WELLINGTON: Passengers on the Golden Princess cruise liner were barred from disembarking at a New Zealand port on Sunday because of a suspected coronavirus case on board, health officials said.
There were 2,600 passengers and 1,100 crew on the boat docked at Akaroa near the South Island city of Christchurch, according to the port’s cruise ship schedule.
New Zealand’s director-general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, said three passengers have been quarantined by the ship’s doctor.
One of them has developed COVID-19 symptoms and is being treated as a suspected case.
“All on board are not being allowed off the ship until results are known,” Bloomfield said.
The health scare arose just three days after Princess Cruises announced it was suspending voyages worldwide for two months in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company is allowing cruises within the last five days of their journey to complete the trip, but said cruises ongoing as of March 17 would end early at the most convenient location.
Princess Cruises has already seen two of its vessels hit by the virus and quarantined: the Diamond Princess, which docked in Japan, and the Grand Princess, which docked in California.
Bloomfield would not be drawn on what would happen to the Golden Princess until results of tests on the three passengers were known on Monday.
The Golden Princess was already in New Zealand waters before Wellington on Saturday banned all future cruise ship arrivals until June 30 under strict new coronavirus related regulations.
A New Zealand public health specialist, Brian Cox from the University of Otago, said if coronavirus was confirmed on the Golden Princess then the remaining passengers should not remain on board.
The decision to quarantine 3,700 passengers and crew on board the Diamond Princess in Japan was heavily criticized after more than 700 people eventually tested positive for the virus.
“The Japanese experience was a sad lesson that keeping people aboard such a ship just spreads the infection through a large number of people, and the boat becomes, basically, an incubator for spread of the disease,” Cox said.
Removing passengers from the ship and placing them in self-isolation for two weeks was the safest option, he added, and it would be “inhumane to just turn it around and send it back.”
On Saturday, New Zealand said international travelers would have to self-isolate on arrival for 14 days, with similar measures also announced by Australia on Sunday.
Passengers held on cruise ship in New Zealand over coronavirus fears
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Passengers held on cruise ship in New Zealand over coronavirus fears
- There are 2,600 passengers and 1,100 crew on board of the cruise liner
- Princess Cruises said cruises ongoing as of March 17 would end early at the most convenient location
Fusion between culture and modernity as children dance in Kenyan refugee camp
These are refugee children, some who were born in one of Africa’s largest camps — Kakuma, located in northern Kenya, where more than 300,000 refugees’ livelihoods have been affected by funding cuts that have halved monthly food rations.
The children use the Acholi traditional dance as a distraction from hunger and have perfected a survival skill to skip lunches as they stretch their monthly food rations that are currently at 30 percent of the UN nutritional recommendation per person.
The Acholi people, mostly from Uganda and South Sudan, are among refugees who live in Kakuma camp, which was established in 1992 as a safe haven for people fleeing conflict from dozens of east African countries.
For a moment, the melodious sound of one of the refugee mothers stops the playground buzz of activity as dozens of children sit down to enjoy the traditional dance performance.
The colorful swings doting the community center at Kakuma’s Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement were donated by a Swiss organization, Terre des hommes, which still manages the playground aptly named “Furaha” — Swahili for Happiness.
But the happiness of these children isn’t guaranteed now as funding cuts have affected operations here. Fewer resources and staff are available to engage the children and ensure their safety.
One of the dancers, Gladis Amwony, has lived in Kakuma for 8 years now. In recent years, she has started taking part in the Acholi traditional dances to keep her Ugandan roots alive.
The now 20-year-old doesn’t imagine ever going back to Uganda and has no recollection of life in her home village.
“I’m happiest when I dance, I feel connected to my ancestors,” the soft-spoken Amwony says after her dance session.
While Amwony and her friends are looking for a cultural connection, just about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from their village in neighboring Kalobeyei Village 3, some boys are in touch with modernity.
The five boys have been practicing a one-of-a-kind dance where they mimic robots, complete with face masks that hide their human faces.
They make their sharp synchronized moves that they have been perfecting for months.
The boys will be part of performances that will be showcased during this year’s World Refugee Day, as an example of the talent and resilience that exists among the refugee community.
This younger generation of dancers make precision moves in a small hall with play and learning items stored in a cabinet that is branded with an American flag, an indication that it was donated by the USgovernment.
Such donations are now scarce, with the United States having cut down on funding in March.
These cuts have affected operations here, with the future stardom hopes for these children dimming by the day.
The center, which previously featured daily programs such as taekwondo and ballet, may not be operational in a few months if the funding landscape remains as is.
“We are now reducing some of the activities because we are few. The staff are few and even per day we only have one staff remaining in the center and it is really hard for him/her to conduct 500 children,” said John Papa, a community officer for Terre des hommes in Kalobeyei Village 3.
These programs do more than entertain the children — they keep them away from issues such as child labor, abuse and crime which as a major concern for humanitarian organizations in Kakuma.
And as the children dance and play beneath the sweltering sun, the only hope is that these child friendly spaces remain operational for years.
