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Europe Covid Vaccine Rollout "Unacceptably Slow": WHO

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The rollout of the vaccines is "prolonging the pandemic", WHO director for Europe Hans Kluge said.
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Copenhagen, Denmark:
The World Health Organization on Thursday slammed Europe's "unacceptably slow" vaccine rollout and said the region's surge in coronavirus infections was "worrying".
"Vaccines present our best way out of this pandemic... However, the rollout of these vaccines is unacceptably slow" and is "prolonging the pandemic", WHO director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement.
"We must speed up the process by ramping up manufacturing, reducing barriers to administering vaccines, and using every single vial we have in stock, now," he added.
The organisation said that Europe's virus situation was "more worrying than we have seen in several months."
Five weeks ago, the weekly number of new cases in Europe had dipped to under one million, but "last week saw increasing transmission of Covid-19 in the majority of countries in the WHO European region, with 1.6 million new cases," it said.
The total number of deaths in Europe "is fast approaching one million and the total number of cases about to surpass 45 million," it said.
The WHO's European region comprises 53 countries and territories and includes Russia and several Central Asian nations.
The organisation warned that the rapid spread of the virus could increase the risk of new variants of concern developing.
"The likelihood of new variants of concern occurring increases with the rate at which the virus is replicating and spreading, so curbing transmission through basic disease control actions is crucial," Dorit Nitzan, WHO Europe's regional emergency director, said in the statement.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/europe-covid-vaccine-rollout-unacceptably-slow-world-health-organization-2403737">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/europe-covid-vaccine-rollout-unacceptably-slow-world-health-organization-2403737</a>

news world Europe Covid Vaccine Rollout "Unacceptably Slow": WHO

The rollout of the vaccines is "prolonging the pandemic", WHO director for Europe Hans Kluge said. Copenhagen, Denmark: The W...

Aung San Suu Kyi Faces Court As UN Envoy Warns Of Myanmar Civil War

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Suu Kyi has not been seen in public, but her lawyers said she appeared to be in good health. (File)
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Yangon:
Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi faced a court hearing Thursday, after a UN envoy warned of the risk of civil war and an imminent "bloodbath" as the junta represses pro-democracy protests.
More than 535 people have died in daily demonstrations since the military overthrew Suu Kyi on February 1, halting Myanmar's decade-old experiment in democracy.
The UN Security Council held an urgent closed-door session on the escalating crisis on Wednesday, and special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener urged it to act.
"I appeal to this council to consider all available tools to take collective action and do what is right, what the people of Myanmar deserve," she said, in remarks obtained by AFP.
She said she remained open to dialogue with the junta but added: "If we wait only for when they are ready to talk, the ground situation will only worsen. A bloodbath is imminent."
The emergency UN session came on the eve of Suu Kyi's latest court hearing -- she faces a raft of criminal charges that could see her barred from office for life.
Her legal team on Wednesday held their first meeting with her -- by video link in a police station -- since she was ousted and detained in the early hours of February 1.
The 75-year-old has not been seen in public, but her lawyers said she appeared to be in good health despite two months in detention.
The hearing on Thursday is expected to be brief, and to deal only with administrative aspects of the case.
The junta is also probing the Nobel laureate over allegations she took payments of gold and more than $1 million in cash, but Khin Maung Zaw, one of her lawyers, said these were not likely to translate into formal charges at this stage.
A group of ousted MPs from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), who have been working underground against the junta, have announced plans for "a new civilian government" in the first week of April.
They announced that Myanmar's military-drafted 2008 constitution was "cancelled", and on Thursday a group of protesters burned a pile of copies in the street in Yangon.
Two military-owned supermarkets in Yangon were set on fire overnight, local media reported.
China caution
Britain's UN envoy Barbara Woodward said the Security Council was "united in its condemnation" and was discussing "a range of measures at our disposal".
But China, considered an important ally of Myanmar, ruled out sanctions or other "coercive measures".
China's UN ambassador Zhang Jun also called for the protection of foreign businesses -- a key concern for China, which has seen dozens of its factories torched amid anger against Beijing.
The US State Department has ordered the departure of non-essential diplomatic staff and their families from Myanmar, and Japan -- a top donor to the country -- has halted new aid payments.
Linda Thomas Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, raised the possibility of action if the military does not step down.
If "they continue the attacks that they were making on civilian populations, then we have to look at how we might do more", she told reporters.
German company Giesecke+Devrient, which supplies raw materials to Myanmar's central bank for the production of bank notes, announced Wednesday it was suspending deliveries.
French renewable energy giant Voltalia said it was also withdrawing from the country because of the political and humanitarian crisis.
Civil war fears
Fears are growing that a broader conflict could erupt in a country plagued for decades by on-off fighting between the military and rebel ethnic armies.
Several of Myanmar's 20 or so armed ethnic groups, who control large areas of territory mostly in border regions, have voiced their opposition to the coup and crackdown.
Three of them -- the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army -- on Wednesday threatened to join the protesters' fight against the military.
Two other outfits -- the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) -- have already stepped up attacks on military and police in recent days.
In another escalation, since Saturday the military has launched regular air strikes targeting the KNU in eastern Karen state.
Local media outlet Karen News reported that 11 people were killed in an air strike in a gold mining area of the state on Tuesday. AFP has yet to independently confirm these details.
Meanwhile, Thailand's foreign ministry said most of the 2,788 Myanmar people who had fled across the border had returned as of Wednesday.
The remaining 200 or so still in Thailand were mostly women, elderly and children.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/aung-san-suu-kyi-faces-court-as-un-envoy-warns-of-myanmar-civil-war-2403714">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/aung-san-suu-kyi-faces-court-as-un-envoy-warns-of-myanmar-civil-war-2403714</a>

