Expert panel refines guidelines for daily aspirin use to prevent heart attacks


New recommendations caution against the use of daily, low-dose aspirin by older adults. 

Photo by LizM/Pixabay

April 26 (UPI) -- An advisory panel of leading physicians no longer recommends daily low-dose aspirin for the prevention of heart attacks in adults age 60 and older, the group announced Tuesday.

The decision is based on new research suggesting that the net benefits of daily aspirin use in this age group are small, the panel, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, said in an article published Tuesday by JAMA.

However, for younger adults ages 40 to 59 years who have a greater than 10% risk for developing heart disease over the next decade of their lives -- and are at low risk for bleeding-related side effects associated with aspirin use -- the decision should be made on an individual bases, the group said.

In addition, the task force has concluded that existing evidence is unclear as to whether aspirin use reduces a person's risk for colon and rectal cancers, or for dying from tumors in these organs, it said.

RELATED  Older adults shouldn't start daily aspirin to prevent heart attacks, experts say

"Based on current evidence, the task force recommends against people 60 and older starting to take aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke," Dr. Michael Barry, task force vice chair, said in a press release.

"Because the chance of internal bleeding increases with age, the potential harms of aspirin use cancel out the benefits in this age group," said Barry, director of the Informed Medical Decisions Program in the Health Decision Sciences Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services and preventive medications.

RELATED Study: 10M people in U.S. improperly use daily aspirin therapy

"If you are already taking low-dose aspirin because you have had a heart attack, stroke or stenting or you have a history of AFib, continue to take it as directed by your physician," Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, volunteer president of the American Heart Association said in a statement.

"This new guidance about low-dose aspirin does not apply to your situation -- do not stop taking aspirin without first talking with your doctor," he said.

Physicians are not obligated to follow the task force's recommendations, but most do, according to Dr. Kevin Campbell, a cardiologist with Health First Heart and Vascular in Merritt Island, Fla.

RELATED Low-dose aspirin may not reduce heart disease risk for everyone

"In the past we believed that there was some benefit to using it prophylactically for those without coronary artery disease," Campbell told UPI in an email.

"However, this recommendation substantiates many of the studies that have come out over the last several years that have shown that the routine use of aspirin for patients without known disease is unlikely to be effective, and in fact may be detrimental," he said.

This is because aspirin, though widely available and used as an over-the-counter pain reliever, is not without side effects, including gastrointestinal and intracranial, or brain, bleeding, Campbell added.

In his practice, he has been recommending aspirin for secondary prevention only, meaning in patients with "known, documented coronary artery disease."

In addition to the known side effects associated with regular use, recent studies have found that low-dose aspirin does not reduce the risk for heart disease in everyone who uses it.

The drug may do more harm than good in older adults, research suggests, yet more than half of people age 75 and older in the United States still use it, according to estimates.

Aspirin may, however, reduce the risk for heart attacks in some people with coronary artery disease, which causes a reduction of blood flow to the heart muscle due to build-up of plaque in the arteries, studies indicate.

"I think that [these recommendations] really help us clarify a longstanding question -- who should get aspirin for coronary artery disease and how long should it be given," Campbell said.

"Those without coronary artery disease should not take aspirin -- particularly those over the age of 60, as the risk of bleeding outweighs any potential benefit," he said.

Biden administration reduces amount of land for oil and gas drilling in Alaska


The sun sets on an offshore drilling rig in Alaska. 

Photo by Kyle Waters/Shutterstock

April 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has announced that it will reduce the amount of land that can be used for offshore oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Northeast National Petroleum Reserve.

"This decision is informed by more than a decade of engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders," the BLM said in a 91-page document released Monday.

The move follows a decision by the Biden Administration last June that suspended all oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It effectively reverses a plan by former President Donald Trump to expand oil drilling in the Arctic.

