Kosovo's indicted president withdraws from White House talks

© Provided by The Canadian Press

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo's president pulled out of a White House meeting with Serbian officials set for Saturday following his indictment on crimes against humanity and war crimes charges.

U.S. presidential envoy Richard Grenell, who invited Kosovar and Serbian officials to meet in Washington to jump start their stalled peace talks, tweeted that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci decided to postpone his trip to Washington.

Grenell wrote: "I respect his decision not to attend the discussions until the legal issues of those allegations are settle.”

The discussions will proceed and be led by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, the U.S. envoy said. Grenell said.

Thaci and nine other former separatist fighters were indicted on a range of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges by a court investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs, Albanians and Roma during and after Kosovo’s 1998-99 independence war with Serbia.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers said the indictment accuses them of being “criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” of political opponents and Kosovar Albanian, Serb and Roma victims.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Kosovo’s president and nine other former separatist fighters were indicted on a range of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges, including murder, by a court investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs, Albanians and Roma during and after Kosovo’s 1998-99 independence war with Serbia.

A statement from a prosecutor of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers issued Wednesday said President Hashim Thaci and the others suspects “are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” of political opponents and Kosovar Albanian, Serb and Roma victims.

Other charges include enforced disappearance, persecution, and torture. Thaci commanded fighters in the Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, during the war.

The president's advisers did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. Before the indictment, Thaci planned to attend a White House meeting with Serbia’s leaders on Saturday aimed at securing a peace agreement between Serbia and Kosovo.

He already has left Kosovo, but it wasn't clear what the charges may mean for his trip to Washington.

Thaci, 52, was elected president in February 2016 and his term ends next year. He previously served as prime minister, deputy prime minister and foreign minister.

The indicted individuals also include Kadri Veseli, former parliament speaker and leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo. Thaci resigned as the party's leader when he became president, leaving the post to Veseli.

The indictment issued Wednesday was the first by the special tribunal based in The Hague. The court has been operating since 2015 and has questioned hundreds of witnesses. Kosovo’s prime minister resigned last year before he was questioned. Veseli also has been questioned, but not Thaci.

The indictment is being reviewed by a pretrial judge who will decide whether to confirm the charges, according to the statement.

The prosecutor filed the indictment following a lengthy investigation and it reflects his “determination that it can prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt," the statement said.

The prosecutor also accused Thaci and Veseli of repeated efforts “to obstruct and undermine the work" of the tribunal.

“Thaci and Veseli are believed to have carried out a secret campaign to overturn the law creating the Court and otherwise obstruct the work of the Court in an attempt to ensure that they do not face justice,” the statement said.

“By taking these actions, Mr. Thaci and Mr. Veseli have put their personal interests ahead of the victims of their crimes, the rule of law, and all people of Kosovo,” it added.

Kosovo politicians resisted and resented the scrutiny of the war crimes court, repeatedly noting that Serb troops committed massacres and other atrocities during the war that went unpunished.

The 1998-1999 war left more than 10,000 dead and 1,641 are still unaccounted for. It ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign.

Kosovo is a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, a move Serbia does not recognize. Tensions between the two countries remain high. European Union-facilitated negotiations to normalize their relations started in March 2011 and has produced some 30 agreements, most of which were not observed.

The White House meeting was set to be the first talks between the two sides in 19 months.

——-
Semini reported from Tirana, Albania. Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade.
Zenel Zhinipotoku And Llazar Semini, The Associated Press

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=KOSOVO

Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Thesis on The Kosovo Crisis and the Crisis of Global Capitalism
(originally written May 1999, Bill Clinton set the stage for George W. to invade Afghanistan and Iraq for humanitarian purposes.)
http://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/01/war-whats-it-good-for-profit.html

EDITORIAL CARTOON, THE TORONTO STAR

Theo Moudakis: The pushover 

https://tinyurl.com/ycglrtym

Tue., June 23, 2020

FLOODS AND FIRES PLAGUE FORT MAC
Fort McMurray looking to revamp flood mitigation plans

Jamie Malbeuf

Less than two months after a massive flood damaged hundreds of buildings in Fort McMurray, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is re-examining its current flood mitigation plan and introducing a host of possible options to prepare the community for future floods.


At a council meeting on Tuesday night, Wood Buffalo deputy CAO Matthew Hough introduced several possible new measures including full or partial land buyouts, controlling or limiting development in the flood plain, continuing with current efforts or land swaps with the municipality.

Hough said the new flood mitigation plan could be any combination of these options.

"As our flood mitigation plan is currently designed, we cannot guarantee safety," said Hough.

"The reality is, unless we remove development entirely, there will always be risk."

The aim of the new plan is to protect the Taiga Nova Industrial Park, lthe lower townsite area, Waterways, Draper and Ptarmigan Trailer Park.

But Hough emphasized that he is not looking to implement a single solution for all of the neighbourhoods. Rather, each area will be looked at separately to see what works best for each individually.

"We recognize every community is different. We're analyzing each individually taking cost, risk and community support into consideration."

