avoid it, but it does look like a frozen conflict," he said when asked about the state of the conflict in Syria. Lavrov also strongly lashed out at the US, accusing Washington of exploiting Syria’s resources and using ISIS terror group to hinder settlement in the country. "ISIS was actively used and continues to be used by the US to hinder the processes that will lead to a settlement in Syria with the full participation of the current government,” the FM said. He accused the US of exploiting the hydrocarbons and grain that is produced in Syria. “They make business to pay for the separatist actions of some Kurdish organizations to block dialogue between Kurds and Damascus.” The Russian top diplomat reiterated the need to resolve the Syrian crisis by implementing the UNSC Resolution 2254.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893736/russias-top-diplomat-says-dividing-syria-serious-threat
Egypt Receives 854,400 Doses of Astrazeneca COVID-19 Vaccine
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
The shipment is part of 40 million doses that Egypt is set to receive via GAVI. (AFP)
Egypt on Wednesday received 854,400 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as part of the global COVAX agreement, the health ministry said. COVAX was established by the Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) for the equitable distribution of vaccines. The shipment is part of 40 million doses that Egypt is set to receive via GAVI, Reuters reported. The AstraZeneca vaccine has received approval for emergency use from WHO and the Egyptian Drug Authority, the ministry spokesman said in a statement. The shipment will be tested in the authority’s labs before the vaccination of medical workers, the elderly, and eligible groups of citizens with chronic diseases, he added. Egypt had received its first 50,000 dose shipment of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine earlier this year, as part of its program to vaccinate health workers. The country began vaccinating frontline medical staff against COVID-19 on Jan. 24 and expanded its vaccination rollout to include the elderly and people with chronic diseases on March 4.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893716/egypt-receives-854400-doses-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine
Jordan’s Cabinet Dissolves Local, Municipal Councils
Arab World
Amman - Mohammed Kheir Rawashdeh
A Jordanian woman casts her ballot at a polling station for local and municipal elections in Amman, Jordan. (Reuters/File)
The Jordanian Cabinet decided on Wednesday to dissolve municipal and local councils as well as the council of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM). It also decided to set up ad hoc committees to run the affairs of municipalities and the GAM council during the coming period. The cabinet didn’t make official statements to determine the election date, however sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that they might take place between August and October. The decision reflects the Jordanian authorities’ keenness to commit to the elections’ deadline, despite the challenging conditions in the country and the surge in COVID-19 deaths and infections. Reliable sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government prepared amendments to draft laws related to the local authority for the parliament to discuss next week. The sources said the amendments might lead to reducing a number of council members by expanding the powers of administrative governors and requesting a university degree for membership eligibility . The upcoming municipal elections are expected to take place amid a partial lockdown and the uncertain epidemiological situation in the country. The Independent Election Commission, which is the national electoral commission responsible for administering and supervising elections under the Constitution of Jordan, has prepared measures for the elections that ban gatherings inside polling stations and counting centers. More than 8,000 ballot boxes were distributed over approximately 4,000 centers in the kingdom.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893701/jordan%E2%80%99s-cabinet-dissolves-local-municipal-councils
Traditional Manousheh Leaves Tables in Poverty-Hit Lebanon
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
A manousheh 'used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000,' Abu Shadi said - AFP
Scattering spinach and hot chilli onto fluffy flatbread in Lebanon's capital, 54-year-old Abu Shadi bemoans better times before the economic crisis when all Lebanese could afford his simple meals. The veteran baker is famed for his take on Lebanon's manousheh, a circle of freshly baked dough sprinkled with anything from thyme to meat, then folded in half and rolled in paper to go. But Lebanon's worse financial crunch in decades has sent prices soaring, and Abu Shadi says many of his customers of three decades can no longer afford even this modest pastry. "Since I started working at this oven in 1987, it's been nothing but goodness and blessings. But today, all that has gone," he said, AFP reported. On the phone, he warmly receives a stream of orders. He jokes with a customer as he waits for his breakfast, and from inside his shop waves at an acquaintance as they drive by in their car. Looking up from time to time from the flatbreads he heaps with filling, he greets the old and young as they walk by. He hums loudly, only pausing to compliment an elderly lady on her blonde hairstyle. But nowadays, Abu Shadi turns down the heat in his oven once he has baked enough manaeesh (plural form of manousheh) to save on gas. Long gone are the days when he fired up the oven at 8:00 am, and did not turn it off till 3:00 pm. "The manousheh is both a father and mother to the Lebanese people. It's food for the rich and the poor," he said. "Sadly at the moment, the poor can no longer afford to eat it," he said. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs or a huge part of their income in the financial crunch, which has caused the Lebanese currency to lose more than 85 percent of its value. A manousheh "used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000." The new price is less than $0.50 at the black market rate for a lucky few with access to dollars, but most Lebanese earn wages in the local currency -- and see that as up to five times the normal price. The baker says that for three decades, customers have streamed in at weekends, ordering up to seven or eight manaeesh to take away for a traditional family breakfast. But over the past few months, those customers have stopped coming altogether. "Manaeesh are now only for the well off," he said. "Whoever earns 30,000 or 40,000 pounds a day is not going to spend 5,000 on a thyme manousheh. They have other expenses." But Abu Shadi has been forced to raise his prices to cover the increasing cost of supplies, from flour and cheese to the paper he wraps the manousheh in. "We used to live a cushy life, but people's living situations have really slumped," he said. "We've never seen anything like it." But one customer, Mahmoud, says he will continue to buy the bread he has grown to love, "whatever the cost". "Whoever is used to Abu Shadi's manaeesh cannot replace it," he said, between bites of one filled with cheese and meat. Abu Shadi has been helped by the fact that his customers keep coming back. But he says he has not been forced to close like other small bakers since he does the job on his own. "After all this time and effort, I'm only still going because I work for myself," he said. "The money others pay to their staff, I keep to live off." "I have nothing but my hands and God."
