For Republicans, 2021 Is The Year To Target Trans Kids

 Dozens of states have introduced bills to limit medical care to transgender youth or keep trans kids from playing on school sports teams.

Republican-controlled legislatures across the country have introduced dozens of bills targeting transgender youth, building on conservative dog whistles and putting some of the country’s most vulnerable at risk, human rights groups say.

The bills fall into two main categories: At least 17 states are considering laws that would limit access to health care for young transgender Americans, and 28 more have bills excluding trans kids from school sports, according to a tally by the American Civil Liberties Union.

So far, the effort is working. Bills prohibiting children from playing on sports teams in line with their gender identity have already been passed in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee — and other measures are moving forward as well.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) went so far as to say she was “excited” when such a bill passed in her state. She later declined to sign it, saying she was worried about legal challenges, and instead issued a pair of executive orders she said would “protect” sports teams this week.

“Only girls should play girls’ sports,” Noem said Monday.

The push to roll back freedoms for transgender kids amounts to a dramatic uptick in exclusionary legislation by GOP lawmakers that builds on the far-right push to establish anti-trans bathroom laws, human rights groups say.

“We are truly witnessing an escalation of attacks on trans people, unlike anything I’ve ever seen in government,” Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the ACLU, told Democracy Now. “I think what we’re seeing today in state legislatures is a particular effort to pivot from the anti-trans restroom bills into a new form of regulation of trans young people and trans bodies.”

The ACLU has pledged to file suit against such bills, and a judge overturned legislation in Idaho last year that sought to exclude transgender girls from girls sports teams. But studies show that a vast majority of trans youth feel unsafe at home and at school, Strangio said, and ongoing efforts will only contribute to that.

President Joe Biden has moved quickly to undo some of the Trump administration’s efforts to exclude transgender people from everyday life, including lifting a ban on trans service members in the military on Wednesday. But efforts to target young trans people have multiplied this year. Republicans have often worked in conjunction with religious conservative groups to repackage anti-trans legislation and use it toward their larger fight against political correctness, The New York Times notes.

This bevy of legislation relies heavily on misinformation and negative tropes about transgender people, and flies in the face of medical advice.

After the Arkansas legislature overwhelmingly passed a harmful bill that would prohibit doctors from providing medically necessary treatment to trans youth, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said it was a “dangerous” attempt to politicize medicine.

“This is discrimination by legislation and transgender children and all children deserve better,” Dr. Lee Beers said. “It puts politicians rather than pediatricians in charge of a child’s medical care.”

The Arkansas bill, titled the Save Adolescents From Experimentation, or SAFE, Act, leans heavily on conservative dog whistles about transgender people. LGBTQ rights groups have called on the state’s Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, to veto it. Hutchinson has not said whether he supports the bill, but he signed the bill prohibiting transgender girls from competing on sports teams last week.

The National Center for Transgender Equality said the Arkansas legislature’s decision was putting young people at risk.

“They would deny them live-saving, appropriate health care not because it’s good public policy but because politicians believe that it will bring them more power,” said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director for the group. “We need to remember that these are children. All children deserve to have access to the support and health care they need to live happy and healthy lives.”

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Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan launch new Nile dam talks in DRC

 The African Union is mediating the three-day talks in Kinshasa as dispute between the three countries drags on.

A new round of African Union-mediated talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan has begun aimed at resolving a years-long dispute over a massive dam built by Addis Ababa on the Blue Nile, a main tributary of the Nile river.

The three-day talks that kicked off on Saturday are taking place in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the current chair of the AU.

Foreign and irrigation ministers of the three nations were attending the talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), along with AU experts, according to Ethiopia’s Irrigation Minister Seleshi Bekele.

A Sudanese diplomat was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency that the experts from the three countries and the AU met on Saturday, ahead of ministers who would meet on Sunday and Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to brief media.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Cairo wants the negotiations to eventually lead to a legally binding agreement over the operation and filling of the dam’s giant reservoir.

Sudan said it would take part in the Kinshasa round with an aim of agreeing on a “negotiating approach” to ensure the talks would be constructive. That would include an Egyptian-backed Sudanese proposal for the United States, European Union and United Nations to actively mediate in the dispute, along with the AU.

Ethiopia has rejected the proposal, saying it “believes in resolving African problems by Africans”.

The dispute centres on the speed at which a planned reservoir is filled behind the dam, the method of its annual replenishment and how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs. Another point of difference is how the three countries would settle any future disputes.

Downstream countries Egypt and Sudan want a legally binding agreement on the dam’s filling and operation, while Ethiopia insists on guidelines.

