COVID-19: ANGOLA RECORDS 57 NEW INFECTIONS, TWO RECOVERIES

Luanda – The Angolan health authorities announced this Sunday the detection of 57 new cases of the newcoronavirus, as well as the occurrence, in the same ambit, of one death and two recoveries in the last 24 hours.

According to the authorities, 43 of the new cases were diagnosed in Luanda Province, 7 in Huila, 3 in ZXaire, 1 in Lunda Sul, 1 in Cuanza Sul and 1 in Moxico, with the ages of the patients ranging from 3 to 74 years.

 

The one death recorded is a citizen that resided in Luanda Province.

 

In accordance with the latest data, the total of Covid-19 cases in Angola is now 21,380 (positive cases), 521 deaths, 19,850 recoveries and 1009 active cases.

 

 Of the total of active cases, 6 are in critical condition, 9 serious, 36 moderate, 28 mild and 930 asymptomatic cases.

 

Up to now, there are 82 in-patients under medical supervision in hospitals and 103 patients in institutional quarantine. The authorities also have under epidemiological surveillance 1,496 citizens that had contact with positive cases.       

 

The medical teams have so far processed 3,709 samples.

India to take up with UK racism issues when required: Jaishankar

India will take up with the United Kingdom when required the alleged incidents of racism in Britain, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. He also described India as the land of Mahatma Gandhi and said it can never turn its eyes away from racism.

Responding to concerns raised by a BJP MP over racism and cyberbullying that forced Indian-origin Rashmi Samant to resign as president of the Oxford University Students Union, the minister said New Delhi has strong ties with the UK and will take up such matters with great candour when required.

“I note the sentiments of the House,” he said. “I do want to say that as a land of Mahatma Gandhi, we can never ever turn our eyes away from racism wherever it is. Particularly so when it is in a country where we have such a large diaspora,” he said.

Ms. Samant, the first Indian woman to be elected as president of the Oxford University Students Union, was forced to resign within five days of her appointment over several of her social media posts that were labelled anti-Semitic and racist.

BJP’s Ashwini Vaishnav said she was cyberbullied and her parent’s Hindu religious beliefs were publicly attacked by a faculty member.

“As a friend of the UK, we also have concerns about its reputational impact,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

“What I do want to say is that we have strong ties with the UK (and) we will take up such matters with great candour when required.” “We will monitor these developments very, very closely. We will raise it when required and we will always champion the fight against racism and other forms of intolerance,” he added.

Raising the issue through a zero hour mention, Mr. Vaishnav said there appears to a continuation of attitudes and prejudices from the colonial era in the United Kingdom.

Ms. Samant, a bright student from Udupi, Karnataka,overcame all challenges to become the first Indian women president of the union, he said. But “what was the treatment meted out to her?” he asked. “Shouldn’t this diversity been celebrated?”

“Instead of that, she was cyberbullied to the point that she had to resign. Even the Hindu religious belief of her parents was publicly attacked by a faculty member, which went unpunished. If this happens at an institute like Oxford what is the message that goes out to the world,” he said.

While she did issue a public apology for ‘unintentionally’ hurting anyone’s emotions, Samant believes she was unfairly targeted as a ‘conscious attempt’.

Mr. Vaishnav also brought up Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle’s accusations of racism by UK royals.

“A behaviour of a society is actually a reflection of its beliefs and value system. If such practices of racial discrimination are followed at the highest level in society what would be the following at the lower levels,” he asked.

Stating that the two instances were not isolated, he said the treatment of migrants and their segregation in the UK on a racial basis is very well known all over the world.

A recent report stated that the death rate among people of Asian origin because of COVID-19 is higher than the death rate in other communities in the UK, he said. “Doesn’t it raise a major question about equitable access to health and indeed the entire basic human rights issue?”

He went on to state that India is a country with a large diaspora in the UK. “There is a natural concern for all of us. The era of colonialism is over but the mindset seems to be still persistent. This is where the UK has to change. If it wants our respect, it has to change,” he said, asking the External Affairs minister to take up the matter with the UK government.

