India hits 1 billion vaccine doses,worries about gap between shots

India has administered 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, officials said Thursday, a milestone for the South Asian country where the delta variant fueled a crushing surge earlier this year. About 75% of India’s total eligible adult population has received at least one dose, while around 30% is fully immunized. The country of nearly 1.4 billion people is the second to exceed a billion cumulative doses after China, the most populous country, did so in June.

Coronavirus cases have fallen sharply in India since the devastating months at the start of the year when the highly transmissible delta variant, first detected in the country a year ago, was infecting hundreds of thousands daily, sending patients into overwhelmed hospitals and filling cremation grounds. India confirmed more than 18,400 new cases today. Active cases make up less than 1% of its total caseload, now more than 34 million, including over 450,000 deaths, according to the health ministry. Officials have bolstered the vaccination campaign in recent months, which experts say has helped control the outbreak. The country began its drive in January. Still, there remains a worrying gap between those who have received just one shot and those fully immunized. India earlier said it aimed to vaccinate all eligible adults by the end of the year, but experts say the current pace of immunizations will need to increase to meet this goal.

India, an important supplier of vaccines globally, halted exports in April as cases at home surged and only resumed exports earlier this month. The government is now optimistic that the country’s rising vaccine supply will be enough to cover its international and domestic commitments.

Both of the two main suppliers have ramped up production, with the Serum Institute now producing around 220 million doses a month and Bharat Biotech about 30 million, Paul said.

Experts say the vaccine situation will need constant review. “There can be no written-in-stone rule — if infections rise drastically, they can again stop exports until there’s enough doses,” said K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India.

In recent months, life in India has swung back to normal. Markets are buzzing with activity, tourists can enter the country after a 19-month hiatus and the country is gearing up to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

But there are fears this could be a lull before a storm. Even though India may have borne the brunt of the delta variant already, things could escalate quickly if a new variant emerges — either from within the country or outside.

 

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EU summit to load pressure on Poland over rule of law

European Union leaders pressured a defiant Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki Thursday to fall back into line on recognising that EU law trumps national decision-making, hoping that dialogue will stave off a fundamental crisis in the bloc.

Morawiecki instead painted a picture of an overbearing union treating its 27 member nations as mere provinces, taking control of even more powers while imposing its values at will against the wishes of sovereign peoples.

Facing the threat of losing out on tens of billions of EU funds because of his stance, he countered that Poland “will not act under the pressure of blackmail”.

Almost all other countries countered that respecting common rules and values is essential in the bloc if it is not to unravel and lose political and economic clout in the world.

Beyond holding up Poland’s access to billions of euros in help revive its economy in the wake of the pandemic, the EU’s executive arm can also start infringement procedures, or activate a mechanism allowing the suspension of other EU payments to a member country breaching the principles of the rule of law.

If the sniping and accusations continue unchecked, it could turn into the biggest institutional crisis for the EU since the United Kingdom decided to leave five years ago.Despite the bellicose language by several leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a long-time champion of compromise, warned against a protracted political and legal fight that could hurt everyone, especially at a time when the bloc is trying to emerge from the biggest economic crisis in its history.

France threw itself behind Merkel. Ahead of the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron had a brief meeting with Morawiecki. He told him he is concerned about the situation and also asked the Polish prime minister to engage in a dialogue to find “a solution compatible with our common principles and rules,” the Elysee said.

Morawiecki also appeared to shy back from some of the harsh language used in the European Parliament on Tuesday. “We are ready for dialogue,” he said. “We will of course talk about how to resolve the current disputes in agreement and in dialogue.”

He said the key quarrel was about EU claims for legal primacy in areas where he argued that the bloc does not have competence.

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African envoys head to Eswatini as another protester killed

One person died and at least 80 people were injured in pro-democracy protests in Eswatini Wednesday, a union leader said, as African nations deployed envoys to try to stem the unrest.

Gunfire was heard into the night in the capital Mbabane, and the civil servants’ union NAPSAWU said at least one man had been shot dead earlier in the day.

Fifty of its members were taken to hospital in the capital Mbabane, with another 30 hospitalised in the city of Manzini, including some with gunshot wounds, he added.

Hundreds of soldiers and police began fanning through both cities early in the day, firing teargas at even small gatherings of people and unleashing volleys of rubber bullets, an AFP correspondent saw.

The kingdom — formerly known as Swaziland — again shut down the internet as images of the violence began circulating on social media.

As the violence again escalated, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with King Mswati III by telephone on Wednesday morning, Pretoria’s high commission said in a statement.