Hough is asking residents to fill out a survey on the municipality's website to find out what level of risk residents are comfortable with.

But he doesn't just want to hear from residents in the affected neighbourhoods — Hough said this is an issue for the entire community and all Fort McMurray residents are encouraged to fill out the survey.

"The 2020 flood is a catalyst for us to revisit how we enhance our community resilience by reducing our vulnerability to flooding," said Hough.

He said it's important to take steps to mitigate the risk, because although the provincial and federal governments have assisted with disaster recovery thus far, that could change.

© Axel Tardieu/CBC/Radio-Canada Fort McMurrary flooding evacuees line up in April to register at the Casman Centre for accommodations or immediate support.

"As the cost associated with recovery continues to increase, as more natural disasters occur, the appetite from senior levels of government may diminish, and the burden will fall onto local governments and taxpayers in the region," said Hough.

Hough said the current berm system is scheduled to be completely finished in 2022 and the construction plans will remain the same.

Some residents in Waterways were looking to the municipality for a buyout after the recent flooding. Residents have said the flood plain has made their property value plummet and they don't feel the infrastructure is in place to keep them safe.
'We will flood again'

At Tuesday's meeting Coun. Jeff Peddle stressed the importance of finding solutions quickly.

"My… biggest concern is making sure we are ready again, because we will flood again 100 per cent."

Peddle said he wants to ensure "at the municipal level we're doing everything we can to protect the residents and businesses."

Coun. Phil Meagher said he wants to see photo and video reminders of the flood every year so it isn't forgotten.

"We constantly need to be reminded, because the further we get from this flood… we'll forget about it and there'll be shortcuts taken to the mitigation plan," said Meagher. "It's [flooding] always going to be part of Fort McMurray."

He said he'd also like to study options for breaking up the ice in case there is another jam.

Hough will be presenting different options and survey results to council on July 14.

Pasqua First Nation wading through water quality studies to determine toxicity levels

Evan Radford, Regina Leader-Post

© Bryan Schlosser A late night summer lightning storm rolls across the sky on Pasqua Lake in the Qu'Appelle valley north east of Regina August 7, 2014.

A recent University of Regina report about south Saskatchewan’s toxicity levels in its lakes is prompting the chief of the Pasqua First Nation to review his community’s water quality.

Depending what he finds, Todd Peigan says he’ll ask the provincial government to improve the water quality of the First Nation’s adjacent Pasqua Lake.

“It confirms what we’ve been telling the (Water Security Agency) on the state of the Qu’Appelle water,” Peigan said of the 11-year, six-lake study that covered 52,000 square kilometres in the Qu’Appelle River drainage basin.

Designed by the U of R’s Peter Leavitt and conducted by three other water researchers, the study concludes global warming, pollution from urban waste and farmers’ spring run-off are all causing larger algae blooms to produce more microcystin in six lakes: Buffalo Pound, Last Mountain, Pasqua, Katepwa, Crooked and Wascana.

Chief Todd Peigan speaks about recent developments in the Qu’appelle Valley land claim dispute in this Leader-Post file photo.
Microcystin is a chemical that can destroy an organism’s liver and cause cancer, Leavitt said; he told the Regina Leader-Post it’s more toxic than a “dose of cyanide” in a human’s system.

The Pasqua First Nation, which has 2,471 registered members, sits about 65 kilometres northeast of Regina. It borders Pasqua Lake on the lake’s south side, as does the Muscowpetung Saulteux Nation.

Peigan said Pasqua draws its drinking water from the Hatfield Valley Aquifer, underneath the community’s land. He said he and the First Nation’s council can’t conclude anything yet, but the U of R study makes it incumbent to find out if the lake’s toxic microcystin is impacting the underground aquifer.

Studying such impacts “would be some of the next steps we would have to look at, because those studies take financial resources and we would have to seek those (finances),” Peigan said.

For now, he’s in the “review stage,” comparing Leavitt and team’s results with those of a 2013-16 water quality study conducted by Pasqua First Nation, Muscowpetung First Nation and the Water Security Agency (WSA).

Peigan called it a “baseline study.” He wants to determine if the U of R study calls for lower toxin levels in Pasqua Lake than what the WSA-study did.

Called the Qu’Appelle Mass Balance Report , part of the WSA-study examined “phosphorus and nitrogen loads entering Pasqua Lake.” It concluded phosphorus and nitrogen contribute in part to the growth of algae blooms in the Qu’Appelle River watershed.

For example, the report found before Regina upgraded its wastewater treatment facility in 2017, the city contributed “9.3 per cent of the phosphorus and 52 per cent of the nitrogen load entering Pasqua Lake.” The report estimates those values have dropped to six per cent and 15 percent, respectively, after the upgrade.

The U of R researchers say in their report, too, phosphorus and nitrogen promote the growth of algae. But they conclude, “contrary to our hypothesis, temperature but not nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) had a positive effect on microcystin concentration beyond the seasonal pattern,” attributing temperature changes to global warming.

