Rio Tinto begins underground work at vast Mongolia copper mine: state media

Rio Tinto begins underground work at vast Mongolia copper mine: state mediaThe massive Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper mine has been mired in controversy for years and disrupted by protests (AFP/BYAMBASUREN BYAMBA-OCHIR)

Tue, January 25, 2022, 

Underground operations have finally begun at a copper mine in Mongolia, official media has reported, ending years of delays for Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto.

The massive Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper mine has been mired in controversy for years and disrupted by protests from locals worried about environmental damage and foreign influence.

While it started production from an open-pit mine several years after Mongolian authorities inked a deal in 2009, Rio Tinto secured a multi-billion agreement in 2015 paving the way for a second and more valuable phase underground.


Some 80 percent of the mine's reserves are believed to lie underground.

"The commencement of Oyu Tolgoi underground mining operations demonstrates to the world that Mongolia can work together with investors in a sustainable manner and become a trusted partner," Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene said Tuesday in a ceremony marking the start of operations, according to official news agency Montsame.

The report added that both sides reached an agreement on controversial issues following constructive talks.

Oyun-Erdene said he expected the underground mine to be fully operational within its agreed period or in the first quarter next year, without incurring extra debts for Mongolia.

The mega-project has been expected to contribute up to one-third of Mongolia's gross domestic product once fully operational.

Rio Tinto and subsidiary Turquoise Hill Resources are to be responsible for added financing until the first half of 2023, when sustainable underground production is achieved, said Montsame.

Oyu Tolgoi is 66 percent owned by Turquoise Hill Resources and 34 percent by the Mongolian government.

Turquoise Hill said in a news release that it "expects to begin caving operations in the coming days".

Shares of Turquoise Hill Resources rose around 16 percent in New York overnight on the news, and following its announcement that it had reached an agreement to waive $2.4 billion in debt for Mongolia.

bys/jta/jfx

The exiled sculptor of 'all that is no longer there' in Syria


'Here is my heart!' is a massive installation by Syrian artist Khaled Dawwa, 36, 

representing a street in Syria destroyed by Syrian regime forces and their allies (AFP/JOEL SAGET)

Artist Khaled Dawwa, a Syrian exile and prison survivor, now works in France (AFP/JOEL SAGET)

At nearly six metres (nearly 20 feet) long and more than two metres high, the detailed artwork is imposing (AFP/Lucie PEYTERMANN

'Here is my heart!' has been on display in Paris and soon transfers to a big national museum (AFP/JOEL SAGET)


'Standing! (The King of Holes)' is another of Syrian artist Dawwa's massive installations, whose themes often pit people against authority (AFP/JOEL SAGET)

Lucie PEYTERMANN
Tue, 25 January 2022, 

A Syrian neighbourhood targeted by regime bombing lies in ruins, with bodies and broken toys poking out of the rubble; tall, grey buildings are reduced to crumbling, empty shells, their walls blown away or pockmarked by the blast.

The scene, captured in devastating detail, has been created by artist Khaled Dawwa, a Syrian exile and prison survivor who now works in France.

In his colossal work entitled "Here is my heart!", Dawwa is still battling oppression, urging viewers "not to forget the revolution by the Syrian people and all their sacrifices".

"When I'm working on this piece in my studio, I'm in Damascus. I do everything I can here, while not being there...," the 36-year-old tells AFP.

Deeply scarred by the years of repressive rule and violent crackdowns and the loss of friends killed, missing or imprisoned, Dawwa's work is both an act of revolt and memory, targeting "the international community's inaction against dictatorial regimes" in Syria and elsewhere.

"In the face of the disaster that is happening in Syria, I feel a responsibility because I have the tools to express myself," he says.

Among several of his massive installations -- including one in bronze -- being exhibited for the first time this year in France, "Here is my heart!" has been on display in Paris and soon transfers to a big national museum.

- Bearing witness -

Dawwa began the piece in 2018, as regime forces retook the rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta, on Damascus' outskirts.