Ramaphosa currently chairs the security organ of the Southern African Development Community. The statement said Ramaphosa had ordered high-level envoys to fly to Eswatini to meet the king on Thursday afternoon.

The Internet went offline at noon, as students, transport workers and civil servants extended protests that have ground the tiny nation to a halt for more than two weeks.

“This is a recipe for war,” said Wonder Mkhonza, head of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland.

“The king is fighting for a war, he is making the country ungovernable by deploying the armed forces.”

The Internet shutdown made it difficult to share information about the protests, or to alert the families of the wounded and dead.

Heavily armed soldiers and police were seen on the streets, while one Mbabane high school caught fire, sending plumes of smoke billowing over the city.

At least 29 people have now died this year as police clashed with protesters in some of the worst unrest in the southern African country’s history.

King Mswati III has ruled this landlocked nation since 1986 and owns shares in all of the country’s telecoms.

He is criticised for living a lavish lifestyle in one of the world’s poorest countries and is also accused of stifling political parties.

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NFL to end race-based testing in dementia payouts

The NFL has agreed to end race-based testing for compensation claims made by ex-players suffering from dementia, documents filed with a US court show.

It follows revelations that the previous testing system was based on a formula that assumed black players have a lower level of cognitive function.

This “race-norming” made it harder for black players to prove they suffered from injuries linked to their careers.

The draft agreement means thousands retirees may qualify for compensation.

The 46-page document pledges that: “No Race Norms or Race Demographic Estimates — whether Black or White — shall be used in the Settlement Program going forward.”

Around 1,435 players, many of whom are black, will now be given the chance to have their tests rescored, or in some cases, seek a new round of cognitive testing.

A panel of experts will also develop a new standard that will apply to all future tests under the scheme, any claims that have not yet been ruled on and all claims that are currently on appeal.

The vast majority of the league’s players – over 60% of living retirees and 70% of active players – are black.

Under race-norming, the NFL compared a player’s cognitive test scores with the supposed norm for his demographic group. Under the methodology, black players are assumed to possess a lower level of cognitive function than the average white player.

But attorneys say the standard means that in order to qualify for compensation, the average black player must demonstrate a greater level of cognitive decline than a white counterpart.

While the NFL has defended the practice in the past, saying its standards “relied on widely accepted and long-established cognitive tests and scoring methodologies,” in June it announced that that it intended to discontinue the practice.

The NFL’s concussion fund has paid out $856 million (£600m) for five types of brain injuries, including early and advanced dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease (also known as ALS) since it was established in 2013.

However of the roughly 2,000 men have applied for dementia awards under the scheme, just 30% have been approved.

Two former black players, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, who were refused payouts under the scheme, launched a civil lawsuit.

But a judge dismissed the lawsuit in March and ordered the NFL to negotiate a settlement.

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Rival Sudan protesters take to streets of Khartoum

Supporters of Sudan’s transitional government have turned out in Khartoum as rival protesters continue a sit-in to demand a military government.

Deep divisions between military and civilian leaders are threatening to derail the transition to democracy.

They agreed to share power in the aftermath of the 2019 overthrow of long-serving President Omar al-Bashir.

But tensions have grown since a coup attempt attributed to followers of Bashir was foiled in September.

The divisions have caused a split in the Forces for Freedom and Change, a coalition of civilian groups that helped get rid of the former president.

On Thursday, security forces fired tear gas as activists backing the civilian transition burned tires and waved Sudanese flags.

Pro-military protesters want the civilian government dissolved. They accuse it of failing to revive the economy as bread shortages increase.

A blockade at Port Sudan, in the east, by yet another group, has only exacerbated the situation.

On Saturday, pro-military demonstrators chanted “down with the hunger government” and called for General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the armed forces and Sudan’s joint military-civilian Sovereign Council, to instigate a coup and seize control of the country.

Some of them have remained outside the presidential palace in the capital, Khartoum.

But marching on Thursday in the city protesters could be seen with banners proclaiming “civilian is the people’s choice”, the AFP news agency says.

It adds that they chanted: “Give up power, al-Burhan.”

Control of the Sovereign Council is due to transfer to the civilians in the coming months as part of the transition to democracy.

Western nations have expressed their support for the civilian government. US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, urged all sides to follow the agreed transition to democratic rule.

Last week, Sudan’s civilian Prime Minister, Abdallah Hamdok, unveiled a plan to tackle what he called the country’s “worst and most dangerous” political crisis in its two-year transition.

“I am not neutral or a mediator in this conflict. My clear and firm position is complete alignment to the civilian democratic transition,” he said.

Mr Hamdok was sworn in as prime minister in August 2019 after mass protests saw the military step in and end Bashir’s 30-year-rule in April of that year.