 

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CAR holds second round of legislative polls in shadow of violence

Voters in the Central African Republic (CAR) have cast their ballots under tight security, in a second round of parliamentary elections after an outbreak of violence severely disrupted polls late last year.

Forty-nine of the National Assembly’s 140 seats are up for grabs in Sunday’s vote, after 22 members of parliament were elected outright in the first round.

For the other 69 seats where the unrest stopped the December 27, 2020 vote from taking place, the polls will serve as the first round – to be followed, if necessary, by a second on an as-yet unscheduled date.

Authorities are anxious to avoid a repeat of the turmoil surrounding last year’s legislative and presidential polls when President Faustin-Archange Touadéra won re-election, but a new alliance of rebel groups – who the United Nations say are backed by former President François Bozizé – sought to take control amid allegations of voting irregularities.

A little more than a week before the last vote, six of the armed groups that control two-thirds of the country joined forces and pledged to disrupt the election, march on the capital and overthrow Touadéra’s government.

They laid siege to Bangui in January, strangling food supplies, forcing more than 200,000 from their homes and raising concerns that the country was slipping back into the kind of conflict that has killed thousands over the past decade.

‘When you vote, you want peace’

The government and the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA have both expressed confidence Sunday’s election will be peaceful due to extra forces on the ground and the capture of rebel strongholds since their initial offensive.

Touadéra’s party is expected to easily retain its majority in the National Assembly, but there are fears the vote could again be disrupted by the rebels, who have withdrawn to the countryside but are still threatening to overthrow the government.

In the capital, Bangui, the electoral body reported a smooth process with only slight delays. Small lines of residents could be seen waiting to vote as large numbers of security forces stood by.

Retired teacher Bertrand Dena, 50, said he was reassured by the heavy police presence at his polling station in Bangui.

“When you vote, you want peace,” he told the Reuters news agency.

At Bangui’s Barthelemy Boganda high school, the number of voters was small. After casting his ballot, office worker Godefroy Mokoamanede said that “unlike December 27, there is not a real passion”.

“When people vote for the first time they no longer see the point of voting a second time,” he told the AFP news agency.

Thousands of people have been killed in the CAR since the civil war erupted in 2013 when a mainly Muslim coalition called the Seleka overthrew Bozizé in a coup.

The conflict erupted after a coalition of rebel groups from the lawless and largely Muslim north of the country fought their way into Bangui and deposed the president. In response, mostly-Christian militias known as the Anti-balaka struck back, exacting revenge on Muslim civilians.

The ensuing chaos displaced hundreds of thousands of people and spawned a hotchpotch of armed groups as the rebel coalition disintegrated. A peace deal signed in 2019 eased the bloodshed, but the recent violence has heightened concerns and deepened an acute humanitarians crisis.

More than 30,000 people have fled the country due to the violence surrounding the latest elections, according to the UN, while tens of thousands more have been internally displaced.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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London police chief won’t resign over handling of vigil

London’s police commissioner has defended her officers’ actions and said she did not intend to resign amid a backlash over the way police treated some protesters during a vigil for a woman whose suspected murderer is a police officer.

London police faced heavy criticism from the public and politicians on Sunday for their heavy-handed tactics in breaking up the vigil.

The disappearance of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home on the evening of March 3, has provoked a huge outpouring of grief and dismay in the UK at the failure of police and wider society to tackle violence against women.

Police had denied permission for a vigil on Saturday evening at London’s Clapham Common, near where Everard was last seen alive, citing regulations aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.

But hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered peacefully at the park in defiance of the ban to pay their respects to Everard throughout the day, including Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Late on Saturday, dozens of police officers marched into the crowd to shouts of “shame on you.” Scuffles broke out and officers dragged several women away from the scene.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick defended the actions of police officers at the vigil [File: Peter Nicholls/Reuters]

Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister in charge of policing, described footage of the incident as “upsetting”. The BBC reported she had ordered an independent inquiry after an initial police report left some questions unanswered.London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “not satisfied” with police chiefs’ explanation of the events and officers’ conduct must be examined. An image of officers handcuffing a woman as she lay on the floor was widely shared and condemned on social media.

