FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE USA
Cap on drug price hikes for privately insured sparks battle

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

FILE - Pharmaceuticals are seen in North Andover, Mass., June 15, 2018. Workers and families with private health insurance would reap savings on prescription drugs from a little-noticed provision in President Joe Biden's sweeping social agenda bill. Drug companies would have to pay rebates to Medicare if they increase prices above the rate of inflation. Business groups are paying close attention, and the issue has divided them in a fierce lobbying battle. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Workers and families with private health insurance would reap savings on prescription drugs from a little-noticed provision in President Joe Biden’s sweeping social agenda bill. It’s meant to break the cycle of annual price increases for widely used medicines.

That provision would require drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they increase prices above the rate of inflation. Drugs sold to private plans would count in calculating the penalty, like a tax on price increases. The issue is dividing business groups in a fierce lobbying battle.

Corporate groups focused on affordable employee benefits want to keep the language as is so it would provide price-increase protection for companies and their workers and not just Medicare enrollees. Other groups such as the influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce are backing the pharmaceutical industry’s drive to block restraints on pricing, including inflation caps, saying they would stifle innovation.

House Democrats passed the roughly $2 trillion social agenda legislation on Friday and sent it to the Senate. The bill resets national priorities on issues from climate to family life and faces more scrutiny in that evenly divided chamber. Prescription drugs are but one component, and most of the attention has focused on Medicare provisions to slash out-of-pocket costs for seniors and allow the program to negotiate prices for a limited number of medicines.

But the inflation caps would have far-reaching impact for as many as 180 million Americans with private insurance.

“A lot of people don’t realize that the bill applies to, and will help, privately insured people,” said Shawn Gremminger, health policy director at the Purchaser Business Group on Health. “But that isn’t a sure thing. As currently structured, that would be the case. But we have been worried and continue to be worried that will change.” His coalition represents nearly 40 large employers that cover more than 15 million workers, retirees and their families.

Inflation caps would be a “game changer,” said James Gelfand, a vice president of ERIC, a group that represents major national companies as providers of employee benefits.

Earlier legislation would have based the “inflation rebates” on sales to Medicare plans, but the House-passed bill broadens the formula to include private plans.

“If they raise prices in private markets faster than the economy grows, they will be required to pay that money back to the government,” Gelfand said. The goal is to deter drug companies from extravagant price increases.

Polls show that Americans across the political spectrum overwhelmingly favor government action to reduce drug prices. The chief cost complaints are: high out-of-pocket costs for patients, high and rising list prices, and high launch prices for new medicines. The Biden package would tackle the first two issues, but Democrats were unable to agree on authorizing Medicare to negotiate prices of new drugs.

Annual price increases for established prescription drugs usually outpace inflation, although there have been periods of moderation in recent years.

Gremminger said his group estimates that the privately insured market could save $250 billion over 10 years under the inflation caps currently in the bill. Without them, Gelfand estimates that employers could face an additional 3.7% annual increase in health care costs over the usual medical inflation because drug companies could in effect raise prices on privately insured patients to make up for rebates paid on behalf of Medicare enrollees.

“It’s true that not all the business groups are in the same place,” Gelfand said of divisions in the business community. “If you look at groups on either side of the issue, there are groups that protect the business interests of pharma, and then there’s everybody else.”

The main drug industry lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, says inflation rebates would undermine innovation that continues after medicines are approved.

The generic drug industry wants their products exempted. Dan Leonard, president of the generic lobbying group Association for Accessible Medicines, said he fears his members will be penalized for price increases that amount to pennies on the dollar. “When generics are not exempted ... they’ll get caught up in the jet wash,” he said.

In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has taken a lead role on prescription drugs, supports keeping the inflation caps for privately insured people.

Opponents could pursue a parliamentary challenge under Senate rules, arguing that penalizing price increases by one private company on another has no bearing on federal budgetary issues. If the challenge succeeds, costs to private insurance plans would be stripped from the inflation rebates. Supporters of the caps say they do have a budgetary purpose because they would raise revenue and generate savings for Medicare.

Katie Mahoney, the top health policy expert for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said her organization has “very real concerns” that the drug pricing provisions would undermine incentives for industry to develop new medicines, and is pressing that point in the Senate.

“We continue to hammer on the damage that such policies would do,” she said. “We feel that message is making headway with senators and with some members of Congress.”

Asked about other business groups that are supporting inflation caps, Mahoney said they don’t reflect private enterprise generally.

“When you look at those other organizations, first of all they’re significantly smaller and their policy focus is very narrow,” she said. “They don’t represent business across the board, they represent a very discreet and narrow slice of issues.”

GENTRIFICATION OF ABATTOIR

Dinner on the patio? First, hold the stench

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE

Des Moines Downtown Neighborhood Association president Brandon Brown stands on the roof of his condo building, Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa. After decades of downplaying or simply ignoring the problem, Des Moines officials here recently began a comprehensive study that will lead to tighter regulations on some smelly manufacturing plants near downtown. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)


DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Parts of downtown Des Moines have been so transformed in the past decade by new apartments, trendy shops and microbreweries, it’s sometimes hard to reconcile the present with the not-so-distant past.

But one strong reminder of the city’s heritage remains: the stench. A pungent smell of rancid meat regularly wafts through all the shiny new development, a reminder of the region’s less polished history as a pork processing center.

“You can’t escape it,” said Brandon Brown, president of the Des Moines Downtown Neighborhood Association, calling it “very frustrating.”

Many cities eager for new investment and vitality have welcomed urban housing and entertainment venues into older sections of town that housed grittier industries, only to be stumped by what happens when someone like Brown, who moved into an upscale downtown apartment, actually wants to enjoy a latte or meal at an outdoor patio.

After decades of downplaying or simply ignoring the problem, Des Moines officials recently began a comprehensive study that will lead to tighter regulations on some smelly manufacturing plants to finally clear the air.

