COVID-19: ANGOLA REQUESTS INDIA SUPPORT FOR VACCINES

 Foreign Minister Teté António requested the support of the Indian ambassador, Pratibha Parkar, to influence her government to make Angola one of the priorities in acquiring vaccines against Covid-19, without constraints, as part of good bilateral relations.

In his speech, on the 72nd anniversary of Indian Republic, marked Tuesday (26), the diplomat said that after the difficulty the country faced in buying biosafety material, he would not like the scenario to be repeated with the vaccines.

As a non-permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council (SC), the Angolan diplomat asked the ambassador for her country to continue advocating for the interests of Africans, as they were not represented on the body.

He noted that Angola had contributed a great deal to peace in the region, and therefore also expected India's support so that the continent's new challenges would be reflected in the Security Council when necessary. He thanked the Indians for their contribution to the economic development of the country, through the jobs they have created for Angolans.

On that occasion, the Indian ambassador, Pratibha Parkar, announced that bilateral trade had seen a noticeable increase over the last three years, as compared to previous years, specifying that it had reached US$4.0-4.5 billion, in Angola's favour.

According to the diplomat, his country's imports are US$3.7 billion, whilst he exports them to Angola.

COVID-19: ANGOLA REPORTS 92 NEW CASES, 90 RECOVERIES

 Angola has recorded 92 new cases, 90 recovered patients and 2 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Among those recovered, according to the epidemiological report, 32 new cases were diagnosed in Huambo, 22 in Luanda, 14 in Cabinda, 7 in Huíla, 7 in Cuanza Sul, 3 in Bié, 2 in Bengo, 2 in Zaire, 2 in Moxico and 1 in Lunda Norte.

The new patients are aged between 2 months and 82 years, 53 men and 32 women.

The recovered patients are 26 in Luanda, 13 in Lunda Norte, 11 in Bié, 10 in Huambo, 10 in Uíge, 8 in Zaire, 7 in Kwanza Sul, 3 in Huíla, 1 in Lunda Sul and 1 in Moxico, aged between 1 and 87 years.

Both deaths were recorded in Huila province.

Gambian youth fatally shoots own mother in Harlem for asking him to get a job

 A Gambian youth, Musa Camara, 22, fatally shot his mother Jaiteh Fatuuomat, 39, on Tuesday just after 9 p.m at the family’s East Harlem apartment — despite her having a protective order and a panic button inside the home, according to authorities and family members.

Fatuuomat had a domestic violence panic alarm in the home, which she may have hit prior to being shot, cops said.

The grisly slaying comes less than six months after Camara allegedly threatened to kill her inside the same apartment, court records revealed.

In a fit of rage, he allegedly grabbed her landline phone and smashed it into pieces then slammed his body against her, according to a criminal complaint. “I will kill you,” he allegedly seethed. A judge issued an order of protection barring Camara from having any contact with Fatuuomat. The charges were dropped at a hearing Tuesday because Fatuuomat had stopped cooperating with authorities, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told the Post.

Camara was busted in August 2020 on one count each of criminal mischief, attempted assault and harassment after his mom called the cops on him.

Camara fled his mom’s home after the shooting and wound up a few blocks away on East 100th Street, where he fired several shots at a 29-year-old man, but missed.   It’s not clear why he fired at the second victim.

Police finally stopped Camara at 110th Street and Madison Avenue, cops said. He tried to pull his gun on them, but officers tackled him before he could fire.

Once he was taken to the police station, Camara began acting bizarrely, removing all his clothing inside the cells, cops said.

He was not immediately charged and was taken to Metropolitan Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Yankuba Sangarie, one of the victim’s brothers, said his sister was from The Gambia and came to the U.S. in the 90s. “She is an immigrant in this country, come and look for a better life and she got killed by her own son,” said Sangarie.“ I want him to go the rest of his life in prison,” the grieving brother said, stopping mid-sentence in tears. “My nephew- I want him to go live in prison, no mercy for him.”

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says ‘The Enemy Is Within’ the House of Representatives

 “We have members of Congress who want to bring guns to the floor and have threatened violence on other members,” said the speaker.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that lawmakers will likely need to pass legislation to provide better security for themselves amid heightened concerns that they may be violently attacked ― possibly by one of their own colleagues.