Peter Leavitt, University of Regina professor, paddles on Pasqua Lake. Photo by Geremy Lague, Faculty of Science, University of Regina.
The U of R team also concluded an increased probability that “microcystin concentration exceeded (World Health Organization) and (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) drinking and recreational water limits” in four of the six lakes.

A graph mapping the team’s data shows that to be true for Pasqua Lake.

Depending on what he finds, Peigan said the WSA “has to do proper maintenance in regards to bringing the water quality back to the minimum of the baseline study.”

In such a scenario, “Our concerns would be identified to the provincial government through the WSA. And we would see what action plan, what best practices, they are going to incorporate to improve the water quality,” he said.

The WSA said it’s aware of the U or R team’s study, but it hasn’t yet reviewed it. The agency intends to do so, saying it’s “looking forward to working with all stakeholders in the Qu’Appelle region to improve water quality as we move forward.”

Related
U of R study says south Sask. water toxicity rising due to algae, global warming, farm run-off

Water's role in climate change, resource extraction examined

Massive water linkage an idea whose time has come: Goodale

*Evan Radford is the Leader-Post’s reporter under the Local Journalism Initiative.

RCMP’s top cop says defunding police is ‘more about funding all social services’
By Charlie Pinkerton. Published on Jun 23, 2020 10:07pm

R.C.M.P. commissioner Brenda Lucki speaks with reporters at a press conference from West Block about the recent shooting in Portapique, N.S. on Apr. 20, 2020. Andrew Meade/iPolitics

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says she agrees with calls from activists to better fund needed mental health supports, but argued that stripping resources from frontline police officers is not a solution.

While several high-profile police killings of racialized people in mental distress in Canada have prompted calls for defunding police services, in favour of specialized supports for vulnerable populations, Lucki stressed that police officers are still required as first responders in these instances.

“I have said at three o’clock in the morning when somebody’s wielding a knife, and they’re suffering from a mental health crisis, that is not the time to bring in mental health practitioners,” Lucki said when posed the idea by Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree, during an appearance Tuesday before the House public safety committee.

“It’s time for the RCMP to go in, get that person calm, get them to a place of safety and get them the help they need.”

READ MORE: RCMP union boss says cops are on board with body cameras plan

Lucki was testifying for the committee’s study of systemic racism in policing in Canada. She said more money needs to be given to have more readily available mental health supports in emergencies.

“So it’s not about defunding, it’s about funding everything that goes along and I think we can work better with our mental health practitioners,” Lucki said.

CBC News published a video earlier on Tuesday, part of a civil lawsuit being argued before the B.C. Supreme Court, that showed an RCMP officer in Kelowna dragging and stepping on a girl who had been restrained during a wellness check. Mona Wang, who CBC says was a student of the University of British Columbia’s nursing program, sued RCMP Cpl. Lacy Browning for physical and emotional abuse. The officer says she only used necessary force when Wang became violent.

The revelation of the Wang incident piles onto a disturbing trend in Canada, in which police across the country have been challenged for mishandling delicate scenarios, often-times by using unnecessary force towards people who aren’t white.

Ejaz Choudry, a 62-year-old man from Pakistan whose family say suffered from schizophrenia, was shot and killed by police in Mississauga over the weekend during a wellness check by police.

In May, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old Black woman, fell to her death from a balcony in Toronto, after police had arrived to help her.

The provincial Special Investigations Unit is looking into both Korchinski-Paquet’s and Choudry’s deaths. 

Activists PEOPLE angry over allegations of police involvement in the death of 29-year-old Regis Korchinski-Paquet, who fell from the 24th-floor balcony of a High Park apartment building in May, hold a protest and march to Toronto Police Headquarters. Steve Russell/Toronto Star
Two Indigenous people, Rodney Levi and Chantel Moore, have also been killed by police in New Brunswick this month. Levi was shot by an RCMP officer, while Moore was killed by an officer with the Edmundston Police Department. Both of their deaths are being looked into by investigatory bodies outside of the police forces.

The dashcam footage of the violent arrest of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam was also acquired and published by CBC News this month. Adam, who repeatedly swears at RCMP officers and accuses them of harassing him, is tackled, punched and choked by police in the video.

The incidents in Canada follow a number of incidents of law enforcement violence in the U.S., including the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which have been seen as cause for weeks of anti-racism and anti-police violence protests that have continued south of the border. Likewise rallies have taken place in Canada, albeit less frequent than the everyday gatherings seen in the U.S.

READ MORE: NDP MP Green sponsors petition calling for nationwide ban on use of tear gas

In what’s seen as a response to calls for action, the federal police agency has promised to start a process of outfitting officers with body-worn cameras.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has described that plan as “one measure amongst many” that the government will pursue to push back against systemic racism that he and others in his government say exist within Canada’s institutions.

Systemic racism in the RCMP

During a series of media interviews almost two weeks ago Lucki denied the existence of systemic racism within the RCMP. She rolled back those comments the next day, saying that “I do know that systemic racism is part of every institution, the RCMP included.”