Police were seen scuffling with some women at the event, and one woman was seen pinned to the ground by two officers. Video widely shared on social media showed a woman pulled up from the ground by officers, who then shoved her from the back.

Several women were led away in handcuffs. The force later said four people were arrested for violating public order and coronavirus regulations.

On Sunday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, who is the first woman to head the force, said she was “more determined than ever” to lead the organisation.

She said she fully understood the strength of feeling in response to Everard’s case, but stressed that Saturday’s vigil was an unlawful gathering and officers had been put in a “very difficult position”.

Everard’s murder has resonated with women across the country, prompting thousands to share on social media their experiences of violence and sexual assaults perpetrated by men, and vividly describe the daily fear they feel.

A steady flow of quiet mourners visited the site of the vigil on Sunday, placing flowers around a bandstand.

Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba, reporting from London, said it was a “peaceful gathering”.

“But the emotion was clear, they were denouncing what they see as police brutality, heavy-handed tactics, and the tone-deafness of what happened on Saturday evening,” Baba reported.

Patsy Stevenson, who was pictured pinned to the ground by two officers during Saturday’s clashes, said she was considering whether to challenge the 200-pound ($278) fine she received.

“We were there to remember Sarah, we all felt deeply saddened and still do that it happened, so I brought a candle with me but unfortunately wasn’t even able to light it to put it down because the police turned up and barged their way through,” she told LBC radio.

Police officer Wayne Couzens charged with Everard’s murder appeared in court on Saturday. Police discovered her body on Wednesday in woodland about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder’s refuse bag, and identified using dental records.

People mourn at a memorial site at the Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard [Henry Nicholls/Reuters]

SOURCE : NEWS AGENCIES

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Mickey Guyton becomes first Black female country artist to perform on Grammy Awards

Mickey Guyton became the first Black female country artist to perform on music’s highest-profile awards show when she sang her “Black Like Me” at the 63rd Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday.

“It’s a hard life on Easy Street / Just white-painted picket fences far as you can see,” she sang, backed by a churchy choir, in the midtempo cut built on stately piano and yearning steel guitar, “If you think we live in the land of the free / You should try to be Black like me.”

Released last summer amid the nationwide protests sparked by George Floyd’s killing, the song offers a vivid reality check from an artist who’s spoken frankly about the challenges faced by Black artists in the overwhelmingly white world of country music.

Guyton, 37, was nominated with “Black Like Me” for the Grammys’ country solo performance award — as Trevor Noah pointed out in his intro, she was the first Black female solo artist to receive a nod in a country category — but lost to Vince Gill, who took the prize with “When My Amy Prays.” The remaining artists in the category were Miranda Lambert, Brandy Clark and Eric Church. Last year Willie Nelson won with “Ride Me Back Home.”

The award for country solo performance dates back only to the 54th Grammys in 2012, when the category was created to combine the trophies for female vocal country performance, male vocal country performance and country instrumental performance. No Black woman ever won (or was nominated for) female vocal country performance.

Ray Charles, who famously took up country music on his classic 1962 album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” was nominated for male vocal country performance with “Born to Love Me” in 1984. (He lost to Lee Greenwood’s “I.O.U.”) And the Pointer Sisters won a Grammy for country vocal performance by a duo or group in 1975 with “Fairytale.”

In 2016, Beyoncé reportedly submitted her song “Daddy Lessons” — which she performed that year with the Dixie Chicks on the CMA Awards — for Grammys consideration in the country solo performance category, but the song was said to be rejected by the Recording Academy committee overseeing country submissions.

Guyton grew up in Texas, where her grandmother introduced her to country music. After high school, she moved to Los Angeles and eventually made the connections that led to her being signed by her label, Capitol Nashville, in 2011.

As Jewly Hight wrote last year in a Times profile, Guyton envisioned a smooth progression. “I thought I was going to come to Nashville, write all these songs and put a record out two years later,” the singer told Hight.

