Biden to announce free beer as incentive for Americans to take vaccine

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is announcing a “month of action” Wednesday to urge more Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19 before the July 4 holiday, with an early summer sprint of incentives, including free beer, childcare and sports tickets to convince Americans to roll up their sleeves.

In an afternoon address from the White House, Biden will announce a slew of new initiatives to ease barriers to vaccinations and to make getting shots more appealing to those who haven’t received a dose yet.

It comes as he is closing in on his goal to get 70% of adults partially vaccinated by Independence Day — essential to his goal of returning the nation to a pre-pandemic sense of normalcy this summer.

“We’re looking at June as a critical month in our path to normal and as a critical month in order to continue the progress we’re making in our vaccination campaign,” Courtney Rowe, the director of strategic communications and engagement to the White House COVID-19 response team, told the AP.

The White House said Biden’s “month of action” will continue to use public and private-sector partnerships to encourage Americans to get shots, mirroring the “whole of government” effort Biden deployed to make vaccines more widely available once he took office.

Anheuser-Busch announced a promotional giveaway Wednesday morning, saying it would “buy Americans 21+ a round of beer” once Biden’s 70% goal is met.

Additionally, the White House is partnering with early childhood centers such as KinderCare, Learning Care Group, Bright Horizons and more than 500 YMCAs to provide free childcare coverage for Americans looking for shots or needing assistance while recovering from side effects.

They’re the latest vaccine sweeteners, building on other incentives like cash giveaways, sports tickets or paid leave, to keep up the pace of vaccinations.

In this May 6, 2021 photo, Semajh Daniels, left, and Zora McCarthy, both of Hyattsville, Md., enjoy a complimentary beer after receiving the J & J COVID-19 vaccine, at The REACH at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Free beer is the latest White House-backed incentive for Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19. President Joe Biden is expected to announce a “month of action” on Wednesday to get more shots into arms before the July 4 holiday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“The fact remains that despite all the progress, those who are unvaccinated still remain at risk of getting seriously ill or dying or spreading the disease to others,” said Rowe.

Aiming to make injections even more convenient, Biden is announcing that many pharmacies are extending their hours this month — and thousands will remain open overnight on Fridays. The White House is also stepping up its efforts to help employers run on-site vaccination clinics. It’s launching a new partnership to bring vaccine education and even doses to more than a thousand Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons, building on a successful pilot program in Maryland.

Biden will also announce that he is tapping Vice President Kamala Harris to lead a “We Can Do This” vaccination tour to encourage shots, that will include first lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Cabinet officials. Harris’ travel will be focused on the South, where vaccination rates are among the lowest in the country, while other officials will travel to areas of the Midwest with below average rates.

“As we think about these next four weeks, we are making sure we’re using a ‘whole of America’ approach,” said Rowe. “It’s the private sector, it’s mayors, it’s colleges, it’s celebrities and social influencers, it’s our own government officials, but it’s also everyday Americans. It’s going to take all of us being part of this to get more people vaccinated and to put the pandemic behind us and keep it there.”

To date 62.8% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 133.6 million are fully vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed again to an average below 600,000 per day, down from more than 800,000 per day when incentives like lotteries were announced, and down from a peak of nearly 2 million per day in early April when demand for shots was much higher.

The lengths to which the U.S. is resorting to convince Americans to take a life-saving shot stands in contrast to much of the world, where vaccines are far less plentiful. Facing a mounting U.S. surplus, the Biden administration is planning to begin sharing 80 million doses with the world this month.

As part of the effort to drive Americans to get shots, the White House is borrowing some tools from political campaigns, including phone banks, door-knocking and text banking. The administration says more than 1,000 such events will be held this coming weekend alone. Additionally, it is organizing competitions between cities and colleges to drive up vaccination rates.

Other new incentives include a $2 million commitment from DoorDash to provide gift cards to community health centers to be used to drive people to get vaccinated. CVS launched a sweepstakes with prizes including free cruises and Super Bowl tickets. Major League Baseball will host on-site vaccine clinics and ticket giveaways at games. And Kroger will give $1 million to a vaccinated person each week this month and dozens of people free groceries for the year.