Similar difficulties are cropping up in other cities with smelly businesses, especially rendering plants that are common in agricultural regions and even some big cities. Angry residents are deluging officials with complaints and filing lawsuits, while some leading companies are installing new equipment, making payments to neighbors or even closing down.

No one tracks such disputes, but Iowa State University professor Jacek Koziel, who studies air quality and livestock odors, said he thinks the conflicts may be increasing. Sometimes, as in Des Moines, it’s because more noses are nearer the bad smells, but in other spots, it’s that residents are simply pushing harder for changes.

“It’s very common in this juncture of animal agriculture in general and meat packing plants or feed processing plants,” Koziel said. “It’s very tough. For us engineers, we know there are technologies to minimize the impact but then come all the fiscal realities of doing that.”

In Des Moines, residents and workers have for decades complained about the smells from an industrial area little more than a mile from downtown, describing the scent as putrid or akin to animal waste. Brown takes a more charitable view, labeling the smell “yeasty.”

People typically blame two companies: pork processor Pine Ridge Farms and rendering plant Darling Ingredients. Although the city created an odor board and odor hotline, its efforts were ineffective and largely abandoned until recently, when people who moved into expensive apartments that had replaced warehouses and scrap yards complained of nauseating smells periodically settling over their neighborhoods.

City officials agree there’s a problem, but say they need more data before deciding what to do.

“You’ve got to know what is the truth that’s out there, and then make the plans work for each of the industries,” said SuAnn Donovan, deputy director of Des Moines’ Neighborhood Services Department. The new study will take air samples and figure out a baseline for air quality.

Iowa is an agricultural powerhouse and Donovan is quick to note that the city wants to work with Pine Ridge, Darling and other companies.

Darling didn’t respond to an inquiry about its Des Moines operations.

Pine Ridge Farms is owned by meat industry giant Smithfield, which said in a statement that its pork plant, which employs about 1,000 people, opened in 1937 and slaughters about 4,000 hogs daily. As more people moved nearby, the company said, it had invested millions of dollars on new technology, such as air treatment equipment, to reduce odors.

“We also follow a rigorous daily cleaning schedule during and after each production run,” the statement said. “At the end of each week, we perform a top-to-bottom deep cleaning to keep odor to a minimum.”

Even with efforts to reduce smells, rendering is an especially pungent business. The plants use heat, centrifuges and other techniques to convert waste animal tissue into fats and proteins for many uses, including as animal feed, fertilizer and cosmetics. There are more than 200 plants in the U.S. and Canada, according to recent estimates.

In Fresno, California, a citizens group filed a lawsuit against a Darling rendering plant that produced a stench so strong that residents complained of health problems. Last year, the company agreed to close the plant. Another rendering plant near the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova that had operated for more than 50 years also opted to close after concluding it couldn’t coexist with new nearby housing.

Rendering plants in an industrial area of Los Angeles have been ordered to abide by strict new rules. And in Denver, where new urban development has been especially extensive, there have been sharp clashes between new residents and old industries.

“People moving in are savvy and they’re not afraid to complain,” said Greg Thomas, the city’s director of environmental quality.

Residents in South St. Paul, Minnesota, filed a class action lawsuit over fumes from a rendering plant, and neighbors received up to $1,000 payments as part of a $750,000 settlement.

Still, though, smells of rancid meat remain.

“The lawsuit didn’t seem to make a difference,” said Chris Robinson, who lives less than a mile from the plant. “Just last night, my husband couldn’t sit out on the deck. It’s still really bad.”

Brown, of Des Moines, said with new outdoor projects underway, from a soccer stadium to a whitewater rafting course, the city has little option but to clear the air.

“You don’t want the smell to contaminate the experience,” Brown said.

___

Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge

Rare Einstein manuscript set to fetch millions


Einstein was a genius scientist. He later earned pop culture icon status (AFP/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

Sun, November 21, 2021

A rare manuscript by theoretical physicist Albert Einstein goes under the hammer in Paris on Tuesday, with auctioneers aiming for a stratospheric price tag.

The manuscript, containing preparatory work for Einstein's key achievement the theory of relativity, is estimated at between two and three million euros (2.3-3.4 million), according to Christie's which is hosting the sale on behalf of the Aguttes auction house.

"This is without a doubt the most valuable Einstein manuscript ever to come to auction," Christie's said in a statement.

The 54-page document was handwritten in 1913 and 1914 in Zurich, Switzerland, by Einstein and his colleague and confidant, Swiss engineer Michele Besso.

Christie's said it was thanks to Besso that the manuscript was preserved for posterity.

This was "almost like a miracle" since the German-born genius himself would have been unlikely to hold on to what he considered to be a simple working document, Christie's said.

Today, the paper offers "a fascinating plunge into the the mind of the 20th century's greatest scientist", it said.

Einstein, who died in 1955 aged 76 and is considered to be one of the greatest physicists ever, revolutionised his field with the theory of relativity and made major contributions to quantum mechanics theory.

He won he Nobel physics prize in 1921 and was later adopted by pop culture as a genius scientist icon, helped by his trademark unruly hair, moustache and bushy eyebrows.

hh-pr/jh/har

Evicted villagers pay the price for MotoGP's Indonesia return

Haeril Halim with Lucie Godeau in Jakarta
Sun, November 21, 2021, 5:37 AM·5 min read

The holiday island of Lombok welcomed thousands of fans Sunday for Indonesia's first superbike race on a new circuit that is part of a mega tourism infrastructure project denounced by the UN over the eviction of local families.

With a population of more than 270 million people, many of whom get around on two wheels, Indonesia has one of the world's biggest communities of bike-race fans.

But the archipelago had not hosted a major race since 1997.

Several villages have been relocated voluntarily or by force for construction of the new Mandalika circuit. But around 40 families -- along with their cattle and dogs -- are still holding out in the centre of the track despite intimidation to cede their land.

Environmentalists also question the wisdom of hosting large-scale events on an island under threat from natural disasters.

The superbike spectacle on the 4.3-kilometre (2.7-mile) circuit Sunday was a prelude to a MotoGP race -- the top tier of the motorcycle Grand Prix -- to be held on the island in March 2022.