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893696/traditional-manousheh-leaves-tables-poverty-hit-lebanon
Traditional Manousheh Leaves Tables in Poverty-Hit Lebanon
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
A manousheh 'used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000,' Abu Shadi said - AFP
Scattering spinach and hot chilli onto fluffy flatbread in Lebanon's capital, 54-year-old Abu Shadi bemoans better times before the economic crisis when all Lebanese could afford his simple meals. The veteran baker is famed for his take on Lebanon's manousheh, a circle of freshly baked dough sprinkled with anything from thyme to meat, then folded in half and rolled in paper to go. But Lebanon's worse financial crunch in decades has sent prices soaring, and Abu Shadi says many of his customers of three decades can no longer afford even this modest pastry. "Since I started working at this oven in 1987, it's been nothing but goodness and blessings. But today, all that has gone," he said, AFP reported. On the phone, he warmly receives a stream of orders. He jokes with a customer as he waits for his breakfast, and from inside his shop waves at an acquaintance as they drive by in their car. Looking up from time to time from the flatbreads he heaps with filling, he greets the old and young as they walk by. He hums loudly, only pausing to compliment an elderly lady on her blonde hairstyle. But nowadays, Abu Shadi turns down the heat in his oven once he has baked enough manaeesh (plural form of manousheh) to save on gas. Long gone are the days when he fired up the oven at 8:00 am, and did not turn it off till 3:00 pm. "The manousheh is both a father and mother to the Lebanese people. It's food for the rich and the poor," he said. "Sadly at the moment, the poor can no longer afford to eat it," he said. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs or a huge part of their income in the financial crunch, which has caused the Lebanese currency to lose more than 85 percent of its value. A manousheh "used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000." The new price is less than $0.50 at the black market rate for a lucky few with access to dollars, but most Lebanese earn wages in the local currency -- and see that as up to five times the normal price. The baker says that for three decades, customers have streamed in at weekends, ordering up to seven or eight manaeesh to take away for a traditional family breakfast. But over the past few months, those customers have stopped coming altogether. "Manaeesh are now only for the well off," he said. "Whoever earns 30,000 or 40,000 pounds a day is not going to spend 5,000 on a thyme manousheh. They have other expenses." But Abu Shadi has been forced to raise his prices to cover the increasing cost of supplies, from flour and cheese to the paper he wraps the manousheh in. "We used to live a cushy life, but people's living situations have really slumped," he said. "We've never seen anything like it." But one customer, Mahmoud, says he will continue to buy the bread he has grown to love, "whatever the cost". "Whoever is used to Abu Shadi's manaeesh cannot replace it," he said, between bites of one filled with cheese and meat. Abu Shadi has been helped by the fact that his customers keep coming back. But he says he has not been forced to close like other small bakers since he does the job on his own. "After all this time and effort, I'm only still going because I work for myself," he said. "The money others pay to their staff, I keep to live off." "I have nothing but my hands and God."