The fine print on the Anheuser-Busch promotion reveals the benefits to the sponsoring company, which will collect consumer data and photos through its website to register, and that it will only provide $5 credits to the first 200,000 people to respond once the nation reaches the vaccine threshold.

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Absa Bank’s Ebo Richardson writes: Cashless economies – Fact or Fiction?

There is no doubt that Covid-19 has accelerated digital and technology adoption across the Continent, driving banks and other businesses to fast-track their digital transformation efforts and expedite creation of solid platforms for innovative solutions. One obvious manifestation of this has been the growth of online transactions and ongoing embedment of 24/7 banking.  But the question remains: What lies ahead, as we approach what is expected to be a “better normal”?

Digital Banking in Africa

While cash is still predominantly used for payments across the African Continent, great strides have been made towards the realisation of the so-called “cashless society”.  Of course, Covid-19 has been a key catalyst, with lockdowns, health and safety protocols, and merchant / commercial restrictions significantly limiting physical interactions and thus reducing cash-based transactions.  The fact is, going cashless, or at least “cash-lite”, is possible and remains a likely future scenario, given the development and trends we are seeing.

Banks and other financial institutions, however, will need to provide incentives and demonstrate unparalleled convenience in order to encourage consumers to make the switch in a sustainable way.  Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, regulators will need to create the requisite policy frameworks that stimulate and support adoption, as well as safeguarding consumer interests.

Indeed, Rwanda is one of the African countries leading the charge, with a goal of being a cashless society by 2024.  Significantly, in alignment with this goal, the Rwandan government recently provided free meters to all taxi drivers, ensuring that only digital payments could be made.  Kenya is following suit, with some fees on mobile money transactions being waived during the pandemic, coupled with a surge in online shopping.  As a result, experts estimate that Kenya could become a cashless economy by 2033.

Ghana is also making important and progressive strides, driven by the government’s digitization agenda, which has seen the introduction of Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI), the launch of National Universal QR Code, and other payment systems projects in partnership with Banks, Telecos and Fintechs.  Just like Kenya, the waiver of some fees on mobile money transactions during the height of Covid-19 and the sustained incentives from some organisations, including Absa Bank, continues to encourage and promote digital payments.  In addition to higher daily transaction limits, Absa offers customers transfers from mobile money wallets to bank account at highly competitive rates ad-free contactless payments, which save customers time and hassle while assuring their safety and security.

Overall, sector players are acknowledging the benefits of digital payments, noting that they are more convenient and safer for customers and that they will inevitably reduce crime and fraud while promoting the inclusion of more people into formal financial services.  In addition to further increase in mobile and online transactions, indications are that we will see a notable shift to contactless payments, QR codes payments, and eventually even wearables.

Customers will want personalised digital journeys

Think of a personalised Netflix profile, but for banking!  Of course, personalised customer experiences in banking are far more complex as there are multiple factors and important regulations to consider; but they are entirely achievable.  Logging in should be a breeze and user interfaces should be intuitive and easy to navigate, complemented by specific product insights and recommendations.  Round the clock, expert support, whether it be live chat or a click-to-call option will be non-negotiables.  Consequently, banks will need to come to the fore with reliable, secure and integrated digital technology systems in order to meet ever-evolving customer expectations.

Furthermore, it is pivotal that financial institutions view technology as an essential enabler, and that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are not only considered for internal processes, but also as an effective way to boost self-service options.  Chatbots are fast becoming the norm when it comes to automated client queries (such as Absa’s Abby on WhatsApp), while machine learning can deduce user intent and match digital products with specific needs.

Regulation and Resilience will be key

With new technology comes the requirement for appropriate regulation.  The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for example, currently emphasises the ‘right to explanation’ if an AI algorithm deems a customer ineligible for a loan or financing.  Banks will need to understand legislative expectations around emerging innovations and be in a position to meet them.

