Pfizer or Sinopharm? 

'Vaccine diplomacy' in Middle East

Issued on: 26/01/2021

An Israeli health worker prepared a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Clalit Health Services in Jerusalem earlier this month as part of a vaccination campaign considered one of the largest in the world to date MENAHEM KAHANA AFP

Jerusalem (AFP)

Pfizer or Sinopharm? The US or China? In the Middle East and North Africa, novel coronavirus vaccine orders are driven by diplomatic and logistical considerations, reflecting Beijing's growing regional influence.

In recent days, the Israeli government made documents public that showed the extent of its collaboration with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in its vaccination campaign, one of the largest in the world to date, with more than a quarter of its nine million inhabitants already vaccinated.

In return for swift delivery, Israel -- with its vast digitised medical databases -- is giving the company data on the efficacy and potential side effects of the vaccine based on indicators such as age and medical history.

This extensive cooperation is no surprise given Israel is Washington's main strategic ally in the region.

The Jewish state has also ordered millions of doses of the vaccine developed by fellow US firm Moderna, the least ordered vaccine in the region so far.

Other countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, are also relying heavily on the Pfizer vaccine, developed by the US company in partnership with Germany's BioNTech.

Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, on the other hand, hedged their bets by ordering from both Pfizer and Sinopharm, with the Chinese vaccine now deemed "completely safe" by the UAE.

- 'Health silk road' -

For Yahia Zoubir, a specialist in relations between China and the Arab world, vaccine choice rests on considerations such as price and cold storage requirements -- -70 degrees Celsius for Pfizer (-94 Fahrenheit), but two to eight degrees Celsius for Sinopharm.

But politics are never far away, says the professor at Kedge Business School in France.

Since the start of the pandemic, the administration of former US president Donald Trump "closed in on itself, while China has deployed health diplomacy", he told AFP.

"The Chinese have been much more active and much more cooperative."

Beijing has exported millions of masks and gowns to the Middle East and North Africa and elsewhere, as well as providing respirators and holding online seminars with medical authorities in various countries.

"Today, with the new silk road, there is also a health silk road," Zoubir said, referring to China's globe-spanning infrastructure push -- the Belt and Road Initiative.

"Health is becoming a part of China's foreign policy, allowing it to expand its circle of friends" in a region that accounts for half of Beijing's oil imports.

According to Jonathan Fulton, a specialist in Chinese-Middle East relations at Zayed University in the UAE, "there is a lot of pressure on (US) allies and partners not to cooperate with China".

Despite this, he added, as the US floundered in its own response to the pandemic, a "transition took place from China as a victim" to China as a supportive and "credible actor".

With its Belt and Road project, Beijing is "looking to build a forward-looking Middle East presence" but not necessarily to replace the US, he said.

- 'Devalued science' -

Sinopharm jabs also feature in the vaccine orders of other US allies in the region, like Egypt and Morocco.

Analysts say collaboration could be aimed at ensuring Chinese vaccine production and distribution centres for the region and Africa are established in their territories.

"It seems obvious that Beijing's prestige is on the upswing in an area that has long been one of American dominance," said Steven Cook, a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"People in the Middle East have always looked to the United States as the global technological powerhouse and problem solver," he said.

But so far the US "has been mostly absent when it comes to 'vaccine diplomacy'... mostly because of President Trump's America First agenda, which eschewed international cooperation and devalued science," he added.

- Sputnik landing -

Also in the "vaccine diplomacy" field are the United Kingdom, relying on an AstraZeneca-Oxford University jab that has been ordered by a clutch of countries in the Middle East and North Africa, while Russia promotes its own vaccine, Sputnik V.

Algeria, a longstanding Moscow ally, ordered the Sinopharm jab as well Russia's, which costs less than those of its Western rivals but has had its reliability called into question, with one local media outlet alluding to "Russian roulette".

In Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, which cut ties with the US under the Trump administration, many are awaiting the delivery of Sputnik V doses, while 2.5 million Israelis have already received at least one Pfizer-BioNTech jab, a disparity criticised by rights groups.

