French protesters rally against COVID health pass

For the sixth straight Saturday, protesters march against the COVID health pass they describe as a restriction of freedom.

 

Thousands of people have marched in cities across France to protest the COVID-19 health pass that is now required to access restaurants and cafes, cultural venues, sports arenas and long-distance travel.

For a sixth straight weekend, opponents on Saturday denounced what they see as a restriction of their freedom. Many criticised the measure, claiming the French government was implicitly making vaccines obligatory and unfairly restricting the rights of the unvaccinated.

In Paris, four demonstrations were organised by different groups and more than 200 protests were taking place elsewhere in French cities and towns. Last week, more than 200,000 marchers turned out according to interior ministry figures, while organisers claim the real number is nearly double that.

The pass shows that people are fully vaccinated, have had a recent negative test or proof of a recent COVID-19 recovery. The law authorising it also made vaccinations mandatory for French health workers by September 15.

A man takes a selfie as he holds a placard during an anti-vaccination protest [Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP]

At the head of the Paris march in the early afternoon, a few hundred people held up flags and banners with the word “Liberty” on them while shouting “Macron! We don’t want your pass!”

The protest movement has brought together conspiracy theorists, antivaxers, former members of the “Yellow Vest” anti-government movement, as well as people concerned that the system unfairly creates a two-tier society.

Far-right leader Florian Philippot, who has accused Macron of turning France into a dictatorship and likened the health pass to apartheid, was at the Paris rally on Saturday.

Despite the protests, polls have shown that the majority of French people support the health pass. Millions have received their first vaccine shot since French President Emmanuel Macron announced the measure on July 12.

Since last month, France is registering a high number of infections – about 22,000 each day, a figure that has remained stable over the past week.

More than 47 million people in France, or 70.2 percent of the population, have received at least one vaccine shot and more than 40.5 million, or 60.5 percent, are fully vaccinated – a higher rate than in Germany and Italy and only slightly behind the United Kingdom.

Demonstrators hold up banners and placards, one of which reads as ‘No to the health pass’ during a national day of protest [Nicolas Tucat/AFP]

Surges in overseas territories

France’s severe COVID-19 hotpots are in its overseas territories, such as the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, as well as the Pacific islands of French Polynesia where the more infectious Delta variant has ripped through.

Polynesian authorities announced on Saturday that schools, restaurants and bars would close for two weeks, while a nightly curfew will be brought forward by an hour to 8pm.

Tourists have been told to stay in their hotels on the islands where the number of infections has increased by a multiple of 14 in two weeks, according to the head of the islands, Edouard Fritch.

France as a whole reported about 22,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, health ministry figures show.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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British military: 7 Afghans killed in chaos at Kabul airport

 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A panicked crush of people trying to enter Kabul’s international airport killed seven Afghan civilians in the crowds, the British military said Sunday, showing the danger still posed to those trying to flee the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

The deaths come as a new, perceived threat from the Islamic State group affiliate in Afghanistan has seen U.S. military planes do rapid, diving combat landings at the airport surrounded by Taliban fighters. Other aircraft have shot off flares on takeoff, an effort to confuse possible heat-seeking missiles targeting the planes.

The changes come as the U.S. Embassy issued a new security warning Saturday telling citizens not to travel to the Kabul airport without individual instruction from a U.S. government representative. Officials declined to provide more specifics about the IS threat but described it as significant. They said there have been no confirmed attacks as yet by the militants, who have battled the Taliban in the past.

On Sunday, the British military acknowledged the seven deaths of civilians in the crowds in Kabul. There have been stampedes and crushing injuries in the crowds, especially as Taliban fighters fire into the air to drive away those desperate to get on any flight out of the country.

“Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

On Saturday, British and Western troops in full combat gear tried to control the crowds pressing in. They carried away some who were sweating and pale. With temperatures reaching 34 degree Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit), the soldiers sprayed water from a hose on those gathered or gave them bottled water to pour over their heads.

“Listen sir, you need to calm down,” one soldier told a man laying in the dirt, as another gave him an orange liquid. “Calm down.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether those killed had been physically crushed, suffocated or suffered a fatal heart attack in the crowds. Soldiers covered several corpses in white clothes to hide them from view. Other troops stood atop concrete barriers or shipping containers, trying to calm the crowd. Gunshots occasionally rang out.

Speaking to an Iranian state television channel late Saturday night in a video call, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem blamed the deaths at the airport on the Americans in what quickly became a combative interview.

“The Americans announced that we would take you to America with us and people gathered at Kabul airport,” Naeem said. “If it was announced right now in any country in the world, would people not go?”