The BLM, part of the Department of the Interior, will limit fossil fuel extractions in the region to 52% of the petroleum reserve, which spans about 23 million acres. Trump had sought to allow up to 82% of the land for drilling. The Biden Administration decision will remove about 7 million acres of the 19.6 million-acre refuge from development.

RELATED   I nterior Department suspends oil and gas leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge is home to some of the most diverse and spectacular fish and wildlife in the arctic, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website. They include polar bears, caribou, Dall sheep, muskox, salmon-sized Dolly Varden char, and Arctic Grayling. The agency also noted that birds from around the world come to the refuge to breed, feed, and rear their young.

"Conserving these populations and their habitats in their natural diversity is a purpose of the refuge," the agency said.

Meanwhile, the Alaska House of Representatives and Senate have introduced a budget bill that contains $2 million for a special account to be used for lawsuits against the Biden administration. Gov. Mike Dunleavy and a bipartisan group of legislators say the litigation funds are aimed at stopping the federal government's efforts to limit fossil fuel development in the state, which they say results in lost revenues.

The Biden Administration on Monday released a decision by its Bureau of Land Management in the Department of Interior that limits the amount of land where oil and gas can be extracted. Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of the Interior.

RELATED Uncertainty surrounds ANWR oil prospects

In 1923, President Warren Harding set the region aside as an emergency oil reserve for the Navy. It was later transferred to the bureau, which is authorized to sell leases for energy companies to drill.

The Eisenhower administration established Arctic National Wildlife Range in 1960 to preserve unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values.

At the end of President Barack Obama's term in office, he put into place a five-year plan to make future drilling in two key areas of the Arctic illegal.

The Biden Administration on Monday vastly curtailed the amount of land that can be used for oil drilling at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. 

Photo of the area by Alexis Bonogofsky, courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Energy Dept. finalizes rules to phase out costlier incandescent light bulbs AKA TRUMPBULBS(EXPENSIVE & WASTEFUL)

The Energy Department estimates that switching to the more efficient bulbs will save consumers about $3 billion per year -- and the environment 222 tons of carbon emissions over the next three decades. 

File Photo by Byrev/Pixabay

April 26 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden's administration has finalized a change that phases out older, incandescent light bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient bulbs that save money for consumers and carbon emissions for the environment.

The Energy Department said Monday that two rules making the changes have been finalized, rolling back a policy from former President Donald Trump three years ago that blocked the switch because it was "not economically justified."

The new rules mean that the older, incandescent bulbs will be phased out. The change will take effect almost immediately but the government won't begin enforcement until January.

The move requires manufacturers to create and sell only energy-efficient bulbs and halt sales for bulbs that produce less than 45 lumens per watt.

The Energy Department estimates that switching to the more efficient bulbs will save consumers about $3 billion per year -- and the environment 222 tons of carbon emissions over the next three decades.

"We're putting $3 billion back in the pockets of American consumers and substantially reducing domestic carbon emissions," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said according to The Washington Post.

The move to phase out incandescent bulbs would have occurred two years ago under a policy by former President Barack Obama. Trump skirted the order, however, when he was in office.

Enforcement for switching to the more efficient bulbs will begin first for manufacturers and later for retailers to give them time to dispense of their inventory.

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

Arizona death row prisoner seeks clemency citing mental illness, disabilities


Clarence Dixon was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 for the 1978 rape and murder of 21-year-old Deana Bowdoin, an Arizona State University student. File Photo courtesy of the Arizona attorney general's office


April 26 (UPI) -- Attorneys for an Arizona death row prisoner filed a petition for clemency for their client Tuesday, citing his mental illness, physical disabilities and abuse as a child.

Clarence Dixon, 66, is scheduled to be executed May 11 for the 1978 rape and murder of 21-year-old Deana Bowdoin, an Arizona State University student.

His hearing before the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency is set to take place Thursday.

The petition comes one week after a judge ruled against Dixon's challenge of the makeup of the clemency board. In a court filing, his lawyers said the board wouldn't give him fair consideration because it includes too many former law enforcement officers.