news world Aung San Suu Kyi Faces Court As UN Envoy Warns Of Myanmar Civil War

Suu Kyi has not been seen in public, but her lawyers said she appeared to be in good health. (File) Yangon: Myanmar's ousted civili...

Prince William "Struggling To Hold Back" After Meghan Interview: Report

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Prince William wants to speak up on Meghan and Harry interview, a report said.
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Washington:
The Duke of Cambridge Prince William is having a "hard-time" following his brother Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with American talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
Just weeks ago, Harry and Markle sat down with the Oscar-winning star to discuss their struggles since the latter joined the royal family.
During the tell-all, the pair made allegations of racism and turning a blind eye to mental health needs against the royal family and the institution at large.
According to Fox News, since the interview first aired, it has become understood that William is not pleased with his brother and sister-in-law, who also made mention of William''s wife, Kate Middleton, during the interview.
Now, a source has told Us Weekly that the Duke of Cambridge wants to publicly share his side of the story.
"The queen is insisting that the royals handle the matter privately," said the insider.
Furthermore, they also said that Queen Elizabeth II "thinks that retaliating will only add fuel to the fire and make the situation worse."
"William is struggling to hold back," shared the source. "He wants to get his side out there."
As reported by Fox News, the royal would like to "clear the racial allegations," said the source.
William previously responded to the claims made by his brother and sister-in-law in a public statement deemed "unusual" by royal expert Katie Nicholl.
When confronted by reporters shortly after the interview aired, William said that the royals are "very much not a racist family."
He added that, at the time, he had not yet spoken to Harry about the contents of the interview. Gayle King recently reported that the brothers have since spoken, but conversations were "not productive."
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/prince-william-struggling-to-hold-back-after-meghan-and-harry-interview-with-oprah-winfrey-report-2403645">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/prince-william-struggling-to-hold-back-after-meghan-and-harry-interview-with-oprah-winfrey-report-2403645</a>

news world Prince William "Struggling To Hold Back" After Meghan Interview: Report

Prince William wants to speak up on Meghan and Harry interview, a report said. Washington: The Duke of Cambridge Prince William is havi...