The host on Iranian state TV, which long has criticized America since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, quickly said: “It won’t happen in Iran.”

Naeem responded: “Be sure this will happen anywhere.”

Thousands rushed the airport last Monday in chaos that saw the U.S. try to clear off the runway with low-flying attack helicopters. Several Afghans plunged to their deaths while hanging off the side of a U.S. military cargo plane. It’s been difficult to know the full scale of the deaths and injuries from the chaos.

The Biden administration is considering calling on U.S. commercial airlines to provide planes and crews to assist in transporting Afghan refugees once they are evacuated from their country by military aircraft. Under the voluntary Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, civilian airlines add to military aircraft capability during a crisis related to national defense. That program was born in the wake of the Berlin airlift.

The U.S. Transportation Command said Saturday it had issued a warning order to U.S. carriers Friday night on the possible activation of the program. If called upon, commercial airlines would transport evacuees from way stations outside Afghanistan to another country or from Virginia’s Dulles International Airport to U.S. military bases.

Meanwhile, the Taliban’s top political leader arrived in Kabul for talks on forming a new government. The presence of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who returned to Kandahar earlier this week from Qatar, was confirmed by a Taliban official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the news media. Baradar negotiated the militants’ 2020 peace deal with the U.S., and he is now expected to play a key role in negotiations between the Taliban and officials from the Afghan government that the militant group deposed.

Afghan officials familiar with talks held in the capital say the Taliban have said they will not make announcements on their government until the Aug. 31 deadline for the U.S. troop withdrawal passes.

Abdullah Abdullah, a senior official in the ousted government, tweeted that he and ex-President Hamid Karzai met Saturday with Taliban’s acting governor for Kabul, who “assured us that he would do everything possible for the security of the people” of the city.

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Facebook plans to introduce crypto wallet Novi

 Washington, Aug. 20, (dpa-AFX/GNA) – Social media network Facebook announced that it is going to introduce its cryptocurrency wallet named Novi Digital Wallet.

The wallet will be tied to the Diem Blockchain system.

David Marcus, Facebook’s financial services chief and a board member of Diem, argued that the present cash-run economy has left 1.7 billion people “unbanked or underbanked” and still the process is extremely slow.

“Change is long overdue. It’ll happen one way or another. Novi is ready to come to market. We feel that it’s unreasonable to delay delivering the benefits of cheaper, interoperable, more accessible digital payments,” said Marcus.

The Diem program was originally planned to launch in the first half of 2021 but it was postponed due to the constant government scrutiny of Facebook. Originally named Libra, Diem is a stable coin that turns the money added to the digital wallet into a digital currency and makes it easy to send worldwide.

Facebook, as a payment platform, has already made more than 100 billion dollars worth of transactions in 55 currencies.

Trying to debunk the common cryptocurrency myths, Marcus wrote, “It’s a misconception that digital assets are by definition anonymous. Built and configured the right way, stablecoins and wallets put customer due diligence at the center of their approach to compliance.”

According to his post, the company is trying to comply with the regulators. “It has addressed every legitimate concern that was raised on its journey to design and build a high-quality stablecoin with extensive consumer protections, and a highly compliant payments network to support it – all within the US regulatory perimeter.”

GNA

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Texas Lt. Gov. Falsely Blames Black People For State’s Low Vaccination Rates

Dan Patrick is under fire for racist — and untrue — comments he made to Fox News host Laura Ingraham Thursday night.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick should be trying to find ways to get more Texans vaccinated against COVID-19, but he seems more interested in finding scapegoats.

During an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday, Patrick blamed Texas’ low vaccination rates on the Lone Star state’s Black population ― oh, and on Democrats.

“Democrats like to blame Republicans” for low vaccination rates, Patrick complained before falsely saying that “the biggest group in most states are African-Americans who have not been vaccinated.”

 

“The last time I checked, over 90% of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties,” he added.

 

Black people are not, as Patrick claimed, the biggest group of unvaccinated people in most states. Texas has 5.6 million unvaccinated white people, versus 1.9 million unvaccinated Black people, according to the Texas Tribune. A Kaiser Family Foundation report published this week found that white adults account for the largest share of unvaccinated adults in the U.S.

And while Patrick said that Republicans aren’t going to force the vaccine on people who don’t want it, he also blasted Democrats for “doing nothing for the African-American community that has a significant high number of unvaccinated.”

As of Aug. 13, Black Texans, who make up 11.8% of Texas’ population, accounted for 16.4% of the state’s coronavirus cases and 10.2% of coronavirus-related deaths, according to The Washington Post.