Iran, arch-enemy of Israel, has refused Western vaccines and said it will rely on jabs from India, China or Russia, while also working to produce a homegrown shot, as it battles the region's deadliest Covid-19 outbreak.

Even if China appears to be out ahead in "vaccine diplomacy", factors including a new US policy direction under President Joe Biden, an avowed multilateralist, could shift the playing field, according to Fulton.

"I don't think the game is over," he said.

gl-burs/gk/sw/dwo

© 2021 AFP

VOA, Radio Free Asia get editors back post-Trump but worry about damage

Issued on: 26/01/2021 

Former Radio Free Asia journalists Oun Chhin (right) and Yeang Sothearin arrive at a court in Phnom Penh in August 2019, one of a number of cases of governments acting against the US-based broadcaster TANG CHHIN Sothy AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

Voice of America and Radio Free Asia are getting back experienced editors who were shoved aside by Donald Trump's appointees as the outlets say they hope the tumult will not tarnish their credibility.

Michael Pack, a producer of conservative films whom Trump tapped to head the agency that oversees taxpayer-supported media, resigned hours after President Joe Biden was sworn in last week.

Pack had vowed to break down the legally guaranteed firewall against meddling in editorial decisions.

In his final days, he invited Trump's secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who berated VOA and said it should broadcast how the United States "is the greatest nation in the history of the world."

Biden named Kelu Chao, a veteran journalist for Voice of America, as interim director of the US Agency for Global Media until the Senate approves a permanent replacement.

Radio Free Asia, whose mission is to report accurately on nations including China, Vietnam and North Korea that restrict press freedom, noted that its journalists face threats, with China detaining relatives of Uighur reporters.

"Our success relies on establishing trust with audiences and sources alike," said Rohit Mahajan, RFA's vice president of communications and external relations.

"There were serious concerns about the damaging effects of losing that trust. It could hurt not just our reputation but also further endanger our reporters and their ability to do their jobs," he said.

Bay Fang, who has overseen RFA investigations into North Korean forced labor and China's massive detention camps for Uighurs and other mostly Muslim people, was given back her job as the news outlet's president Sunday after being fired by Pack in June.

Conservative author Robert Reilly was ousted as the short-lived director of VOA and replaced on an interim basis by Yolanda Lopez, a longtime journalist whom he had removed from a senior position days earlier.

Lopez had been reassigned along with one of VOA's White House reporters, Patsy Widakuswara, after Widakuswara tried to ask Pompeo a question when he delivered his address at the headquarters.

Widakuswara was also allowed to return to her beat after her punishment drew outrage -- even among some Republicans.

But effects could remain from Trump's brief takeover of the US Agency for Global Media, which also oversees Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Cuba-focused Radio and Television Marti, and Arabic-language Alhurra.

In the funding agreement in force this fiscal year for Radio Free Asia, the agency reserved the right for background checks on all personnel down to interns and restricted the news outlet's ability to communicate directly with Congress.

© 2021 AFP

CASABLANCA EAST WITH JET LI

How Shanghai saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust

Issued on: 26/01/2021 

Six million Jews perished during the worst genocide in human history but thousands were able to escape to Shanghai because it was one of the very few destinations in the world that did not require an entry visa STR AFP

Shanghai (AFP)

As an infant Kurt Wick escaped almost certain death in a Nazi concentration camp by taking refuge in Shanghai, a little-known sanctuary for thousands of Jews fleeing the Holocaust.

Now 83, he has spent the last two decades spreading the word about how the Chinese city became an unlikely safe haven from Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution".

"They saved 20,000 Jews and if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be able to talk to you now," says Vienna-born Wick, who was taken by his parents on a ship from the port of Trieste for the long voyage east.

"I would have been one of the ashes in Auschwitz, like my other family."

Wednesday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

Six million Jews perished during the worst genocide in human history but Wick and six other members of his family were able to escape Europe for Shanghai because it was one of the very few destinations that did not require an entry visa.

"People should know about it because it was the only place in the world in 1939 that opened its gates," Wick said by telephone from his home in London.

"Even many Jews don't know about it."

Shanghai was a strange and faraway land for the European Jews, and would soon be completely occupied by an increasingly aggressive Imperial Japan.

