LONDON: The World Health Organization on Wednesday classified the EG.5 coronavirus strain circulating in the United States and China as a “variant of interest” but said it did not seem to pose more of a threat to public health than other variants.
The fast-spreading variant, the most prevalent in the United States with an estimated more than 17 percent of cases, has been behind upticks in the virus across the country and also has been detected in China, South Korea, Japan and Canada, among other countries.
“Collectively, available evidence does not suggest that EG.5 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating omicron descendent lineages,” the WHO said in a risk evaluation.
A more comprehensive evaluation of the risk posed by EG.5 was needed, it added.
COVID-19 has killed more than 6.9 million people globally, with more than 768 million confirmed cases since the virus emerged. WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic in March 2020 and ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 in May this year.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said EG.5 had an increased transmissibility but was not more severe than other omicron variants.
“We don’t detect a change in severity of EG.5 compared to other sublineages of omicron that have been in circulation since late 2021,” she said.
Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus deplored that many countries were not reporting COVID-19 data to WHO.
He said that only 11 percent had reported hospitalizations and ICU admissions related to the virus.
In response, WHO issued a set of standing recommendations for COVID, in which it urged countries to continue reporting COVID data, particularly mortality data, morbidity data, and to continue to offer vaccination.
Van Kerkhove said that the absence of data from many countries was hindering efforts to fight the virus.
“About a year ago, we were in a much better situation to either anticipate or act or be more agile,” she said. “And now the delay in our ability to do that is growing. And our ability to do this is declining.”
WHO classifies EG.5 as COVID-19 ‘variant of interest’
https://arab.news/4jz3v
WHO classifies EG.5 as COVID-19 ‘variant of interest’
- WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said EG.5 had an increased transmissibility but was not more severe than other omicron variants
UN adopts resolution on Afghanistan’s Taliban rule over US objections
- Since returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures, banning women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade
UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution Monday over US objections calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist organizations.
The 11-page resolution also emphasizes “the importance of creating opportunities for economic recovery, development and prosperity in Afghanistan,” and urges donors to address the country’s dire humanitarian and economic crisis.
The resolution is not legally binding but is seen as a reflection of world opinion. The vote was 116 in favor, with two — the United States and close ally Israel — opposed and 12 abstentions, including Russia, China, India and Iran.
Since returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures, banning women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Last week, Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government.
Germany’s UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse, whose country sponsored the resolution, told the assembly before the vote that her country and many others remain gravely concerned about the dire human rights situation in Afghanistan, especially the Taliban’s “near-total erasure” of the rights of women and girls.
The core message of the resolution, she said, is to tell Afghan mothers holding sick and underfed children or mourning victims of terrorist attacks, as well as the millions of Afghan women and girls locked up at home, that they have not been forgotten.
US minister-counselor Jonathan Shrier was critical of the resolution, which he said rewards “the Taliban’s failure with more engagement and more resources.” He said the Trump administration doubts they will ever pursue policies “in accordance with the expectations of the international community.”
“For decades we shouldered the burden of supporting the Afghan people with time, money and, most important, American lives,” he said. “It is the time for the Taliban to step up. The United States will no longer enable their heinous behavior.”
Last month, the Trump administration banned Afghans hoping to resettle in the US permanently and those seeking to come temporarily, with exceptions.
The resolution expresses appreciation to governments hosting Afghan refugees, singling out the two countries that have taken the most: Iran and Pakistan. Shrier also objected to this, accusing Iran of executing Afghans “at an alarming rate without due process” and forcibly conscripting Afghans into its militias.
While the resolution notes improvements in Afghanistan’s overall security situation, it reiterates concern about attacks by Al-Qaeda and Daesh militants and their affiliates. It calls upon Afghanistan “to take active measures to tackle, dismantle and eliminate all terrorist organizations equally and without discrimination.”
The General Assembly also encouraged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a coordinator to facilitate “a more coherent, coordinated and structured approach” to its international engagements on Afghanistan.
Epstein died by suicide, did not have ‘client list’: FBI and Justice Department say
- A joint memorandum by the FBI and Justice Department on Monday have debunked notable conspiracy theories about Epstein
- The disgraced US financier died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking
WASHINGTON: Jeffrey Epstein was not murdered, did not blackmail prominent figures and did not keep a “client list,” the FBI and Justice Department said Monday, debunking notable conspiracy theories about the disgraced US financier.
The conclusions came after an “exhaustive review” of the evidence amassed against Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking, the agencies said in a joint memorandum.
Six years later, questions continue to swirl around Epstein’s life and death and the multi-millionaire hedge fund manager’s connections to wealthy and powerful individuals.
The memo, first reported by Axios, squarely rejected one of the leading conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein — that he did not commit suicide but was murdered while being held in jail.
“After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell,” it said.
Video footage from the area where he was being held did not show anyone entering or attempting to enter his cell from the time at night when he was locked in till when his body was found the next morning, it said.
Extensive digital and physical searches turned up a large volume of images and videos of Epstein’s victims, many of them underage girls, the memo said.