At nearly six metres (nearly 20 feet) long and more than two metres high, it is imposing.

Using polystyrene, earth, glue and wood, covered in clay, he details the destruction inside and out -- the shattered doors, blown-away balconies, right down to the overturned chairs.

In the debris, crunched-up bicycles and the wreckage of a bus can be seen -- but also the bodies of a child lying next to his ball and of an old woman.

"It's totally unique and innovative," says philosopher Guillaume de Vaulx, of the French Institute for the Near East (Ifpo) and co-author of "Destructiveness in Works. Essay on Contemporary Syrian Art".

"Artists have shown destroyed things and made it their art, but he shows the process of destruction from within," de Vaulx adds, speaking from Beirut.

"He stops before the form has totally disappeared but the viewer is inevitably led to imagine the moment when everything will crumble..."

- 'Broken memories' -

Themes pitting people against authority dominate the works of Dawwa, who graduated from Damascus' School of Fine Arts.

From the onset, he took part in the nationwide anti-government protests that began in 2011, before joining other artists and activists to set up an independent cultural centre in Damascus, initiated by Syrian actor Fares Helou.

Despite police pressure, Dawwa continued to demonstrate and work at the centre for three years. By 2013, he was practically the only one left there.

"My battle was to not abandon the project, otherwise it was as if we were giving up hope," he says.

It was during that period he came to understand the impact his sculptures could have.

Posting a photo of his work on Facebook, he was surprised to see it shared hundreds of times.

Although risky, he continued to create and post pictures, but then destroyed the sculptures "in order to leave no trace", he says.

Then, in May 2013, he was seriously wounded in his studio by shrapnel and, on leaving hospital, jailed, spending two months in various prisons.

"There were thousands of people. Every day, at least 10 would die," he says.

"Their bodies would stay for two days next to us, no one removed them from the cell... on purpose."

Of the horror of the experience which still gives him nightmares, he says: "They broke the memories in my head."

After his release, he was forced into the army but escaped beforehand, fleeing to Lebanon, then to France in 2014 where he was granted refugee status.

- 'Rebuilt our history' -

His street-scene artwork, he says, is an attempt to convey "all that is no longer there; families, memories".

The Syria conflict, which broke out in 2011, has killed close to half a million people and spurred the largest conflict-induced displacement since World War II.

Veronique Pieyre de Mandiargues, a founding member of France's Portes Ouvertes Sur l'Art association, which supports artists in exile, said Dawwa "wanted to create a fixed image of what was happening in Syria so that it remains in our memories".

Lifting her hand to her heart, Syrian psychoanalyst Rana Alssayah, 54, also a France-based refugee, expresses her emotions on first seeing the piece.

"The magnitude of the destruction that Khaled has recreated, it's so real... I couldn't look at all the details inside the buildings, it was too hard."

Through this work, "he is saying the sorrow and pain that we can't talk about, he has rebuilt our history."

lp/dp/kjm/ach

Catholic Church in France raises €20 million in compensation for child sex abuse victims

Catholic dioceses in France have raised 20 million euros ($22.6 million) to compensate thousands of victims of historical child sexual abuse by clergy, the fund in charge of raising the money said Tuesday.

© Valentine Chapuis, AFP

Church officials have been under intense pressure to recognise and compensate victims after a landmark French inquiry confirmed widespread abuse of minors by priests, deacons and lay members of the Church dating from the 1950s.

"It's a first step. The Church has followed through on its commitment," the president of the Selam fund, Gilles Vermot-Desroches, told AFP after its board met on Monday.

An initial five million euros will be set aside for compensation claims being studied by an independent panel set up in the wake of the damning abuse report, released in October.

It found that 216,000 minors had been abused by clergy over the past seven decades, a number that climbed to 330,000 when claims against lay members of the Church are included, such as teachers at Catholic schools.