The topic was again brought up at Tuesday’s committee meeting, when Liberal MP Greg Fergus asked Lucki to provide a definition of systemic racism, in the context of how it exists in the RCMP.

Lucki stumbled through an answer, giving an example of a physical test that officers are subjected to.

“We have a physical abilities, a requirement evaluation, it’s an obstacle course. In there, there’s six foot mat, that you have to do a broad jump and when we put the lens on it and reviewed that physical requirements test, evidence told us that the average person can broad jump their height. So, of course, how many six foot people do we hire? And there are people in all different cultures that may not be six feet, including, there’s not a lot of women that are six feet tall,” Lucki said, before she was cut off by Fergus.

“That’s systemic discrimination,” Fergus said, “But I’m trying to think of systemic racism.”

Lucki then asked Gail Johnson, the chief human resources officer of the RCMP, who appeared by video on Tuesday to instead answer the question.

Earlier in her committee appearance, during a portion in which she read from prepared remarks, Lucki defended the police force at large, saying that she believed many officers have been misaligned because of the events of the last few weeks.

“I have listened to RCMP employees and their families who are demoralized by the anti-police narrative that is painting everyone unfairly with the same brush. But acknowledging that systemic racism is present in the force does not equate to employees being racist,” Lucki said.

Lucki went on to talk about how she means for her acknowledgement of systemic racism existing in the RCMP to be interpreted.

“It is about how an organization creates and maintains racial inequality, often caused by sometimes subtle and unintentional biases and police policies, practices and process that either privilege or disadvantage different groups of people,” the commissioner said.

RCMP officers close the road off near the scene of one of the victims of a shooting spree in Nova Scotia. Steve McKinley/Toronto Star

She also said the RCMP is determined to “seek out and eliminate all forms of racism and discrimination” that exist within it.

READ MORE: RCMP plan to buy more armoured vehicles amid new scrutiny over policing tactics

Lucki also said the force needs to “double down” on its diversity hiring efforts, revisiting its relocation requirements for officers and looking to ensure greater place-based recruitment, “so that officers remain in the communities that ties and roots are already established.”

Lucki also said she’s committed to working with the federal privacy commissioner to collect race-based policing data, which advocates have called for to get a better sense of how often police use force against visible minorities compared to white people.

RCMP union says cops are on board with body cameras plan

By Charlie Pinkerton. Published on Jun 19, 2020

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) member stationed on Dec. 12, 2018 in Calgary. (Christina Ryan/Calgary StarMetro)

RCMP officers won’t get in the way of a new plan by the national police agency to outfit cops with body cameras, the head of the officers’ union says, as long as careful discussion is had about the privacy concerns that come in tow with collecting the videos.

“(We’re) fully on board, fully aware that things need to change,” Brian Sauvé, the president of the National Police Federation (NPF), told iPolitics in a phone call on Thursday.

READ MORE: Trudeau says police body cameras are ‘what we need to move forward with’

Sauvé said he spoke with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki about the proposal last week, which was also when she shared publicly her plan to more forward with equipping police with body-worn cameras.

“The commissioner has confirmed that the RCMP will engage in work and discussion with policing partners and the NPF on a broader rollout of body-worn cameras,” Dan Brien, a spokesperson for Lucki, said in a statement on June 8.

Sauvé said he expects the NPF and RCMP to work through issues about when cameras would be required to be activated. One approach for police in other jurisdictions has been to only turn their cameras on when they’re on a call.

“There’s a discussion around, and from our perspective is, do members have them on all the time? Are they allowed to turn them off if they get a phone call from their wife? When they use the washroom or when they’re having lunch – those personal time periods? Do we tie it into lights-and-sirens calls or do we leave it to the discretion of the member to turn on or off?” said Sauvé.

He also raised concerns about how evidence collected showing minors could be shown in court.

“It’s not that we’re against it – it’s just all of these things have never been done before, so it’s a matter of getting it right, respecting the privacy of Canadians, but also respecting the privacy of the members,” Sauvé added.

Some of Sauvé’s concerns about body cameras echo similar points in a report the federal Privacy Commissioner published in 2015 offering guidance for law enforcement that were thinking about implementing the policy.

READ MORE: NDP MP Green sponsors petition calling for nationwide ban on use of tear gas

That report concluded that “the recording of individuals through the use of BWCs (body-worn cameras) raises a significant risk to individual privacy, and LEAs (law enforcement authorities) must be committed to only deploying BWCs to the degree and in a manner that respects and protects the general public’s and employees’ right to personal privacy.”

Sauvé noted that the RCMP and NPF have discussed a committee to establish how body cameras would be rolled out, but that the union hasn’t decided who it would like represented in the group yet.

Earlier in the same day that Lucki announced the RCMP would move forward intending to implement a body cameras in the force, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said they had spoken about it and agreed there was a need for the policy. Trudeau promised to raise the idea to the provinces later in the week. 