“This review confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims,” it said, but did not reveal any illegal wrongdoing by “third-parties.”
“This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” the memo said. “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”
Epstein’s former assistant, Ghislaine Maxwell, is the only former associate of his who has been criminally charged in connection with his activities.
Maxwell, the daughter of British media baron Robert Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in New York in 2021 of child sex trafficking and other crimes.
Among those with connections to Epstein was Britain’s Prince Andrew, who settled a US civil case in February 2022 brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, committed suicide at her home in Australia in April.
Billionaire Elon Musk accused President Donald Trump on X last month of being in the “Epstein files” after the pair had a falling out, but he later deleted his posts.
Trump was named in a trove of depositions and statements linked to Epstein that were unsealed by a New York judge in early 2024, but the president has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Supporters on the conspiratorial end of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base allege that Epstein’s associates had their roles in his crimes covered up by government officials and others.
They point the finger at Democrats and Hollywood celebrities, although not at Trump himself.
Prior to the release of the memo, Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, and the FBI’s deputy director, Dan Bongino, had been among the most prominent peddlers of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein.
Lula says BRICS do not want ‘emperor’ after Trump threat
- Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva: ‘We are sovereign nations. We don’t want an emperor’
RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s president said Monday that emerging BRICS economies did not want to live under an “emperor,” after Donald Trump declared a 10 percent tariffs hike on members for their allegedly anti-American policies.
“We are sovereign nations,” Lula said as he ended a two day summit of 11 nations that include US allies and foes alike. “We don’t want an emperor.”
Somalia’s army and Al-Shabab clash over strategic town
- The official Somali news agency Sonna said the attack had been prevented, and claimed “several militants were killed during the fighting.” There were no further details
MOGADISHU: Fighting was ongoing between Somalia’s armed forces and the Al-Shabab group over a strategic town in the country’s central region, a local militia commander and elder said on Monday.
Growing attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked group, including one on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy, are fueling concerns of an extremist resurgence in the Horn of Africa nation after the militants were forced back in recent years.
Al-Shabab militants attacked Moqokori, roughly 300 km north of the capital, Mogadishu, with “vehicles loaded with explosives and hundreds of fighters,” local militia commander Abdulahi Adan said.
The town’s militia had “tactically retreated,” he said, but added that “there is still ongoing sporadic fighting in the area, so that this is not a complete takeover.”
Yusuf Mohamed, an elder in the nearby town of Mahas, said “several wounded soldiers and community militia fighters were brought to Mahas for treatment.”
Moqokori is strategically located as a gateway to several other major towns in the central Hiraan region.
The town has long been contested, with Al-Shabab seizing it in 2016 and last holding it briefly in 2018.
The official Somali news agency Sonna said the attack had been prevented, and claimed “several militants were killed during the fighting.” There were no further details.
It comes only months after Al-Shabab took the town of Adan Yabaal, also in the Hiraan region, and which was used as a base by Somali military commanders.
More than 10,000 soldiers from the African Union Stabilization Mission in Somalia or AUSSOM, are present in the country, but this has not prevented Al-Shabab from continuing to carry out attacks.
At the end of June, at least seven Ugandan soldiers were killed during clashes with Al-Shabab in a town in the Lower Shabelle region.
Rubio to make first visit to Indo-Pacific region for ASEAN meeting
- Rubio will seek to firm up US relationships with partners and allies in the region, who have been unnerved by Trump’s global tariff offensive
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Malaysia later this week to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian Nations in his first visit to the Indo-Pacific region as America’s top diplomat, the State Department said in a statement.
Rubio will travel July 8-12 and will take part in meetings in Kuala Lumpur with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose ministers are gathering there, the State Department said.
Rubio will seek to firm up US relationships with partners and allies in the region, who have been unnerved by President Donald Trump’s global tariff offensive.
The trip is part of a renewed US focus on the Indo-Pacific and represents an effort by the Trump administration to look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have so far consumed much of its attention.
Last week, Rubio hosted counterparts from Australia, India and Japan and announced a joint initiative to ensure supply of critical minerals, a vital sector for high-tech applications dominated by Washington’s main strategic rival China.
Trump also announced he reached a trade agreement with important Southeast Asian partner and ASEAN member Vietnam and could reach one with India, but cast doubt on a possible deal with Japan, Washington’s main Indo-Pacific ally and a major importer and investor in the United States.
Rubio has yet to visit Japan, or neighboring South Korea, the other major US ally in Northeast Asia, since taking office in January, even though Washington sees the Indo-Pacific as its main strategic priority given the perceived threat posed by China.
ASEAN countries have been nervous about Trump’s tariff offensive and have questioned the willingness of his “America First” administration to fully engage diplomatically and economically with the region.
“There is a hunger to be reassured that the US actually views the Indo-Pacific as the primary theater of US interests, key to US national security,” said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Other ASEAN countries may be encouraged by Vietnam’s deal with Trump. “This should smooth the way for continued pragmatic security engagement between the US and Vietnam, and hopefully provide a pathway for others in Southeast Asia to get similar deals without having to give up much,” Poling said.