The commission that produced the report denounced the "systemic character" of efforts to shield clergy from prosecution, and urged the Church to pay victims with its own assets, instead of asking parishioners to contribute.

Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, head of the Bishops' Conference of France (CEF), has said the Church will sell off real estate and tap its financial holdings, and possibly take out bank loans to raise the money.

But it has also told parishioners they can make donations to the fund.

<< French Catholic Church to sell assets to compensate sex abuse victims

Vermot-Desroches did not provide a detailed breakdown of the source of the initial 20 million euros, but said the CEF, individual bishops and the "vast majority" of dioceses across France contributed.

Victims' associations have demanded compensation payouts that would cost the Church tens of millions of euros.

Widespread cases of sexual abuse in the Church worldwide have become one of the biggest challenges for Pope Francis, who expressed his "shame" after the French inquiry was released.

(AFP)

Germany's Habeck denounces plan to label nuclear energy 'green' in Brussels

Robert Habeck, in his first visit to Brussels since taking office, said Germany would resist an EU attempt to call atomic power "sustainable." He said Europe should instead focus on new sources of clean energy.


German Economic Affairs and Climate Action Minister Robert Habeck on Tuesday called for his government to block EU-level attempts to classify nuclear energy as "green."

"I hope that the Commission will follow our recommendations and remarks that nuclear power is not a sustainable form of energy," Habeck said after talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The European Unioin is set to classify a number of energy sources as sustainable or not sustainable in the coming weeks. Habeck said his "personal opinion" was that "Germany should vote no" on the proposal, should it remain in the plans "in the form that it is currently included."

In his first visit to Brussels as a Cabinet minister, Habeck said that, instead of promoting atomic power, "we need special technologies that are 'made in the EU,' for example, hydrogen fuel."

Habeck is the deputy chancellor and co-leader of the Greens; his ministerial position received an altered title as part of the coalition deal, with the Economy and Energy Ministry renamed the Economic Affairs and Climate Action Ministry. He announced at the beginning of January that his office was looking into the possibility of clean hydrogen-based energy to lower the country's emissions.

Although Germany represents only about 1% of the world's population, it accounts for over 2% of its carbon emissions. It is in the process of phasing out nuclear power production entirely, with the final plants set to switch off

KAPITALI$M IS KRISIS
IMF slashes global growth outlook amid Omicron hit

IMF economic growth forecasts (AFP/Jonathan WALTER)

Heather SCOTT
Tue, January 25, 2022

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is creating an obstacle course for the global economy, which will slow growth this year, notably in the world's two largest economies, the IMF said Tuesday.

The Washington-based crisis lender cut its world GDP forecast for 2022 to 4.4 percent, half a point lower than the October estimate, due to the "impediments" caused by the latest outbreak, although those are expected to begin to fade in the second quarter of the year.

"The global economy enters 2022 in a weaker position than previously expected," the International Monetary Fund said in the quarterly update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO), adding that "the emergence of the Omicron variant in late November threatens to set back this tentative path to recovery."


The outlook remains beset by risks, including geopolitical tensions and a wave of price increases hitting consumers and businesses that is expected to last longer than previously expected.

After the solid recovery last year when the global economy grew an estimated 5.9 percent, the IMF cut projections for nearly every country -- with India a notable exception -- but it was the downgrades to the United States and China that had the biggest impact.

"These impediments are expected to weigh on growth in the first quarter of 2022," the report said.

"The negative impact is expected to fade starting in the second quarter, assuming that the global surge in Omicron infections abates and the virus does not mutate into new variants that require further mobility restrictions."

The fund once again stressed that controlling the pandemic is critical to the economic outlook and urged widespread vaccinations in developing nations, which have fallen short even as advanced economies have moved to deploying booster shots among their already highly-vaccinated populations.

"Bold and effective international cooperation should ensure that this is the year the world escapes the grip of the pandemic," Gita Gopinath, the fund's newly-installed first deputy managing director, told reporters.