 

RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki speaks with reporters at a press conference on April 20 from West Block about the shooting in Portapique, N.S. Andrew Meade/iPolitics

READ MORE: Toronto police, city bylaw, not collecting data on race when enforcing COVID rules

Equipping federal officers with body cameras was the first policy pushed forward by the federal government in response to weeks of protests in the U.S. and later for days in Canada following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.

The government has been pressured by protestors across the country to undertake solution-seeking action against racism and police violence. Calls escalated after Trudeau joined a Parliament Hill protest on June 5, where he knelt with anti-Black racism protestors in a show of solidarity.

The statement from the RCMP days later said “the commissioner agrees it is critically important for Canadians to feel protected by the police.”

“(Lucki) is committed to take whatever steps are required to enhance trust between the RCMP and the communities we serve,” Brien said.

Pierre Paul-Hus, the Conservatives’ critic on public safety issues, said he supports the move to have police wearing body cameras, but would prefer to have the cost of equipping RCMP officers with cameras examined before the policy is rolled out.

The NPF is in the early goings of working toward a collective agreement with the Treasury Board (which is responsible for all of the core federal government’s collective bargaining and negotiations) to negotiate things like pay, employee benefits and resources.

(Sauvé said collective bargaining is in the early stages, while Treasury Board spokesperson said negotiations are expected to begin “soon.”)

READ MORE: What the RCMP’s new civilian advisory group will do at a moment of reckoning for police misconduct

The NPF was certified last July after a several-year fight. It represents around 20,000 RCMP officers, which by themselves are 30 per cent of police officers across all forces in

THIS IS A POLICE UNION I CAN SUPPORT AS DO MOST LEFT WING CANADIANS WE CALLED FOR IT TO CHANGE THE RCMP FROM BEING A MILITARY FORCE TO A CIVILIAN FORCE

IMF slashes forecast for the global economy, warns of soaring debt levels and unemployment

Silvia Amaro, CNBC

© Provided by NBC News

The International Monetary Fund slashed its economic forecasts once again on Wednesday and warned that public finances will deteriorate significantly as governments attempt to combat the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

The IMF now estimates a contraction of 4.9 percent in global GDP (gross domestic product) in 2020, lower than the 3 percent drop it predicted back in April.


“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a more negative impact on activity in the first half of 2020 than anticipated, and the recovery is projected to be more gradual than previously forecast,” the IMF said Wednesday in its World Economy Outlook update.

The Fund also downgraded its GDP forecast for 2021. It now expects a growth rate of 5.4 percent from the 5.8 percent forecast made in April (the positive reading reflects that economic activity will be coming from a lower base following 2020's heavy contraction).

The Washington-based institution explained the downward revisions were due to social-distancing measures likely remaining in place during the second half of the year, with productivity and supply chains being hit. And in those nations still grappling with high infection rates, the Fund expects that longer lockdowns will dent economic activity even more.

“Women are bearing a larger brunt of the impact in some countries,” the IMF said.The IMF cautioned that the forecasts are surrounded with unprecedented uncertainty and economic activity will depend on factors such as the length of the pandemic, voluntary social distancing, changes to global supply chains, new labor market dynamics.

“The steep decline in activity comes with a catastrophic hit to the global labor market,” the IMF said Wednesday, indicating that the global decline in work hours in the second quarter of the year is likely to be equivalent to a loss of more than 300 million full-time jobs.

“The hit to the labor market has been particularly acute for low-skilled workers who do not have the option of working from home. Income losses also appear to have been uneven across genders, with women among lower-income groups bearing a larger brunt of the impact in some countries,” the IMF said.

Looking at country forecasts, the United States is expected to contract by 8 percent this year. The Fund had estimated a contraction of 5.9 percent, in April.

Similarly, the Fund also downgraded its forecasts for the euro zone, with the economy now seen shrinking by 10.2 percent in 2020.

In order to mitigate some of the economic impact from the pandemic, governments across the world have announced massive fiscal packages and new borrowing. As a result, public finances are seen deteriorating significantly as a result.

“The steep contraction in economic activity and fiscal revenues, along with the sizable fiscal support, has further stretched public finances, with global public debt projected to reach more than 100 percent of GDP this year,” the Fund said.

Under the IMF’s base case, global public debt will reach an all-time high in 2020 and 2021 at 101.5 percent of GDP and 103.2 percent of GDP, respectively. In addition, the average overall fiscal deficit is set to soar to 13.9 percent of GDP this year, 10 percentage points higher than in 2019.

There have been more than 9 million confirmed infections worldwide from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States, Brazil and Russia are currently the nations with the highest number of cases globally.

Exclusive: Women, babies at risk as COVID-19 disrupts health services, World Bank warns

By Kate Kelland

© Reuters/Amit Dave FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ahmedabad
By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Millions of women and children in poor countries are at risk because the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting health services they rely on, from neonatal and maternity care to immunisations and contraception, a World Bank global health expert has warned. 