“We will probably need a supplemental [spending bill] for more security for members when the enemy is within the House, a threat that members are concerned about in addition to what is happening outside,” she said during her weekly press conference.

Asked to clarify what she meant by “the enemy is within,” Pelosi didn’t mince words.

“It means that we have members of Congress who want to bring guns to the [House] floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress,” she said.

Hours earlier, more than 30 lawmakers had written to her and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) asking if they can use their congressional allowances to hire security personnel to protect themselves at home. The letter came three weeks after the U.S. Capitol insurrection when lawmakers narrowly averted what could have been a massacre carried out by a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters intent on hunting down members of Congress to stop them from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral win.

As if there weren’t already enough tension after the Capitol attack, which left five people dead, some members of Congress no longer feel safe around each other.

Last week, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) set off newly installed metal detectors when he tried to bring a gun onto the House floor, which is prohibited. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has said she’ll carry a gun around Washington, D.C., which does not allow the open carrying of a firearm, and Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) told his local paper that he was armed when the insurrectionists stormed the Capitol.

Just this week, CNN unearthed Facebook posts by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a strong Trump ally, that supported disturbing conspiracy theories and “liked” social media posts suggesting the execution of Pelosi, among others.

On top of that, some Democrats have accused Trump allies in Congress of giving Capitol tours mere days before the insurrection, which might have amounted to “reconnaissance” for the rioters before they attacked the building. (Even before the insurrection, Capitol tours were banned because of the coronavirus pandemic.) Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) specifically said he saw Boebert giving tours, which she has denied.

Those are pretty serious allegations, but there is currently no evidence that GOP lawmakers gave advance building tours to Trump rioters. A spokesperson for the U.S. Capitol Police said only, “That matter is under investigation.”

Pelosi said Thursday that most of the security requests made in the lawmakers’ letter have already been put into effect. The sergeant at arms is meeting with members of Congress later in the day to go over new safety measures, she said, and then she will be receiving an interim report from retired Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré, whom she tasked with leading a review of Capitol security after the Jan. 6 attack.

The speaker lamented that lawmakers are afraid for their lives as they try to do their jobs and said that ultimately Trump is to blame.

“It shouldn’t be that not only is the president of the United States inciting an insurrection but keeps fanning the flame, endangering the security of members of Congress, to the point that they’re even concerned about members in the House of Representatives being a danger to them,” Pelosi said.

India: Childbirth dangerous for women in rural Kashmir during winters

 As heavy snowfall blocks roads, villagers make treacherous journeys to access even rudimentary healthcare facilities.

As snow fell thickly on Zirkan village, deep in the forests of Indian-administered Kashmir’s Shopian district, Akhtar Jan struggled as her contractions became more intense.

It was the frail 32-year-old woman’s fourth birth and as her labour progressed, she knew the journey to the nearby hospital would be nearly impossible for her.

Akhtar’s family tried frantically to clear the snow off the village road, surrounded by tall pine trees and muffled by piles of snow from the season’s worst snowstorm on January 4.

As desperation grew, the family, helped by neighbours, had to carry Akhtar on a makeshift stretcher on a nightmarish 12-km (7-mile) journey.

They struggled to walk on the road, which was practically indiscernible under the snow.

“I thought I would die,” Akhtar told Al Jazeera at her home last week. “I was unsure whether I will come back alive with the child or not.”

Akhtar could not make it to the hospital on time and delivered a baby boy on the road.

“It seemed a long journey to live as I withered in pain in the biting cold,” she said, adding that the experience has haunted her since.

As it continued to snow and temperatures fell to freezing, Akhtar and her newborn, wrapped in a blanket, continued their journey on the makeshift stretcher till they reached the hospital.

“We face such instances here and at times one curses why a woman is born in such a difficult situation,” she said.

While Akthar and her child – named Ishfaq which means kindness – were fortunate to survive, the hardships of living in this remote Himalayan region did not end for them.

Akhtar is a Gujjar, one of a nomadic tribe of herders who live a precarious life with rudimentary access to healthcare services.

After a six-day stay in the hospital, Akhtar’s family rented a vehicle that dropped them nearly 5km (3 miles) away from their home, leaving her to walk uphill as the snow on the road was not yet cleared.

“I was not in a condition to walk but I had no other option,” she said.

In winters, public transport is not available on village roads, forcing the villagers to negotiate slippery roads and snow on their own.