She said the cumulative economic losses inflicted by the pandemic over the five years through 2024 are expected to total nearly $14 trillion, compared to the pre-pandemic forecasts.

- US, China slowdown -

The biggest drag on the global outlook is the sharp slowing in the United States and China, including factors beyond the impact of the virus.

With US President Joe Biden's massive social spending plan stalled in Congress, the IMF subtracted the expected growth impact the program would have had on the economy.

Together with the supply chain snarls that have beset American businesses and manufacturing, these factors slashed 1.2 percentage points off GDP, which is now expected to expand four percent this year, the IMF said.

While that is a historically high rate for the world's largest economy, it is far slower than the 5.6 percent expansion in 2021.

Meanwhile, China's "zero-tolerance Covid-19 policy" has contributed to a slowdown in the Asian power, and the fund cut 0.8 points off expected growth for this year to 4.8 percent, the report said.

"China's downgrade reflects continued retrenchment of the real estate sector and weaker than expected recovery in private consumption," Gopinath said.

In an interview with AFP, Gopinath said it might be time for Beijing to "recalibrate" its strict stance, which "has an effect on economic activity, especially private consumption."

Other major economies suffered sharp downgrades amid the ongoing pandemic disruptions, including a 0.8-point cut for Germany, and 1.2-point deductions for Brazil and Mexico.

India, however, saw a 0.5-point upgrade to nine percent, and Japan saw a more modest improvement for growth of 3.3 percent, the IMF said.

The global outlook for 2023 is somewhat improved, "However not enough to make up ground lost due to the downgrade to 2022."

- Inflation flares, rates rise -

A key challenge facing the global economy is the surge in prices, especially energy and food.

But even excluding those items, so-called core inflation in the United States is still projected to finish 2022 around 3.4 percent, well above the Federal Reserve's two percent target, Gopinath said.

Supply chain issues caused by the pandemic should begin to ease in the second half of the year, but "inflation, even though it's declining, it will be high," she said in the interview.

The phenomenon is expected to bring more aggressive action by key central banks like the US Federal Reserve, which will raise borrowing costs worldwide, hindering recovery efforts, particularly in indebted developing nations.

The WEO baseline assumes the Fed will hike the benchmark interest rate three times this year and three in 2023.

But Gopinath cautioned that "higher inflation surprises in the US could elicit aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve and sharply tightening global financial conditions."

Inflation is expected to average 3.9 percent in advanced economies and 5.9 percent in emerging market and developing economies in 2022, before subsiding in 2023.

hs/cs

Burkina Faso: A history of destabilisation by jihadist insurgencies

Tue, 25 January 2022, 



Attacks by jihadists linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group have killed thousands and displaced an estimated 1.5 million people in Burkina Faso since 2015. Members of the army, critical of the government's strategy for battling Islamist terrorism, detained the president and seized power on January 23. FRANCE 24 takes a look at how the security crisis unfolded.

Members of the armed forces ousted the Burkinabe government on Sunday, accusing it of failure in the fight against terrorism. For months a rebellion had been brewing in the army that was supported by many civilians, with anti-government protests in several cities often banned and dispersed by anti-riot police.

Anger over the deteriorating security situation and the government's inability to stem the jihadist violence boiled over on Sunday, with several rebellions erupting across the west African country. Mutinous soldiers demanded the resignation of army leaders and greater resources for the fight against jihadists while protesters set fire to the ruling party’s headquarters in the capital Ouagadougou.

The government announced a curfew on Sunday and uncertainty remained around the fate of President Roch Koboré, who is believed to have been detained by members of the military. In power since 2015, he was re-elected in 2020 on a pledge to make the fight against jihadists a priority. Kaboré had vowed to put an end to “dysfunction” in the army after a series of attacks on security forces and to introduce anti-corruption measures.

But the north and east of Burkina Faso, in the volatile region near Niger and Mali, remain prone to terrorist attacks by Nusrat al-Islam (an off-shoot of al Qaeda) and the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara.