 

© Reuters/Luisa Gonzalez FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bogota

Monique Vledder, head of secretariat at the bank's Global Financing Facility (GFF), told Reuters in an interview the agency was gravely worried about the numbers of children missing vaccinations, women giving birth without medical help and interrupted supplies of life-saving medicines like antibiotics.

© Reuters/Ivan Alvarado FILE PHOTO: A child receives a vaccination as part of the start of the seasonal flu vaccination campaign as a preventive measure due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
"We're very concerned about what's happening - particularly in sub-Saharan Africa," Vledder said as she unveiled the results of a GFF survey, one of the first seeking to assess the impact of COVID-19 on women's and children's health.

"Many of the countries we work in are fragile and so, by definition, already have very challenging situations when it comes to health service delivery. This is making things worse."

From late March, the GFF has conducted monthly surveys with local staff in 36 countries to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services for women, children and adolescents.

Sharing the survey findings with Reuters, GFF said that of countries reporting, 87% said the pandemic, fears about infection or lockdown measures designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, had led to disruptions to health workforces.

More than three-quarters of countries also reported disruptions in supplies of key medicines for mothers and babies, such as antibiotics to treat infections and oxytocin, a drug for preventing excessive bleeding after childbirth.

The number of GFF countries reporting service disruptions nearly doubled from 10 in April to 19 in June, and the number reporting fewer people seeking essential health services jumped to 22 in June from five in April.

GFF found that in Liberia, for example, fears about COVID-19 were preventing parents from taking their children to health clinics. In Ghana, some pregnant and lactating mothers were opting to postpone antenatal services and routine immunisations for fear of contracting the pandemic disease.

"We are seeing declining vaccination rates among children. We're seeing women accessing services less for ante- or post-natal care. We're seeing a decline in babies being born in health facilities. And we're also seeing a slide in outpatient services - for treatments for diarrhoea, malaria, fever, pneumonia for example," Vledder said.

Rapidly declining access to reproductive health supplies is also a key worry, Vledder added. The GFF estimates that if the situation does not improve as many as 26 million women could lose access to contraception in the 36 countries, leading to nearly 8 million unintended pregnancies.

© Reuters/Ivan Alvarado FILE PHOTO: A child receives a vaccination as part of the start of the seasonal flu vaccination campaign as a preventive measure due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Santiago

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Josephine Mason and Alex Richardson)

A Black Progressive Beat A 16-Term Democrat In A Heated New York Congressional Primary

Jamaal Bowman, an educator in the Bronx, win over Eliot Engel, a 16-term congressman, is a signal victory for progressives.

PELOSI CALLED ENGEL THE DEMOCRATS MOST PROGRESSIVE MEMBER, THAT IS THE PELOSI DEMOCRATS, LIKE THE ONE AOC DEFEATED. ENGEL WHILE A LIBERAL WAS ALSO A ZIONIST ISRAEL HAWK SUPPORTED BY THE ISRAEL LOBBY IN THE USA 

Addy BairdBuzzFeed News Reporter

Ryan BrooksBuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on June 24, 2020,

Spencer Platt / Getty Images



Jamaal Bowman meets with voters at a school on June 23 in Mount Vernon, New York.


Jamaal Bowman, a former educator and middle school principal from the Bronx, declared victory Wednesday over Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term member of Congress who represents New York’s 16th congressional district.

The primary win is a galvanizing moment for national progressives, just two years after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who backed Bowman, sparked a new wave of progressive organizing to push the Democratic Party further left. And, like with Ocasio-Cortez’s success in 2018, it is another win for a challenger who cast the incumbent as too out-of-touch with their district.

“I’m a Black man who was raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress. But today, that 11-year old boy who was beaten by police is about to be your next Representative,” Bowman said in a statement Wednesday morning. “I cannot wait to get to Washington and cause problems for the people maintaining the status quo.”

New York is still counting votes and may be for days, with a huge increase in absentee voting during the coronavirus pandemic. But Decision Desk HQ and others have found that Bowman's lead over Engel is too much for the incumbent to make up.

Bowman’s candidacy was propelled over the last month by national protests against police brutality and a surging Black Lives Matter movement. He was one of several Black candidates to have a strong result in Tuesday’s elections.


“Tonight as we celebrate, we don’t just celebrate me as an individual, we celebrate this movement,” Bowman said during a speech Tuesday night. “A movement designed to push back against a system that’s literally killing us. It’s killing Black and brown bodies disproportionately, but it’s killing all of us

During his remarks, Bowman said he would only mention his opponent once.

“Eliot Engel, and I’ll say his name once, used to say he was a thorn in the side of Donald Trump. But you know what Donald Trump is more afraid of than anything else? A Black man with power,” he said.


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Jamaal Bowman, who has a lead in his primary against Eliot Engel, just spoke to supporters. "Our movement is designed to restore that faith, to restore that hope, to bring back the belief in what is possible, to root our values in everything we do."02:46 AM - 24 Jun 2020
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Bowman is expected to win the seat outright in November in a Democratic-heavy district that spans across parts of New York City and stretches into Westchester.

