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Senin, 17 Mei 2021

US blocks new draft UN statement on Mideast violence - CNA

UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Monday (May 17) blocked - for the third time in a week - the adoption of a joint UN Security Council statement calling for a halt to Israeli-Palestinian violence, triggering a new emergency closed-door session set for Tuesday.

The text drafted by China, Tunisia and Norway was submitted late Sunday for approval Monday by the council's 15 members, as Israeli jets continued to pound the Gaza Strip and the death toll from a week of violence passed 200.

The United States indicated that they "could not currently support an expression" by the Security Council, one diplomat told AFP.

The Norwegian diplomatic mission to the UN announced that the Security Council would hold a new emergency closed-door meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Tuesday - its fourth since May 10.

"The situation on the ground continues to deteriorate. Innocent civilians continue being killed and injured. We repeat: stop the fire. End hostilities now," the delegation said on Twitter.

READ: The end of Israel's illusion and the rise of Hamas

The Security Council has held three emergency meetings on the escalating violence in the past week, the latest on Sunday, without reaching a common position - with Israel's main ally the United States accused of obstructionism.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric underlined the importance of taking a consolidated position on the conflict.

"I would really restate the need for a very strong and unified voice from the Security Council, which we think will carry weight," he told a press conference.

The UN General Assembly will hold an in-person debate on the Israeli-Palestinian clashes at 1400 GMT on Thursday, assembly spokesman Brenden Varma said.

According to diplomats, the session will take place at a ministerial level and several government officials have already indicated they would take part.

PROTECT CIVILIANS, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN

The latest draft text, seen by AFP, called for "de-escalation of the situation, cessation of violence and respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children."

It voiced the council's "grave concern" at the Gaza crisis and its "serious concern" regarding the possible eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, opposing "unilateral actions" likely to further escalate tensions.

The draft also welcomed international efforts to de-escalate the situation, without reference to the United States, and reiterated the council's support for a negotiated two-state solution allowing Israelis and Palestinians to "live side by side in peace within secure and recognised borders".

READ: AP’s top editor calls for probe into Israeli airstrike

The US refusal to endorse a joint Security Council statement has been met with disbelief by its allies.

"We are just asking the US to support a statement by the Security Council that would pretty much say similar things which are being saying bilaterally from Washington," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden's administration has insisted that it is working behind the scenes, including through a visit to the region by an envoy, and that a UN statement could backfire, according to diplomats.

At a news conference in Copenhagen on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the decision to block a Security Council statement calling for an end to the hostilities.

"We're not standing in the way of diplomacy," Blinken stressed.

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2021-05-17 22:00:44Z
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China offers to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks - South China Morning Post

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China offers to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks South China Morning Post
Gaza pummelled by fresh Israeli strikes, more than 200 dead in a week CNA
Israel pounds Gaza as fighting enters second week The Straits Times
Palestinians deserve the same security, equality and right to a homeland as the Israelis CNN
Opinion | For Trump, Hamas and Bibi, It Is Always Jan. 6 The New York Times
View Full coverage on Google News

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNjbXAuY29tL25ld3MvY2hpbmEvZGlwbG9tYWN5L2FydGljbGUvMzEzMzczNC9jaGluYS1vZmZlcnMtaG9zdC1pc3JhZWxpLXBhbGVzdGluaWFuLXBlYWNlLXRhbGtz0gFraHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuc2NtcC5jb20vbmV3cy9jaGluYS9kaXBsb21hY3kvYXJ0aWNsZS8zMTMzNzM0L2NoaW5hLW9mZmVycy1ob3N0LWlzcmFlbGktcGFsZXN0aW5pYW4tcGVhY2UtdGFsa3M?oc=5

2021-05-17 10:25:19Z
52781577069323

China offers to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks - South China Morning Post

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

China offers to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks South China Morning Post
Gaza pummelled by fresh Israeli strikes, more than 200 dead in a week CNA
Israel pounds Gaza as fighting enters second week The Straits Times
Palestinians deserve the same security, equality and right to a homeland as the Israelis CNN
Opinion | For Trump, Hamas and Bibi, It Is Always Jan. 6 The New York Times
View Full coverage on Google News

Frontline staff at Bangkok hospital brace for new COVID-19 cases - CNA

BANGKOK: As Thailand struggles to deal with its worst wave of COVID-19 infections, staff in the intensive care unit of Bangkok's King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital are fearful of what may lie ahead.