They got support from a small but wealthy number of Jews who had been in the city since the 19th century and helped build a bustling community.

Historical accounts likened the atmosphere to a small town in Austria or Germany.

Life was nevertheless hard and after World War II ended in 1945, Shanghai's Jewish population declined sharply as they returned home or embarked on new lives elsewhere.

- 'Special relationship' -

Chinese authorities are clearly eager for Shanghai's history as a safe harbour for Jews to get more exposure.

In 2007 the government-run Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum opened in Hongkou, a district that once contained the so-called "Shanghai Ghetto".

The site of a former synagogue, the museum reopened last month after a major expansion that tripled its size.

The centrepiece of the museum is a wall listing the names of thousands of Jews who temporarily made the city home in the 1930s and 1940s.

Much is made at the museum of how the Jews and Chinese, themselves suffering the ravages of war, helped one another get by during the Japanese occupation.

It also highlights how the Jews never faced any prejudice from the Chinese -- an assertion backed up by Wick.

But he is also keen to stress that the Japanese, although allied to Nazi Germany, were also not anti-Semitic and it was "mainly the Japanese" who allowed them refuge.

Chen Jian, the museum's curator, said there was a "special relationship" between Shanghai and the Jews which pre-dates the refugees and continues to this day.

"Although decades have passed and this period of history is a long time ago, some of the refugees and their descendants have maintained... the very deep friendship between us," he said.

- Untold story -

Rabbi Shalom Greenberg, co-director of the Shanghai Jewish Center, said the story of Jews finding shelter in Shanghai remained untold for decades and still receives little attention.

"The story that was told was about those who did not survive, about their terrible situation, the terrible thing that happened in Europe," said Greenberg.

"The story of the survivors, in general, was almost not told."

None of the refugees remain in Shanghai but there is still a small yet active Jewish community of about 2,000 people.

Prejudice of any kind against them is unheard of, says Greenberg, 49, at the century-old Ohel Rachel Synagogue.

"This is one of the very few places in the world that when you walk on the street and you hear two people behind you saying in the local language, 'This person is Jewish', you are not afraid." he said.

"This land never, never had anti-Semitism."

© 2021 AFP

High time: Nepali climbers step out of the shadows for K2 triumph

Issued on: 26/01/2021 

Nepali mountaineer Mingma Gyalje Sherpa said future generations could "be proud" of his country's climbers after this month's historic K2 ascent Aamir QURESHI AFP


Kathmandu (AFP)

Nepali mountaineers have for decades toiled in the shadows as foreign climbers win accolades for conquering the world's most treacherous peaks, but now a team has carved the Himalayan nation a place in history by achieving the first-ever winter summit of K2.

Their ascent in mid-January of the world's second-highest mountain -- the notoriously challenging 8,611-metre (28,251-feet) "savage mountain" of Pakistan -- shone a much-deserved spotlight on their own climbing prowess.

"This is not just our success -- it is for all Nepalis, so that our future generations can look back and be proud about achievements of Nepali climbers," one of the 10 summiteers, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, told AFP.

Kami Rita Sherpa, who has climbed Everest a record 24 times, said the recognition was long overdue.

"The Western climbers did not set the records without the help of Sherpas," he told AFP in Kathmandu.

"All the routes are set by us, the food is cooked by us, their loads are carried by our brothers -- they haven't done it alone."

To reflect their immense pride in making the achievement in their country's name, the team sang the Nepali anthem, with their distinctive national flag fluttering in one of their hands, as they neared K2's savage summit.

- Invisible climbers -

Since the first British teams set their sights on summiting Everest in the 1920s, Nepali climbers -- mostly from the Sherpa ethnic group -- have been by their side.

But they did not aspire to reach for the heavens -- among Nepal's poorest communities, they risked life and limb to help foreign climbers achieve their life-long ambitions because they needed to feed their families.

Ang Tharkay, who was part of the successful 1950 French expedition to Annapurna -- the first recorded ascent of a peak above 8,000 metres -- refused to be part of the summit team.

For him, being part of the record books was less important than running the risk of losing his fingers and toes to frostbite, which would jeopardise his livelihood.