Between 2015 and 2018, terrorist attacks targeted the capital Ouagadougou and other centres of power. Since 2019, attacks by mobile combat units targeted mostly rural zones in the north and east of the country, fuelling displacements en masse and intercommunal violence. Some 2,000 people were killed, among them civilians and members of the armed forces or the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland, a civilian auxiliary group of the army created in 2020.

Islamist militants now move freely across entire swaths of the country and have forced inhabitants of some regions to conform to a strict version of Islamic law. Meanwhile, the army’s continuing fight against the Islamists has depleted the country’s already meagre resources.
A timeline of jihadist violence in Burkina Faso


On January 15, 2016, 30 people were killed in a double terrorist attack perpetrated by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb on the Splendid Hotel and the Cappuccino restaurant in Ouagadougou. Many of the victims were Western expatriates.


On March 2, 2018, eight deaths among the security forces were reported after attacks targeting the French embassy and the Burkinabe Armed Forces.


On January 1, 2019, the Fulani ethnic group, accused of collaborating with jihadist groups, was targeted by the Mossi, another ethnic group, in an attack that left 72 people dead, according to official estimates. Another 6,000 were forced to flee.


On August 19, 2019, 24 soldiers were killed in an attack on an army base in Koutougou in the north of the country. The army was targeted again in December in a new attack by heavily armed jihadists on and around Arabinda, a city near the border with Mali.


On January 25, 2020, 39 civilians were massacred in the village market of Silgadji in the north of the country. Around 40 civilians were killed the week before in villages close to Nagraogo and Alamou.


From March to June 2021, a series of mutinies shook the Burkinabe capital: 566 soldiers were decommissioned and a new army chief was nominated by the president.


On June 5, 2021, at least 160 people were killed in a new massacre. Many victims were members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland army auxiliary group.


On November 14, 2021, 57 people were killed in an attack on the police station in Inata, 54 of whom were police officers. They had alerted authorities about a lack of resources two weeks before the attack.


On December 10, 2021, Lassina Zerbo was nominated prime minister after the resignation of his predecessor following criticism that he had been incapable of stopping terrorist violence.


On January 11, 2022, eight soldiers accused of planning “a project to destabilise the institutions of the republic” were arrested.

This article was translated from the original in French.

Burkina Faso: from popular uprising to military coup


 (AFP/Sophie RAMIS)

Mon, January 24, 2022

As Burkina Faso's junta consolidates its position after seizing power in a coup, we look at the recent history of the troubled West African country.

- 2014: Fall of Compaore -

Blaise Compaore takes power in a 1987 coup and cements his position four years later with the first of four election victories. But his 2010 win is contested, as is his attempt to amend the constitution to extend his rule. After being forced out by street protests in 2014, he flees to Ivory Coast. On November 29, 2015, former prime minister Roch Marc Christian Kabore is elected president.

- 2015: Jihadist attacks -

From 2015, the north of the country, the capital Ouagadougou and the east begin to suffer attacks and kidnappings by jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda or the so-called Islamic State.

On January 15, 2016, an attack on the Splendid hotel and a restaurant in Ouagadougou leave 30 dead, most of them Westerners, shocking the country.

In November 2017, the French-backed G5 anti-jihadist force starts joint cross-border operations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

- 2018: Attacks intensify

On March 2, 2018, simultaneous attacks target French forces and the former colonial power's embassy, leaving eight soldiers dead and 85 people injured.

The end of that year sees a state of emergency declared in several provinces.

From 2019, the attacks become almost daily, prompting the sacking of the head of the armed forces and formation of a new government.

On December 24, 42 people die in an attack by 200 jihadists on a military base in Arbinda, near the border with Mali.

- 2020: Kabore re-elected -

Kabore is re-elected on November 22, 2020, but insecurity means hundreds of thousands of people are unable to vote.

The opposition accuse the president of election fraud and refuse to recognise the result.

