Political cartoon of the day: Biden's mixed messages

 

Biden's mixed messages

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cartoons-slideshow

A new estimate of Covid-19 deaths in India could double 2021’s global toll

 https://qz.com/india/2039756/indias-actual-covid-19-death-toll-could-be-eight-times-higher/?utm_source=YPL&yptr=yahoo

If India was to accurately account for all the Covid-19 deaths in the country, it would likely double the confirmed global death toll for 2021.

The country may have undercounted its pandemic fatalities by seven or eight times, a new study conducted by researchers in India, Canada, and the US has found. This would take India’s Covid-19 mortality from the official 422,022 to between 3.1 and 3.4 million. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 4.18 million people have died of Covid-19, of which about 2 million were in 2021.

During India’s brutal second wave of Covid-19 in the months between April and June, public health experts, human rights activists, and the international community blamed the Narendra Modi government for undercounting deaths. The sense was that several deaths were not being attributed to Covid-19, while the country’s crematoriums and makeshift riverside graveyards revealed a ghastly side of India’s Covid crisis.

“We recognise that multiple challenges lead to underreporting of Covid-19 fatalities including deaths that occur outside of hospitals that either are not captured or incur a lag, deaths that are classified under comorbid illnesses, deaths that are attributable to low access to quality healthcare or a shortage of healthcare resources, and deaths that are undetected as a result of an inadequate COVID-19 testing programme,” researchers, including noted epidemiologists Giridhara R Babu and Bhramar Mukherjee, wrote in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) on July 27. “Our review of the existing evidence suggests that the problem is particularly acute for India, where a large number of deaths (especially ones happening outside a healthcare facility or in rural areas) routinely remain medically unreported,” they said.

With excess mortality data, which the WHO also recognises as an important tool in measuring casualties where official data are not available, researchers are now coming closer to a conclusive number for India’s Covid-19 death toll.

How Covid-19 death data can be measured

The authors of the preprint, which is not yet peer-reviewed, parsed through India’s civil registration system (CRS) data and extrapolated excess mortality in the country between the months of June 2020 and July 2021. They then compared this to the mortality data from 2019, focussing on cities and states where at least 50% of the expected deaths (based on past trends) were officially registered.

The second element of this research was to analyse death data from 200,000 public hospitals and small healthcare facilities, 90% of which were in rural areas. A third element was to use data collected from telephone surveys conducted by CVoter, a Delhi-based international polling and research company.

All three elements of the methodology revealed excess deaths over estimated trends to be significantly higher in 2020 and 2021.

All three elements of the methodology revealed excess deaths over estimated trends to be significantly higher in 2020 and 2021. During the second wave, particularly, excess deaths were exponentially higher in some states.

In the central state of Madhya Pradesh, for instance, deaths were 198% higher than past trends in the same period. On average, deaths were 37% higher than what was expected, comparing the same periods of the years to avoid any changes because of seasonality.

The authors of the study have also adjusted for factors such as fewer road accidents and injury-related deaths during the lockdown. The other limitation that prevents these estimates from being conclusive is that several people died because of neglected health services that were all focused on Covid-19. “However, changes in causes of death aside from Covid are likely small compared to the sharp increases in Covid deaths, particularly during the second viral wave,” the authors note.

The study also reduces the estimates it received from the telephone surveys to account for people who may have reported deaths not in their immediate families.

Global implications of India’s actual Covid mortality rate

India has prided itself on keeping its case fatality ratio low. According to its official figures, there are about 290 Covid-19 deaths per million population. But estimates from this new research “would put India’s death rate per million in the range reported in Latin America (around 2,000 per million), where registration of deaths is far more complete,” the authors note.

India’s incomplete civil registration data, which is not just a product of the pandemic, has only made it harder to capture the true impact of Covid-19 in the country. “India still does not register about 3 million deaths annually and does not certify the medical cause in about 8 million,” the authors write. Mortality data, the authors say, will be crucial for the handling of a potential third wave of Covid-19 in the country.

”Deficiency in the Covid-19 death reporting has harmful ramifications. It limits modelers’ ability to predict the course of the pandemic, gauge its impact, and estimate healthcare resource needs—including oxygen supplies and hospital beds,” Mukherjee and others writing in the AJPH noted. “Death not being reported reflects dishonour to the entire life of a person.”