"Would Kill To Be Sexually Harassed": Australia Leader Reportedly Joked

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Thousands of women recently protested against sexual abuse in major cities across Australia.
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Just days after Australia's leader demoted two senior lawmakers to calm public fury over assault allegations that have shaken the country's Parliament, the issue flared up again as a top official reportedly joked about the sex scandals.
The ruling conservative Liberal Party's vice president, Teena McQueen, apologized after a local news outlet, the Age, reported that she had allegedly told several party colleagues she would "kill to be sexually harassed at the moment."
She denied using those exact words, telling the paper that what she had intended as a throwaway line was: "when women reach my age, we don't have to worry about being sexually assaulted."
The Liberal Party declined to comment on McQueen's remarks or whether there would be any consequences for her. "The matters that you have raised are internal matters for the party," it said in a statement. Prime Minister Scott Morrison's office didn't respond to a request for comment.
The prime minister on Monday increased the number of women in his leadership team to seven from six, and he formed a task force to shape policy on women's issues, including safety and equality.
As part of the changes, the country's top law official, Christian Porter, was removed from his role as he brings a defamation action against the state broadcaster over sexual assault claims. He has denied allegations that he assaulted a woman in January 1988 when she was 16 and he was 17. The country's former defense minister, Linda Reynolds, was demoted over her handling of an alleged rape of a former government staff member by a colleague in her office nearly two years ago.
Thousands of people took to the streets across Australian cities this month calling for an end to violence against women.
Since then, the claims have continued to pile up. Last week, local news outlets reported that a prayer room in Parliament House had been used for sexual encounters. A government adviser was fired after reportedly sharing an image of himself performing a sexual act on a female lawmaker's desk.
On Wednesday, Queensland police said they had received a complaint from a woman who allegedly had her photo taken by a conservative lawmaker while her underwear was visible. The accused lawmaker, Andrew Laming, has said he won't seek reelection.
"Everyday I think, 'Seriously, the Liberals cannot make this crisis worse,' " Kristina Keneally, deputy leader of the main opposition Labor party in the Senate, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "And everyday, they exceed my low expectations, and it gets even worse."
Janine Hendry, the main organizer of the protest marches, said McQueen's comments are indicative of the Liberal Party's general attitude to women.
"To even consider that such a comment could be seen as a 'joke' is indicative of how deeply entrenched these views are," Hendry said. "They are deeply offensive to many women, particularly those women who have experienced gendered violence and abuse."
McQueen is a polarizing figure within the conservative party. In 2019, she dismissed recordings of former president Donald Trump bragging about groping women, citing her own experience meeting Trump at a Miss Universe beauty pageant, where she was a chaperone, as proof he was "not racist, not sexist, none of those things."
"She plays to the conservative base and seems to be happy to be controversial," said Conrad Liveris, an economist who has called for quotas to boost female representation in politics. "Making vulgar 'jokes' about sexual harassment in this environment might get a laugh from the old white men of the party, but they push away who they need for electoral success: young people, suburban families, women."
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/top-australia-official-teena-mcqueen-reportedly-joked-about-assault-2403599">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/top-australia-official-teena-mcqueen-reportedly-joked-about-assault-2403599</a>

news world "Would Kill To Be Sexually Harassed": Australia Leader Reportedly Joked

Thousands of women recently protested against sexual abuse in major cities across Australia. Just days after Australia's leader demo...