While there is still some regulatory ambiguity in some African countries, overall, policymakers have made noteworthy progress in implementing customer-centric frameworks that promote governance, support tighter lending requirements, and encourage financial inclusion and innovations.  Further to this, the rise in cyber-risk exposures as a result of increased digitisation lends itself to an increased focus on building business resilience, as well as an increased need for specific cybersecurity legislation – particularly when it comes to data and privacy laws.  As this risk increases, policymakers are bound to take notice, with possible regional frameworks coming to the fore.

The banking sector as a whole is expected to be stable and healthy in order to kick-start economies and stimulate growth, especially post-pandemic.  To achieve this, banks will need to discard legacy infrastructure in favour of smarter, integrated and more resilient cloud-based platforms.  This will enable institutions to manage and access data quicker and bring products and solutions to market much faster.  Ultimately, digital banking should be viewed as a meaningful way to connect with customers across each stage of their life journeys.  What certainly won’t abate going forward, is customer-centricity, and the desire to meet customers at their point of need.

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Uyghur exiles describe forced abortions, torture in Xinjiang

ISTANBUL (AP) — Three Uyghurs who fled from China to Turkey have described forced abortions and torture by Chinese authorities in China’s far western Xinjiang region, ahead of giving testimony to a people’s tribunal in London that is investigating if Beijing’s actions against ethnic Uyghurs amount to genocide.

The three witnesses include a woman who said she was forced into an abortion at 6 1/2 months pregnant, a former doctor who spoke of draconian birth control policies, and a former detainee who alleged he was “tortured day and night” by Chinese soldiers while he was imprisoned in the remote border region.

They spoke to The Associated Press of their experiences before testifying by video link to the independent U.K. tribunal, which is expected to draw dozens of witnesses when it opens four days of hearings on Friday.

The tribunal, which does not have U.K. government backing, will be chaired by prominent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Nice, who led the prosecution of ex-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and worked with the International Criminal Court.

While the tribunal’s judgment is not binding on any government, organizers hope the process of publicly laying out evidence will compel international action to tackle growing concerns about alleged abuses in Xinjiang against the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group.

One witness, mother-of-four Bumeryem Rozi, said authorities in Xinjiang rounded her up along with other pregnant women to abort her fifth child in 2007. She said she complied because she feared that otherwise authorities would have confiscated her home and belongings and endangered her family.

“I was 6 1/2 months pregnant … The police came, one Uyghur and two Chinese. They put me and eight other pregnant women in cars and took us to the hospital,” Rozi, 55, told the AP from her home in Istanbul.

“They first gave me a pill and said to take it. So I did. I didn’t know what it was,” she continued. “Half an hour later, they put a needle in my belly. And sometime after that I lost my child.”

Semsinur Gafur, a former obstetrician-gynecologist who worked in a village hospital in Xinjiang in the 1990s, said she and other female clinicians used to go from house to house with a mobile ultrasound machine to check if anyone was pregnant.

“If a household had more births than allowed, they would raze the home … They would flatten the house, destroy it,” Gafur said. “This was my life there. It was very distressing. And because I worked in a state hospital, people didn’t trust me. The Uyghur people saw me as a Chinese traitor.”

A third Uyghur exile, Mahmut Tevekkul, said he was imprisoned and tortured in 2010 by Chinese authorities who interrogated him for information about one of his brothers. Tevekkul said the brother was wanted partly because he published a religious book in Arabic.

Tevekkul described being beaten and punched in the face during questioning.

“They put us on a tiled floor, shackled our hands and feet and tied us to a pipe, like a gas pipe. There were six soldiers guarding us. They interrogated us until the morning and then they took us to the maximum-security area of the prison,” he said.

The tribunal is the latest attempt to hold China accountable for alleged rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim and ethnic Turkic minorities.

An estimated 1 million people or more — most of them Uyghurs — have been confined in re-education camps in Xinjiang in recent years, according to researchers. Chinese authorities have been accused of imposing forced labor, systematic forced birth control and torture, and separating children from incarcerated parents.