The industry has since grown into a lucrative sector, attracting hundreds of foreign climbers each year and bringing in millions of dollars in revenue for the government.

An experienced guide can make up to US$10,000 -- many times the country's average annual income -- for several months of hazardous work.

The risks remain high despite the commercialisation of the sector, with Nepalis hired by foreign climbers making up a quarter of deaths on Himalayan mountains, according to the authoritative Himalayan Database.

In 2014, an avalanche killed 16 Nepalis who were hauling gear up Everest, triggering an unprecedented shutdown of the season and demands for better compensation and benefits.

- Taking control -

The exploits of the K2 team, which included Nirmal Purja, who last year smashed the speed record for summiting the world's 14 highest peaks, reflect the changing approach of modern-day Nepali climbers.

In 1953, Tenzing Norgay Sherpa achieved international recognition when he completed the first summit of Everest with New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary.

But in the following decades, only four other Nepalis have claimed first summits of the 14 peaks above 8,000 metres, compared to nearly 70 mostly European mountaineers.

In recent years, however, climbers like Purja have set record after record, and are hopeful their feats will inspire the next generation of Nepali mountaineers.

Meanwhile, local expedition groups -- instead of playing second fiddle to foreign climbing agencies -- now bring the bulk of paying clients into Nepal.

Italy's legendary Reinhold Messner has seen the transformation first-hand.

"When I heard the K2 news I thought 'finally!'," Messner told AFP, recalling that in his first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen in 1978, the Sherpas would follow him as he navigated upwards.

In contrast, today's Sherpas are in front of the climbers, setting routes and guiding them.

"It is an evolution... and this is also important for the future economy of the country."

Alpine journalist Ed Douglas, who has called for better protections for the high-altitude workers, said the climbers deserve credit for "taking control of their own industry".

The K2 winter summit showed that Nepalis "are now mountaineers in their right", added Dawa Steven Sherpa, who runs Asian Trekking, an expedition company.

"There is no question about whether they deserve to have that place on the podium with all the other celebrated mountaineers that have come before us."

© 2021 AFP

Thousands of Australians defy virus rules to mark 'Invasion Day'

Issued on: 26/01/2021 - 

Chants of 'Sovereignty was never ceded' and 'No justice, no peace' 

rang out William WEST AFP

Sydney (AFP)

Thousands of Australians defied coronavirus rules on Tuesday to protest the country's national day, held on the anniversary of British colonisation of the vast continent that its Indigenous population marks as "Invasion Day".

Officially recognised as Australia Day, January 26 also sees annual rallies drawing attention to the injustices faced by Indigenous people and calling on the government to change the date of the national holiday.

The celebration of the origins of the modern nation is a time of mourning for Indigenous Australians, who have inhabited the land for 65,000 years and view the arrival of British settlers in 1788 as the beginning of two centuries of pain and suffering.

Thousands of people gathered at a central Sydney park in defiance of police threats of fines and arrests for breaching a 500-person limit on public gatherings, though organisers called off a march through the city that usually follows.

Police said five people were arrested, including one who was charged with assaulting a police officer, but praised the crowds as largely peaceful.

Authorities earlier refused to waive the cap on numbers, despite no new cases being detected in Australia's biggest city for more than a week.

Chants of "Sovereignty was never ceded" and "No justice, no peace" rang out while others held up placards with slogans including "Not a Date to Celebrate" and "Black Lives Matter".

"For us it represents cultural genocide. Our families being ripped apart. Years and years of disease and famine. And the intergenerational impacts of that are still being felt today," Gomeroi man Dylan Booth told AFP.

Australia last year failed to meet most key targets on closing the health and wellbeing gap between Aboriginal Australians and the rest of the population, with soaring incarceration rates among Indigenous people and a life expectancy about eight years lower than the national average.

- 'Stolen land' -

Thousands also attended protests in other major cities across the country, with rally organisers encouraging attendees to wear face masks and maintain physical distance where possible.

In Australia's second-biggest city of Melbourne, where an estimated 10,000 turned out to march through the streets, attendees walked in 100-person groups to comply with coronavirus rules.