Veteran Hong Kong Activists Convicted Over Huge Democracy Rally

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Hong Kong veteran activists Martin Lee at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court. (File)
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Hong Kong, China:
Nine veteran Hong Kong activists face jail after they were convicted Thursday for their roles in organising one of the biggest democracy protests to engulf the city in 2019.
The defendants included some of Hong Kong's most prominent pro-democracy campaigners, many of whom are non-violence advocates who have spent decades campaigning in vain for universal suffrage.
They are the latest group of democracy figures to be prosecuted as China oversees a sweeping crackdown on dissent following seven straight months of democracy protests in the financial hub.
Among them are Martin Lee, an 82-year-old barrister who was once chosen by Beijing to help write Hong Kong's mini-constitution, and Margaret Ng, a 73-year-old barrister and former opposition lawmaker.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, currently in custody after his arrest under Beijing's new national security law, was among those convicted.
Leung Kwok-hung, an opposition politician known by his sobriquet "Long Hair" who has also been detained on national security charges, was also sent down.
Others are leading members of the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), the coalition that organised a series of huge rallies throughout 2019.
Some struck a defiant tone outside court on Thursday morning ahead of the verdict, holding banners that read "protest political suppression". 
"We are very proud even if we have to go to jail for it," Lee Cheuk-yan, a former legislator and labour leader told reporters. "We will still march on no matter what lies in the future."
Seven were found guilty of organising and knowingly participating in an unauthorised assembly. Two others had previously pleaded guilty. 
They face up to five years in jail.
Massive rally
The group was prosecuted for organising an unauthorised assembly on August 18, 2019 -- one of the biggest in Hong Kong that year as people took to the streets calling for democracy and greater police accountability.
Organisers claimed 1.7 million people turned out -- almost one in four Hong Kong residents -- though that number was difficult to independently verify.
It was easily one of the biggest rallies that year, with dense crowds marching peacefully for hours under a sea of umbrellas and thundery skies.
Protests in Hong Kong can only go ahead with the permission of authorities and rights groups have long criticised the use of unauthorised assembly prosecutions.
British lawyer David Perry, hired by the Hong Kong government to be the lead prosecutor, stepped down following withering criticism from both the UK government and British legal bodies over his decision to take the job.
Prosecutors accused the group of defying police instructions that day and encouraging crowds to march across Hong Kong's main island, bringing traffic disruption.
In her verdict, district Judge AJ Woodcock indicated that she was inclined to go for a maximum jail sentence and said the fact the march was peaceful was no defence. 
"It cannot be right for an offender to argue that although his act was unauthorised... but because it was ultimately peaceful and there was no violence he should not be arrested, prosecuted or convicted," she wrote. 
The group will be sentenced on 16 April and those not already detained on separate charges were granted bail on condition they surrender their passports and remain in Hong Kong.
Since 2019, protests have been all but outlawed with authorities either refusing permission on security grounds or because of the pandemic.
The rallies often descended into clashes between riot police and a knot of hardcore participants, and posed the most concerted challenge to China's rule since the former British colony's 1997 handover.
The movement eventually fizzled out under the combined weight of exhaustion, some 10,000 arrests and the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.
Authorities have since unleashed a broad crackdown and Beijing has imposed a new security law which criminalises much dissent.
Earlier this week Chinese leaders also passed a new law governing Hong Kong's already limited local elections. 
The number of directly elected seats for the 90-seat legislature was slashed to less than a quarter while anyone wanting to stand for public office will have to be vetted by national security police and officials for their "patriotism".
China and Hong Kong's leaders say the moves are needed to restore stability to the finance hub.
Critics counter that Beijing has shredded the liberties and autonomy it promised Hong Kong could maintain after the handover.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/veteran-hong-kong-activists-convicted-over-huge-democracy-rally-2403640">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/veteran-hong-kong-activists-convicted-over-huge-democracy-rally-2403640</a>

news world Veteran Hong Kong Activists Convicted Over Huge Democracy Rally

Hong Kong veteran activists Martin Lee at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court. (File) Hong Kong, China: Nine veteran Hong Kong activists...

4 Dead, Including Child, In California Office Complex Shooting: Report

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The violence marked the third deadly mass shooting in the United States over the past two weeks.
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Los Angeles:
Police in the Californian city of Orange reported a shooting on Wednesday with "multiple victims at the scene including fatalities," and local news media outlets said four people were killed before a suspect was arrested.
Few official details of the violence in the city south of Los Angeles were immediately available, but the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS) and television station KNBC-TV reported that in addition to the four dead, two people were wounded by gunfire.
Reporting the incident on its official Facebook page, the Orange Police Department said its officers arrived at about 5:30 p.m. local time "as shots were being fired and located multiple victims at the scene including fatalities."
The police statement said an "officer-involved shooting" had occurred and that the situation had since been "stabilized" with no further threat to the public.
KNBC-TV reported the shooting erupted at a business complex in Orange, a city about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The television station and CNS reported that the dead included a child. Various news outlets also reported that the shooter was among those injured.
The violence marked the third deadly mass shooting in the United States over the past two weeks.
Eight people were shot to death by a gunman who went on a rampage at three day spas in the Atlanta area on March 16. And 10 people were killed on March 22 when a man opened fire at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. The lone suspects in both those shootings were arrested.
Reacting on Twitter to Wednesday's events in Orange, California Governor Gavin Newsom called the latest bloodshed "horrifying and heartbreaking."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/california-shooting-four-dead-including-child-in-california-office-complex-shooting-says-report-2403584">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/california-shooting-four-dead-including-child-in-california-office-complex-shooting-says-report-2403584</a>

news world 4 Dead, Including Child, In California Office Complex Shooting: Report

The violence marked the third deadly mass shooting in the United States over the past two weeks. Los Angeles: Police in the Californian...