Beijing has flatly rejected the allegations. Officials have characterized the camps, which they say are now closed, as vocational training centers to teach Chinese language, job skills and the law to support economic development and combat extremism. China saw a wave of Xinjiang-related terror attacks through 2016.

The hearings’ organizers said Chinese authorities have ignored requests to participate in the proceedings. The Chinese embassy in London did not respond to requests for comment, but officials in China have said the tribunal is set up by “anti-China forces” to spread lies.

“There is no such thing as genocide or forced labor in Xinjiang,” the region’s government spokesperson Elijan Anayat told reporters Thursday. “If the tribunal insists on going its own way, we would like to express our severe condemnation and opposition and will be forced to take countermeasures.”

In April, Britain’s parliament followed those in Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada in declaring that Beijing’s policies against the Uyghurs amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. government has also done the same.

But Nice, the lawyer leading the tribunal, said so far those declarations of genocide have come with limited analysis of evidence about the intentions behind the Chinese government’s policies.

“It is the mental state of those organs (of the Chinese government) that would have to be examined or established and proved if any finding of genocide is ever to be made,” Nice said. “It’s pretty obvious that purpose and intent is going to be critical.”

Nice was one of nine British citizens sanctioned by China in March for spreading “lies and disinformation” about the country. The move came after the U.K. and other Western governments took similar measures against China over its treatment of the Uyghurs.

The lawyer said he isn’t intimidated, but admitted that the sanctions have resulted in some participants withdrawing from the tribunal. Organizers also said they have been subjected to cyber targeting. They had to increase the event’s security after about 500 of the hearings’ free tickets were booked up by people with fake email addresses.

While her fellow exiles said they agreed to testify to seek justice, Rozi, the woman who reported the forced abortion, says she is motivated to speak out for a more personal reason. Her youngest son has been detained since 2015, when he was just 13, and she hopes the tribunal’s work will help lead to his freedom one day.

“I want my son to be freed as soon as possible,” she said. “I want to see him be set free.”

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Bird flu: China sees first human case of rare H10N3 strain

A 41-year-old Chinese man has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with a rare bird flu strain.

Officials did not give details on how the man got infected but the H10N3 strain is thought to not easily spread from humans to humans.

The Jiangsu province resident, who was diagnosed last week, has now recovered and is ready to be discharged.

There are many bird flu strains and it is not unheard of that people working with poultry occasionally get infected.

Contact tracing did not find any other cases of the virus.

Beijing’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday the resident of the city of Zhenjiang was hospitalized on 28 April and diagnosed with H10N3 one month later.

“No human cases of H10N3 have been reported in the world. This case is an occasional poultry-to-human cross-species transmission, and the risk of a large-scale spread is extremely low,” the NHC said, according to a Global Times report.

The commission also said H10N3 was low pathogenic meaning it did not cause severe diseases in poultry and was unlikely to spread rapidly.

The World Health Organization (WHO) told the Reuters news agency that “at this time, there is no indication of human-to-human transmission”.

“As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising, which is a vivid reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic is persistent,” the WHO explained.

There is currently an outbreak among birds of a the H5N8 variant which has led to hundreds of thousands of poultry culled in various European countries.

In February, Russia reported the first case of that particular strain in humans.

Human infections with bird flu have been rare since a larger outbreak of the H7N9 strained killed around 300 people in 2016 and 2017.

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PRESIDENT POINTS OUT WAYS TO BETTER PROTECT CHILDREN

Luanda - The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, Tuesday said that Angola has made great advances in the strategy for child protection, but much remains to be done, mainly in terms of empowering families.

In a message on the International Children's Day (1 June), the Angolan Head of State encouraged the official bodies responsible for this purpose to continue their efforts to strengthen the fight against paternity denial and early pregnancy.

He also called for more action to combat domestic violence, sexual aggression, obscurantist practices such as accusing children of witchcraft, exploitation of child labour and other negative situations that are at the root of many of the problems of children in Angola.

He highlighted the issue of empowering families, as it is the nucleus where the first attention should be paid to children and where the first values are transmitted to ensure their full development, besides preventing possible deviations of conduct.