Instead, Capitol waited until 2015 to release Guyton’s debut single, “Better Than You Left Me,” which failed to attract much interest from radio programmers. Since then the singer has continued to struggle in a country-radio environment notorious for marginalizing songs by women and people of color.

Yet Guyton’s songs, including “Black Like Me,” have found an enthusiastic audience online, with tens of millions of streams on Spotify and YouTube. And she’s set to cohost next month’s ACM Awards with Keith Urban.

“There have been times where even my manager has been like, ‘Maybe we should just go and try something else if they don’t get you,’” she told The Times last year. “I said, ‘Like what? Like pop music? No. Like R&B music? No.’ I am not that. This is where I’m supposed to be. That’s why I’m still here.”

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Africans rethink big, bountiful weddings as pandemic bites

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The moment of truth for Ivan Arinaitwe came when he had to choose among many relatives and friends whom to invite to his wedding. An initial 150 people swelled to 300 as he agonized. No matter how he tried, it would be hard to achieve Uganda’s recommended “scientific” wedding, slimmed down for the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Africa, where weddings often go big, he would invite 1,300 people if he could. Now he worries about how the uninvited might react and the consequences for his family.

“It’s a bit complicated, very complicated actually,” said the employee of a government research agency whose wedding is scheduled for April. “But we have a scapegoat of the COVID-19 pandemic. I will say, ‘It’s not me. It’s what the government has said. If I didn’t invite you, please understand.’”

He is not alone. Many Africans are rethinking big, bountiful weddings amid efforts to discourage big gatherings to combat the spread of COVID-19 and in response to the economic ravages of the pandemic. In Uganda, an East African country of 45 million where colorful wedding convoys are a street spectacle on weekends, President Yoweri Museveni last year ordered so-called scientific weddings, attended by no more than 10 people, to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Museveni put on such a wedding for a cousin in July in the lush gardens of the official residence, State House, with the masked couple in socially distanced seats. Even the simple bridal cake looked dismal, unlike the giant tiered cakes that often dominate receptions.

The pandemic is forcing change in communities where family can mean a whole clan and weddings are seen as key in cementing relations between communities. Extended families often plan weddings, and large, extravagant ones are a status symbol in places like Nigeria, where over $2 million can be spent.

Many in Uganda have expressed skepticism about small weddings, and there were reports of police interrupting noncompliant ceremonies before the rules were gradually eased to allow up to 200 attendees.

But now, as the pandemic continues to bite, more people are cautious with their money.

“When the coronavirus struck, people adjusted quickly, very quickly,” said the Rev. Sammy Wainaina, provost of All Saints Cathedral in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “For weddings, people have gone small.”

More Kenyans now opt for laid-back “garden” events as well as the civil unions that became popular in the past year, he said. While that may be a good thing, Wainaina said, he’s concerned that some “can become very casual with such weddings and only realize later that they were not committed to the vows they made.”

The demand for church weddings “has gone down considerably,” he said.

A similar trend is reported in Uganda by Charles Nsimbi, an official in charge of registering civil unions, who told the New Vision newspaper that the average number of unions per day has risen to 12 from five before the pandemic.

Arinaitwe, the Ugandan planning a small church wedding, said he decided not to have the reception in his rural district, where even the uninvited can show up. The invitations specify two people, and no children. He knows that will leave many upset, yet it’s necessary to keep numbers in check and avoid starting his marriage with a hefty bill to pay.

“Given that the disposable incomes of people have drastically reduced, people are in survival mode,” said Moses Mugarura, a Ugandan pastor who owns a restaurant in the capital, Kampala, that was once in high demand by couples.

His restaurant hosted no wedding meeting from February 2020 through January, he said. And he went from attending a wedding every other weekend to only four last year, citing families worried that their eligible daughters “are not exposed to the normal opportunities.”

“I believe that many people have lost faith and have gotten to the low-hanging fruit,” he said, referring to cohabitation.