Black and Hispanic people are still less likely than white people to have received a vaccine, leaving them disproportionately at risk during the pandemic. There are various systemic reasons for this. But the Kaiser Family Foundation says that unvaccinated adults in those communities are also far more open to receiving a vaccine than unvaccinated white adults: Only 26% of unvaccinated Black and Hispanic adults said they will “definitely not” get a shot, versus 65% of unvaccinated white adults.

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Lebanon to raise fuel prices in bid to ease crippling shortages

 Lebanese leaders hold emergency meeting, decide to change the exchange rate used to price petroleum products.

Fuel prices in Lebanon are expected to double after the country’s leaders decided on Saturday to change the exchange rate used to price petroleum products in a bid to ease crippling shortages.

Amounting to a partial reduction in fuel subsidies, the rise will mean more hardship in a country where poverty levels have soared during a two-year-long financial meltdown that has wiped more than 90 percent off the value of the Lebanese pound.

The decision was made at an emergency meeting attended by the president, central bank governor and other officials over a fuel crisis that has left Lebanon in chaos, paralysing basic services and sparking daily melees as people scramble for fuel.

Though prices will rise, the decision did not fully lift the exchange rate for pricing fuel to the exchange rate at which the central bank will finance its import – a gap which the state will continue to finance, for now.

A statement said the central bank will open an account for that purpose up to a maximum of $225m until the end of September – funds the government will have to pay back in the 2022 budget.

The account was to cover an “urgent and exception subsidy” for gasoline, fuel oil and cooking gas, the bank said.

The fuel subsidy would only continue until the end of September, a ministerial source said.

President Michel Aoun confirmed the treasury would bear the cost of the continued subsidy.

The fuel crisis worsened this month when the central bank said it could no longer finance fuel imports at heavily subsidised exchange rates and would switch to market rates.

The government objected, refusing to change official selling prices, creating a standoff that left importers in limbo and caused supplies to dry up across the country.

Saturday’s decision marked a compromise as official selling prices will now be based on an exchange rate of 8,000 pounds to the dollar, up from 3,900, but still well below an unofficial parallel market rate closer to 20,000 pounds.

Roads have been clogged across Lebanon as motorists have queued for the little gasoline left. Prices have soared on the black market. Some confrontations over gasoline have turned deadly.

The fuel oil that powers much of Lebanon has also nearly run out, leading to lengthy blackouts.

Reflecting concern about the effect of the price rise, the government decided to pay emergency social assistance to people on the public payroll equal to one month’s pay or pension.

While the government will adjust its fuel import exchange rate to 8,000 pounds to the dollar, the central bank uses a rate determined by its Sayrafa platform which stood at 16,500 pounds on Friday.

Central bank governor Riad Salameh told Reuters the difference between the two rates would be a loss to be carried by the government.

Critics blame the subsidy system for encouraging smuggling to Syria. This will continue all the while fuel is sold in Lebanon below market price, said Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank. “It is not going to solve the problem,” he said.

SOURCE: REUTERS

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Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson hospitalised with COVID-19

 Jackson, who is vaccinated against the virus, and his wife Jacqueline are being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalised after testing positive for COVID-19.

Jackson, 79, is vaccinated against the virus and received his first dose in January during a publicised event as he urged others to receive the inoculation as soon as possible. He and his wife, 77, are being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

“Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” according to a Saturday statement from Jesse Jackson’s nonprofit, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

“There are no further updates at this time,” the statement added, noting anyone who was in the vicinity of the couple in recent days should follow public health guidance.

Jackson, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017, has spent decades advocating for the rights of Black Americans and other minorities dating back to the turmoil of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, spearheaded by his mentor Martin Luther King.

Jackson has remained active and has advocated for COVID-19 vaccines for Black people, who lag behind white people in the United States’ vaccination drive.

“For understandable reasons … African Americans harbor suspicions about scientists and vaccines,” a statement in January said, adding, however, if they “decline to be vaccinated, all will remain at risk”.

Delta spreading rapidly

Earlier this month, he was arrested outside the US Capitol during a demonstration calling for Congress to end the filibuster in order to support voting rights.

COVID-19 vaccines are free and widely available in the United States, though only half of the total population is fully vaccinated.

The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly worldwide and in the US, where the seven-day average of new cases has risen to 133,000 a day, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Hospitalisations in the US are averaging more than 11,000 per day and daily deaths from COVID-19 have risen to 641, according to the CDC.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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