Bowman’s race was just the most high profile in a series of New York congressional primaries pitting progressives against incumbent Democrats or those with the backing of the mainstream establishment.

Mondaire Jones, 33, appeared to win the primary for an open House seat in New York City’s suburbs with the support of Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Jones would be the first Black gay member of Congress should he win the seat. Rep. Carolyn Maloney faces a tight rematch from Suraj Patel, who ran in 2018 and secured 40% of the vote. Patel, a former Obama campaign staffer, ran on a platform similar to Bowman's of a Green New Deal, defunding ICE, and debt-free college. Rep. Yvette Clarke again faced Adem Bunkeddeko, a 32-year-old progressive who came within just 2,000 votes of defeating Clarke in 2018. Clarke appeared to beat Bunkeddeko Tuesday night.

But Bowman’s race gained the most attention over the last month, and was the contest progressives were most invested in winning.

Bowman, who is 44 and a former middle school principal in the Bronx, began his campaign with the backing of Justice Democrats and other progressive networks that helped Ocasio-Cortez win in 2018. He campaigned on priorities for the left, like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, while also centering education and investment in public schools.

Engel, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, took heat late in the campaign for being absent from his district during the coronavirus pandemic and for announcing that he would be at events in the district that he ultimately did not attend.

In early June, Engel was caught on a hot mic at an event to address protestors against police brutality in his district telling the organizer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., that he only wanted to speak because o

“If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care,” he said.f his campaign.

Two days later, Engel’s campaign released a statement saying he would refuse The New York Times endorsement after the paper ran a column from Sen. Tom Cotton calling for the use of military force against protesters.

“I have decided not to seek the New York Times endorsement and I call on my opponents in this race to do the same,” he said in the statement. “Sadly, any endorsement from an editorial board that supports the publication of such un-American demands at a time of great pain and turmoil is not worth the paper it’s printed on.”

A week later, the paper endorsed Bowman.

Engel still had powerful support for his campaign for a 17th term, including from Hillary Clinton and powerful House Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Jim Clyburn, Hakeem Jeffries, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

MORE ON THE 2020 CAMPAIGN
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Addy Baird is a political reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

Ryan Brooks is a politics reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.

US deports ex-paramilitary leader 'Toto' Constant to Haiti

a man in a police car parked in a parking lot© Provided by The Canadian Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Former paramilitary leader Emmanuel Constant was deported from the U.S. on Tuesday and arrested as soon as he landed in Haiti, where he faces murder and torture charges stemming from killings committed during the political upheaval of the 1990s that involved the U.S. government.

Constant did not say anything as he was placed into a police vehicle, where one officer held a cellphone up to Constant’s ear so he could talk to an unidentified person before he was taken away for questioning.

Constant was among 24 deported migrants who landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, the fourth such flight since the COVID-19 pandemic began, said Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, director of Haiti’s migration office.

Some criticized his deportation and worried whether he would be held accountable for any of the charges he faces. Reed Brody, an attorney for Human Rights Watch known as the “dictator hunter,” told The Associated Press in a phone interview that Constant should be prosecuted somewhere.

“The worst solution for Haitians would be to have somebody like ‘Toto’ Constant with so much blood on his hands walking around,” he said. “It would just epitomize the impunity with which people have committed murder in Haiti for so long.”

Human rights groups have accused Constant of killing, raping and torturing Haitians when he became leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s presidency was toppled in 1991. They allege that between 1991 and 1994, the group that Constant led terrorized and slaughtered at least 3,000 slum dwellers loyal to Aristide.

a man wearing sunglasses taking a selfie in a car© Provided by The Canadian Press

According to the San Francisco-based Center for Justice & Accountability, Constant had pictures of mutilated victims in his office and his group would perform facial scalpings and display them.

“Constant sought to cultivate a nearly supernatural mystique for FRAPH,” the centre said.

When Aristide returned to power in 1994 with help from the U.S. military, Constant fled to the Dominican Republic and then entered the U.S. on Christmas Eve. He was ordered deported in 1995 but was allowed to remain in the U.S. because of instability in Haiti. In 2000, Constant was convicted in absentia in Haiti following a trial for the 1994 massacre in Raboteau, a shantytown in the northern coastal town of Gonaives where Aristide supporters were killed.

Constant kept a low profile while in the U.S. and lived with relatives in Queens, New York, until he was arrested in 2006 and later found guilty of fraud and grand larceny. In October 2008, he was sentenced at least 12 years in prison for his role in a $1.7 million mortgage fraud scheme.

Constant has repeatedly alleged that he was on the CIA’s payroll and that he is a scapegoat and would be killed upon his return to Haiti.

There were no protesters or supporters when he landed in Port-au-Prince or when he was taken to a jail cell shortly afterward. His attorney, Ronaldo Saint-Louis, told reporters that Constant was being held illegally.

“This is a country of injustice. We are going to fight for his right to be released,” he said.

Constant was expected to remain in jail overnight in a cell he was sharing with several other detainees. An Associated Press journalist overheard Constant asking them if they needed anything before he requested certain things from his attorney.