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893691/traditional-manousheh-leaves-tables-poverty-hit-lebanon
Blinken Says US-Sudan Relations Can Start ‘New Chapter’
Arab World
Washington - Ali Barada
Blinken said that the State Department last week "transmitted to Congress the Secretary's certification restoring Sudan's sovereign immunities pursuant to the Sudan Claims Resolution Act enacted last December." (Reuters)
The US has received $335 million from Sudan to compensate victims of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole in 2000, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday. “We hope this aids them in finding some resolution for the terrible tragedies that occurred,” said Blinken. “With this challenging process behind us, US-Sudan relations can start a new chapter.” He also hailed Sudan's constructive efforts over the past two years to work with the US to resolve "these long-outstanding claims.” Blinken said Wednesday that the State Department last week "transmitted to Congress the Secretary's certification restoring Sudan's sovereign immunities pursuant to the Sudan Claims Resolution Act enacted last December." "We look forward to expanding our bilateral relationship and to continuing our support for the efforts of the civilian-led transitional government to deliver freedom, peace, and justice to the Sudanese people," he noted. For his part, World Bank Group President David Malpass also commented on the clearance of Sudan’s arrears. "This is a breakthrough at a time when Sudan needs the world’s help to support its development progress," said Malpass. "The steps taken so far, including arrears clearance and exchange rate unification, will put Sudan on the path to substantial debt relief, economic revival, and inclusive development." Malpass further praised the efforts exerted by the US government to facilitate the process.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893686/blinken-says-us-sudan-relations-can-start-%E2%80%98new-chapter%E2%80%99
Asharq Al-Awsat
A general view shows an empty street during a curfew to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Algiers. Reuters file photo
Seven Algerian prison guards and an inmate died of suffocation Wednesday in a septic tank accident at a prison in the country's northeast, justice minister Belkacem Zeghmati said. The men had entered the tank at the Oued Ghir prison outside Bejaia in order to clean it, state media reported earlier. Their bodies were transferred to hospital to undergo an autopsy. "One prisoner and seven guards died of suffocation in a septic tank inside the Oued Ghir prison, at the edge of the facility," Zeghmati said, quoted by the official APS news agency. "The circumstances of the accident will be determined after a preliminary investigation," according to Zeghmati, who visited the site on Wednesday afternoon with Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud. Bejaia civil defense chief Nourredine Fedi said the men had died after inhaling hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas, adding that civil defense personnel had cleaned the tank before retrieving the bodies. Opened in 2010, the Oued Ghir prison has a capacity of 1,000 inmates. Authorities at the time said the facility "meets modern standards" for detention facilities.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893681/eight-die-algeria-prison-septic-tank-accident
Asharq Al-Awsat
US State Department spokesman Ned Price in a briefing clarifies that the United States considers the West Bank under "occupation" - AFP
US President Joe Biden's administration said Wednesday that Israel's control of the West Bank is indeed "occupation," clarifying its stance after the release of a report that seemed to downplay the term, adopting language used by Donald Trump's government. The State Department's annual report on human rights "does use the term 'occupation' in the context of the current status of the West Bank," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. "This has been the longstanding position of previous administrations of both parties over the course of many decades," he said. But under the staunchly pro-Israel Trump, the annual human rights report renamed the section on "Israel and the Occupied Territories" as "Israel, West Bank and Gaza." The first of the reports issued under Biden, which was released Tuesday, kept the same formulation but stated that the language was not meant to convey any position. The top State Department official on human rights, Lisa Peterson, said that the report generally uses geographical names and that "Israel, West Bank and Gaza" was easier and clearer for readers. Trump's secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, broke past precedent by visiting a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and said he disagreed with the broad international consensus that such construction is illegal, with Trump signalling that Israel should be free to annex Palestinian land. Trump also recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital as well as Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 but maintains control over the crowded, Hamas-ruled territory's airspace and borders. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated the United States will not reverse Trump's decisions on Jerusalem but will also do more to work toward an independent Palestinian state.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893676/yes-israel-occupies-west-bank-says-washington
Qatar Races Mounting Virus Toll With Vaccine Drive
Gulf
Asharq Al-Awsat
Qatar has set up drive-through centers to speed up its vaccination drive - AFP
Qatar is stepping up its coronavirus vaccination drive, officials said Wednesday, with new daily cases almost quadrupling since January and prompting calls for a renewed lockdown. While the country's death toll per capita is low, almost 5 percent of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic were during the past week, with authorities blaming the more potent British strain. Medical experts have called for a return to the strict summer lockdown that saw new daily cases plummet from 2,355 at the end of May to 235 by July 31. But Rashid Andaila, a manager at a vaccination point south of Doha, said the vaccine drive was gathering steam, with a second drive-through clinic opened on Sunday for second doses. "Our capability is 5,000 at each site," he said. Over 25,000 vaccine jabs were administered on Tuesday, bringing the total to 816,484 doses, according to official data. Qatar reported 780 new infections on Wednesday as well as two deaths, bringing the total Covid-19 death toll in the country to 291, while active cases reached 571 per 100,000. Nearly one in five of Wednesday's new cases were among residents and citizens returning from abroad, official statistics showed. And despite the accelerating vaccine drive, some officials have called for a renewed lockdown. "A full lockdown, like we had during last summer when roads were empty and people worked at home, is the best way to stem the virus' spread," Ahmed al-Mohammed, chair of Qatar's intensive care service, told state television this week. The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care has more than doubled since March, he added, with 338 people in ICU beds as well as a further 1,668 patients receiving acute care. "It is clear that people are becoming sicker and experiencing more severe symptoms in this second wave," Mohammed said. A senior expatriate advisor to the health authorities resigned earlier this year following disagreements on how to tackle mounting cases and the new variants, three sources told AFP. Household visits and weddings are currently banned in Qatar, communal pools and gyms closed, and cinemas restricted to over-18s. But offices, shops, bars and restaurants all remain open, with capacity limits. Mosques face fewer restrictions but are limited to opening at set prayer times only. Major sports events including WTA and ATP tennis tournaments and the FIFA Club World Cup have proceeded in recent months with reduced crowds. The rollout of Qatar's vaccination program was initially slowed down after Pfizer failed to fully deliver three shipments of inoculations, a medical source told AFP, but it has since proceeded as planned.