"I am here to watch World Superbike. It is very cool and I almost could not believe (Indonesia has this circuit) ... The event will help the economy here," said Rini Yuniarti, a fan from Bali.

The government hopes to create thousands of jobs and attract up to two million foreign tourists a year with the circuit complex, which covers more than a thousand hectares bordered by white-sand beaches.

But the gleaming new project has been the subject of bitter conflict between authorities and local residents.

Near one village in the area the houses have been abandoned and a metal sign reads: "This land belongs to the state."

But Abdul Latif, 36, and his four children have so far stayed behind because they have not received any compensation for leaving.

"Life is difficult here now... Access is very restricted," he said. "We play cat-and-mouse with security personnel guarding the area."

Another villager, 54-year-old Abdul Kadir, said young people struggled to get to school because they were blocked by security.

"We have to go through a tunnel to go to school," said her 10-year-old daughter. "I would like to go to school easily like before."

Making matters worse, local wells have run dry for six months since tunnels were built under the circuit, leaving residents without water.

- 'They dragged me away' -

Many villagers have lost their livelihoods, with farmers confiscated of their land and fishermen relocated from the coast.

Security forces have been deployed to remove some families while others have been coerced into accepting meagre compensation packages, said human rights lawyer Widodo Dwi Putro, who is defending the villagers.

Sibawai, a 53-year-old farmer, has lost most of his land.

He said the authorities tried to evict him several times before police came for him in January 2021.

"They deployed around 700 personnel just for my land. I tried to prevent the bulldozers from entering but they dragged me away," he said.

United Nations experts in March called on the Indonesian government and the companies involved in the project "to respect human rights".

Special rapporteur on human rights and extreme poverty Olivier De Schutter said the project had seen "complaints about land grabbing, evictions of indigenous communities in the Sasak ethnic group and intimidation and threats against defenders of local populations".

Several international companies previously associated with the $3 billion-dollar project denied still being a part of it, including construction giant Vinci and holiday operator Club Med.

The Accor group operates a Novotel on the site and is building a Pullman hotel.

The company told AFP it did not own the land or the hotel but would manage it on behalf of the Indonesian public company Indonesia Development Tourism Corporation.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is due to contribute $250 million to the project, said it had carried out a study and did not identify any human rights violations.

- 'Just the start' -

Lombok is one of 10 new locations that Indonesian authorities want to develop into tourism destinations in the same vein as Bali.

The impoverished island has struggled to rebuild since a major earthquake struck in 2018, killing more than 500 people.

For most locals, tickets to the motorbike races are too expensive and many have to settle for watching from a hill overlooking the circuit.

But authorities are hopeful the venture will suck in investment.

Superbike and Moto GP events represent "one of the best ways to attract visitors and for significant investments to be made in our region", said Zulkieflimansyah, governor of West Nusa Tenggara province, of which Lombok is a part.

"This international road circuit will be just the start."

Asked about the accusations of human rights violations, Zulkieflimansyah -- who like many Indonesians goes by one name -- said he was "very optimistic" that the disputes would be settled to the satisfaction of investors and the local community.

Maharani, an environmental activist with NGO the Lombok Research Centre, said the risks from earthquakes and tsunamis were a worry.

"A landslide could directly come down to hit and cover the circuit area. In the case of a tsunami the circuit could become a water pit," he said.

Abdul Latif, stuck in the centre of the circuit clinging to his home, had no desire to watch the race.

"I feel abandoned and isolated," he said. "Like a bird in a cage."

hrl-lgo/axn/leg

Evicted villagers pay the price for MotoGP's Indonesia returnA sign on an abandoned hut reads: "This land belongs to the state" (AFP/BAY ISMOYO)More

12-year-old girl's marriage causes stir in Iraq

Issued on: 21/11/2021

Activists demonstrate outside a court in Iraq's capital Baghdad in protest against the legalisation of a marriage contract for a 12-year-old girl AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP

Baghdad (AFP) – An Iraqi court adjourned a hearing Sunday to allow a man to formalise his religious marriage to a 12-year-old girl, according to a lawyer for the girl's mother, who opposes the union.

Rights activists protested outside the Baghdad court with banners such as "the marriage of minors is a crime against childhood", while lawyer Marwan Obeidi told AFP the case had been postponed until November 28.

The legal age for marriage in Iraq is 18 but can be lowered to 15 in cases of parental or judicial consent, according to charity Save the Children.

"Religious marriages are not permitted outside civil or religious courts but these types of marriages still happen regularly and can be formalised on the payment of a small fine," it said in a recent report.

The mother, who refuses to be identified, said her daughter Israa had been "raped" and that the girl's father kidnapped her.

But a department of the interior ministry dealing with violence against women said in a statement that it had met with Israa, her father and husband, seen the religious contract, and said she had assured them she had not been coerced.

Child marriage is not uncommon in conservative and rural areas of Iraq, as well as in other Arab countries.

© 2021 AFP

8 years old and sold for marriage: Desperate Afghan families sell their daughters for cash

Richard Engel and Gabe Joselow and Ahmed Mengli and Yuliya Talmazan
Sun, November 21, 2021, 3:36 PM·5 min read

SHAIDAI, Afghanistan — Bashful, with long locks of rust-colored hair dyed with henna, Benazir fidgets with a handful of gravel when the topic of her marriage comes up.

She looks down at the ground and buries her head in her knees when she is asked whether she knows she has been promised to another family to marry one of their sons.

Her father says he will receive the equivalent of $2,000 for Benazir, but he hasn’t explained the details to her or what’s expected of her. She’s too young to understand, he says.

Benazir is 8 years old.

It is traditional for families here to pay dowries to brides’ families for marriages, but it is extreme to arrange a marriage for a child so young. And the economic collapse after the Taliban’s takeover in August has forced already poor families to make desperate choices.

Benazir, 8, second right, walks with a group in Herat, Afghanistan. (NBC News)

The days are filled with hardships for children here in Shaidai, a desert community on the mountainous edge of Herat in western Afghanistan.

