SHANGHAI: Stiffening resolve after three weeks of strict lockdown, authorities warned Shanghai’s 25 million frazzled residents on Friday that their purgatory would go on until the COVID-19 virus was eradicated neighborhood by neighborhood.
Offering a glimmer of light, the city government said on its official WeChat account that infections were showing a “positive trend” and that life could return to normal soon as long as people stuck to strict rules to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Yet some Shanghai districts tightened restrictions on movement, and even in neighborhoods that met criteria for people to be allowed to leave their homes officials ordered them to stay put, fraying nerves in families who have endured weeks of isolation.
“Our goal is to achieve community zero-COVID as soon as possible,” the government said, referring to a target to stamp out transmission outside quarantined areas.
“This is an important indication that we win this major, hard battle against the epidemic ...so that we can restore normal production and life order.”
Shanghai locked virtually all of its 25 million people into their homes at the start of April after infections began to surge. Residents have faced income losses, family separations and difficulty meeting basic needs.
Health officials raised hopes for some return to normal by saying transmission had been curbed, only for city officials to pour cold water over such expectations as the highly-transmissible omicron variant has proven hard to eliminate.
Late on Thursday, Shanghai announced a new round of “nine major” actions, including daily city-wide testing from Friday, minimizing people movement and accelerating transfers to quarantine centers.
Videos circulated widely on Chinese social media this week of busloads of people being taken to quarantine, at times outside Shanghai.
Some residents complain that isolation orders are issued en masse and indiscriminately for the sake of speed and efficiency, with little consideration for individual circumstances. City authorities urged people to cooperate with their painful measures to make sure the progress so far is not lost.
Resident Zhang Chen, 30, said her four-year-old son and his 84-year-old grandmother were taken to quarantine on Sunday, along with her in-laws and she was worried the poor conditions in the facility may affect their health.
She said meals lack nutrition — breakfast is two slices of toast; the building is dusty and only partly renovated; there are no showers; and there are too few toilets.
“They are patients, not criminals. But here it’s like they’re criminals, and being sent off to suffer,” Zhang said.
The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Chinese financial hub reported 15,698 new local asymptomatic coronavirus cases, down from 15,861 a day earlier.
New symptomatic cases stood at 1,931, down from 2,634.
There were 250 new cases outside quarantined areas, down from 441 the day before. There is particular focus on cases outside quarantined areas as those could be the first places where restrictions are relaxed, if Shanghai follows the pattern of other cities that have been under lockdown.
Eleven people infected with COVID-19 died in Shanghai on April 21, authorities said, taking the tally to 36 — all recorded in the past five days.
But there are doubts over the official toll, as many residents have said that a family member had died after catching COVID-19 since early March, but cases had not been included in official statistics.
The Shanghai government did not respond to questions on the death toll.
Businesses are beginning to reopen, though they have to operate under “closed loops,” which entail living on site, daily testing and rigorous disinfection.
Beijing last week published a list of 666 firms in Shanghai prioritized to reopen or keep operations going and the Shanghai government said on Friday 403 were doing so as of April 20, citing US automaker Tesla as an example.
Factories, however, face reduced trucking availability, fractured supply chains and a shortage of labor, and are far from resuming full production, economists say.
No let-up in Shanghai’s lockdown as COVID-19 infections trend lower
https://arab.news/9jggs
No let-up in Shanghai’s lockdown as COVID-19 infections trend lower
- City government: Life could return to normal soon as long as people stuck to strict rules to curb the spread of COVID-19
Pope ‘stable’, out of imminent danger as talk turns to return home
A Vatican source on Monday said that Francis still had pneumonia but confirmed there was “no imminent danger” to his life
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis remains stable after almost four weeks in hospital with pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday, declining to speculate on when he might go home, the day after doctors indicated he was no longer in danger.
The 88-year-old head of the world Catholic Church has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since February 14 with pneumonia in both lungs, suffering several respiratory crises that sparked real fear for his life.
But on Tuesday evening — a day after indicating that he was out of imminent danger — the Holy See said that the pope’s condition continued to be stable.
“It is clear that the situation remains stable... and with these slight improvements within a framework for doctors that remains complex,” the Vatican said.
On Monday, following a week of steady improvements in Francis’s condition, the Vatican said his prognosis was no longer considered “reserved,” or uncertain, meaning his life is no longer at imminent risk.
But his condition remained complex and he would require hospital treatment for “several more days,” it said on Monday — with the implication that afterwards, he could go home to the Vatican.