- 2021: Death toll soars -

Between 132 and 160 people are killed in a June 2021 raid on the northeastern village of Solhan in the worst attack in six years.

The killings spark demonstrations against insecurity and the ministers of defence and security are both fired.

On August 18, an attack in the north leaves 65 civilians and 15 police dead.

In October the president replaces the military chief of staff. A trial also begins into the killing 34 years earlier of charismatic former president Thomas Sankara, the "African Che Guevara". Compaore, the main accused, is not present.

On November 14, at least 57 people, 53 of them gendarmes, are massacred in an assault on a police station at Inata in the north, sparking further protests.

Burkinabe and Niger military say they eliminated around 100 "terrorists" during an operation on their common border between November 25 and December 9.

- Government reshuffle -

December 8, the prime minister resigns and hands the reins to Lassina Zerbo, who urges national unity.

On December 23, 41 people are killed in yet another jihadist attack in the north.

The past month sees n a further spate of attacks and rumblings of discontent in the ranks of the armed forces echoing those in the wider population.

- 2022: Military takeover -

On January 22, police in Ouagadougou clash with demonstrators at a banned protest over the government's handling of the jihadist threat.

The following day soldiers at several army barracks stage a revolt but the government denies a coup is under way.

On Monday, Kabore is arrested by mutinous soldiers after gunshots are heard near his private residence.

A group of officers later go on television to announce that the Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) -- the name of a junta led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba -- is in control.

The United Nations, France and regional bloc ECOWAS all condemn the coup.

acm-ang-jba-fg/pvh/ri

Chief of Israeli spyware firm NSO Group quits job

The NSO Group group has been under fire since media reports that its Pegasus software was used to spy on journalists and political figures around the world.

The chairman of Israeli spyware company NSO Group, Asher Levy, confirmed on Tuesday that he had left the company at the end of 2021. He denied that his departure had any connection to current lawsuits and media coverage of the company's Pegasus hacking software.

Levy had been NSO chairman since April 2020. He came on as an appointee of UK-based private equity firm Novalpina Capital, which had bought NSO in 2019. 

Finbarr O'Connor will now head the company. He is current managing director of BRG Asset Management, which took over management of Novalpina in July of last year and subsequently NSO.

Upon his departure, Levy said he remained "full of appreciation to NSO, the lifesaving technology it develops ... and the unprecedented ethical policies the company has adopted."

NSO has faced global scrutiny over its Pegasus software, which can easily infiltrate mobile phones and allow its operators to gain access to the device's contents and location history. 

Investigations into the software and media reports confirmed that Mexican and Saudi journalists, British attorneys, Palestinian human rights activists and Uganda-based US diplomats, had all been targeted using the Pegasus.

"I can understand why people are making the connection,'' Levy told AP. "In reality it has nothing to do with the breaking news, so to speak, around NSO."

Mounting lawsuits

Pressure on the company has increased since the end of 2021. NSO has been blacklisted by the US Commerce Department since November 2021, saying that the firm sold spyware to foreign governments which then used the equipment to target government officials, journalists and others.

NSO has additionally faced either legal action or criticism from Microsoft Corp., Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.

Tech giant Apple has also sued NSO, saying it had violated US laws by breaking into the software installed on iPhones.

Last week, the Israeli attorney general ordered an investigation into domestic police surveillance following reports that Pegasus had been used improperly.

The company and the Israeli government say NSO products are only sold to trusted international governments for legitimate security purposes such as monitoring suspected terrorists.

jcg/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Sole candidate Tedros set to remain World Health chief

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has no rival for the job (AFP/Fabrice COFFRINI) (Fabrice COFFRINI)

Agnès PEDRERO
Tue, January 25, 2022

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is all but guaranteed a second term after a procedural vote on Tuesday made him the sole nominee for a leadership election in May.