Children like Benazir and her siblings beg on the streets or collect garbage to heat their simple mud homes because they don’t have enough money for wood.

Her father, Murad Khan, a day laborer who hasn’t found work in months and has eight children to feed, looks much older than his 55 years — his face is worn with worry. His decision to sell Benazir to marriage at such a young age comes down to a cold calculation.

“We are 10 people in the family. I’m trying to keep 10 alive by sacrificing one,” he said in Pashto.

Khan said the arrangement is for Benazir to be married to a boy from a family in Iran when she reaches puberty. He hasn’t received the money yet for her dowry, and he said that as soon as he does, Benazir will be taken away by the man who bought her.

“He will just take her hand and take her away from me,” he said. “He will take her away and say, ‘She’s ours now.’”

A combination of a severe drought that decreased livestock and farmers’ yields and the freezing of foreign aid by governments that don’t recognize the new Taliban government has pushed poor Afghans over the edge.

Promising their daughters early for marriage in exchange for cash is seen as a lifeline for families that barely have a scrap of bread to eat.

Benazir, right, lights a fire with discarded paper to cook bread with a group of children in Herat. (NBC News)

The U.N. Population Fund has warned that it is “deeply concerned” by reports that child marriage is on the rise in Afghanistan.

Henrietta Fore, the executive director of UNICEF, said in a statement: “We have received credible reports of families offering daughters as young as 20 days old up for future marriage in return for a dowry.”
‘A piece of your heart’

Benazir’s best friend, Saliha, who is just 7, has been sold for marriage for the same price, $2,000, to someone in the family of her father-in-law in Faryab province in the north.

Benazir and Saliha already have responsibilities in the community. They go to a local mosque together to collect water, a scarcity in the desert, and haul the hefty jugs together back to their homes.

Like her older neighbors, Saliha also spins yarn — pulling at a matted cloud of wool brought by traders and twisting it into neat spools of string. It takes four days to refine 8 pounds of the material, which earns her a dollar.

But the family is in debt. Saliha’s father, Muhammed Khan, says he took out loans from store owners in town.

Farzana is 8 months old but weighs just 6½ pounds. (NBC News)

“I’ve been telling the shopkeepers I’ve sold my daughter and I will be paying them back, so they have given me some food as a loan,” he said.

The money he makes from selling Saliha will help pay it all back and feed her four siblings.

It was a soul-wrenching decision, he says.

“Your children are a piece of your heart. If I wasn’t forced to do this, why would I do it?” he says.

Afghanistan was a poor country before the Taliban took over, propped up by foreign aid. According to the World Bank, about 75 percent of public finances were supplied by grants from the U.S. and other countries.

When the U.S. military withdrew and the hard-line Islamist Taliban government took over, a lot of that aid money was frozen. Salaries dried up and the flow of cash came to an abrupt halt, creating a humanitarian crisis.

And things look likely to get worse as the crisis spirals, with more than half the population facing hunger and 3.2 million children suffering from malnutrition, according to the U.N. World Food Program.

The agency said it has never seen so many people facing emergency levels of food insecurity in Afghanistan, where all 34 provinces are affected.

In the relatively wealthy province of Herat in western Afghanistan, an emergency feeding center is running out of beds.

The Doctors Without Borders-run facility at Herat Regional Hospital treats the most severely malnourished babies, like tiny Farzana, who at 8 months old weighs just 6 ½ pounds. She is one of 75 babies being cared for here.

Her father is a butcher. His business has collapsed so badly that he couldn’t keep feeding his family.

Farzana lies without making a sound, a tiny, pale, bone-thin arm sticking out, and her wide eyes don’t blink.

“What we are seeing is very small kids, which are not well breastfed by the mothers because the mothers are all so malnourished they can’t produce enough breast milk to feed them,” said Gaia Giletta, Doctors Without Borders’ head nurse for pediatrics at the feeding center.

Because of disruptions to health care and aid agencies across the region, Giletta said, many kids get no primary care. For many who arrive, it is already too late — a child dies nearly every day here.

Another baby at the center, Ali, is small and pale, barely mustering up energy to cry. His mother, Smita Umar, was herself malnourished, so Ali was born too weak to suckle. At 4 months old, he has already spent three months at the center.

“My husband is a house painter,” Umar said. “But he sold his tools so we could feed the baby. Things have got worse since the Taliban came. What little we had went to zero.”

Richard Engel, Gabe Joselow and Ahmed Mengli reported from Herat. Yuliya Talmazan reported from London.

Almost 30,000 children killed, 181 tortured to death in Syria since 2011

November 21, 2021 

Syrians students attend a class in Idlib on 28 September 2021 

[Muhamed Said/Anadolu Agency]

November 21, 2021 

At least 29,661 children have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the Syrian revolution and conflict in 2011, with 181 tortured to death and 5,036 still detained and forcibly disappeared, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has revealed.

In its tenth annual report on violations against children in Syria, released today on International Children's Day, it was revealed that the vast majority of all killings, torture, and disappearances of children in the country have been committed by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad over the past decade.

Out of the 29,661 children killed, the report stated that "22,930 [were] at the hands of the Syrian regime forces, 2,032 by Russian forces, 958 by ISIS, and 71 others by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham." That makes Damascus responsible for 78 per cent of extrajudicial killings of children in Syria, with 2013 reportedly being the worst year.

Syria: most refugee children would not return, report reveals

Out of the 181 children tortured to death in the country, 174 of those deaths were in the extensive network of detention centres run by the Syrian regime. That number makes up part of the overall amount of at least 14,400 tortured to death throughout the conflict.

As for those 5,036 children still in detained or disappeared, 3,649 are at the hands of the regime, 667 are at the hands of the Kurdish militia the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), 42 are at the hands of the militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and other armed opposition groups are responsible for the remaining 359.

The report's account of the number of those children killed marks a much higher amount than was previously reported in March this year, when UNICEF asserted that around 12,000 were killed or injured so far throughout the course of the decade-long ongoing civil war.