RELATED U.S. Supreme Court to hear Texas death row inmate's DNA retesting appeal

State law prevents more than two people from the same profession from serving on the board, which currently has three former law enforcement officers. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Hopkins ruled, though, that "law enforcement" isn't considered a profession under the statute.

"Forcing Clarence Dixon to seek clemency from an illegally composed board stacked with law enforcement officers is profoundly unfair," attorney Joshua Spears said Tuesday. "But because his mental incompetence, physical disabilities, and traumatic life history present compelling grounds for executive clemency, we must ensure he does not forfeit his opportunity to pursue that relief."

In the clemency petition, Dixon's lawyers said their client has had untreated paranoid schizophrenia for some four decades. They said he'd been found legally insane in connection to another crime two days after the slaying of Bowdoin.

The attorneys also took issue with his trial judge allowing him to represent himself "despite his obvious mental illness."

"Self-representation meant that the jury never learned important mitigating evidence about Mr. Dixon's traumatic childhood and the insanity findings shortly before the crime occurred," a news release from Dixon's lawyers said.

The filing said Dixon's father physically and verbally abused, and neglected his family, while his mother also used derogatory language toward her children. Both parents struggled to feed and care for their children on the Navajo Nation, causing Dixon to experience hunger, depression and suicidal ideation.

As a young adult, he abused alcohol and drugs, and began showing signs of mental illness.

In addition to mental illness, Dixon's lawyers say he has wasting syndrome, multiple heart, lung, liver and bladder ailments, and glaucoma.

"Clarence's advanced age and declining health present the risk that his execution by lethal injection using pentobarbital would likely result in undue suffering," the petition reads. "His lungs, liver and heart are damaged enough that it might take longer to circulate the medication to reach full toxicity dose leaving him feeling some of the effects of pentobarbital but not all of them."

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich earlier this month objected to a mental competency hearing scheduled for May 3, saying it would likely delay the May 11 execution.

Arizona last carried out an execution on July, 23, 2014, that of Joseph Wood. It took 15 doses of a new combination of drugs -- midazolam and hydromorphone -- and 2 hours for Wood to die.

He was the second inmate to be given the two-drug cocktail after Arizona lost its European supplier of pentobarbital. The European Union voted in 2011 to prohibit the sale of the drug to the United States because of its use in executions.

After Wood's death, the state decided to no longer use the midazolam and hydromorphone combination of drugs, effectively implementing a moratorium on executions until an alternate drug cocktail could be legally secured.

Horn of Africa: Donors pledge $1.4 billion amid starvation warning

Just under $1.4 billion in aid is pledged as regional drought threatens millions with starvation. The UN is worried that another poor season of rain could be catastrophic.

The UN has warned that millions are in danger of starvation in the Horn of Africa

The UN's head of emergency relief sounded the warning on Tuesday that upwards of 2 million children are at risk of starving to death, while millions of others faced severe food insecurity.

That's as the Horn of Africa region faces what the UN is calling its worst drought in 40 years, leaving Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya at risk.

The UN described the situation as stark in six areas of Somalia, where if seasonal rains did not fall, famine could result.

Call for funding answered

Speaking at a donor conference in Geneva, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths laid out the dire situation and said that only a fraction of the budget was in hand.

"Once again, vulnerable people across the Horn of Africa are falling victim to the cruelty of acute hunger and potential famine in a crisis that is not of their own making. We must all step up and show the people of this region that we are here to help alleviate their suffering," Griffiths said, adding that if there were to be a fourth failed rainy season, it could bring with it "one of the worst climate-induced emergencies in its history."

Shortly after Griffiths made his appeal, donors pledged $1.39 billion (€1.3 billion) for humanitarian and development aid.

Griffiths thanks donors for their contributions, which fell just short of the entire budget necessary for relief operations to continue.

According to the UN, as a result of the funding, humanitarian agencies will be able to provide urgent food, nutrition, cash and health assistance.