“I've been away for too long. Can you bring me some poisson gros sel?” Constant asked Saint-Louis, referring to a popular dish of coarse salt fish. He also requested deodorant, water and mosquito repellent, among other things.

U.S. legislators including Rep. Maxine Waters of California have said it would be “dangerously irresponsible” to deport Constant without a plan to prosecute him in Haiti and protect victims. Waters noted that Jean-Robert Gabriel, who also was convicted in absentia in the Raboteau trial, became a top official in Haiti’s military in 2018.

Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Miami-based Haitian non-profit Family Action Network Movement, also decried Constant's deportation, saying it will only create more chaos. She said many of his friends remain in power and noted that judges in Haiti are on strike.

“Does the US government want to export more instability to an already vulnerable nation?” she said in a statement. "Given the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Haiti and in the US, deporting Constant now, and without a plan to prosecute him, is disgusting and dangerous.”

Brody, the human rights lawyer who worked in Haiti during the 1990s to prosecute human rights crimes, also said the U.S. was not a bystander when Constant rose to power.

“The U.S. has an obligation to ensure that the story ends better than it started,” he said.ovided by The Canadian Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Former paramilitary leader Emmanuel Constant was deported from the U.S. on Tuesday and arrested as soon as he landed in Haiti, where he faces murder and torture charges stemming from killings committed during the political upheaval of the 1990s that involved the U.S. government.

Constant did not say anything as he was placed into a police vehicle, where one officer held a cellphone up to Constant’s ear so he could talk to an unidentified person before he was taken away for questioning.

Constant was among 24 deported migrants who landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, the fourth such flight since the COVID-19 pandemic began, said Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, director of Haiti’s migration office.

Some criticized his deportation and worried whether he would be held accountable for any of the charges he faces. Reed Brody, an attorney for Human Rights Watch known as the “dictator hunter,” told The Associated Press in a phone interview that Constant should be prosecuted somewhere.

“The worst solution for Haitians would be to have somebody like ‘Toto’ Constant with so much blood on his hands walking around,” he said. “It would just epitomize the impunity with which people have committed murder in Haiti for so long.”

Human rights groups have accused Constant of killing, raping and torturing Haitians when he became leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s presidency was toppled in 1991. They allege that between 1991 and 1994, the group that Constant led terrorized and slaughtered at least 3,000 slum dwellers loyal to Aristide.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

According to the San Francisco-based Center for Justice & Accountability, Constant had pictures of mutilated victims in his office and his group would perform facial scalpings and display them.

“Constant sought to cultivate a nearly supernatural mystique for FRAPH,” the centre said.

When Aristide returned to power in 1994 with help from the U.S. military, Constant fled to the Dominican Republic and then entered the U.S. on Christmas Eve. He was ordered deported in 1995 but was allowed to remain in the U.S. because of instability in Haiti. In 2000, Constant was convicted in absentia in Haiti following a trial for the 1994 massacre in Raboteau, a shantytown in the northern coastal town of Gonaives where Aristide supporters were killed.

Constant kept a low profile while in the U.S. and lived with relatives in Queens, New York, until he was arrested in 2006 and later found guilty of fraud and grand larceny. In October 2008, he was sentenced at least 12 years in prison for his role in a $1.7 million mortgage fraud scheme.

Constant has repeatedly alleged that he was on the CIA’s payroll and that he is a scapegoat and would be killed upon his return to Haiti.

There were no protesters or supporters when he landed in Port-au-Prince or when he was taken to a jail cell shortly afterward. His attorney, Ronaldo Saint-Louis, told reporters that Constant was being held illegally.

“This is a country of injustice. We are going to fight for his right to be released,” he said.

Constant was expected to remain in jail overnight in a cell he was sharing with several other detainees. An Associated Press journalist overheard Constant asking them if they needed anything before he requested certain things from his attorney.

“I've been away for too long. Can you bring me some poisson gros sel?” Constant asked Saint-Louis, referring to a popular dish of coarse salt fish. He also requested deodorant, water and mosquito repellent, among other things.

U.S. legislators including Rep. Maxine Waters of California have said it would be “dangerously irresponsible” to deport Constant without a plan to prosecute him in Haiti and protect victims. Waters noted that Jean-Robert Gabriel, who also was convicted in absentia in the Raboteau trial, became a top official in Haiti’s military in 2018.

Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Miami-based Haitian non-profit Family Action Network Movement, also decried Constant's deportation, saying it will only create more chaos. She said many of his friends remain in power and noted that judges in Haiti are on strike.

“Does the US government want to export more instability to an already vulnerable nation?” she said in a statement. "Given the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Haiti and in the US, deporting Constant now, and without a plan to prosecute him, is disgusting and dangerous.”

Brody, the human rights lawyer who worked in Haiti during the 1990s to prosecute human rights crimes, also said the U.S. was not a bystander when Constant rose to power.
“The U.S. has an obligation to ensure that the story ends better than it started,” he said.