Syria's conflict has made a 10-year-old his family's only breadwinner

Malaysia sees little impact from EU's deforestation curbs

Malaysia is the world's second-biggest palm oil producer.

PHOTO: REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) - The European Union's new rulings to curb food and wood products that are linked to deforestation will have limited impact on Malaysian shipments of palm oil and timber into the bloc, according to a government official in the Asian country.

While the new ruling will most likely affect exports to the EU as there will be more requirements to fulfil, it only applies to new planted areas, according to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Malaysia is focusing on "increasing productivity of the existing planted area rather than expansion," she said in response to a query from Bloomberg.

Malaysia is not worried about the new ruling as it has taken proactive measures to address issues on sustainable forest management, Datuk Zuraida said.

The South-east Asian country, which is the world's second-biggest palm oil producer, is committed to keeping at least 50 per cent of its forest cover.

The EU wants to regulate imports of soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee, as well as some derived products such as chocolate, leather and furniture, in a bid to curb global deforestation.

Malaysia is home to the world's oldest rainforest.

The country will maintain good trade relations with the EU and will continue working with the bloc to ensure that Malaysian-produced agri-commodities meet sustainability requirements, "as long as these new rules imposed by the EU does not go against" UN Sustainable Development Goals or create trade barriers, Ms Zuraida said.

"Producing countries that have made efforts towards conservation and sustainability should not be unfairly penalised just to progress the protectionism efforts of the EU," she said.

Malaysia has previously retaliated against the EU's plan to curb palm-based biofuels, calling it discriminatory toward the tropical oil that's used in every from cooking oil to chocolate and detergent.

Its case at the WTO in relation to the treatment of palm oil as a biofuel feedstock in the EU's Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) is expected to be heard in January 2022.

Demonstrators on Poland-Belarus border demand more help for migrants

By Philip Andrew Churm • Updated: 21/11/2021 - 10:30

Copyright Czarek Sokolowski/Associated Press

Dozens of people gathered in the eastern Polish town of Hajnówka to show solidarity for migrants stuck at the Belarusian border.

They want the Polish Government to let NGOs work freely and help the migrants.

Among them was Kaja Jasienko, a lawyer from Wroclaw.

"What we demand for the moment from the Polish government is - please open a corridor, let the humanitarian organisations, let the medical organisations into the forest, into the closed zone," she said.

Volunteer from Warsaw, Agnieszka Jusis, also joined with the protesters. "I want to help these people, these kids," she said.

"I think we should do something. Even if just protesting, but we should show to our government, our president, our prime minister that we are here, we don't agree with what they're doing."

Meanwhile, Polish Police released pictures of the area along the border with Belarus (close to Kuźnica ) , now entirely cleared of migrant encampments.

Belarus has moved around 2,000 migrants who were living in freezing conditions to a nearby warehouse.

Poland's defence minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, accuses Belarus of "changing tactics" and "directing smaller groups of people to multiple points along the European Union’s eastern frontier."

COVID curbs spark RIGHT WING protests worldwide

Anger is mounting in Europe and elsewhere at renewed coronavirus restrictions brought in by governments in a bid to tackle another wave of infections. 

Far-right groups have taken part in some demonstrations.


Far-right groups attended protests against coronavirus restrictions in Austria on Saturday

Thousands took to the streets across Europe and Australia on Saturday to protest fresh rounds of COVID restrictions.

Several countries have recently reintroduced tighter measures in a bid to combat a resurgent wave of infections.

Austria on Friday announced a nationwide partial lockdown — the most dramatic restrictions in Western Europe for months.

Other nations on the continent have resorted to less severe restrictions, often choosing to ban unvaccinated people from venues like restaurants and bars.

In Austria, thousands gathered in the capital city Vienna as the country announced a new lockdown

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, rioters threw stones and fireworks at police, and set fire to bicycles as protests against coronavirus curbs turned violent for a second night in the country.

A day earlier, at least two people were injured after police fired shots at protesters and 51 were arrested at an anti-coronavirus restrictions demonstration in the city of Rotterdam.

Police arrested at least one person during a protest in The Hague.

Earlier in the day, several thousand protesters angered at the latest measures gathered in Amsterdam on Saturday. One group earlier in the day had cancelled their rally because of the previous night's violence.

In the southern city of Breda, near the Belgian border, a musical protest called by local DJs against current COVID-19 measures, which include the 8 p.m. (1900 UTC) closure of bars, restaurants and clubs, attracted a few hundred people.

The Netherlands went back into Western Europe's first partial lockdown of the winter last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs. It is now planning to ban unvaccinated people from entering some venues.

Protests against COVID-19 restrictions in the Netherlands turned violent for the second day running

Austria

Around 35,000 protesters, many from far-right groups, marched through the Austrian capital Vienna on Saturday.

Among those protesting were members of far-right and extreme-right parties and groups, including the far-right Freedom Party, the anti-vaccine MFG party and the extreme-right Identitarians.

Police said around 1,300 officers were on duty and several protesters were detained, but didn't give specific numbers.

From Monday, 8.9 million Austrians will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise. The restrictions will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days.

The government is making vaccination against COVID-19 mandatory in the country from February 1 next year.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, several hundred people opposed to vaccine passports protested outside the city hall in Belfast.

The government of Northern Ireland voted this week to introduce vaccine certificates for admission to nightclubs, bars and restaurants starting December 13.

Some protesters carried signs that have been widely criticized as offensive, comparing coronavirus restrictions to the actions of Nazi Germany.
Croatia

In Croatia, thousands gathered in the capital of Zagreb. Some carried flags, nationalist and religious symbols, along with banners against vaccination and what they describe as restrictions of people's freedoms.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Croatia's capital Zagreb on Saturday

Italy

In Italy, 3,000 turned out in the capital's Circus Maximus to protest against "Green Pass" certificates, required at workplaces, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, sports venues and gyms, as well as for long-distance train, bus or ferry travel.

"People like us never give up," read one banner, in the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag. Almost no one wore a protective mask.