The country had managed to contain COVID-19 cases for much of the pandemic, but a third wave that began in April and includes more contagious variants has proven harder to control, putting a strain on medical facilities.

More than a dozen nurses dressed in full personal protective equipment care for COVID-19 patients at the intensive care unit ward each shift, along with up to four doctors.

Medical workers take care of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in the ICU room in Bangkok — A nurse wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) attends to a patient suffering from COVID-19 in the intensive care unit at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok on May 11, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha)

"Each time I wear three layers of plastic protection. It is extremely hot," said nurse Veena Samutkalin, 45.

Since starting work at the 40-bed ward about a month ago, Veena has stopped visiting her relatives, worried about the risk of infecting them.

"I am very concerned about my father, who is now 80 years old," she said. "I don't want to cause any problems for my family."

READ: Thailand reports daily record of COVID-19 cases, including jail clusters

READ: Thailand first quarter GDP contracts 2.6% year-on-year, less than expected

Thailand's COVID-19 task force said on Sunday (May 16) that 1,228 patients being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals nationwide were in critical condition, with 408 on ventilators.

On Monday, the country reported a daily record of 9,635 new infections and 25 new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 614.

Thailand has administered 2.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to frontline workers and high-risk groups, and expects a broader vaccination drive to start in June with locally manufactured AstraZeneca doses.

Veena hopes that her father will be able to get vaccinated soon. In the meantime, she urges people take precautions.

"I want the public to follow the social distancing rules until this period is over," she said.

Manadshaya Bunard, 25, another nurse who recently transferred to the ward, echoed this view.

"I've seen many patients with breathing tubes," said Manadshaya. "So please get the COVID-19 vaccination to avoid the worst-case scenario."

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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2021-05-17 08:40:04Z
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China offers to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks - South China Morning Post

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

China offers to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks South China Morning Post
Israel strikes kill 42 in Gaza as UN head urges halt to conflict CNA
Israel pounds Gaza as fighting enters second week The Straits Times
Israel’s doctrine: Humane bombing and benevolent occupation Al Jazeera English
Opinion | For Trump, Hamas and Bibi, It Is Always Jan. 6 The New York Times
View Full coverage on Google News

Minggu, 16 Mei 2021

Covid-19 is airborne, scientists say. Now, the authorities think so, too - The Straits Times

WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - A quiet revolution has permeated global health circles. The authorities have come to accept what many researchers have argued for over a year: The coronavirus can spread through the air.

That new acceptance, by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, comes with concrete implications: Scientists are calling for ventilation systems to be overhauled like public water supplies were in the 1800s after fetid pipes were found to harbour cholera.

Cleaner indoor air will not just fight the pandemic, it will minimise the risk of catching flu and other respiratory infections that cost the US more than US$50 billion (S$66.63 billion) a year, researchers said in a study in the journal Science on Friday (May 14).

Avoiding these germs and their associated sickness and productivity losses would, therefore, offset the cost of upgrading ventilation and filtration in buildings.

"We are used to the fact that we have clean water coming from our taps," said Dr Lidia Morawska, a distinguished professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, who led the study. Likewise, "we should expect clean, pollutant- and pathogen-free air" from indoor spaces, she said over Zoom.

The study's authors, comprising 39 scientists from 14 countries, are demanding universal recognition that infections can be prevented by improving indoor ventilation systems.

They want the WHO to extend its indoor air quality guidelines to cover airborne pathogens, and for building ventilation standards to include higher airflow, filtration and disinfection rates, and monitors that enable the public to gauge the quality of the air they are breathing.

A "paradigm shift is needed on the scale that occurred when Chadwick's Sanitary Report in 1842 led the British government to encourage cities to organise clean water supplies and centralised sewage systems", they wrote.

"No one takes responsibility for the air," Dr Morawska said. "It's kind of accepted that the air could be of whatever quality - containing viruses and pathogens."

Sars-CoV-2 multiplies in the respiratory tract, enabling it to spread in particles of varying sizes emitted from an infected person's nose and throat during breathing, speaking, singing, coughing and sneezing.