It will also help provide for fodder and medicines to help keep livestock alive. Reuters news agency reported that the European Union, who were co hosts of the event, pledged $674 million towards food security while Canada stumped up $73 million.

Reuters material contributed to this report.

Edited by Mark Hallam.

Afghan women athletes: prisoners in their own homes

It's eight months since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and the country has slipped down the news agenda. 'The world forgets about us,' says Friba Rezayee, the first Afghan woman to compete at the Olympics.

Friba Rezayee continues to appeal to sports federations to put pressure on the Taliban

"I wish I didn't exist," Afghan athlete Amira (name changed) writes. "I didn't do anything wrong. The only crime I have committed is to play sports."

Before the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021, Amira was one of the best judo fighters in the country. A few weeks ago, the Taliban raided her home for documents that would prove the young woman had been a member of the Afghan national team.

"Fortunately, she was able to escape. She hid in a local cemetery for the whole day, praying that the Taliban would not find her there," Friba Rezayee tells DW. "Had they found these documents in her house, she would have been tried in a Sharia court. That would have meant she would have either received 100 lashes or even been publicly executed."

Rezayee was once a successful judoka herself in Afghanistan. She and track and field sprinter Robina Muqim Yaar became the first women ever to compete for Afghanistan in the Olympics in Athens in 2004.

"That was a sports revolution," Rezayee recalls. In 2011, she fled Afghanistan for Canada. There, the 36-year-old founded the aid organization Women Leaders of Tomorrow (WLT), which provides higher education to female refugees from Afghanistan.

With its GOAL (Girls of Afghanistan Lead) sports program, the organization also supports Afghan women in martial arts. Rezayee keeps in touch with around 130 Afghan female athletes who were not able to escape the country after the Taliban took power.

Aghanistan's female judo team in training shortly before the Taliban took power

Threats from Kabul

These women continue to hide in their homes, "waiting, in a sense, for the Taliban to knock on the door and arrest them," Rezayee says. "The Taliban have sent them threatening letters. They've been intimidate and they can't go outside."

Judoka Amira describes the athletes' dramatic situation this way, "We don't need a prison for women in Afghanistan. Our houses have become prisons for us." Afghanistan, says Mina (name changed), another judoka who remained in the country, "has become a fatherless country where violent children have the power to do whatever they want with women and girls."

The Taliban have not yet officially banned women's sports by law. During the first Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had excluded Afghanistan from the 2000 Games in Sydney, partly because the radical Islamists discriminated against female athletes.

This attitude of the Taliban has not changed, Rezayee says. "According to their interpretation of Sharia law, women's sports are a sin. They believe that sexual signals are sent to men because a woman's body is visible during physical activity. Women are not even allowed to exercise in a gym."

There is a climate of intimidation and fear in Afghanistan, she explains. For example, a player on the Afghan national volleyball team was recently arrested and "the Taliban brutally beat her up. She had terrible bruises all over her body. The Taliban let her live because they wanted to show other female athletes what happens to them when they play sports."

Armed Taliban soldiers patrol the training room of the judo team

'The world forgets about Afghanistan'

Rezayee and her staff at WLT are still trying to get Afghan female athletes out of the country and to safety. But even if they succeed, there is the question of where the women can then stay.

The Canadian government, for example, focuses its refugee policy on former local Afghan forces of the Canadian army and their families, thus excluding female athletes. "Even in Europe, it's tremendously difficult to get entry visas for them," Rezayee says. The Ukraine war makes things even more complicated. "All the world's attention is focused on the Ukrainian refugees. And the world is forgetting about Afghanistan."

The Afghan sports pioneer feels abandoned by the major sports organizations. Rezayee believes the path of "quiet diplomacy" with the Taliban that federations like the IOC are promoting is wrong.

"If they legitimize it, the Taliban will win. That will set a historical precedent: Evil wins. But we want the principles of sport, education and human rights to win over the men with the guns."