In Italy, crowds gathered to protests the country's 'Green Pass' that shows proof of vaccination

Australia

In Sydney, some 10,000 marched and there were protests in other major Australian cities against vaccine mandates applied to certain occupations by state authorities.

Around 10,000 people turned out in Sydney to protest a vaccine mandate

Denmark

In Denmark, around one thousand people protested government plans to reinstate a COVID pass for civil servants going to work.

"Freedom for Denmark," cried some of the marchers at a rally organized by the radical Men in Black group who deny the existence of the virus.

Guadeloupe

France sent a group of dozens of elite security force officers to its overseas territory of Guadeloupe on Saturday after protests against coronavirus rules turned violent.

The deployment follows almost a week of unrest on the Caribbean island which included the burning of barricades in the street.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said around 50 agents from the GIGN counter-terrorism and RAID elite tactical forces would be sent to Guadeloupe.

Although almost 70% of the population of mainland France is already fully vaccinated, in Guadeloupe the share is less than 50%.

Violence erupts at Covid curb protest in Brussels


Police officers in riot gear charged the crowd backed by water cannon 

(AFP/Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD)

Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD
Sun, November 21, 2021, 7:44 AM·2 min read

Violence broke out at a protest against anti-Covid measures in Brussels on Sunday, in which police said tens of thousands of people took part.

The march began peacefully but police later fired water cannon and tear gas in response to protesters throwing projectiles, an AFP photographer witnessed.

AFP also saw at least two police injured in the events, as officers in riot gear charged the crowd backed by water cannon. One protester was seen being evacuated by an ambulance near the Berlaymont, the EU headquarters.

Police told Belga news agency that three police officers were injured in the rioting, without giving further details.

Several of the demonstrators caught up in the clash wore hoods and carried Flemish nationalist flags, while others wore Nazi-era yellow stars.

Protesters set fire to wood pallets, and social media images showed rioters attacking police vans with vandalised street signs.

The stand-off with riot police took place throughout the Belgian capital's EU and government district, just metres (yards) from the US and Russian embassies.

Police said 42 people were briefly detained, while two were arrested. By 1700 GMT, authorities said the situation was under control with streets reopened.

Police said 35,000 protesters marched from the North Station in Brussels against a fresh round of Covid measures announced by the government on Wednesday.

The demonstration, called "Together for Freedom", largely focused on a ban on the unvaccinated from venues such as restaurants and bars.

Europe is battling another wave of infections and several countries have tightened curbs despite high levels of vaccination, especially in the west of the continent.

Belgium, one of the countries hit the hardest by the latest wave, on Wednesday expanded its work-from-home rules and strengthened curbs targeting the unvaccinated.

With an average of nearly 10,300 new infections per day over the past week, Belgium is back to a rate of spread of the virus that has not been seen for a year.

Belgium also recorded 42 Covid deaths on Friday.

bur-arp/gd

Tens of thousands protest Belgium’s tighter COVID-19 rules

By RAF CASERT

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Riot police uses a water canon against protestors during a demonstration against the reinforced measures of the Belgium government to counter the latest spike of the coronavirus in Brussels, Belgium, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. Many among them also protested against the strong advice to get vaccinated and any moves to impose mandatory shots. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)


BRUSSELS (AP) — Ten of thousands of people demonstrated through central Brussels on Sunday to protest reinforced COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Belgian government to counter the latest spike in coronavirus cases.

Many among the police estimate of 35,000 at the rally had already left for home when the demonstration descended into violence as several hundred people started pelting police, smashing cars and setting garbage bins ablaze. Police, responded with tear gas and water cannons and sought to restore order as dusk settled on the Belgian capital.

Three police officials and one demonstrator were injured in the clashes. In addition, 42 protesters were detained and two were arrested and charged in the violent spree that followed the march, said police spokesperson Ilse Vande Keere.

The marchers came to protest the government’s strong advice to get vaccinated and any possible moves to impose mandatory shots.

Shouting “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” and singing the anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao,” protesters lined up behind a huge banner saying “Together for Freedom” and marched to the European Union headquarters. Amid the crowd, the signs varied from far-right insignia to the rainbow flags of the LGBT community.

The World Health Organization said last week that Europe was the hot spot of the pandemic right now, the only region in which COVID-19 deaths were rising. The autumn surge of infections is overwhelming hospitals in many Central and Eastern European nations, including Ukraine, Russia, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Over the past several days, there have been many anti-vaccination marches in European nations as one government after another tightened measures. Dutch police arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands on Saturday, following much worse violence the previous night.

Austria is going into a 10-day national lockdown on Monday for everyone after first imposing a lockdown on the unvaccinated. Christmas markets in Vienna were packed Sunday with locals and tourists taking in the holiday sights before shops and food stalls are forced to close.

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Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

Dutch police arrest dozens over new Covid riots


Dutch police arrest dozens over new Covid riotsThe two nights of unrest in a number of cities came a week after the Dutch government went into a partial lockdown over a surge in cases 

(AFP/Danny KEMP)

Danny KEMP and Julie CAPELLE
Sun, November 21, 2021

Dutch police said Sunday they had arrested 48 people after a second night of violent riots erupted over the government's coronavirus measures.

Prosecutors meanwhile updated to four the number of people shot when police opened fire during an "orgy of violence" in the port city of Rotterdam on Friday night.

The two nights of unrest in a number of cities came a week after the Dutch government went into a partial lockdown over a surge in cases.


In The Hague on Saturday night, officers in riot gear charged demonstrators who set fire to bicycles and an electric moped piled in the middle of a busy intersection.

"The police were also pelted with heavy fireworks and stones thrown from roofs," police said in a statement, adding that water cannon was used to put out the fire.

"Officers made a total of 19 arrests for, among other things, insult."

Five police officers were injured during the unrest while a rock thrown by rioters smashed the window of a passing ambulance carrying a patient, police said.

Thirteen people were arrested in separate riots in the towns of Stein and Roermond in southern Limburg province after fireworks were thrown at officers, police said.