United States reports highest number of new Covid cases in the world

 https://news.yahoo.com/united-states-reports-highest-number-173613366.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

The United States reported the highest number of new Covid-19 cases in the world in the last week, according to figures from the World Health Organization.

The US experienced a 131 per cent increase in new cases for the week ending July 25 compared to the previous week, with 500,332 Americans becoming infected with the virus, according to the WHO’s epidemiological report.

The Delta variant is causing cases to surge in all 50 states. The soaring case rate prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to advise all vaccinated Americans living in areas of high or substantial transmission to wear masks indoors.

Just 57.6 per cent of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated, according to data from the CDC.

Globally, the US was followed by Brazil, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and India.

There were a total of 3.8 million new cases in the last week across the globe, an 8 per cent increase over the previous week.

The number of new Covid-19-related deaths also increased sharply this week to over 69,000, a 21 per cent jump from 57,000 deaths last week.

AOC Tells CNN She Thought Trump Supporters Were Going To Rape Her In The Capitol On Jan. 6

 https://nationalfile.com/aoc-tells-cnn-she-thought-trump-supporters-were-going-to-rape-her-in-the-capitol-on-jan-6/

"That attack on the Capitol, you know, white supremacy and patriarchy are very linked in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of sexualizing of that violence."

In a leaked CNN interview that was published by Project Veritas, this week Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) says that she thought she was going to be raped by election integrity protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6 – even though she was nowhere near the Capitol building – because “white supremacy and patriarchy are very linked in a lot of ways” and “There’s a lot of sexualizing of that violence.”

“For a lot of [sexual assault] survivors across the country, the decision to come forward oftentimes does not feel like a conscious one,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’S Dana Bash in the leaked tape. “That impact was doubled that day because of the misogyny and the racism that was so deeply rooted and animated — that attack on the Capitol, you know, white supremacy and patriarchy are very linked in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of sexualizing of that violence.”

Ocasio-Cortez went to declare, “And I didn’t think that I was just going to be killed. I thought other things were going to happen to me as well,’ prompting Bash to interject, “It sounds like what you’re didn’t only think that you were going to die, you thought you were going to be raped.”

“Yeah,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. The elected official went on to to state that the biggest misconception that people have about her is “Just — thinking that I’m rash, unintelligent, and that I intend to do harm. I think that particularly the misperception that I’m here to do harm to our country, it’s unfortunate.”

Ocasio-Cortez went on to repeat her claim that she is “a survivor of sexual assault,” adding that “I haven’t told many people that in my life” even though she previously repeated the same claim during an Instagram livestream to her 8.7 million followers. The Democrat rep. had also stated, “I am at a full ten, fight or flight, thought I was going to die, like, ten minutes ago, then thought I was going to die again because I have to tell you when I was banging on this door, I had thought that … the building had been breached and there were people walking the hallways.”

 

Oh South Africa

Letter From Zimbabwe

                                                          by Cathy Buckle

                                                                         16th July 2021

Dear Family and Friends,

My letter today is for our friends and neighbours across the border. Oh South Africa, we are heartbroken for you. Your pain is our pain. We have watched events of this week in absolute horror, overcome with helplessness.

Looting in plain sight of inactive police, in broad daylight, brazenly, in front of the cameras of horrified journalists. People dragging bin bags and trolleys full of things they have stolen; people carrying huge boxes on their heads, dragging TV’s behind them like dogs on leads, using forklifts to carry stolen fridges, stoves, freezers, beds, bicycles; cars and trucks lined up outside shops and warehouses while they are being looted, waiting to carry the stolen goods. People scooping everything off shelves in pharmacies, sweeping life saving medicine off shelf after shelf into buckets, bin bags and plastic crates. Men, women and children staggering out of shops carrying mounds of clothes, shoes, luggage. And then, as if the orgy of stealing wasn’t enough, shops, warehouses and buildings deliberately set on fire by the looters. Why, Why, Why? So many questions.

For twenty years South Africa has been our home from home. The place we could go to for solace, comfort, healing, sanity, food, work and so much more. Now we know how you have felt watching us for the past two decades.