The first African leader of the UN health agency said he was "very grateful for the renewed support", after the WHO's executive board held a secret-ballot vote approving his nomination as the only candidate for the post of director-general.

"I am actually lost for words," the visibly-moved WHO chief said after nearly all of the board's 34 members, representing countries from around the world, threw their weight behind him.

The only three votes he was missing were from absentees Tonga, Afghanistan and East Timor, according to a diplomatic source.

The former Ethiopian minister of health and foreign affairs is thus expected to be re-elected when all 194 WHO member states cast their ballots in May for the next director-general.

Tedros, one of the most recognisable figures of the global fight against Covid-19, acknowledged that his first five-year term had been "challenging and difficult", and said it was a "great honour" to be given the opportunity to continue the battle.

- Broad support -

Since Covid-19 emerged more than two years ago, the 56-year-old malaria specialist has received much praise for the way he has steered the WHO.

"We appreciate not only your leadership during this period, but also your humanity and your compassion," South Korean representative Kim Ganglip said, speaking for WHO's western Pacific region countries.

African nations have been pleased at the attention paid to the continent and at his relentless campaign for poorer nations to receive a fair share of Covid vaccines.

The main source of opposition against Tedros has ironically come from his own country.

Ethiopia's government has slammed his comments about the humanitarian situation in his home region of Tigray, in the grip of a 14-month conflict.

In a statement, Ethiopia accused him of committing "flagrant misconduct on a routine basis", having "abused his office" to advance propaganda.

"His interference in a member state of the WHO advocating for a party to a conflict constitutes a blatant misconduct," it said.

Ethiopia's position has not garnered much support.

Addis Ababa blocked the African Union from unanimously presenting Tedros as its nominee ahead of Tuesday's vote, but several African countries figured among the 28 mainly European nations that officially put his name forward.

- 'Horrified' -

Tedros also enjoys support in Washington.

That marks a major about-face from the start of the pandemic, when former president Donald Trump began pulling the United States out of the WHO, accusing it of being Beijing's puppet and helping cover up the initial outbreak.

Trump's successor Joe Biden halted the withdrawal, and the new administration has voiced stronger support for Tedros who has taken a sterner tone with China, demanding greater transparency around the origins of the outbreak.

Beijing has rebuked the WHO chief for some of those comments, but still supports his candidacy.

Beyond the pandemic, Tedros has faced a barrage of criticism, including from nations supporting his second term bid, over his handling of devastating allegations of rape and sexual assault by humanitarian workers, among them 21 WHO employees tackling Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2020.

Tedros told the board he had been "horrified" by those reports, insisting the WHO had "zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment".

- Significant reform -

Tedros's second term will likely be dominated by the towering task of strengthening the WHO, after Covid-19 exposed its weaknesses.

"The pandemic has highlighted the challenges we face; that the world was not prepared," he said during a two-hour hearing before Tuesday's vote.

Many countries are demanding significant reforms, but their extent and shape have yet to be defined, with some nations wary a stronger WHO might encroach on their sovereignty.

Tedros is also calling for a vast reform of financing, warning funds are lacking to respond to the numerous crises WHO faces around the globe.

apo-nl/rjm/bp

Honduras political crisis deepens ahead of president-elect's swearing-in

Honduras political crisis deepens ahead of president-elect's swearing-inLibre party supporters demonstrated in support of Luis Redondo as Congress president (AFP/Orlando SIERRA)

Moises Avila with Eva Rodriguez in Washington
Tue, January 25, 2022, 

Rival factions of Honduras' newly-elected congress held duelling first sessions Tuesday as a split in president-elect Xiomara's Castro's party deepened two days before her swearing-in.

With the United States watching closely, about a third of the 50 MPs of Castro's leftist Libre party pressed on with a rebellion that could threaten her hold on Congress.

Castro needs a firm majority to implement her anti-corruption and political reform platform in a country battered by poverty, migration and drug trafficking.