“These difficulties for women like us living in far-flung areas are always there and no one cares about it. It’s difficult to reach the hospital,” said 28-year-old Zaytoona Begum, Akhtar’s neighbour.

“If any elder person falls sick or a child is unwell, it becomes really stressful for everyone.”

US calls for withdrawal of Russian, Turkish forces from Libya

 US ambassador calls on Russia, Turkey and the UAE to immediately cease military intervention in Libya after deadline for foreign troops to withdraw passed.

The United States has called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian and Turkish forces from Libya after a deadline for them to leave was ignored.

Under an UN-backed ceasefire signed in October last year, foreign troops and mercenaries were to pull out of Libya within three months.

That deadline passed on Saturday with no movement announced or observed on the ground.

“We call on all external parties, to include Russia, Turkey and the UAE, to respect Libyan sovereignty and immediately cease all military intervention in Libya,” the acting US ambassador Richard Mills said on Thursday during a UN Security Council meeting on Libya, which has seen a decade of fighting since the overthrow of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

“Per the October ceasefire agreement, we call on Turkey and Russia to immediately initiate the withdrawal of their forces from the country and the removal of the foreign mercenaries and military proxies that they have recruited, financed, deployed and supported in Libya,” said Mills.

The statement comes a year after a Berlin summit brought together backers of the main warring factions in Libya, with world leaders pledging to end foreign interference and work towards a permanent ceasefire.

Reporting from the UN, Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays said that latest developments were likely to “concentrate minds in Turkey and the UAE about how they will deal with the new Biden administration”.

He highlighted that the White House put on hold an arms sales deal agreed by the Trump administration to sell 50 F-35 fighter jets to the UAE.

Women are on COVID global front line, but left behind in recovery

 A new poll of 17,000 people in 17 countries found that the majority believe the coronavirus pandemic has set back progress on equal rights.

Seven in 10 workers on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic are female yet women are left out of many COVID-19 response and recovery plans, according to a global survey published on Thursday.

The survey, by New York-based women’s rights advocacy group Women Deliver and Paris-based research organization Focus 2030, gathered the views of 17,000 men and women in 17 countries.

Most wanted women to have a greater say and worried the pandemic had set back progress on equal rights.

“People around the world recognise that gender equality is an issue of our time and that it is an issue that has been [made] more urgent by COVID-19,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, head of UN Women, at a virtual launch.

Eight in 10 respondents said women should be involved in COVID-19 health response and recovery efforts at all levels, including in the development of policies and treatments.

Yet while women account for 70 percent of front-line workers, including in teaching and healthcare roles, the world’s response to the coronavirus crisis has largely failed to include women, researchers found.

The poll cited research showing that in 30 countries, women account for just a quarter of decision-makers on COVID-19 response panels that are tasked with determining how to handle the health emergency and its economic fallout.

Just 20 percent of the World Health Organization’s emergency committee members are women, it said, even though “preliminary evidence” revealed response efforts had better results when women are involved.

Research by the World Bank and United Nations shows that fallout from the pandemic weighs on women in a host of ways, such as rising levels of domestic violence or lower earnings as some women are forced to cut back on paid work to take on care duties at home.

Mlambo-Ngcuka said the long-term fallout is a concern.

“We know that COVID-19 threatens to roll back even the limited and hard-won gains that women have made,” she said.

An additional 47 million women worldwide will fall into extreme poverty — living on less than $1.90 a day — in 2021 because they are over-represented in hard-hit sectors, such as domestic and restaurant workers, according to the UN.

“We have to demand [that] relief measures are targeted to women and girls,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Eight in 10 people surveyed, men included, believe improving women’s rights is a priority, with that figure rising to 90 percent and higher in Kenya, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa and India.

Three in five respondents said tackling gender equality is essential to end poverty and want their governments to do more.

The top priority for respondents is tackling gender-based violence, including online harassment, sexual assault, forced and child marriage and female genital mutilation.

Respondents to the poll identified three main drivers of inequality: unequal distribution of unpaid care, different work opportunities and the role of religion and culture.

“This survey shows us where the world has fallen short, but it also delivers the encouraging news that the vast majority of women and men around the world expect their leaders to take action to advance gender equality,” Divya Mathew, senior manager of policy and advocacy at Women Deliver, said in a statement.