When we were tortured, bloodied, broken, bruised and traumatized at the hands of our government’s supporters you took us in. You opened your churches to shelter us when we were on the run from persecution by our own government. You gave us jobs in your homes, restaurants, factories, warehouses and businesses. You sent us cards, letters and emails of support reminding us that we were not alone.

When our supermarkets were filled with empty shelves you sent us food parcels: from little envelopes with instant soup and noodles to boxes with flour and yeast so we could make bread, dry goods so we could keep food on the table and endless shoe boxes filled with medicines, toiletries and treats. You watched in despair as our farms were invaded and scores of people swarmed onto our properties, waving pangas and sticks, taking what was not theirs, throwing us out of our own homes. You watched thugs breaking down doors and burning workers out of their homes. You watched in disbelief as our own government changed the laws to allow them to “compulsorily acquire” our farms and the homes, buildings, equipment and infrastructure on them and you held out your hands in love and support of us.

You watched us all lose our pensions and life savings over and over again, and still watch now as all our US dollars were converted into worthless Zimbabwe Bond dollars and we struggle to survive from one day to the next. For years you have watched us endure long periods when we’ve had to queue for food, store water in baths and buckets, spend days in fuel queues, cope with massive power cuts. You have been there for us, physically, emotionally and spiritually, again and again in the past two decades and today all I have is my voice to offer in return. Our hearts are with you South Africa.

Cathy 

Copyright © Cathy Buckle. http://cathybuckle.co.zw/

http://cathybuckle.co.zw/oh-south-africa/

 

Hamas warns terror groups may resume rocket fire unless Qatari funds enter Gaza

Unnamed sources in Palestinian terror group tell Lebanese media a ‘larger and broader’ escalation will come if demands are not met by end of week

By EMANUEL FABIANToday, 11:57 am  

Masked Hamas members parade with Qassam rockets through the streets of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, May 27, 2021. (AP/Yousef Masoud)

Hamas will escalate the situation on the border if Israel does not allow the passage of Qatari funds into the Gaza Strip by the end of this week, sources in the terror group told a Lebanese newspaper on Thursday.

The sources from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, told the Al Akhbar newspaper that if there are no changes to the current situation regarding the entry of money and goods to the enclave, it may push some Gaza terror factions to launch rockets at southern Israel.

In June, a similar threat was conveyed via the Lebanese paper, which apparently resulted in the resumption of incendiary balloon attacks.

With Israel’s approval, Qatar has in recent years distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to enable Gaza’s Hamas rulers to pay for fuel for the Strip’s power plant, pay civil servants’ salaries, and provide aid to tens of thousands of impoverished families.

An official familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel this month that Israel had notified Egyptian mediators that it will no longer allow the entrance of unmonitored Qatari cash into the Strip, as had previously been done.

Hamas sources told the Lebanese Al Akhbar newspaper that the organization would wait until the end of the week for the money to enter.

Additionally, the terror group demanded that border crossings fully reopen and buildings supplies reach the Strip, or else “the escalation will be intense along the border, and it will take other larger and broader forms.”

A Hamas security officer checks a truck entering Gaza at the gate of the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with Israel, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, June 21, 2021. (Adel Hana/AP)

The threats followed the resumption of the launching of balloons carrying incendiary devices from Gaza toward southern Israel on Sunday, sparking a number of fires.

In response to the arson attacks, Israel announced it was cutting the Gaza Strip’s fishing zone in half, from 12 nautical miles to six, and it later carried out airstrikes on several buildings in a Hamas military base in the coastal enclave.

Illustrative: Smoke rises following Israeli missile strikes on Gaza City on May 13, 2021. (AP/Khalil Hamra)

In recent weeks, ministers in Israel’s high-level security cabinet were presented a new proposal that would enable aid to reach Gaza without enriching the terror organization. But no final decision has been reached yet.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has in the past been a harsh critic of Israel allowing the Qatari cash infusions into the Strip, calling it “protection money” in 2018. However, the payments continued while he was defense minister in 2019.

Earlier this month it was reported that the United Nations has agreed to take responsibility for the disbursement of the Qatari funds.