Not enough pressure

After the Taliban took power eight months ago, only the ICC, the world cricket governing body, had threatened to expel Afghanistan because of its stance on women's sports. But eventually, even the ICC eased its position.

Now the federation is apparently playing for time: It will "continue to support the Afghan men's team to play international cricket while monitoring the direction of the sport in the country, including the development of the women's game," it said after a board meeting in Dubai in early April.

Amira (name changed) hid from the Taliban in a cemetery

Rezayee cannot understand the reluctance of sports federations to act. "Now is the perfect time to exert pressure: without girls' education and without women's sports, there is no legitimacy," the exiled Afghan with a Canadian passport demands. International pressure could also make a difference with Afghanistan's radical rulers, she adds.

"Because as much as the Taliban are married to their ideology, they are very sensitive to what people think about them. They are very brutal, they are evil. But they are also not stupid. They are aware that the world is watching them, especially people on social media."

The last light bulb

Giving up is out of the question for Rezayee, even though she often receives threats from her home country. "I'm used to that," she rebuffs. She continues to fight because she feels committed to her fellow countrywomen who play sports.

"Whenever they call me or send me a message from Afghanistan, they cry and are inconsolable. Their courage to live is dying," Rezayee says.

"When an athlete loses her motivation, it's like you take away a mother's child. The work that we are doing, and that I am also asking the international community to do, is not only to save the lives of female athletes in Afghanistan, but also to keep their hope alive. Hope is the last light bulb left burning. We must not let this light go out."

This article has been translated from German.

Guinea-Bissau: Crackdown on press freedom

Dozens of radio stations have been shut down and broadcasters have been attacked. Journalists fear that freedom of information in the West African nation is on a slippery slope. Is Guinea-Bissau's media freedom eroding?

Many Bissau-Guineans rely on radio broadcasts for news and information

Guinea-Bissau's government closed 79 radio stations nationwide in April after the expiry of a last-minute 72-hour deadline to pay license fees. They fell silent. No information, no news — just dead air.

Only 9 out of 88 registered radio stations appeared at the Communications Ministry to renew their licenses. 

Others have since paid their fees, however their broadcasts are still suspended while they wait for the ministry to ensure their equipment is still operating within the the terms of their licenses. 

Muzzling broadcasters

Those that continue to broadcast without a valid license could face up to three years in prison.

Guinea-Bissau's journalists are in despair: The black hole for information in the West African country is getting bigger.

Journalists fear it's a deliberate move by the government to suppress their voices. 

Augusto Mario da Silva, president of the Guinean League for Human Rights (LGDH), accused the government of making the "final push" to eliminate the democratic rule of law and interfere in the editorial work of the media.  In his view, "there is no protection of the public interest underlying the decision to forcibly close radio stations." 

Augusto Mario da Silva: Gov't making 'final push' to eliminate the rule of law

Hindering freedoms

The government is aiming to establish "a dictatorial regime bent on confiscating all the fundamental rights and freedoms won in this unrelenting struggle for democracy in the country," da Silva said.

Da Silva called for the immediate withdrawal of the decision, "which aims only to cut down on democratic pluralism and hinder the exercise of the fundamental freedoms of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution."

The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC) also condemned the closure of the radio stations as "drastic and illegal."

The party called on the country's civil society to provide "technical, legal or other support for the restoration and operation of all radio stations and all media" in order to "preserve and consolidate political and civil freedoms" and the right to information and opinion.

Guinea-Bissau legal expert Cabi Sanha said the government is acting "in a vacuum." While there is legislation, it is based on broadcasting laws planned by many previous governments but never passed, Sanha told DW in an interview.

It is "hard to understand how the government decided in the blink of an eye to close radio stations. This is really worrying," he added.

Radio Jovem in Bissau is one of the stations closed by the government

'Drastic, absurd, illegal'

Freedom of information in Guinea-Bissau is hanging by a thread, Diamantino Domingos Lopes, general secretary of the Union of Journalists and Media Technicians (SINJOTECS), said in a DW interview. He called the situation "absurd."