A Vatican source on Monday said that Francis still had pneumonia but confirmed there was “no imminent danger” to his life.
Despite the improving scenario, the Vatican on Tuesday said that it was still unknown when exactly Francis might be released from hospital.
The source denied reports that preparations were under way for Francis’s return to the Santa Marta residence.
Francis missed the start of the Lent religious period last week but there are hopes he might be able to participate in celebrations for Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar, which culminates on April 20.
Outside the Gemelli hospital, an employee of the Santa Marta, Simonetta Maronge, urged the pope to come home soon.
“May he return to Santa Marta soon. We love him deeply and Santa Marta is empty without him,” she told AFP.
The Vatican source said on Tuesday that the pope’s spirits were “good.”
The press office said he had that morning prayed in the private chapel next to the papal suite on the 10th floor of the hospital, and that he had taken part remotely in Vatican prayers and meditation.
“The improvements recorded in the previous days have been further consolidated, as confirmed by blood tests and clinical objectivity and the good response to pharmacological therapy,” the Vatican said in a statement on Monday evening.
“For these reasons, the doctors have decided today to lift their reserved prognosis,” it added, although the Vatican said Francis still would need “pharmacological treatment in a hospital setting for several more days.”
The pontiff has been doing some work off and on during his hospital stay, making calls and having occasional visitors, according to the Vatican.
Several of the children being treated in Rome’s Bambino Gesu hospital, which is also run by the Vatican, sent Francis messages and drawings offering other ideas for passing the time.
“Dear Pope, I suggest you get someone to give you a PlayStation,” young Alex wrote, according to the artwork released by Bambino Gesu.
Pilgrims visiting Rome for the 2025 Jubilee holy year celebrations have been praying every night for the pope, while special services have been held in churches around the world.
“We are praying for the pope, for his recovery and that he will soon be with us, safe and well, so he can bless us all,” Jose Ochoa, 69, from Mexico, told AFP at the Vatican.
Mimmo Laundando, an Italian pensioner praying outside the Gemelli hospital, said: “I am hopeful.”
Laundando added that he had always dreamt of being the pontiff’s chauffeur.
Pope Francis will on Thursday mark 12 years as leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics.
Despite his incipient recovery, his hospital stay — the longest and most serious of his papacy — has revived questions about his future.
The Jesuit pontiff has always held open the possibility of resigning like his predecessor, the German Benedict XVI, although he also insisted he has no intention of quitting.
The EU wants to increase deportations and supports ‘return hubs’ in third countries
- Only 20 percent of people with a deportation order are effectively removed from EU territory, according to the European Commission
- The proposal aims to set a standard for all 27 members of the bloc
STRASBOURG, France: The European Union wants to increase deportations and is opening the way for “return hubs” to be set up in third countries for rejected asylum-seekers, according to a new migration proposal unveiled Tuesday.
Only 20 percent of people with a deportation order are effectively removed from EU territory, according to the European Commission, which presented the “European System for Returns” in Strasbourg as a potential solution.
The proposal aims to set a standard for all 27 members of the bloc and allow national authorities from one country to enforce the deportation order issued by another. Such rules were missing from the EU’s migration and asylum pact approved last year.
“The European system needs to be clear that when someone is issued a return decision they are being told to leave, not just the country but the entire European Union,” said Magnus Brunner, the EU’s commissioner for migration, who called the current 20 percent removal rate unacceptable.
“Any figure would be an improvement, but we don’t want to pin down any specific figures,” he added.
For the proposal to work, however, the EU needs to get countries of origin to readmit their citizens. Brunner acknowledged that the commission and member states are still working on improving that.
The “return hubs,” a euphemism for deportation centers, would apply only to people whose asylum requests have been rejected and exclude unaccompanied minors, Brunner said. He added that any future deal would have to include safeguards to ensure international law and human rights are respected.
The EU wouldn’t set up or manage such centers, which could be in Europe or elsewhere, but would create the legal framework to allow states to negotiate with non-EU countries willing to take the rejected asylum-seekers.
This differs from the existing but so-far ineffective deal signed by Italy with Albania to offshore the asylum processing of migrants rescued at sea. At the time, the contentious plan was applauded by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an “out-of-the-box” solution to manage irregular migration but courts in Italy have repeatedly blocked it.
Brunner reiterated the need for “innovative” solutions to manage irregular migration and asylum — a highly politicized issue that the far right has used across the continent to gain votes.