Hamas conveyed to Egypt its dissatisfaction with the current situation, according to the Al Akhbar report, and blamed Israel’s policies, as the country has insisted on linking the reconstruction of Gaza to a potential prisoner swap.

Two Israeli civilians and the bodies of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers are currently being held in Gaza. Avraham Avera Mengistu and Hisham a-Sayed entered the Strip of their own accord, and their families say they suffer from mental illness. Hamas is also holding the bodies of Oren Shaul and Hadar Goldin, IDF soldiers who were killed in the Strip during the 2014 Gaza war.

Clockwise from top left: Oron Shaul, Avera Mengistu, Hadar Goldin and Hisham al-Sayed. (Flash 90/Courtesy)

Hamas has so far insisted on separating prisoner negotiations from any discussions related to a potential long-term truce or the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Hamas concluded 11 days of fighting in May during which the terror group launched some 4,300 rockets at Israeli cities and towns, and Israel launched hundreds of retaliatory airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

Following the war, Gaza’s border crossings had been largely restricted. But in recent weeks Israel relaxed some restrictions on goods and mail entering and leaving the Strip.

Israel and Egypt have blockaded the Gaza Strip for nearly 15 years in an attempt to weaken the enclave’s Hamas rulers, who took charge in a 2007 coup. Both countries say the measure is necessary to prevent the terror group from obtaining weapons and materials to build fortifications and tunnels.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-warns-terror-groups-may-resume-rocket-fire-unless-qatari-funds-enter-gaza/

SA outraged by AU decision to ‘reward’ Israel with observer status

 South Africa outraged by AU decision to ‘reward’ Israel with observer status

Dirco says the decision was more shocking following the Israel-Palestine conflict.

More than a100 ANC members protested in solidarity with people of Palestine at the Israeli Embassy on 25 May 2021 in Pretoria. Picture: Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius

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The South African government has expressed its shock over the African Union (AU) Commission’s decision to grant Israel observer status within the continental union.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said government was “appalled” at the “unjust and unwarranted” decision of the AU Commission.

“The African Union Commission has taken this decision unilaterally without consultations with its members,” Dirco said.

The department pointed out that the decision was more shocking following the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

“The decision to grant Israel observer status is even more shocking in a year in which the oppressed people of Palestine were hounded by destructive bombardments and continued illegal settlements of the land.

“The African Union strenuously objected to the deaths of Palestinians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The decision by the AU Commission in this context is inexplicable.”

The department said it believed the unjust actions committed by Israel “offend the letter and spirit of the Charter of the AU”.

“The AU embodies the aspirations of all Africans and reflects their confidence that it can lead the continent through the practical expression of the goals of the Charter, especially on issues relating to self-determination and decolonisation.

“Israel continues to illegally occupy Palestine in complete defiance of its international obligations and relevant UN resolutions. It is therefore incomprehensible that the AU Commission chooses to reward Israel at a time when its oppression of Palestinians has been demonstrably more brutal.”

It further said the government would request the chairperson of the AU Commission to provide a briefing to all member states on the decision, “which we hope will be discussed by the executive council and the assembly of heads of states and government”.

“South Africa firmly believes that as long as Israel is not willing to negotiate a peace plan without preconditions, it should not have observer status in the AU. The AU cannot be a party in any way to plans and actions that would see the ideal of Palestinian statehood reduced into balkanised entities devoid of true sovereignty, without territorial contiguity and with no economic viability.”

What is observer status?

Israel is reported to have obtained observer status at the AU last Thursday, since the Jewish state has been demanding it for years.

According to United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ECWA), observer status is a privilege granted by some organisations to non-members to give them an ability to participate in the organisation’s activities.

Observer status is often granted by intergovernmental organisations (IGO) to non-member states and international non-governmental organisations (INGO) that have an interest in the IGO’s activities.

Observers generally have a limited ability to participate in the IGO, lacking the ability to vote or propose resolutions.

Protests

An 11-day conflict with Israel saw hundreds killed, most of whom were Palestinians, many of them children.

Despite a ceasefire being declared at the end of May, thousands in Gaza are now homeless. 

Protests took place across South Africa and the world.

https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/government/2582238/dirco-african-union-israel-observer-status-28-july/