On Sunday, the Libre rebels -- with backing from rightwing parties hitherto in control of the legislature -- named one of their own, Jorge Calix, as Congress president in a ceremony at a private venue.

In the legislature, meanwhile, Castro loyalists nominated Luis Redondo of Libre's alliance partner, the Savior Party of Honduras (PSH), as had been agreed before the election.

The Libre rebels broke ranks because they insist Congress should be led by the party with the most members -- Libre has 50 deputies compared to just 10 for the Savior party.

Sunday's events came just days after lawmakers came to blows in the legislative chamber over who should lead Congress -- chosen last November in general elections won by Castro and Libre -- for its four-year term.

Calix and the other rebels were then expelled from the party, but remain lawmakers for now.

- Call for calm -

Castro has recognized Redondo and invited him to preside over her swearing-in on Thursday.

She has branded Calix a "traitor" doing the bidding of entrenched rightwing politicians opposed to her vow to clean house.

On Tuesday, Redondo presided over an opening session of part of the Congress in the legislature building.

In parallel, and via Zoom, Calix presided over an alternative session with almost 20 rebel Libre members as well as MPs of the National and Liberal parties.

The Calix meeting drew more lawmakers -- over 70, which is a majority of the 128-member Congress.

Numbers for Redondo were bolstered by substitute lawmakers standing in in the absence of the rebels attending the Calix gathering.

"We call on political actors to remain calm, to engage in dialogue, to refrain from violence and provocative rhetoric," US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington on Monday.

- 'We will be talking' -

US Vice President Kamala Harris is due to attend Thursday's swearing-in.

But the uncertainty in Congress has created a legitimacy crisis around Castro, with analysts saying the ceremony could be delayed.

Redondo claimed Monday that "someone from the American embassy contacted me, and we will be talking to them."

Honduran media reported that Calix also received a call from the US embassy -- which he did not confirm.

Dissident congressman Yahve Sabillon told local media that representatives for Calix and Redondo had met to seek an agreement.

AFP could not independently verify this information.

Castro won election on November 28 to become the first woman president of Honduras and end 12 years of rightwing National Party (PN) rule.

She is the wife of Manuel Zelaya, a former president who was deposed in a 2009 coup supported by the military, business elites and the political right.

Castro's victory involved an alliance with the PSH, which will see its leader Salvador Nasralla named vice-president.

Calix had promised Sunday to work for Castro's program, in spite of her rejection of his nomination.

"We have a communication with this dissident group. They are all friends. We are always talking to them and looking for ways out," Zelaya, coordinator of Libre, told AFP.

"Logically we support Luis Redondo, but we are always open to seeking integration and dialogue," he added.

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IMF Urges El Salvador to Discontinue Bitcoin’s Legal Tender Status

Nelson Wang
Tue., January 25, 2022, 

Oleksii Liskonih

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund recommended that El Salvador discontinue the use of bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in in the country due to the financial risks and liabilities created.

The recommendation came in a report issued on Tuesday following bilateral discussions with El Salvador about its economy. El Salvador has been in negotiations with the IMF for a $1.3 billion loan.

IMF directors “stressed that there are large risks associated with the use of bitcoin on financial stability, financial integrity and consumer protection, as well as the associated fiscal contingent liabilities,” according to the report.

Directors also “urged the authorities to narrow the scope of the Bitcoin Law by removing bitcoin’s legal tender status. Some directors also expressed concern over the risks associated with issuing bitcoin-backed bonds.”

In November, IMF staff said bitcoin should not be used as legal tender in El Salvador and urged the Central American country to strengthen the regulation and supervision of its newly established crypto payment ecosystem.

El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender in September and its president, Nayib Bukele, has become a vocal proponent of the cryptocurrency.

The country has been accumulating bitcoin and recently bought 410 more bitcoins, reaching more than 1,500 BTC held. El Salvador also plans to issue a $1 billion bitcoin bond this year that will be 10 years in duration and U.S.-dollar denominated.

This is a developing story and will be updated.