Police also made 16 arrests during clashes in the "Bible Belt" town of Urk, where vaccination rates are very low due to conservative Protestant beliefs, local media said, quoting police.

- 'Going wild' -

Municipal workers surveyed the damage in The Hague's working-class Schilderswijk district on Sunday including a security camera toppled by the rioters and a patch of burned road where the pile of bikes was torched.

Local residents blamed the riots on frustrated youths and uncertainty over whether the government will introduce so-called "2G measures" that would let cafes and bars decide whether to turn away the unvaccinated.

"They don't know (if 2G will be introduced) and so they don't know what to do... They think that is the way to make themselves heard," Mustafa Toprak, 31, told AFP.

"It's a bad way to do it, but hey it's the young people who are going wild."

"They are young people and they have had few freedoms because of Covid-19 for almost two years now so yes I understand somehow -- only I can't approve," said Claudia van der Wijngaard, 60.

"No, I don't really see a solution as long as the government continues to work with sanitary measures, I don't see a solution coming and I'm afraid there will be more (riots)."

- 'Hit by bullets' -

On Friday violence broke out in the port city of Rotterdam after a protest against Covid measures, during which police opened fire and 51 suspects were arrested.

"It now appears that four people have been hit by bullets," the Dutch public prosecutor's office said in a statement, blaming medical confidentiality rules for the delay in getting the correct figure.

Police had previously said three people were wounded by gunshots and were being treated in hospital.

Some of the Rotterdam rioters had links to football hooligans and "groups that often have ties to other forms of organised crime," Justice and Security Minister Ferd Grapperhaus told public broadcaster NPO.

The Netherlands went back into western Europe's first partial lockdown of the winter last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs under which bars, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets and non-essential shops must shut early.

The government has said it wants to bring in the 2G option -- which would bar unvaccinated people from getting Covid passes for some venues -- after that, but there has been opposition in parliament.

In January the Netherlands suffered its worst riots in decades after the government introduced a coronavirus curfew.

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Dutch police arrest more than 30 amid ongoing unrest

By MIKE CORDER

1 of 6

In this image taken from video, demonstrators protest against government restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Police fired warning shots, injuring an unknown number of people, as riots broke out Friday night in downtown Rotterdam at a demonstration against plans by the government to restrict access for unvaccinated people to some venues. (Media TV Rotterdam via AP)


EDE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police have arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands that followed an “ orgy of violence ” the previous night at a protest against coronavirus restrictions.

The violence by groups of youths in The Hague and elsewhere Saturday night wasn’t as serious as Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on rampaging rioters and arrested 51 people.

Police said Sunday that they arrested 19 people in The Hague and used a water cannon to extinguish a fire on a street.

Two soccer matches in the country’s top professional league were briefly halted when fans — banned from matches under a partial lockdown in force in the Netherlands for a week — broke into stadiums in the towns of Alkmaar and Almelo.

In The Hague, police said five officers were injured as they tried to break up unrest by a group of youths who set at least two fires on streets and threw fireworks. Police said in a tweet that one rioter threw a rock at an ambulance carrying a patient to a hospital.

In the southern towns of Roermond and Stein, police said they arrested a total of 13 people for setting fires and throwing fireworks, and in the fishing village of Urk police arrested eight people for public order offenses, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.

Earlier Saturday, two protests against COVID-19 measures proceeded peacefully in Amsterdam and the southern city of Breda. Thousands of people marched through Amsterdam to protest COVID-19 restrictions.

Tens of thousands of protesters also took to the streets of Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown beginning Monday to contain skyrocketing coronavirus infections.

There were also demonstrations in Italy, Switzerland, Croatia and Northern Ireland.

Police in Rotterdam said that three rioters were hit by bullets and investigations were underway to establish if they were shot by police on Friday night. The condition of the injured rioters wasn’t disclosed.

Officers in Rotterdam arrested 51 people, about half of them minors, police said Saturday afternoon. One police officer was hospitalized with a leg injury sustained in the rioting, another was treated by ambulance staff and “countless” others suffered minor injuries.

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb called the rioting in his city an “orgy of violence” and said that “on a number of occasions the police felt it necessary to draw their weapons to defend themselves.”

‘I lost everything’: Guadeloupe riots overtake COVID protest

BY ELODIE SOUPAMA AND SYLVIE CORBET

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Emilie holds her burned passport in her charred home following riots in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe island, Sunday, Nov.21, 2021. French authorities are sending police special forces to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, as protests over COVID-19 restrictions erupted into rioting. In Pointe-a-Pitre, the island's largest urban area, clashes left three people injured, including a 80-year-old woman who was hit by a bullet while on her balcony. A firefighter and a police officer were also injured and several shops were looted there and in other towns. (AP Photo/Elodie Soupama)


LE GOSIER, Guadeloupe (AP) — Residents in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, expressed dismay Sunday after protests against COVID-19 restrictions erupted into rioting and looting for the third day in a row, prompting French authorities to send in police special forces.

Road blockades by protesters made traveling across the island nearly impossible Sunday. Firefighters reported 48 interventions overnight into Sunday morning. The island of 400,000 people has one of the lowest vaccination rates in France at 33%, compared with 75% across the country.

In Pointe-a-Pitre, the island’s largest urban area, clashes left three people injured, including a 80-year-old woman hit by a bullet while on her balcony. A firefighter and a police officer were also injured and several shops were looted there and in other towns. A police station in Morne-à-l’Eau was set on fire.

Guadeloupe Prefect Alexandre Rochatte, who has imposed a nightly curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., said Sunday that 38 people were arrested overnight and denounced the “organized groups now seeking to sow chaos.”

Emilie Guisbert, a 47-year-old Pointe-a-Pitre resident, was sleeping in her home in the building owned by her father when it was set on fire on Thursday evening. Her friend woke her up and she just had time to dress and run out with her dogs, she told The Associated Press.

“I lost everything. Everything. I went out with my cellphone and what I was wearing,” she said, adding that personal belongings of her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were in the house. “It’s 100 years of memory of a Guadeloupean family that went up in smoke in 15 minutes.”