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893671/qatar-races-mounting-virus-toll-vaccine-drive
A pandemic may have no silver linings, but Covid-19 has brought one change I hope will last: obsessive cleaning. Not that wiping down surfaces has done much to stop the virus. Coronavirus transmission from contaminated surfaces is “really minor,” Joseph Allen, a Harvard expert on health and safety in buildings, told me. Spraying places like airports and movie theaters with gallons of disinfectant might make people feel safer, but “at this point, it’s clear that we’re overcleaning,” said Allen. However: Before the pandemic, we were undercleaning. Swabs taken in the New York City subway in 2015 turned up more than a hundred strains of bacteria, including some associated with meningitis and urinary tract infections. Standard MTA practice pre-pandemic was to lightly clean subway cars once a day, and deep-clean them every 72 days. For a system that carries more than 5 million riders every day, all I can say is: Ew. Nor were our offices particularly sanitary. In May 2020, I spoke with Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler, author of “Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office,” who told me offices were “kind of gross” precisely because they’re the kind of places that never seemed especially dirty — so most companies didn’t invest much in getting them clean. Full-time janitors long ago lost their jobs to overworked and underpaid contract cleaners. Combine that with corporate pressure to demonstrate commitment by working while sick, and the result is an environment where illness can spread rapidly. One much-cited 2013 study showed simulated viruses spreading from a single employee’s hand to half of shared office surfaces in just four hours. Cleaning and hand-washing cut the transmission rate drastically. Not every country lets its shared spaces get so dirty. In the Before Times, it wasn’t unusual to fly home from abroad and be startled by the filthiness of American airports. Before any Amtrak trip, the agonizing calculation was: Would the Penn Station ladies’ room be more or less disgusting than the toilet on the train? There was no need to live that way. And there are real, non-Covid-related health benefits to cleanliness. It might even make us more productive. While Allen emphasizes that improved ventilation can do the most to keep people healthy, he has also written about evidence that workers get more headaches and type more slowly when they’re in a room with a contaminated carpet. Why not open a window and break out the vacuum? Look, cleaning is nobody’s idea of a good time. It also costs companies and cities money, and means shutting down some facilities while cleaning crews are working. But the pandemic has made clear that many of the shortcuts we take to avoid cleaning — from waving a firehose of sanitizer to using “antimicrobial” materials — don’t work that well. Such shortcuts are at best a form of theater. At worst, they can introduce harmful chemicals into our environment or create antibacterial-resistant superbugs. After Covid-19 recedes, let’s keep using soap, water and elbow grease to keep every place clean. Bloomberg
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893666/sarah-green-carmichael/never-stop-cleaning-it%E2%80%99s-2020
Lebanon in ‘Education Catastrophe’ With Children Out of School
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
Those lucky enough to get any schooling received "an estimated maximum of 11 weeks of education," with even lower numbers for Syrian children. (AFP)
In crisis-hit Lebanon, the pandemic coupled with an economic downturn means that children left for months without schooling due to coronavirus restrictions may never return to the classroom, a UK-based charity warned. "The social and economic crisis in Lebanon is turning into an education catastrophe, with vulnerable children facing a real risk of never returning to school," Save the Children said in a report published Thursday. The risk is real not only for Lebanese families, more half of whom live in poverty, but also for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian and Syrian refugees who already struggled to access education before Lebanon's multifold crisis made it more difficult, it said, AFP reported. "Poverty is a steep barrier to children's access to an education, as many families cannot afford learning equipment or have to rely on children to provide an income," the charity said. More than 1.2 million children in Lebanon have been out of school since the country's coronavirus outbreak began last year, Save the Children said. Those lucky enough to get any schooling received "an estimated maximum of 11 weeks of education," with even lower numbers for Syrian children, it added. Meanwhile, the country's worst economic downturn since the 1975-1990 civil war has made "remote learning out of reach for more and more children", with families unable to afford electronic devices and a reliable-enough internet connection, the charity said. Save the Children cited the example of an 11-year-old child identified as Adam, who shares a smartphone with his two sisters and has to go next door to access the internet. The country's crisis has shown no signs of slowing down, with the Lebanese pound losing more than 85 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market in a devaluation that has eaten away at people's purchasing power. "A large number of children may never get back into a classroom either because they have missed so much learning already or because their families can't afford to send them to school," said Jennifer Moorehead, the charity's Lebanon director. "We are already witnessing the tragic impact of this situation, with children working in supermarkets or in farms, and girls forced to get married," she added.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893661/lebanon-%E2%80%98education-catastrophe%E2%80%99-children-out-school
Hal Brands
Hal Brands - Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. His latest book is "American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump."