The three countries have been locked for almost a decade in inconclusive talks over the GERD, which broke ground in 2011.

The talks in Kinshasa come a few days after Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said his country’s share of Nile River waters were “untouchable” – a stark warning apparently to Ethiopia, which is preparing for another stage of the dam’s filling later this year.

El-Sisi warned on Tuesday of “instability that no one can imagine” in the region if the dam’s reservoir is filled and operated without a legally binding agreement.

Bekele, the Ethiopian minister, said his country “as always is determined for principled, equitable and reasonable utilization without causing significant harm,” according to Ethiopia’s official news agency.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country with more than 100 million people, depends on the Nile for almost all of its water needs. It fears that a quick fill would drastically reduce the river’s flow, with potentially severe effects on its agriculture and other sectors.

Ethiopia says GERD is essential for its development, arguing that the vast majority of its population lacks electricity. The dam will generate more than 6,400 megawatts of electricity, a massive boost to the country’s current production of 4,000 megawatts.

Sudan wants Ethiopia to coordinate and share data on the dam’s operation to avoid flooding and protect its own power-generating dams on the Blue Nile.

The Blue Nile meets with the White Nile in central Sudan. From there the Nile winds northward through Egypt and flows into the Mediterranean Sea.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Indonesia: 17 missing in cargo ship, fishing boat collision

 Divers scour waters of the Java Sea for 17 fishermen reported missing after their boat capsized.

A collision between a cargo ship and a fishing boat has left 17 people missing off Indonesia’s main island of Java, officials said.

Fifteen crew of the fishing boat, the Barokah Jaya, were evacuated after Saturday’s crash, but five divers are searching for the remaining 17, Yusuf Latif, the spokesman of the agency, Basarnas, said in a statement on Sunday.

“We’re still conducting the search,” Yusuf said, adding that an agency rescue ship had taken the survivors on board.

The crash happened at 09:30 GMT, Yusuf said.

The other vessel was the bulk carrier Habco Pioneer, which has a capacity of nearly 30,000 tonnes. Both vessels are Indonesia-flagged.

There were no reports of casualties or missing crew on the Habco Pioneer, owned by tugboats and barges company PT Habco Primatama.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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Argentina’s president tests positive for COVID-19

 Alberto Fernandez, who received the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus jab earlier this year, says he is in ‘good spirits’.

The president of Argentina, who was vaccinated against COVID-19 earlier this year, has announced that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Alberto Fernandez tweeted late on Friday that he had a light fever, but said he was in good spirits.

The president, who turned 62 on Friday, received a jab of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in January.

“Although I would have liked to end my birthday without this news, I am also in good spirits,” said Fernandez, who is in isolation as a precaution.

“We must be very vigilant. I ask everyone to take care of themselves by following the current recommendations. It is evident the pandemic did not pass and we must continue to take care of ourselves,” Fernandez also said on Twitter.

Argentina was the third country in the world to approve the Sputnik V jabs – after Russia and Belarus – and it began administering doses in late December.

The Gamaleya Institute, which developed the Russian vaccine, tweeted to Fernandez, saying that Sputnik V is 91.6 percent effective against infection and 100 percent effective against severe coronavirus cases.

“If the infection is indeed confirmed and occurs, the vaccination ensures quick recovery without severe symptoms. We wish you a quick recovery!” the institute said.

In a statement later on Saturday, the president’s doctor confirmed his positive diagnosis. “The clinical picture is mild due in large part to the protective effect of the vaccine received,” said Federico Saavedra.

Argentina, which has recorded at least 2.3 million COVID-19 cases and more than 56,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data, was roiled by a vaccine scandal this year.

Former Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia resigned in February after reports emerged that people were using their connections to jump the vaccination queue. Many Argentinians took to the streets in protest over what was dubbed the VIP vaccine scandal.

Several countries across Latin America currently are experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths, while hospitals and other healthcare facilities in some places are being stretched to their limits.

Last week, the head of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned that the region could see a worse spike in coronavirus infections than the one it experienced last year.“Without preventive action, our region could face an upsurge even larger than the last one,” Carissa Etienne told reporters on March 31.

“So, let me be as clear as possible. My main guidance for places experiencing surges in transmission can be summarised in two words: stay home.”

In Argentina, the pandemic has also worsened poverty rates, with official data released last week finding that about 12 million people living in urban areas were unable to afford basic food or essential services in the second half of last year.

The poverty rate rose from 40.9 percent to 42 percent within a year in 31 large cities, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, while more than 57 percent of children up to age 14 lived in poverty.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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