"The closing of the radio stations means that we have suffered another defeat in the fight for press freedom, after several armed attacks on stations critical of the government in the past," he told DW.

The trade unionist stressed that radio stations are already facing several technical and financial difficulties and are unable to pay their employees' salaries. Radio stations have to pay about €400 ($427) annually. The decision has no legal basis, Lopes said. He suspects the government has other intentions. "Maybe they want to withhold information from society. When there is no information, there is disinformation, and the consequences are very devastating."

What is Umaro Sissoco Embalo's plan for Guinea-Bissau's press freedom?

Political crises on all ends

Guinea-Bissau has been plagued by political instability since its independence in 1975, resulting in a lack of development and severe poverty, ongoing violence and intimidation of political opponents.

According to the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, corruption in Guinea-Bissau is one of the most serious in the world, ranking 162nd out of 180. The former Portuguese colony has experienced over a dozen coups or attempted coups since 1980, with the most recent successful coup in spring 2012. It brought endless domestic and foreign political problems to Guinea-Bissau.

Troops from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have arrived in Guinea-Bissau to stabilize the fragile country after February's failed coup, according to reports by Portuguese news agency Lusa.

The West African nation's political gridlock has weakened the media and journalists, leaving them vulnerable to political pressure and leaving the door open to increasing government interference in state media, Reporters Without Borders said.

The right of access to information is not guaranteed, and journalists self-censor, they said. Some journalists have fled abroad to escape attacks, threats, and intimidation.

Attacks on media and critics

The magnitude of pressure on journalists is illustrated by an example from February 2022 when armed supporters of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo occupied the headquarters of the state radio and television station, Radio Capital, destroying offices and injuring five employees. They accused its journalists of "bias" in favor of Embalo's rivals. A few months later, gunmen attacked another government-critical radio station and destroyed its broadcast facility. 

Besides material damage, the attack on Radio Capital left five people wounded

Political analyst Rui Landim — a well-known critic of the government and host of a program on Radio Capital — was attacked at night by armed and masked men in his home. The government condemned the attacks and promised to investigate. But Rui Landim claims his attackers were wearing the uniform of the police Rapid Reaction Force — and suspects the government and the president to be behind the attack.

Silencing journalists

Media unionist Diamantino Domingos Lopes strongly criticized the behavior of Guinea-Bissau's government. Media play a big role in solving problems, he said, and silencing journalists only benefits those who want to sweep criticism under the rug.

Political analyst Rui Landim says he fears for his life

"For the government, perhaps the best strategy would be to silence them," Lopes said. But Guinea-Bissau, which gained independence from Portugal in 1974 after a decadelong war of independence, won its freedom, and with it freedom of the press and freedom of expression, with a lot of sweat, he says. "And to take that freedom away from this country would be worse than the colonialists acting."

He and other journalists now hope that the government will be willing to compromise to guarantee the survival of radio stations, and thus press freedom in Guinea-Bissau. 

Iancuba Danso, Ines Cardoso and Cristina Krippahl contributed to this article.

Edited by: Keith Walker 

COVID digest: WHO decries worldwide drop in coronavirus testing

The WHO chief has urged countries to ramp up testing to accurately reflect global transmission trends. Meanwhile, Mexico said it is transitioning from pandemic to endemic. DW has the latest.

'When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss,' the WHO chief said

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said a dramatic drop in testing is cause for serious concern as health authorities and the public become less aware of patterns of COVID transmission. 

"As many countries reduce testing, WHO is receiving less and less information about transmission and sequencing," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus told a press conference in Geneva.

"This makes us increasingly blind to patterns of transmission and evolution," he added.

"When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss ... This virus won't go away just because countries stop looking for it," Tedros said. 

WHO said it was notified of just over 15,000 deaths last week, the lowest weekly total since March 2020.

WHO added that while it welcomed the trend, it was concerned that reduced testing was not accurately reflecting the presence of coronavirus. 