While the potential “return hubs” were the most striking aspect of the proposal, it also included stricter punishments for those absconding deportations and extends the detention of rejected asylum-seekers posing a flight or security risk from 18 months to 24 months. The commission did not provide any data on how many people currently pose a “security risk.”
European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen, who presented the new migration reform alongside Brunner, said the proposal was tougher but fair and would encourage migrants to leave voluntarily before they had to be forcibly removed.
Migrant rights groups criticized the proposed reform saying it undermined the right to asylum and would lead to more detentions.
“We can likely expect more people being locked up in immigration detention centers across Europe, families separated and people sent to countries they don’t even know,” said Silvia Carta of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.
The proposal will now be sent to the European Parliament and member states for approval.
Goodwill Caravan raises thousands during London’s Ramadan iftar to help Sudan, Palestine
- Donations will support Sallam Center in Cairo, which provides emergency assistance to displaced people
- Palestinian envoy to UK says event is ‘a testament to the depth of support (Palestinians) have in the British public’
LONDON: Goodwill Caravan, a UK-based humanitarian charity, raised thousands of dollars during a Ramadan iftar event in London to support refugees from Palestine and Sudan living in Egypt.
The charity has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years for emergency food and aid campaigns in countries affected by armed conflicts.
Hanan Ashegh, founder of Goodwill Caravan, told Arab News that the charity hopes to raise £150,000 ($194,000) by the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which concludes in March.
Donations will support the Sallam Center in Cairo, which provides emergency assistance to displaced people from war-torn regions, including Sudan and the Gaza Strip, offering food, shelter, legal support, and medical aid.
Ashegh said that an auction and iftar event raised £55,000 this week. Last year, the charity raised £120,000 during a single Ramadan iftar to help Palestinians in Gaza by sending 16 trucks loaded with aid to the coastal enclave.
The charity is planning to open the Sallam Center in Libya to help those in need and support sub-Saharan refugees and trafficking survivors in the North African country that has experienced over a decade of political schism and instability.
Ashegh said that the charity employs a “holistic model” to address the issues faced by refugees, helping with food, shelter, and integration into a country “that may not readily accept them.”
Event is a testament to the depth of support Palestinians have in the British public
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told Arab News that such fundraising events are “a testament to the depth of support (Palestinians) have in the British public, and particularly among those who really want to support the Palestinian cause not only by words but by deeds.”
Between October 2023 and the summer of 2024, around 110,000 Palestinians were forced to flee to Egypt as Israel bombed Gaza, killing tens of thousands of people.
Zomlot added that it was essential to support displaced Palestinians in Egypt and in other countries, and to ensure that “until they return back to their home, rebuild their lives, they also have lives wherever they are.”
Goodwill Caravan, founded in 2015, manages refugee and anti-trafficking projects in Greece and the UK, and has helped hundreds of Palestinian families from Gaza at its Sallam Center in Egypt.
Myriam Francois, a British journalist, filmmaker, and writer, said that refugees are frequently demonized not only by British and US tabloids but also worldwide.
“Refugees are represented as some sort of existential threat to our societies,” she told Arab News.
Francois said that charitable acts are vital to provide refugees with “the tools to be able to get back on their feet.”
She added that Ramadan is a special time to “recalibrate ourselves in the rhythm of our faith” and help those in need.
Philippine president says Duterte has left on jet bound for ICC
- Duterte could become Asia’s first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC
- A copy of the warrant said Duterte is accused of criminal responsibility for the murder of at least 43 people between 2011 and 2019
MANILA: Former Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte left Manila on a jet on Tuesday bound for The Hague, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said, hours after he was arrested at the request of the International Criminal Court over a “war on drugs” that defined his presidency.
Duterte, a firebrand ex-mayor and former prosecutor who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was arrested at a Manila airport early on Tuesday, in a major step in the ICC’s investigation into thousands of killings in an anti-drugs crackdown that caused shock and condemnation around the world.
“I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures,” Marcos told a press conference confirming Duterte had left the country bound for the Netherlands.
“We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way. The arrest was made in compliance with Interpol.”
The “war on drugs” was Duterte’s signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial crime-buster to power and he soon delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of drug pushers and users.
Duterte has long insisted he instructed police to kill only in self-defense and has always defended the crackdown, repeatedly telling his supporters he was ready to “rot in jail” if it meant ridding the Philippines of drugs.