But support for the transitional government has slumped in recent months as economic reforms spearheaded by Mr Hamdok have seen fuel subsidies slashed and inflation soar.

EXPLAINER: Sounding the alarm for Sudan’s democracy

AFRICA LIVE: Updates on this and other stories from the continent

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Haiti sees nearly 800 kidnappings so far this year, NGO says

Nearly 800 kidnappings have been reported in Haiti so far this year, a local group says, as gangs expand their control amid political instability.

The Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights (CARDH) said 119 people were abducted in the first half of this month alone.

People from all walks of life, both local and foreign, have been targeted.

The most recent high-profile case involves 17 missionaries from the US and Canada, kidnapped last weekend.

The security situation in Haiti, which was already precarious, has deteriorated significantly since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July. Rival factions are fighting to gain control of the country in the face of a struggling police force.

“Citizens do not trust the Haitian national police and this poses a problem because we cannot have an efficient police force if the population does not collaborate,” Gedeon Jean, the CARDH director, told AFP news agency.

“According to our statistics, there are at least two policemen in every large armed group: some policemen are active in gangs and others provide cover, allowing gangs to operate, or they share information with them.”

CARDH said at least 782 kidnappings were reported this year to 16 October, compared with 796 cases in the whole of 2020. The actual numbers were likely to be much higher, it said, as many people do not report abductions, fearing retaliation from the gangs.

The rise in violence and a dire economic situation, made worse by several natural disasters in recent years, have led to a growing number of Haitians seek opportunities in other countries.

FEATURE: ‘I’d rather risk death than be deported to Haiti’

On Saturday, the missionaries from the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries were returning from a visit to an orphanage when their bus was seized by members of the 400 Mazowo gang in Ganthier, a town east of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Ganthier is located in the Croix-des-Bouquets area which is controlled by the gang. The kidnappers are demanding $1m (£725,000) in ransom for each hostage.

All of those kidnapped are US citizens, except one who is a Canadian national. Among those seized are five men, seven women and five children, the youngest reported to be two years old.

Seizing vehicles and all of their occupants for ransom is one of the main activities the 400 Mazowe uses to finance itself. In April, the gang abducted a group of Catholic clergy, who were later released. It is not clear if a ransom was paid.

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US surgeons test pig kidney transplant in a human

US surgeons say they have successfully given a pig’s kidney to a person in a transplant breakthrough they hope could ultimately solve donor organ shortages.

The recipient was brain-dead, meaning they were already on artificial life support with no prospect of recovering.

The kidney came from a pig that had been genetically modified to stop the organ being recognised by the body as “foreign” and being rejected.

The work has not yet been peer-reviewed or published.

Experts say it is the most advanced experiment in the field so far.

Similar tests have been done in non-human primates, but not people, until now.

Using pigs for transplants is not a new idea though. Pig heart valves are already widely used in humans.

And their organs are a good match for people when it comes to size.

During the operation at the New York University Langone Health medical centre, the surgeons connected the donor pig kidney to the blood vessels of the brain-dead recipient to see if it would function normally once plumbed in, or be rejected.

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Over the next two-and-a-half days they closely monitored the kidney, running numerous checks and tests.

Lead investigator Dr Robert Montgomery told the BBC’s World Tonight programme: “We observed a kidney that basically functioned like a human kidney transplant, that appeared to be compatible in as much as it did all the things that a normal human kidney would do.

“It functioned normally, and did not appear to be undergoing rejection.”

A transplant recipient himself, Dr Montgomery says there is an urgent need for finding more organs for people on waiting lists, although he acknowledges his work is controversial.

“I certainly understand the concern and what I would say is that currently about 40% of patients who are waiting for a transplant die before they receive one.

“We use pigs as a source of food, we use pigs for medicinal uses – for valves, for medication. I think it’s not that different.”

He said it was still early research and more studies were needed, but added: “It gives us, I think, new confidence that it’s going to be all right to move this into the clinic.”

Dr Maryam Khosravi, a kidney and intensive care doctor who works for the NHS in the UK, said: “Animal to human transplantation has been something that we have studied for decades now, and it’s really interesting to see this group take that step forward.”

On the ethics, she said: “Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. I think the community at large needs to answer these questions.”

A spokesperson for NHS Blood and Transplant, said matching more human donors remained the priority for now: “There is still some way to go before transplants of this kind become an everyday reality.

“While researchers and clinicians continue to do our best to improve the chances for transplant patients, we still need everyone to make their organ donation decision and let their family know what they want to happen if organ donation becomes a possibility.”

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