With vaccines spreading through rich countries at gathering speed and lockdown restrictions weakening with the spring sunshine, it’s tempting to believe that the long nightmare of Covid-19 is finally ending. In the UK, 58% of the adult population has received at least one dose of vaccine. In the US, President Joe Biden has doubled an original goal of administering 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office, which would bring the total to 200 million by the end of April. On Google, the search term “after Covid” has been getting more interest than “Covid symptoms” for the past month, suggesting the world is thinking more about what life will be like when things return to normal. That’s a mistake. While we’re increasingly talking about the coronavirus in the past tense, the worst may still be ahead of us. Infections worldwide rose 47% during March from a lull in late February. At about 600,000 new cases a day, the rate today is higher than it was for most of last year. Worse still, while previous waves have broken primarily in Western Europe and the US, many of the areas where Covid is now growing most rapidly are in South America and South Asia, the Middle East and other emerging economies. Mostly lacking the first-class public health infrastructure found in the global north, they’re less equipped to cope with the virus. That’s especially the case if new variants, like those identified in the UK or the Brazilian city of Manaus, cause more problems for younger people. For most of the past year, the coronavirus has looked like what Austrian historian Walter Scheidel has called a “great leveler”: One of the many catastrophes such as war, pandemic, revolution and state failure that paradoxically manage to even out the worst excesses of inequality once in every generation or so. More than 46% of deaths have been in just three rich jurisdictions with unusually large elderly populations: the US, UK and the European Union. That may now be shifting. The US, which has mostly held the unenviable top spot for record daily infections since the start of the pandemic, has slipped behind Brazil, possibly permanently, since the start of March. The UK, similarly, is now running a lower rate than Bangladesh and the Philippines for the first time since Europe’s seasonal lull last summer. Many of the nations where Covid has been spreading fastest recently are ones where current rates of vaccine rollout won’t result in herd immunity for years, or even decades, based on That’s going to put much more emphasis on the issues of inequality and justice around vaccine delivery that have so far been relatively muted in the public debate. In spite of a $4 billion donation from the US in January, Covax — the UN-sponsored program to deliver coronavirus vaccines to lower-income countries — is still about $2 billion short of the funds it needs to distribute 1.8 billion doses to target nations this year. In addition to that, countries including the UK, US, Switzerland and EU members continue to block waivers to intellectual-property rules that would allow generic drug manufacturers in India and South Africa to produce vaccine doses at vastly reduced costs, ensuring that current production is weighted to the developed world. “The solutions at this stage are political and logistical,” said Stephanie Topp, a professor of public health at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. Countries that protect only their own populations without setting aside IP rules and providing funding for vaccination elsewhere in the world will find it a false economy, she said. “Where we’re considering global public health, that’s a self-defeating argument, because what happens is the disease wins,” she said. “If the disease is circulating elsewhere in this incredibly globalized interconnected world, the disease will come back again.” We’ve seen this movie before. The general indifference to medical problems once they stop bothering rich countries is such an entrenched issue that there’s an entire branch of modern medicine dedicated to “neglected tropical diseases.” Infections like tuberculosis and cholera — often seen by wealthy nations as 19th century relics, encountered mostly in opera and novels — are almost certainly more prevalent today than they’ve been at any point in human history. While US TV networks run nostalgic reruns of the AIDS-themed musical Rent, two-thirds of people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. In the case of Covid, that’s not just a moral failing, but a shortcoming on even the most callous measure of self-interest. If we want to see borders reopen and minimize the risks that fresh variants will arise to overwhelm the vaccine defenses we’ve worked so hard to erect over the past year, the rich world needs to start treating infection in emerging economies as an emergency on a par with what’s happening in its own backyard. In the fight against coronavirus, we will stand together, or fall apart. Bloomberg
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893646/david-fickling/covid-isn%E2%80%99t-over-and-next-wave-may-be-worse
