MOSCOW: The developer of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine said Friday its shot had been approved for use in the Philippines, becoming the 52nd country to give the green light to the Russian jab.
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which backed the development of Sputnik V, said in a statement the jab was registered “under the emergency use authorization procedure.”
The Philippines announced this week it plans to close its borders to foreigners beginning March 20 and limit entry to its own citizens to halt the spread of new cases.
The temporary measures come after the number of daily cases hit a seven-month high on Monday.
Moscow’s wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said the announcement Friday means that now 52 countries with a combined population of 1.4 billion people have approved Sputnik V for use.
Kirill Dmitriev, RDIF’s CEO, said in the statement that the Philippines was “among the first to show interest in the Sputnik vaccine after it was registered in Russia”.
He added that Sputnik V’s registration provides the Philippines “with access to one of the best vaccines, which is already saving lives around the world.”
Moscow registered the jab in August before large-scale clinical trials, but leading medical journal The Lancet has since said it is safe and over 90 percent effective.
Some Western countries have been wary of Sputnik V – named after the Soviet-era satellite – over concerns the Kremlin would use it as a soft power tool to advance its interests.
Philippines approves Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine
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Philippines approves Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine
- 52 countries with a combined population of 1.4 billion people have approved Sputnik V for use
Progressive senators call to block US arms sales to Israel
- The Vermont representative told reporters that “what is happening in Gaza today is unspeakable,” pointing in particular to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in the Palestinian territory, as well as large-scale destruction of buildings
- The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the death toll from the ongoing war has reached 43,972 people, the majority civilians
WASHINGTON: A handful of left-leaning senators on Tuesday called on the Biden administration to halt arms sales to Israel, accusing the United States of playing a key role in the “atrocities” of the war in Gaza.
The four senators gave the media conference ahead of a Wednesday vote on resolutions condemning the US weapons sales — measures that are expected to fail given the large number of lawmakers who support Israel, a historic American ally.
The resolutions were put forth by progressive Senator Bernie Sanders, alongside several other Democrats.
The Vermont representative told reporters that “what is happening in Gaza today is unspeakable,” pointing in particular to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in the Palestinian territory, as well as large-scale destruction of buildings and infrastructure.
“What makes it even more painful is that much of what is happening there has been done with US weapons and with American taxpayer support,” he said.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the death toll from the ongoing war has reached 43,972 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
The war began first began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The administration of President Joe Biden has steadfastly backed Israel while counseling restraint for more than a year.
“The United States of America is complicit in these atrocities,” Sanders said. “That complicity must end and that is what these resolutions are about.”
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, also speaking at the media conference, questioned whether America’s foreign policy and commitment to Israel had forced the United States to “be blind to the suffering before our very eyes?“
Third Russian strike in 3 days kills more Ukrainian civilians
KYIV: A third Russian strike in three days on a civilian residential area in Ukraine killed at least 12 people, including a child, officials said Tuesday, as the war reached its 1,000th day.
The strike by a Shahed drone in the northern Sumy region injured 11 others, including two children, Ukraine’s Rescue Services said, adding that more people could be trapped under the rubble.
The attack late Monday night hit a dormitory of an educational facility in the town of Hlukhiv, the regional administration said.
Ukraine has repeatedly been clobbered by Russian drones and missiles, while on the battlefield it is under severe Russian pressure at places on the about 1,000-kilometer front line where its army is stretched thin against a bigger adversary.
On Sunday, a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people and injuring 84 others.
On Monday, a Russian missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and injuring 43.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the series of aerial strikes proved that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not interest in ending the war.
“Each new attack by Russia only confirms Putin’s true intentions. He wants the war to continue. Talks about peace are not interesting to him. We must force Russia to a just peace by force,” Zelenskyy said.
Somaliland opposition leader Cirro wins in presidential election, beating incumbent
NAIROBI: Somaliland opposition leader Abdirahman Cirro defeated incumbent president Muse Bihi Abdi in last week’s election, the electoral commission said on Tuesday, setting up a handover of power as the breakaway Somali region pushes for global recognition.
Somaliland has had de facto self-rule since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, but has not been recognized by any country, restricting access to international finance and the ability of its six million people to travel.
Cirro, leader of the opposition Waddani party, won 64 percent of the vote against Bihi’s 35 percent, said Musa Hassan, chairman of the Somaliland Electoral Commission.
“This election is not a win or loss for the candidates. It was an election of unity and fraternity and pushing ahead the Somaliland nation,” Cirro said in a televised address on Tuesday.
Occupying a strategic location at the juncture of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, Somaliland sees international recognition as being within reach after signing a preliminary deal with landlocked Ethiopia in January that would grant Addis Ababa a strip of land on its coast in exchange for recognition.
Somaliland is also hopeful that the incoming US administration of President-elect Donald Trump will be favorable to its cause. Several leading Africa policy officials from Trump’s first term have voiced support for its recognition.
The breakaway region has enjoyed a comparative period of peace since achieving autonomy three decades ago, just as Somalia plunged into a civil war from which it has yet to emerge.
While Cirro has signalled broad support for the proposed pact with Ethiopia, his commitment to implementing it is not clear. Some analysts suspect he could be more open to dialogue with Somalia’s government, which opposes the agreement.