Some waved Aboriginal flags, while others held aloft signs including "No Pride in Genocide" and "You are on Stolen Land".

"People (are) having barbecues and shrimp on the barbie and celebrating the death and destruction of these people, the oldest continuing living culture in the world," The Age reported Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe as telling the crowd.

Police in Melbourne detained one counter-protester, a man wearing an Australian flag as a cape and a shirt supporting the violent US far-right group Proud Boys, according to an AFP photographer.

The push to change the date -- or even abolish the celebration entirely -- remains divisive.

On social media, supportive hashtags #InvasionDay2021 and #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe were trending but a poll of more than 1,000 people conducted for Fairfax newspapers showed 48 percent opposed the change while just 28 percent supported it.

The debate around Australia Day -- which was only formally established as a national holiday in 1994 -- has grown increasingly heated debate in recent years.

The occasion is staunchly defended by right-wing commentators and retains strong support from the country's conservative government.

Official celebrations this year were muted amid the pandemic, with many towns and cities cancelling or scaling down events due to coronavirus restrictions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who earlier in the week chided Cricket Australia for dropping the name from promotions for its January 26 matches, said history "changed forever" when the First Fleet arrived in 1788 and there was "no escaping or cancelling this fact".

"And it is this continuing Australian journey that we recognise today."

© 2021 AFP

Thousands defied coronavirus rules to rally in cities across Australia on Tuesday to protest the country's national day William WEST AFP

#FEMICIDE

Puerto Rico declares emergency over violence against women

Issued on: 26/01/2021 - 

Puerto Rico's declaration of a state of emergency over violence against women has long been sought by advocates, including at the September 2020 protest seen here Ricardo ARDUENGO AFP

Miami (AFP)

Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency on Monday over its deep-rooted problem of violence against women, creating new measures that activists have demanded for years to battle a deadly tide.

The US territory, like other places in the Caribbean and Latin America, has seen sustained high levels of violence that on average results in one woman's death per week, a 2019 report said.

The declaration, which is also to offer protection to gay and transgender people, includes measures like creating a mobile app for victims to request help and report attacks.

Authorities are to create a new program to monitor women who have taken out restraining orders against abusers, and a new committee will be responsible for enforcing policies and proposing other measures.

Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said the order aims to combat "an evil that has caused too much damage for too long".

"Victims have suffered the consequences of systematic machismo, inequity, discrimination, lack of education, lack of guidance and above all lack of action," he added in a statement.

The declaration defines sex or gender-based violence as conduct that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm to another person motivated by stereotypes.

According to a 2019 report from non-profit advocacy groups Proyecto Matria and Kilometro Cero, one woman is killed every seven days in Puerto Rico.

The declaration comes just days after nurse Angie Noemi Gonzalez was killed by her husband, who confessed the crime, media reports said, fuelling further local concern about the violence.

Rights groups in Puerto Rico welcomed the new declaration, though not perfect, as a first step toward saving women's lives.

Vilmarie Rivera, president of the Puerto Rico Domestic Violence Shelter Network, said "the government has recognized that there is a problem that we have to address as a priority."

However, she added that details such as the way in which femicides and transfeminicides are reported, in addition to the inclusion of gender issues in the school curriculum, need to be refined.

"Today is a great day for women, girls and all the people who have believed in the declaration of a state of emergency for gender violence, which we had been requesting for three years," said Lisdel Flores, director of Hogar Ruth, a shelter for women victims of violence.

© 2021 AFP

UNANIMOUS

Canada parliament labels US far-right Proud Boys group 'a terrorist entity'

Issued on: 26/01/2021 -

Members of the Proud Boys group gesture as the presidential motorcade passes through West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 31, 2020. © REUTERS/Tom Brenner
Text by:NEWS WIRES


Canada's parliament on Monday unanimously passed a motion calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to designate the right-wing Proud Boys as a banned terrorist group.

The motion is purely symbolic, but the government has said authorities are monitoring the group and collecting evidence that could support the move.

Put forward by the fourth-ranked New Democrats, the motion states that the government should "use all of available tools to address the proliferation of white supremacists and hate groups, starting with the immediate designating Proud Boys as a terrorist entity."