People have been predicting the ascent of telemedicine since the 1920s, but even mass broadband use wasn’t enough to make it catch on. Doctors were too worried about losing income, privacy restrictions limited the utility of software and people were just too accustomed to the old ways of doing things. Then Covid-19 arrived and everything changed. In-person doctor visits became dangerous for both patients and medical staff. By April 2020, half of US physicians had adopted some version of telemedicine, up from 18% in 2018. Mount Sinai Faculty Practice in New York City reported that it had more telehealth visits on an average day that month than in all of 2019. As the pandemic wanes, some of those visits will no doubt go back to being face to face. But many won’t — and shouldn’t. Telemedicine is too convenient for both patients and doctors. Consider surgeons. They don’t immediately come to mind as candidates for virtual visits. But much of their time is taken up with pre- and post-operative care that could be done over the internet. It doesn’t take an in-person visit to prescribe imaging for an upcoming operation or to check in to see how a patient’s knee replacement is doing. Patients can spend less time going to and from visits and sitting in waiting rooms. (I once spent four hours waiting for a busy surgeon to see me for a post-operative checkup.) Telemedicine is also a convenient way to offer after-hours care, particularly when there’s a time-zone difference. And that suggests another potential positive legacy of the pandemic: loosened regulations to let licensed medical professionals cross state lines. Almost half of US states have laws allowing out-of-state health-care practitioners to work during emergencies. Others used executive actions to enable medical practitioners from elsewhere to help out during the pandemic. But why limit such waivers to emergencies? It’s not as though human health is different in Arizona and Missouri. State-by-state license requirements serve mostly to limit competition. (The same might be said for limits on internationally trained medical personnel.) Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia already belong to a compact that allows licensed nurses to practice in any of the member states. Telemedicine services that, for example, provide after-hours triage are able to cover most of the country by hiring nurses who live in compact states. When Covid-19 hit, compact members found it much easier to keep their hospitals staffed. New Jersey, which had just joined the group, sped up implementation to let out-of-state nurses pitch in as Covid cases soared. “Expediting the process has absolutely enabled us to move people appropriately where they’re needed,” said Mary Beth Russell, vice president at the Center for Professional Development, Innovation & Research at RWJBarnabas Health, the state’s largest health-care system. That sort of flexibility — for hospitals, health care professionals, and patients — shouldn’t require emergency conditions. Bloomberg
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893641/virginia-postrel/telemedicine-will-be-great-after-covid-too
The discovery of multiple safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines has been the reputational boost the pharmaceutical industry needed. As science has caught up to the coronavirus, the price-inflating antics of Martin Shkreli and manufacturers’ roles in the opioid epidemic have faded into the background while people literally raise their glass to drugmakers like Pfizer Inc. A Harris poll found that US public opinion of the sector had risen to 62% in February, up from 32% before the pandemic, the biggest jump among several industries. It could be a short-lived romance. “The impact on public opinion has been spectacular, but it’s not going to last,” Reinhard Angelmar, a health-care management specialist and emeritus marketing professor at INSEAD, tells me. An unprecedented push to manufacture billions of doses this year alone has led to supply bottlenecks, putting firms such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca Plc in the firing line of angry government customers. The potential adverse effects of sticking needles into people’s arms are dominating headlines, as seen with the halting of the Astra vaccine in Canada and Europe even as regulators insist the benefits outweigh the risks. Now the industry is taking heat for closely guarding its intellectual property. That’s blamed for what the World Health Organization dubs a “catastrophic moral failure”: the immunization gap between the developing world and deep-pocketed rich countries, which have ordered enough doses to cover their populations several times over. If vaccine makers were to waive exclusive rights to manufacture their product — an idea pushed by 58 countries at the World Trade Organization including India and South Africa — advocates say that supply would bloom and we would exit the pandemic quicker. The push for a “people’s vaccine,” backed by the likes of Bernie Sanders, is popular with three-quarters of British voters and almost two-thirds of French people polled by YouGov. As with a lot of the inoculation blame game, the truth is a little more complicated. The rich-poor divide is a glaring one that needs to be narrowed for many reasons, not least the epidemiological risk that new variants could better resist the vaccines we have. But lifting patent protection won’t on its own do the trick. Unlike in past crises such as HIV/AIDS, cracking open the recipe for Covid vaccines, especially those from Pfizer and Moderna Inc., is only half the battle given the complexity of genetic technologies making their debut in this pandemic. Manufacturing is a challenge too, and there isn’t much time for trial and error. Ken Shadlen, a professor at the London School Economics, last year warned it would be counter-productive to force companies to drop their patents if it discouraged the more essential step of sharing know-how and technology. This situation should not be allowed to fester, though. It’s not a sustainable solution to simply dismiss such proposals as “nonsense” and lobby rich countries to keep blocking them at the WTO, the path drugmakers seem to be walking. If manufacturing problems and inequitable distribution keep plaguing the vaccine rollout, pharma companies will keep getting the blame. Praise for their scientific research, which UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently attributed