Bill Rodriguez, chief executive of FIND, a global alliance for diagnostics, said many governments have simply stopped looking for the virus, and that testing rates have plummeted by 70% to 90% worldwide.

"We have an unprecedented ability to know what is happening," Rodriguez said. "And yet today because testing has been the first casualty of a global decision to let down our guard, we're becoming blind to what is happening with this virus," he added. 

Here are the latest major coronavirus developments from around the world:

Americas

German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and US partner Pfizer filed an application Tuesday with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an emergency approval of a booster vaccine for children aged between five and 11.

They are also expected to submit applications for approval for their COVID vaccine to other global regulatory agencies like the European Medicines Agency.

US Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, but is not showing any symptoms so far, a spokesperson said. 

Harris has not been in contact with the either President Joe Biden or First Lady Jill Biden due to differing schedules, Harris's press secretary said. Harris has also taken Paxlovid, Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral pill. 

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced it was taking steps to expand the availability of Paxlovid so doctors could prescribe the pill to those who needed it without worrying about falling short of supplies. 

Even though cases have been falling overall, infections have risen in some parts of the US because of the spread of sub variant of the omicron strain, called BA.2.

Mexico said Tuesday it was considering coronavirus as an endemic, rather than a pandemic, because COVID rates were falling and its impact has more manageable. Death rates have also fallen sharply.

"It is now retreating almost completely," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, referring to the virus. But that may be because Mexico, which was never particularly big on testing, is screening fewer people now. Mexico has recorded nearly 325,000 confirmed deaths from the virus, but experts say the actual death toll is higher.

Opinion: Turkey's judiciary does government's bidding in Osman Kavala trial

Turkish activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala has been sentenced to life behind bars. Though harsh, this verdict is unsurprising. Turkey's judiciary, after all, does the government's bidding, says DW's Erkan Arikan.

Kavala supporters hold placards reading 'The Gezi resistance continues'

It's one of those days where I'm left wondering which standards are applied by Turkish courts. While activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala has been acquitted of espionage in connection with the 2016 coup attempt, he has now been sentenced to life in relation to the 2013 Gezi park protests. The court found him guilty of trying to overthrow the government. This ruling is laughable, and as ridiculous as, say, jailing Micky Maus at Guantanamo on terrorism charges.

Erkan Arikan heads DW's Turkish service

The ruling leaves me speechless and disappointed. Numerous backers of Kavala, who had come to show their support in court felt similarly, and were moved to tears. Following the announcement of the verdict, supporters began chanting "Taksim is everywhere, resistance is everywhere" in allusion to the Gezi park protests on Taksim square.

No fair trial

Lawyers and legal experts, including Kaval's attorneys, have highlighted that no evidence was presented during the entire trial to substantiate the accusations against Kavala. The European Court of Human Rights similarly criticized a lack of evidence. Numerous urgent calls were therefore issued for Kavala's release.  

Over the years, his attorneys meticulously prepared their defense of Kavala for every single day in court. I spent much time talking to one of his lawyers, Ilkan Koyuncu. He is convinced Kavala never had a fair chance. He was certainKavala was going to be convicted.

And so, when Kavala received the judges' ruling via videocall, after 1,637 days locked up at Silivri maximum-security prison near Istanbul, it did not come as surprise. Upon hearing the verdict, Kavala replied: "This is an assassination, made possible by the judiciary."

Erdogan affronts West, again

It is apparent that Turkey wishes to make an example ofOsman Kavala. President Erdogan wants to show the world that anyone who challenges him will lose. Kavala, in short, could never expect a fair trial. Indeed, opposition lawmaker Ahmet Sik has dismissed the judges in question as robed mafiosi. And he is right.

Kavala's sentencing is an affront against Justitia, the goddess of justice. Turkish judges have been stripped of their balance scales and blindfolds.

This article has been translated from German.