Members of the Proud Boys, which was started by a Canadian who has since distanced himself from the group, were among Donald Trump supporters charged over the violent assault on the US Capitol earlier this month.

Its chairman, Enrique Tarrio, was also arrested in Washington over the torching of a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a church during violent protests in December.

In Canada, they first made headlines in 2017 when five navy members of the Proud Boys were disciplined for disrupting an indigenous ceremony in Halifax.

Canada lists dozens of banned terrorist organizations including Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Taliban and the Islamic State group.

(AFP)

Biden signs order allowing transgender Americans to serve openly in military


President Joe Biden (C), joined by Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, signs an executive order reversing a Trump era ban on transgender serving in the military, in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday. Pool Photo by Doug Mills/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday to repeal a ban issued by former President Donald Trump that prevented transgender persons from serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.

In 2019, the Trump administration ordered that all military members must follow standards associated with their birth gender and prohibited those who have received transitional therapies from joining the military.

The new directive "immediately prohibits involuntary separations, discharges, and denials of re-enlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity or under circumstances relating to gender identity."

"It is the policy of my administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation," Biden wrote in the order, which appeared in the Federal Register on Monday.

"It is also the policy of my administration to address overlapping forms of discrimination."

The White House said Biden's order sets a policy that "all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve."

"President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America's strength is found in its diversity," it said in a statement.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he fully supports Biden's directive and the department will immediately implement policy to ensure those who identify as transgender are eligible to serve under their self-identified gender.

"This revised policy will also ensure all medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law is available to all service members and will re-examine all cases of transgender service members that may be in some form of adverse administrative proceedings," he said in a statement.

The U.S. Armed Forces is best equipped to protect the nation from foreign and domestic enemies when it represents the citizens it is sworn to defend, he said.

"I also believe we should avail ourselves of the best possible talent in our population, regardless of gender identity," he said. "We would be rendering ourselves less fit to the task if we excluded from our ranks people who meet our standards and who have the skills and the devotion to serve in uniform."

Susan R. Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, said they welcome the decision "because there is no medically valid reason to exclude" transgender individuals from the military.

"Transgender people have served our country with honor, and they should be allowed to continue doing so," Bailey said in a statement. "Ending this discriminatory policy is a win for all patriotic Americans who want to serve their country."

The reversal of the controversial Trump policy was widely expected once Biden took office.

Trump's order itself was a reversal of policy established by former President Barack Obama in 2016 that enabled transgender Americans to openly serve in the military.

Biden administration suspends some sanctions on Yemen rebels

Mon., January 25, 2021



WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday suspended some of the terrorism sanctions that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in his waning days in office.

The Treasury Department said it would exempt certain transactions involving the Houthis from sanctions resulting from Pompeo's designation of the group as a “foreign terrorist organization” on Jan. 10. The exemption will expire Feb. 26, according to a statement from Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announcing a general license for transactions that involve entities owned by the Iran-backed Houthis.

The sanctions Pompeo imposed had taken effect Jan. 19, just a day before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, and had been roundly criticized by the United Nations and relief organizations. Critics said the sanctions would exacerbate what is already one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises by barring aid deliveries to civilians in the war-torn nation.

Treasury's license does not reverse Pompeo's designations and does not apply to specific members of the Houthi group who have been otherwise sanctioned.

The Trump administration’s designation had sparked confusion in aid agencies and warnings from the U.N., as well as senior Republicans, that it could have a devastating impact on a conflict-wracked nation facing the risk of famine.

Several aid groups had pleaded for Biden to immediately reverse the designation, with Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Policy Lead Scott Paul saying, “Lives hang in the balance.”

The Iranian-supported Houthi rebels rule the capital and Yemen’s north where the majority of the population lives, forcing international aid groups to work with them. Agencies depend on the Houthis to deliver aid, and they pay salaries to Houthis to do so.

Six years of war between a U.S.-backed Arab coalition and the Houthi rebels have been catastrophic for Yemen, killing more than 112,000 people and reducing infrastructure from roads and hospitals to water and electricity networks to ruins. It began with the Houthi takeover of the north in 2014, which prompted a destructive air campaign by the Saudi-led coalition, aimed at restoring the internationally recognized government.