to a good kind of “greed,” could start ringing hollow. Fraying trust and an increasingly fraught relationship with governments — however hypocritical the rich world’s finger-pointing may be, given its hoarding of doses and nationalistic export curbs — would be bad in this pandemic and beyond. Instead, companies should take the hint and commit to more voluntary partnerships and technology transfer around the world to boost manufacturing, with incentives from their government backers to price the end-product affordably where needed. Countries don’t have to actually use the stick of immediate patent removal, but they can make clear that if vaccine producers don’t do the right thing now, “they risk punishment later,” as LSE’s Shadlen puts it — like intervention to ensure more affordable drug pricing in more normal times. Governments have their own role to play: As the text of a recent pandemic pledge signed by dozens of world leaders put it, there needs to be more “shared responsibility, transparency and cooperation.” That means more investment in manufacturing capacity and fewer beggar-thy-neighbor export curbs. We haven’t quashed this virus yet, and letting the pharma industry’s pandemic halo crash to the floor won’t help get us there any faster. Finding constructive ways to keep the public’s romance with drugmakers last a little longer makes sense, even if it doesn’t make money. Bloomberg
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2893636/lionel-laurent/vaccine-heroes-wake-bruising-reality
IMF Staff Reach Deal to Expand Jordan's Loan Program
Business
Asharq Al-Awsat
Jordanian police officers are seen at a checkpoint as people walk in the street after Jordan announced it would allow people to go on foot to buy groceries in neighborhood shops, amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Amman, Jordan March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed
The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it has reached a staff agreement with Jordan to expand the country's financing access by $200 million under an existing loan facility after a review found the program to be "firmly on track." The IMF said total disbursements to Jordan, including under the two-year Extended Fund Facility that launched in March 2020 and amounts drawn under emergency coronavirus loan facilities, would reach about $1.95 billion over the 2020-2024 period. The program was designed before the coronavirus outbreak, but the IMF said changes were made to support unbudgeted spending covering emergency outlays and medical supplies and equipment.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2891781/imf-staff-reach-deal-expand-jordans-loan-program
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat
An MEA flight attendant receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot. (EPA)
Lebanon could be on the verge of a community outbreak of the COVID-19 virus as the country continues to register a worrying increase in the number of daily infections and deaths. Meanwhile, officials call on the people to register for vaccination amid a low turnout and despite a slow delivery of the shots. Head of the health parliamentary committee, MP Dr. Assem Araji warned that the percentage of positive PCR tests is still very high, at around 18 percent, while the death rate is at an average of 45 daily. “Those numbers indicate that we are witnessing a community outbreak of the pandemic,” he said. Araji hoped that more people would sign up to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, although the company had slowed down its deliveries after its shots had come under scrutiny in Europe. “Lebanon was waiting to receive 93,000 doses of the vaccine, but it only received 33,000,” Araji revealed. Lebanon began its inoculation campaign in mid-February after finalizing a deal for some 2 million doses of the Pfizer shot. The country received more than 220,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses over the past six weeks with around 175,000 jabs already administered. Last week, 33,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines arrived to the country. Rafik Hariri Hospital Director Firas Abiad published a graph showing the number of COVID-19 deaths in the category of 75 plus age group. He said that fatalities from the pandemic usually happen four weeks after contracting the infection. “The peak in late January and early February is a consequence of gatherings and other activities during the end of last year,” he said, adding that the decline after that peak started before the vaccination drive, which underscores the benefits of restrictions. Abiad also revealed that early in March, two weeks after the start of the vaccination drive, the number of daily deaths had halved. “The vaccines will hopefully help cement these gains,” he said, adding that on Tuesday, three different vaccines were rolled out in Lebanon. “The numbers of those vaccinated will now rise rapidly. But we need to make the right conclusions and not celebrate early. Otherwise, we will repeat old mistakes,” Abiad wrote on his Twitter account.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2891771/signs-covid-19-community-outbreak-lebanon
Blinken Underscores US Support for Political Negotiations on Western Sahara
Arab World
Rabat - Asharq Al-Awsat
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a virtual meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres via videoconference from the State Department in Washington, US, March 29, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis/Pool