NO RIGHT TO HABEUS CORPUS
Relief and alarm as El Salvador rounds up 'gangsters'





Salvadoran police and military rounded up more than 18,000 alleged gang members in just a month (AFP/-)


Carlos Mario MARQUEZ
Tue, April 26, 2022, 

An unprecedented round up of alleged gangsters in El Salvador has netted thousands of suspects and brought relief to citizens living in constant fear.

But the clampdown has drawn complaints of rights abuses, and experts say mass arrests are but a stop-gap as long as so many Salvadorans have no feasible exit from a life of penury.

With a poverty rate of 30.7 percent and sky-high unemployment that pushes ever more people to emigrate, a career as a gangster is one of few options available to those who remain.

The most prominent gangs, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, count some 70,000 members in the country of 6.5 million people. Almost half are thought to be behind bars.


They eke out a living by extorting protection money from anyone who wishes to avoid harm and from drug dealing that brings them into regular conflict with one another.

In a particularly bloody weekend in March, 87 ordinary civilians died at the hands of gangs in 72 hours of violence around the country.

That bloodbath prompted President Nayib Bukele to announce a state of emergency that has allowed the police and military to round up more than 18,000 alleged gang members in just a month.

- 'Trade is flowing' -

In the short term, removing criminals from the streets has allowed residents and entrepreneurs to breathe a sigh of relief. At least temporarily.

"On some of my routes, the criminals are no longer collecting protection money," bus company operator Juan Pablo Alvarez told AFP.

The gangs have extracted a heavy toll from him over the years, he said.

"I have had to bury my brother, more than 10 colleagues and 25 employees, mainly drivers," he added.

In the city center of San Salvador, where even vegetable sellers fall victim to racketeers, vendor Felipe told AFP he, too, was enjoying a reprieve from being shaken down.

"We are not paying anything, the guys (gangsters) have not been seen, they have practically disappeared and the trade is flowing," said Felipe, who preferred to withhold his last name for fear of reprisal.

Clients "have stopped being afraid of coming to the (city) center."

Eduardo Cader, president of the Salvadoran Industry Association, said delivery trucks were, for the first time in a long time, able to enter certain areas where they previously had to pay bribes.

According to a recent CID Gallup poll, an overwhelming majority of Salvadorans support Bukele's anti-gang operation.

And on Sunday, lawmakers extended the state of emergency for another month.

But not everyone is on board.

- 'Criminal populism' -

Emergency powers have done away with the need for arrest warrants, and sentences for gang membership have been raised five-fold to up to 45 years.

Rights observers say innocent people are getting caught in the dragnet and journalists have raised censorship fears over jail terms of up to 15 years for "sharing" gang-related messages in the media.

Rather than ordinary courts, suspected gangsters are brought before judges whose identities are hidden, ostensibly to protect them.

But sitting judge Juan Antonio Duran told AFP these were measures of "criminal populism."

He pointed out that trial by an anonymous judge, without witnesses or even the defendant present -- as has happened -- "is prohibited by the constitution."

On Monday, Amnesty International said Bukele's state of emergency "has created a perfect storm of human rights violations."

And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reminded Bukele last week that "we can tackle violence and crime while also protecting civil rights and fundamental freedoms."

Veronica Aguirre, 26, claimed her husband was arrested groundlessly, telling AFP that under the state of emergency, "we cannot provide proof" of innocence.

Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado has insisted "honest people have nothing to fear."

But Jose Maria Tojeira, former director of the Central American University's Human Rights Institute, said El Salvador had "a strong tendency for generalized punishments which... are a source of violations of the law."

Bukele, 40, has likened El Salvador's gangs to "a metastasized cancer" and vowed there are only two paths for members: "prison or death."

For Jose Miguel Cruz, a researcher at the Florida International University, the only long-term solution was disarming and rehabilitating former gangsters and productively reintegrating them into society.

What El Salvador needed, he said, was a plan to "modify the conditions that make a good sector of the population resort to a life of crime to survive."

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