But simply living together is not a solution for some in conservative societies including Noel Mporebuce in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. When the central African nation reported its first virus cases, he was preparing for a wedding initially scheduled for Boxing Day. The lockdown imposed to slow the pandemic effectively banned social gatherings and left him with fading hopes of a classic wedding.

“By now we would be happily married, living as husband and wife,” he said. “Everything is now left in the hands of God. Coronavirus is busy killing our future.”

Another Kigali resident, teacher Emmanuel Gatera, described a different problem for a sister whose wedding had been scheduled for Christmastime but is indefinitely postponed as her partner struggles to make ends meet. The pregnant woman moved in with him anyway because she feared he would change his mind about getting married.

“Cohabitation is unthinkable in our society, and that scar will live with (my sister) forever,” Gatera said.

And yet for others the pandemic has presented an opportunity to circumvent wedding ceremonies that normally cannot be bypassed.

Philemon Jambaya, a freelance journalist in Zimbabwe, said he negotiated down the bride price via WhatsApp, then had a small and brief traditional wedding recorded on smartphones. Family elders didn’t resist, he said.

His success is noteworthy in the southern African country where a traditional marriage can be elaborate, involving up to a dozen steps that take months leading to a crowded betrothal and meal.

“I never imagined marrying that way, but I couldn’t wait,” Jambaya said. “Everyone knew how much I loved her and how desperate I was to make her my wife, and that we are also living in abnormal times.”

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I can’t shoot my people’: Myanmar police officers flee to India after defying military orders

Myanmar has been under a brutal military rule since a coup against the democratically-elected government on 1 February.

A number of Myanmar police officers have fled to India after being “ordered to shoot protesters” and “beat them”, Sky News has been told.

One of them said: “I cannot shoot my people or beat those who have not committed crimes.”

They have also been ordered to “use sling-shots on them”, he said.

The 26-year-old added: “They are only peaceful protesters and also innocent.”

After disobeying orders from the military, he and a number of officers fled across the border.

He is very concerned for his wife and two-year-old child, left behind in his village, who have gone into hiding. “I am afraid for them,” he said.

The military, via social media, has “threatened to arrest family members of those who have abandoned the police force and fled”, he said.

We met him and a colleague at a hidden location in the state of Mizoram.

His workmate, who has escaped with his mother and younger brother, said: “We do not want to live under military rule.

“We cannot have peace under them. I am willing to sacrifice myself for democracy if it has to be that way.”

Their testimonies are some of the first details showing what security personnel are allegedly being ordered to do.

Though Sky News cannot independently confirm the allegations, the United Nations has condemned the Myanmar junta for the use of “lethal force” on protesters.

A military crackdown has been ongoing for several weeks. At least 75 people have been killed and hundreds injured in cities across Myanmar.

Six people are reported to have been killed on Saturday as protesters faced off with security forces.

There are reports of live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas being used by the military to disperse large crowds.

Myanmar has been rocked by protest since Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was deposed in a military coup on 1 February.

Her party, the National League for Democracy, won a second term with a thumping majority in November.

One of the officers we spoke to appealed to the international community. “A UN peacekeeping force must be sent against the inhumanity that is taking place,” he said.

“We have been under economic sanctions and there is much diplomacy but it’s not working. More needs to be done and soon.”

His colleague said: “We should be given arms to fight the junta.” He added that many police officials had joined the battle against the military.

Both men are concerned by directives sent by the federal Indian government to states bordering Myanmar, noting the influx of refugees.

Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services have been told to identify illegal immigrants and initiate deportation without delay.

But one of the officers told us: “We will be killed if we are sent back.”

India shares an almost thousand mile-long border with Myanmar, most of it unmanned and unfenced.

The nearly 250-mile border between Mizoram and Myanmar is almost entirely porous and there is a free flow of people criss-crossing all the time.

The government’s new directive has caused anguish amongst the people living here in Mizoram.

They have very close ethnic and cultural ties with communities in neighbouring Myanmar, and watch with great concern as atrocities continue to take place on that side of the border.

Source Sky News