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has underscored US support for political negotiations on Western Sahara. His remarks were made on Monday during a virtual meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss US priorities at the United Nations. They focused on the ways in which they can work together to address regional and global challenges and strengthen the foundational principles and values of the UN and the multilateral system, including the protection of human rights and the dignity of every individual no matter their citizenship, ethnicity, religion, gender, or race. Blinken urged the Secretary-General to expedite the appointment of a Personal Envoy. Washington further insisted on its stance to recognize the sovereignty of Morocco over the Sahara. The US Secretary of State welcomed close coordination with the UN regarding the political settlement and the permanent and comprehensive ceasefire in Afghanistan as well as the need to renew and expand cross-border aid delivery in Syria. They discussed efforts in Ethiopia to secure greater humanitarian access across the country, the necessity for Eritrean forces to withdraw from Tigray, and the need for independent, international investigations into human rights abuses, noting the recent travel of Senator Christopher Coons as President Biden’s envoy. Blinken welcomed the new interim Government in Libya, underscored the importance of national elections in December of this year and the need for foreign forces to leave the country. He further pledged full support for UN Special Envoy Jan Kubis and the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). They agreed to continue close US-UN coordination on these and other matters.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2891766/blinken-underscores-us-support-political-negotiations-western-sahara
Renard Relieved as Saudi Arabia Remain Unbeaten in Qualifiers
Sports
Asharq Al-Awsat
Fans during the match as authorities allowed people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend sporting events. (SPA)
Herve Renard was relieved his Saudi Arabia side were able to overcome an unconvincing start to secure a 5-0 win over Palestine on Tuesday and maintain their unbeaten record in the second round of Asia's World Cup qualifying campaign. Saleh Al Shehri scored twice while Yasir Al Shahrani, Fahad Al Muwallad and Salem Al Dawsari were also on target for the three-time Asian champions, who moved top of Group D. The win was Saudi Arabia's third in five games and Renard's side lead Uzbekistan by two points with both nations having played five times. "We didn't start the match well," said Renard. "There was an opportunity for our opponent at the start of the match and they didn't take advantage of it, fortunately. We scored two goals in the first half, which ended well. "I congratulate the players on their performance, especially the young ones. "Our opponent relied on long passes and we are not very strong in dealing with these cases, but we performed well." Saudi Arabia had to wait until the 37th minute before Al Shahrani headed the home side into the lead and Al Muwallad doubled their advantage from close range six minutes later. Al Shehri netted twice in six minutes early in the second half and Al Dawsari completed the scoring from the penalty spot two minutes from time. Only the winners of the eight groups in the second round of Asia's qualifying tournament for next year's World Cup are certain to advance to the third phase. They will be joined by the four best runners-up. Asia has four guaranteed places available at the World Cup finals, with a potential fifth spot on offer via an international playoff. Saudi Arabia will host the remaining matches in Group D in June.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2891751/renard-relieved-saudi-arabia-remain-unbeaten-qualifiers
Asharq Al-Awsat
Pro-Trump rioters attempt to tear down a police barricade during the January 6 insurrection. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Two Capitol Police officers sued former US president Donald Trump Tuesday for inciting the January 6 insurrection that left dozens of their fellow officers injured and one dead. Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby said they suffered "physical and emotional injuries" in the riot they said was fomented by Trump, when he was in his final weeks as president and refusing to accept his election defeat. "The insurrectionists were spurred on by Trump’s conduct over many months in getting his followers to believe his false allegation that he was about to be forced out of the White House because of massive election fraud," they said in the suit filed in federal court in Washington. "The insurrectionist mob, which Trump had inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed, and aided and abetted, forced its way over and past the plaintiffs and their fellow officers, pursuing and attacking them." Blassingame, a 17-year veteran of the Capitol police force, said he incurred injuries to his head and back and suffers emotionally from the event. The African-American officer said he was subjected to racist attacks during the assault on Congress from the Trump supporters. Hemby, an 11-year officer, has hand and knee injuries after being crushed against Capitol building doors, and was sprayed in his face and on his body by chemical sprays in the attack, AFP reported. "Officer Hemby normally has a calm demeanor but has struggled to manage the emotional fallout from being relentlessly attacked," the suit says. The lawsuit compiles numerous instances in which it says Trump encouraged the insurrection. It accuses Trump of directing and abetting assault and battery and emotional distress, incitement to riot, and violating public safety statutes. The officers asked the court for compensatory damages of a minimum of $75,000 each and an unstated amount in punitive damages.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2891726/capitol-police-sue-trump-over-insurrection