Germany charges Syrian national in connection with Taylor Swift concert plot
- Germany charges Syrian national in connection with Taylor Swift concert plot
BERLIN: Germany has charged a Syrian national with supporting a foreign terrorist organization for helping to plan a foiled attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Friday.
Identified as Mohammad A, the suspect helped the would-be attacker by translating Arabic bomb-building instructions and putting him in contact with a member of the Islamic State militia online, according to the charges against him.
Norway to extradite Rwanda genocide suspect
OSLO: Norway will extradite a man sought by Rwanda for his suspected role in the country’s 1994 genocide, police said Friday.
In 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in 100 days of slaughter triggered by the assassination of the country’s president, Juvenal Habyarimana.
The man, whose identity has not been disclosed, was detained in October 2022 by Norway’s criminal police Kripos. He was wanted by Rwanda for “committing a murder during the 1994 genocide,” Kripos said in a statement.
The Oslo district court ruled in September 2023 that the conditions were met for the man’s extradition, a decision confirmed by an appeals court in April 2024.
The suspect then lodged an appeal with Norway’s Supreme Court which was rejected in June 2024.
With the man’s legal options exhausted, the justice ministry decided in February that the extradition could go ahead, a ruling ultimately confirmed by the government’s Council of State.
“The accused is now to be extradited to Rwanda, where he will stand trial for participating in the genocide,” police attorney Thea Elize Kjaeraas said in a statement.
Norway has seen a string of extradition requests for genocide suspects in recent years, and is among half a dozen Western countries where courts have handed down convictions since 2009.
China purges senior military official Miao Hua from top ruling body
- Miao was put under investigation for ‘serious violations of discipline’ in November
- Former political ideology chief of the People’s Liberation Army was also suspended from his post
BEIJING: China’s top legislature has voted to remove senior military official Miao Hua from the Central Military Commission, its highest-level military command body, according to a statement published on Friday by state news agency Xinhua.
Miao, 69, was put under investigation for “serious violations of discipline” in November. The former political ideology chief of the People’s Liberation Army was also suspended from his post.
The Xinhua statement did not contain any other details, but the move marks another stage in President Xi Jinping’s ongoing anti-corruption purge of China’s military, in which over a dozen PLA generals and a handful of defense industry executives have been implicated.
Miao’s photo had been removed from the senior leadership page of the Chinese defense ministry’s website in recent weeks. He was also removed from China’s national legislature for “serious violations of discipline and law,” according to a communique released by the legislature last month.
“The Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission held a military representative conference on March 14 this year and decided to remove Miao Hua from his position as a representative of the 14th National People’s Congress,” the statement said.
Miao was stationed in the coastal province of Fujian when Xi worked there as a local official, according to his official biography. Xi personally elevated Miao to the Central Military Commission.
Another Central Military Commission member and China’s second-ranking general, He Weidong, has not been seen in public since the March 11 closing ceremony of the annual parliamentary sessions in Beijing. Since then, he has not appeared at a series of high-level Politburo and military public engagements.
He is the third-most powerful commander of the People’s Liberation Army and is considered a close associate of President Xi Jinping, the army’s commander-in-chief.
China’s defense ministry said in March it was “unaware” of reports he had been detained. His photo remains on the defense ministry’s website.
Two former Chinese defense ministers have been removed from the Communist Party for corruption. One of them, Li Shangfu, was suspected of corruption in military procurement, Reuters has reported.
Last year, the defense ministry denied reports that Defense Minister Dong Jun was being probed on suspicion of corruption. Dong has continued to appear at public events, attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization defense ministers’ meeting in Qingdao this week.
Forest fire near Athens under control, but area on high alert
- The fire around Athens broke on Thursday afternoon near the towns of Palaia Fokaia and Thymari, around 50 kilometers east of Athens, and forced the evacuation of five villages popular with local and foreign tourists
ATHENS: Greek firefighters said Friday that a forest blaze that had forced evacuations around Athens was under control, but warned that scorching temperatures were keeping fire risk at a highly elevated level around the capital and on northern Aegean islands.
Greece has become particularly vulnerable in recent years to fires in the summer fueled by strong winds, drought and high temperatures linked to climate change.
The fire around Athens broke on Thursday afternoon near the towns of Palaia Fokaia and Thymari, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Athens, and forced the evacuation of five villages popular with local and foreign tourists.
Though it was under control on Friday, a volatile combination of high temperatures and strong winds meant that a high risk of other fires breaking out remained, especially in the Attica region around the Greek capital and some islands in the north Aegean Sea, authorities said.
A spokesman for the fire service told AFP that over 100 firefighters with 37 vehicles and a helicopter were on standby near Palaia Fokaia and Thymari.
Fields, olive groves and some houses were ravaged by the blaze.
The blaze came on the heels of another fire on the island of Chios — Greece’s fifth-largest island — which had destroyed more than 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of land in four days.
Weather agencies forecast a heatwave in the coming days with temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), including in the capital Athens.