Veronica Duterte, the 79-year-old’s youngest daughter, said on Instagram her father had boarded the jet but the family had not been informed of its destination.
“The airplane used to kidnap my dad just left minutes ago,” she posted.
Duterte could become Asia’s first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
Rights groups
His arrest follows years of him rebuking and taunting the ICC since he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the court’s founding treaty in 2019 as it started looking into allegations of systematic murders of drug dealers on his watch.
The ICC, a court of last resort, is probing alleged crimes against humanity and says it has jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes that took place while a country was a member.
Duterte and his family and allies expressed fury at the arrest, calling it unlawful.
A lawyer petitioned the Supreme Court on Duterte’s behalf on Tuesday seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent authorities from complying with the ICC’s request.
A copy of the warrant, seen by Reuters, said Duterte is accused of criminal responsibility for the murder of at least 43 people between 2011 and 2019, which would include time when he served as mayor of southern Davao City.
Human rights groups and families of victims said his detention was a key step toward accountability for the killings of thousands of people in the Philippines, where police investigations have moved at a snail’s pace. Duterte has not been charged with any crimes locally.
According to police, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations under Duterte’s presidency that they say ended in shootouts. But activists say the real toll of the crackdown was far greater, with many thousands more slumland drug users, some named on community “watch lists,” killed in mysterious circumstances.
The prosecutor of the ICC has said as many as 30,000 people may have been killed by police or unidentified individuals.
Police have rejected allegations from rights groups of systematic murders, staged crime scenes and fabricated incident reports.
‘War has come’: Russians shaken by Ukrainian drone barrage
- Like for most Russians, Moscow’s three-year military campaign had until then felt distant — mostly constrained to television screens
- The attack shattered the sense of comfort that Svetlana — a supporter of the Kremlin’s offensive — had
RAMENSKOYE, Russia: As a drone smashed into the side of her apartment block early on Tuesday, Russia’s full-scale offensive on Ukraine literally came home to Svetlana in a suburb southeast of Moscow.
Like for most Russians, Moscow’s three-year military campaign had until then felt distant — mostly constrained to television screens.
Despite militaristic propaganda and a mass recruitment of soldiers, authorities have tried to keep society at arm’s length from the conflict’s death and destruction — especially in and around the capital.
“You understand that it is war, but you don’t realize it properly,” Svetlana, wearing a winter coat with a fur collar, said. “But now, yes, it has come.”
In her town of Ramenskoye, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of central Moscow, police had cordoned off an area where a drone hit.
The attack shattered the sense of comfort that Svetlana — a supporter of the Kremlin’s offensive — had.
“Yes, we were weaving camouflage nets, collecting humanitarian aid, accompanying fighters there, but we still didn’t realize it. Now it has come,” Svetlana said.
“I’m scared for the children,” said Andrei, an electrician who lives on the 12th floor of a building that was hit.
He was sweeping up broken glass from his car, which was hit by falling shrapnel after the drone crashed into the 18th-22nd floors.
“My six-year-old daughter was sleeping with me, she woke up crying from the noise,” he told AFP.
Kyiv said it wants the attack — which involved more than 300 drones — to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an aerial ceasefire.
The Kremlin has previously ruled that out.
Ukraine says the strikes are just a taste of what Russia has subjected its citizens to over the last three years, with Moscow having fired near daily bomb, missile and drone attacks across the country.
“There is not even any thought that tonight will be peaceful. It’s scary,” said Olga, a 21-year old who works in IT and lives in the adjacent building to one hit.
She ran out to the street after being woken at 5 am (0200 GMT) by the rumbling.
“People just have fear in their eyes,” she told AFP, the ground around her covered with shrapnel.
Unlike in Ukraine — where air alerts ring out practically every night in almost every city — there was no such warning of an incoming attack in the Russian capital or its suburbs.
“We don’t understand what to do in such situations,” said Olga.
“The news says that more and more drones are being shot down. It’s scary to even go to sleep after such a thing,” she added. “It could have been us.”
The idea of peace — previously seen as within reach amid US President Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Moscow — now felt far away in Ramenskoye.
“In my opinion, this attack won’t be the last,” said retiree Sergei, criticizing Ukraine’s “bloodthirsty” European backers who were supplying it with arms.
For 75-year-old Yulia, who lives next to the building that was hit, there was just frustration.
“My heart is bad. I don’t believe there will be peace,” she told AFP.
“Why can’t they agree? Why not? What are they thinking about?,” she said, through tears. “It’s terrible.”