The deal has soured Somalia’s relations with Ethiopia, a major contributor toward a peacekeeping force in Somalia fighting Islamist militants, and drawn Somalia’s government closer to Ethiopia’s historic rivals, Egypt and Eritrea.
The presidents of Somalia and neighboring Djibouti, whose relations with Somaliland were also strained under Bihi, congratulated Cirro on his win.
Ethiopia’s foreign ministry also sent a congratulatory message to Cirro.
“Congratulations to the newly elected President of Somaliland... and to the brotherly people of Somaliland for their political maturity,” Djibouti’s president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, wrote on X.
In his message, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud committed to ongoing reconciliation talks, which he said were focused on preserving the unity of Somalia.
“While I think there are concerns that (Cirro) may opt for a radical departure from his predecessor, jettison the MOU (deal with Ethiopia), embrace dialogue with Somalia, there’s a big difference between campaigning and governing,” said Matt Bryden, a strategic adviser with the Sahan think tank.
Urban mosquito sparks malaria surge in East Africa
NAIROBI: The spread of a mosquito in East Africa that thrives in urban areas and is immune to insecticide is fueling a surge in malaria that could reverse decades of progress against the disease, experts say.
Africa accounted for about 95 percent of the 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 deaths worldwide in 2022, according to the most recent data from the World Health Organization, which said children under five accounted for 80 percent of deaths in the region.
But the emergence of an invasive species of mosquito on the continent could massively increase those numbers. Anopheles stephensi is native to parts of South Asia and the Middle East but was spotted for the first time in the tiny Horn of Africa state of Djibouti in 2012.
Djibouti had all but eradicated malaria only to see it make a slow but steady return over the following years, hitting more than 70,000 cases in 2020.
Then stephensi arrived in neighboring Ethiopia and WHO says it is key to an “unprecedented surge,” from 4.1 million malaria cases and 527 deaths last year to 7.3 million cases and 1,157 deaths between January 1 and October 20, 2024. Unlike other species which are seasonal and prefer rural areas, stephensi thrives year-round in urban settings, breeding in man-made water storage tanks.
US will send Ukraine at least $275m in new weapons in push to bolster Kyiv before Trump
- One American official said the US is seeing no indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine
- The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid package has not yet been made public
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon will send Ukraine at least $275 million in new weapons, US officials said Tuesday, as the Biden administration rushes to do as much as it can to help Kyiv fight back against Russia in the remaining two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The latest tranche of weapons comes as worries grow about an escalation in the conflict, with both sides pushing to gain any advantage that they can exploit if Trump demands a quick end to the war — as he has vowed to do.
In rapid succession this week, President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the authority to fire longer-range missiles deeper into Russia and then Russian President Vladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.
US officials contend that Russia’s change in nuclear doctrine was expected, but Moscow is warning that Ukraine’s new use of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, inside Russia on Tuesday could trigger a strong response.
One American official said the US is seeing no indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid package has not yet been made public.
Asked Tuesday if a Ukrainian attack with longer-range US missiles could potentially trigger use of nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov answered affirmatively. He pointed to the doctrine’s provision that holds the door open for it after a conventional strike that raises critical threats for the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Russia and its ally Belarus.
A US official said Ukraine fired about eight ATACM missiles into Russia on Tuesday, and just two were intercepted. The official said the US is still assessing the damage but that the missiles struck an ammunition supply location in Karachev, in the Bryansk region.
The weapons in the new package of aid for Ukraine include an infusion of air defense, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, Javelin anti-armor munitions and other equipment and spare parts, US officials say.
The weapons will be provided through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon quickly to pull supplies from its shelves to speed them to Ukraine’s front line.
Trump’s upcoming move to the White House has triggered a scramble by the Biden administration to ensure all the congressionally approved funding for Ukraine gets delivered and that Kyiv is in a strong position going into the winter.
The Biden administration would have to rush $7.1 billion in weapons from the Pentagon’s stockpiles to spend all of those funds before Trump is sworn in. That includes $4.3 billion from a foreign aid bill passed by Congress earlier this year and $2.8 billion still on the books in savings due to the Pentagon recalculating the value of systems sent.
As part of the wider effort, the administration also is on track to disperse its portion of a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets, before Biden leaves the White House, according to two senior administration officials.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly, said the US and Ukraine are now in “advanced stages” in discussing terms of the loan and are looking to complete the process for the $20 billion portion of the mammoth loan that the US is backing.
The goal is to get it done before the end of the year, one official said.
Trump has criticized US support for Ukraine and derided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “salesman” while also having praised Putin and touting his good relationship with him. The president-elect has claimed — without explaining how — that he will end the war in in Ukraine before his inauguration on Jan. 20, saying he will “get it resolved very quickly.”
Last week, when he addressed supporters from a golden ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump returned to that pledge but again offered little information before changing the subject.
“We’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop. Russia and Ukraine’s gotta stop,” he said.
He has suggested that Ukraine give up at least some of its Russian-occupied territory to settle the war, saying at a rally in late September that “if they made a bad deal, it would’ve been much better. They would’ve given up a little bit and everybody would be living and every building would be built and every tower would be aging for another 2,000 years.”
Earlier this year, the leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed to engineer the mammoth loan to help Ukraine. Interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets would be used as collateral.
Once terms are finalized, the US will send the $20 billion to the World Bank, which will in turn disperse the money to Ukraine. The remaining $30 billion will come from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan, among others.