The Angolan President also recalled that since the first years of National Independence, the rights of children "began to be enshrined in the famous slogan Give the child everything he or she deserves and were formalised in the 11 Commitments for Children, adopted by the Government in 2007, and in other documents of equal importance".

COVID-19: ANGOLA REPORTS 208 NEW INFECTIONS, 8 DEATHS, 74 RECOVERIES

Luanda - At least 208 new infections, eight deaths and 74 recovered patients is the balance of the last 24 hours announced Wednesday by the Secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda.

Franco Mufinda, who was speaking at an updating session, said that 151 were diagnosed in Luanda, 22 in Huambo, 13 in Huíla, 7 in Benguela, 7 in Zaire, 4 in Cabinda, 3 in Cuando Cubango and 1 in Bié.

With ages ranging from 1 to 92 years old, the list included 121 men and 87 women.

The deaths, he said, four cases were recorded in Luanda, two in Huambo and two in Huila.

Among those recovered, 33 reside in Luanda, 29 in Huíla, 9 in Huambo and 3 in Benguela.

The laboratories processed 2,009 samples, with a daily positivity rate of 10.4 percent.

141 citizens are under institutional quarantine, 222 are hospitalised and 2,538 are under epidemiological surveillance.

Angola has 34,960 positive cases, with 780 deaths, 28,264 recovered and 5,916 active. Of the active cases, 11 are critical, 33 serious, 175 moderate, 7 with mild symptoms and 5,690 asymptomatic.

CHAD WOOING ANGOLA’S SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY STABILITY

Luanda - Chad’s Transitional Military Council has requested Angola's political and diplomatic support for political-military stability in its country.

The information was released Wednesday in Luanda by the minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Chadians Abroad, Cherif Mahamat Zene.

Cherif Mahamat Zene was speaking at a press conference, as part of the visit to Angola of the President of the Transitional Military Council of the Republic of Chad, Mahamat Idriss Déby.

He said that his country recognises the role played by Angola for the stability of member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

“I would like to underline Angola's leadership in Central Africa and its commitment to preserving stability and peace on the continent. In this sense, we have come to present the political-military situation in Chad to the Angolan side so that they can help us," he stressed.

The Chadian minister said that he rely on support of ECCAS and the African Union, which are following the transition process in Chad, expressing hope for a definitive exit of mercenaries from his country.

Strengthening cooperation

Cherif Mahamat Zene stated that Angola and Chad have had excellent cooperation relations for several years, which deserve to be deepened with reciprocal advantages.

He noted that during the ministerial meeting, held on Wednesday, the two countries addressed the strengthening of cooperation in the fields of agriculture, livestock, infrastructure, telecommunications and energy.

“We talk about the progress made and what we can improve. We are committed so that cooperation is beneficial for both parties and we are going to propose to the joint commission in order to look for other areas in which we can cooperate together”, he said.

In his turn, the Angolan minister of foreign affairs, Téte António, pledged Angola's support for stability in Chad, stating that this country has contributed to the stability of the Sahel region.

He spoke of Angola’s  interest in contributing to stability in Chad, and is also concerned about the unfolding of events in Libya, which for many years has been a source of destabilisation in the Sahel."

"We call for the withdrawal management of these mercenaries and the United Nations and other international organisations play their role in this issue," he added.

Political-military situation in Chad

Chad has been hit by civil war since December 2005, in the conflict involving government forces and various armed groups.

The political-military situation in this country has become more acute following the death, on 20 April this year, of the re-elected President Idriss Déby Itno, who did not resist the injuries sustained in combat against armed opposition forces, in the desert of Tibesti (northern region of the country.

Idriss Déby Itno died a day after being declared the winner, for the sixth consecutive time, in the April 11 presidential election, with 79.32% of the vote.

Due to the situation, a Military Transitional Council assumed the management of the country's affairs and, on the 2nd of May, created a Transitional Government that should lead the country until the holding of new elections, in the next 18 months.

The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, chairs the International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), and has been regularly informed about the situation prevailing in that member country of the organization