Most of Yemen’s 30 million people rely on international aid to survive. The U.N. says 13.5 million Yemenis already face acute food insecurity, a figure that could rise to 16 million by June.

The U.S. designation move was part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to isolate and cripple Iran. It also showed support to a close U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia, which leads the anti-Houthi coalition in the war. Saudi Arabia has advocated the terror designation, hoping it would pressure the rebels to reach a peace deal. Past rounds of peace talks and cease-fire agreements have faltered.

Matthew Lee, The Associated Press

US suspends sanctions on Yemen rebel dealings to boost aid

Issued on: 25/01/2021 

Supporters of Yemen's Huthi rebels march during a rally in the capital Sanaa to denounce the US designation of the movement as a terrorist group Mohammed HUWAIS AFP

Washington (AFP)

President Joe Biden's administration on Monday froze US sanctions on dealing with Yemen's Huthi rebels for one month as it reviews a terrorist designation that aid groups warn will aggravate a humanitarian crisis.

The Treasury Department in a notice said that all transactions with the group will be authorized through February 26 at 12:01 am (0401 GMT).

The order signed by Bradley Smith, acting director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said the United States was not unblocking any funds that have already been targeted.

The move comes after Antony Blinken, Biden's choice for secretary of state, said that the United States would quickly review the designation of the Huthis as a terrorist group and end military support to Saudi Arabia's bloody offensive in Yemen.

Former president Donald Trump's administration, closely allied with the Saudis and vociferously opposed to Iran, declared the Tehran-aligned group to be terrorists in a determination that took effect on January 19 -- one day before Biden's inauguration.

Trump's secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, announced the move despite months of warnings by aid groups that the decision would intensify suffering in a nation where more than 80 percent of the 29 million people need aid to survive.

Humanitarian groups argue that they have no alternative but to deal with the Huthis, who amount to a government in much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa.

Pompeo had insisted that the State Department was exempting humanitarian work, but Blinken said the effort was not enough as it pertained just to Americans.

The Treasury Department in revised guidance said that non-US entities would not be targeted.

Tens of thousands have died and millions displaced in Yemen's six-year civil war as the Saudis fight to dislodge the Huthis and prop up a fledgling internationally recognized government.

© 2021 AFP

Google workers announce new global union alliance


Tech workers check their phones as they wait for a bus to Silicon Valley. Google workers announced Monday a new global union alliance. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Google workers announced Monday a new global union alliance to hold the company accountable.

The new alliance called Alpha Global, in recognition of Google's parent company Alphabet, was formed in coordination with Union Network International Global Union, a global union that brings together 20 million workers from various sectors in the service economy, according to a UNI Global Union post.

Alpha Global comprises 13 different unions representing workers in 10 countries, with the United States, Britain and Switzerland, being among them, The Verge reported.

It seeks to make Google live up to its ideals.

"[Google] is a place where many workers came to change the world -- to make it more democratic -- only to find Alphabet suppressing speech and cracking down on worker organizing while consolidating monopolistic power," a joint statement announcing the alliance said.

"Alphabet has long lost its commitment of 'Don't be evil," but we haven't," the joint statement added. "Together, we will hold Alphabet accountable."

The alliance listed several commitments to achieve its mission. Among them, the alliance said it would fight for the rights of employees, build a common strategy to support one another's demands and collective goals, and call on other trade unions to support their movement for all tech workers.

"We know that organizing for justice at a global company like Alphabet does not stop at national boundaries, and that is why it is so important to unite with workers in other countries," Google software engineer Parul Koul said in a statement. "In a world where inequality is tearing us apart, our societies and corporations are hoarding more influence than ever, reclaiming our power through our unions has never been more important. Companies like Alphabet can have a huge, positive impact on the world if they are willing to listen to -- and negotiate with -- their workers."

Earlier this month, more than 200 Google employees formed a new Alphabet Workers Union in affiliation with Communication Workers of America that represents union workers in the United States and Canada, which has since grown to more than 700 members.

After the Alphabet Workers Union announcement, Google said in a statement that it supported employees' rights to organize.