The biggest particles, including visible spatters of spittle, fall fast, settling on the ground or nearby surfaces, whereas the tiniest - aerosols invisible to the naked eye - can be carried farther and stay aloft longer, depending on humidity, temperature and airflow.

It is these aerosol particles, which can linger for hours and travel indoors, that have stoked controversy.

Although airborne infections, like tuberculosis, measles and chickenpox are harder to trace than pathogens transmitted in tainted food and water, research over the past 16 months supports the role aerosols play in spreading the pandemic virus.

That has led to official recommendations for public mask-wearing and other infection-control strategies. But, even those came after aerosol scientists lobbied for more-stringent measures to minimise risk.

Dr Morawska and a colleague published an open letter backed by 239 scientists last July requesting that the authorities endorse additional precautions, such as increasing ventilation and avoiding recirculating potentially virus-laden air in buildings.

WHO guidance has been amended at least twice since, though the Geneva-based organisation maintains that the coronavirus spreads "mainly between people who are in close contact with each other, typically within 1m".

Dr Morawska, who heads a WHO collaborating centre on air quality and health, says that is an oversimplification.

"There's nothing magic about this 1m," Dr Morawska said. The closer to an infected person, the higher the concentration of infectious particles and the shorter the exposure time needed for infection to occur. "As you are moving away, the concentration decreases," she said.

Infectious aerosols remain concentrated in the air longer in poorly ventilated, confined indoor spaces, according to Dr Morawska.

Although a high density of people in such settings increases the number of people potentially exposed to an airborne infection, enclosed indoor areas that are not crowded may also be hazardous - a distinction Dr Morawska says the WHO should make clearer.

"The WHO, step by step, is modifying the language," she said.

Dr Morawska, a Polish-born physicist who was previously a fellow of the International Atomic Energy Agency, can take credit for the WHO's changing stance, said Dr Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

"Professor Morawska's contribution, on the background of world-leading expertise in aerosol science, made a real impact by forcing WHO's hand," Dr MacIntyre said in an email.

The role of airborne transmission "has been denied for so long, partly because expert groups that advise government have not included engineers, aerosol scientists, occupational hygienists and multidisciplinary environmental health experts," Dr MacIntyre wrote in The Conversation last week.

"A false narrative dominated public discussion for over a year," she said. "This resulted in hygiene theatre - scrubbing of hands and surfaces for little gain - while the pandemic wreaked mass destruction on the world."

Some people working in infection prevention and control and related fields have stuck rigidly to beliefs that minimised aerosol transmission, despite evidence challenging their views because "they do not want to lose face", said Dr Julian Tang, a clinical virologist and honorary associate professor in the department of respiratory sciences at England's University of Leicester.

"We all have to adapt and progress as new data become available," Dr Tang said. That is especially true in public health, where official policies and guidance based on "outdated and unsupported thinking and attitudes can cost lives", he said.

Dr Morawska said she hopes the attention that the pandemic has drawn to face masks and the risks associated with inhaling someone else's exhaled breath will be a catalyst for cleaner indoor air.

"If we don't do the things we are saying now, next time a pandemic comes, especially one caused by a respiratory pathogen, it will be the same," she said.

China FM 'regrets' US blocking UN statement on Mideast - CNA

UNITED NATIONS: China on Sunday (May 16) voiced regret that the United States was blocking a UN Security Council statement on Israeli-Palestinian violence as it urged greater international efforts to stop the bloodshed.

"Regrettably, simply because of the obstruction of one country, the Security Council hasn't been able to speak with one voice," Foreign Minister Wang Yi, whose country holds the Council's rotating presidency, told a virtual session.

"We call upon the United States to shoulder its due responsibilities."

The United States, the primary ally of Israel, delayed the Security Council session from last week and has shown little enthusiasm for a statement.

President Joe Biden's administration says it is working behind the scenes and that a Security Council statement could backfire.

In its public remarks, the Biden administration has steadfastly said that Israel is justified in self-defence in response to rocket fire by Hamas, even while urging de-escalation.

Wang urged an immediate ceasefire and called for the Security Council to take "strong actions," including reiterating support for a two-state solution.

He said that China, which has been expanding its role in the world, would welcome hosting talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives.

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2021-05-16 21:37:29Z
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Senin, 17 Mei 2021

Minggu, 16 Mei 2021

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