She said she did not receive help from authorities yet. “We are completely left to ourselves. I don’t know who is clearing (the house). Is it us, the insurance, the city hall?”

The protests were called for by unions to denounce France’s COVID-19 health pass, which is required to access restaurants and cafes, cultural venues, sport arenas and long-distance travel. Demonstrators were also protesting France’s mandatory vaccinations for health care workers. In recent days, they broadened their demands to include a general salary increase, higher unemployment benefits and the hiring of more teachers.

Gregory Agapé, 30, who also lives in a Pointe-à-Pitre neighborhood where violence has repeatedly taken place, said he cannot sleep at night.

“We are always upset by the noises, bangs, all the bustle around so nights are very complicated, very short,” he said.

Agapé said he has contradictory thoughts about the COVID-19 protest movement. “I’m well aware of economic, social, cultural difficulties ... but its quite complicated, because I think (the protests) are making Guadeloupean society even more fragile.”

Jacques Bertili, a 49-year-old Le Gosier resident, said “I’m not against nor for the vaccine. But what makes me upset is looting. Because we need to work.”

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin denounced the violence as “unacceptable” in an interview Sunday with Le Parisien newspaper. He said 50 officers from police special forces were arriving Sunday in Guadeloupe, in addition to 200 other police sent earlier.

Darmanin said following an emergency meeting Saturday in Paris that “some shots have been fired against police officers” in Guadeloupe. He also said road blockades created a “very difficult situation for a few hours” during which patients and supplies couldn’t reach hospitals.

Rochatte said some electrical facilities near dams have been damaged, which has caused some power outages, and urged people not to go near downed electrical cables.

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Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

Failure to send more jabs to Africa is a 'huge mistake'

There are currently far fewer cases of COVID-19 in Africa than in Europe but experts fear that the tide could turn if inoculation programs are not sped up. They say richer countries should not stockpile vaccine doses.



The coronavirus is more likely to mutate if herd immunity is not reached

Though Africa currently has fewer cases of COVID-19 than Europe, experts fear there will be more waves as only about 7% of the continent's 1.3 billion inhabitants are fully vaccinated.

Most African countries depend on vaccine doses from abroad, even if there are efforts to build up local production centers. But, as the number of cases rises in Europe, supplies to Africa will likely suffer. Germany, for example, has already made a decision to retain vaccine doses that were destined for poorer countries. "We have even postponed some of our COVAX donations, international BioNTech donations, from December to January and February so that there will be enough doses in Germany," Health Minister Jens Spahn said this week.

His words came just a few days after World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized certain countries for stockpiling vaccines. "Every day, there are six times more boosters administered globally than primary doses in low-income countries," he said. "This is a scandal that must stop now."

The nonprofit ONE Campaign has called for the German government to reverse its decision and to continue to give doses to COVAX as pledged. "If we don't move fast to ensure that people all over the world have access to vaccines, we will be prolonging the pandemic visibly," ONE Germany director Stephan Exo-Kreischer told DW, before describing Spahn's decision as a "huge mistake and a devastating signal to the world regarding Germany's dependency." Furthermore, he argued, Germany had bought more doses than it needs.

"There are more people in rich countries who have now received a third shot than there are people in poorer countries who have received even a first shot," he continued. "This is the result of bad politics."

South Africa has enough doses of the vaccine, but the challenge is administering shots fast enough

100 million free doses for COVAX

The Health Ministry told DW that Germany was providing a total of 100 million free doses to be distributed mainly via COVAX. According to the ministry, the government has invested €2.2 billion ($2.5 billion) into speeding up the development, production and distribution of tests and materials, including €1.6 billion for the COVAX program.

Despite the low vaccination rates, there is currently a downward trend in new COVID-19 cases in Africa. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has registered a total of 8.5 million cases, of which over 222,000 were fatal. But Exo-Kreischer believs these numbers were probably erroneous: "We have to assume that fewer than 15% of cases on the continent are actually detected. Even if the numbers seem low on paper, the WHO estimates that they are seven times higher."

He said a lack of good qualitative data was the issue, pointing out that South Africa had low rates, whereas infections in Tanzania have not been recorded in a systematic way.

"The good record regarding infection rates is actually related to the fact that there is too little testing and reporting," said Wolfgang Preiser, from South Africa's Stellenbosch University. But he said it was possible to make estimates from excess mortality data: "In South Africa, three times more people have died of COVID-19 than has been reported officially."

"I think that we will only be presented with the bill in years to come," he said, before pointing out that other illnesses were also being neglected because of the pandemic.

Only 23% of South Africa's 59 million inhabitants are vaccinated, and there are almost 3 million cases at the moment.

There are enough doses, as opposed to in most African countries, where there are shortages, but "the biggest challenge is actually vaccinating people: There are more doses than can be used, like in industrialized countries."

Preiser said that there were also anti-vaccination groups in South Africa, who tended to be white, wealthy and educated, but skeptical of the government.

Zimbabwe and Botswana fare reasonably well

In neighboring Zimbabwe, the government has said that the pandemic is under control and only a few new cases and deaths have been reported recently.

Botswana is also doing reasonably well. At the height of a coronavirus spike in the summer, it bought in large quantities of vaccine and launched a major rollout.

According to the country's COVID taskforce, some 56% of the population has now received a first shot and 29% have already had their second. The most recent numbers show 31 cases per 100,000 and 2,416 deaths. Moreover, there are reportedly very few anti-vaxxers, which experts attribute to a general trust in the stable government and the health-care system.

Botswana launched a largely successful vaccination rollout

Mauritania, which has been designated a "champion" by the WHO is also making great efforts to inoculate the population. "We knew that we would not be able to cope with the social and economic consequences of a hard lockdown," Health Minister Sidi Ould Zahaf recently told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. But for the moment, only 13% of the population has received two shots, so there is still a long way to go.

In the rest of the continent, the situation is much worse: In 30 countries, less than 10% of the population is vaccinated.