30-12-2020

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020
7
A vigil is held for Andre' Hill at the Brentnell Community Recreation Center on Columbus.
Ohio, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020. The police chief of Columbus, Ohio, recommended on
Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020, that the officer who shot and killed Hill, a 47-year-old Black man,
earlier this week be fired.
Photo : AP
Ohio police officer fired in fatal
shooting of Black man
OHIO : A white Ohio police officer was
fired Monday after bodycam footage
showed him fatally shooting 47-yearold
Andre Hill - a Black man who was
holding a cellphone - and refusing to
administer first aid for several minutes,
reports UNB.
Columbus police officer Adam Coy
was fired hours after a hearing was held
to determine his employment,
Columbus Public Safety Director Ned
Pettus Jr said in a statement.
"The actions of Adam Coy do not live
up to the oath of a Columbus Police
officer, or the standards we, and the
community, demand of our officers,"
the statement read. "The shooting of
Andre Hill is a tragedy for all who loved
him in addition to the community and
our Division of Police."
Coy remains under criminal
investigation for last week's shooting.
The decision came after Pettus
concluded a hearing to determine
Russia reports
562 new
coronavirus
deaths in past
24 hours
MOSCOW : The number of
coronavirus-related
fatalities in Russia went up
by 562 in the past 24 hours,
compared to 487 on
previous day, taking the total
to 55,827, the national anticoronavirus
crisis center told
reporters Tuesday, reports
UNB.
The provisional death rate
stands at 1.8%. In particular,
St. Petersburg reported 79
deaths, followed by Moscow
(75), the Moscow Region
(24), the Rostov Region
(23), the Sverdlovsk Region
(17) and the Altai Region
(16).
Russia's coronavirus cases
rose by 27,002 to 3,105,037
in the past 24 hours, the
anti-coronavirus crisis
center said on Tuesday.
The number of new daily
coronavirus cases is the
lowest since December 16. A
total of 27,787 cases were
identified on December 28.
According to the crisis
center, the coronavirus
growth rate has been at or
below 0.9% for three days.
In particular, 5,641
coronavirus cases were
recorded in Moscow in the
past day, 3,757 in St.
Petersburg, 1,547 in the
Moscow Region, 497 in the
Nizhny Novgorod Region,
401 in the Sverdlovsk
Region, and 394 in the
Pskov Region.
There are currently
553,027 active coronavirus
cases in Russia.
Russia's coronavirus
recoveries grew by 24,874 in
the past 24 hours. A total of
2,496,183 people have
recovered by now, the anticoronavirus
crisis center told
reporters on Tuesday.
According to the crisis
center, recoveries have risen
to 80.4% of the total number
of infected individuals.
whether the actions taken by Coy in the
moments before and after the fatal
shooting of Hill on Tuesday were
justified. The public safety director
upheld the recommendation of Police
Chief Thomas Quinlan, who made a
video statement Christmas Eve, saying
he had seen enough to recommend Coy
be terminated.
Quinlan expedited the investigation
and bypassed procedure to file two
departmental charges alleging critical
misconduct against Coy in the death of
Hill. "This is what accountability looks
like. The evidence provided solid
rationale for termination," Quinlan said
after Coy's termination Monday
afternoon. "Mr. Coy will now have to
answer to the state investigators for the
death of Andre Hill." Members of the
local Fraternal Order of Police attended
the hearing on behalf of Coy, who was
not in attendance, according to a
statement from Pettus' office. "Officer
Coy was given the opportunity today to
come and participate," Brian Steel, vice
president of the police union, told
reporters Monday. "He elected not to
participate. I do not know why ... I
would have liked to have him here, but
it's his decision."
Coy and another officer responded to
a neighbor's nonemergency call after 1
a.m. Tuesday about a car in front of his
house in the city's northwest side that
had been running, then shut off, then
turned back on, according to a copy of
the call released Wednesday.
Mayor Andrew Ginther said it remains
unclear if that car had anything to do with
Hill. Police bodycam footage showed Hill
emerging from a garage and holding up a
cellphone in his left hand seconds before
he was fatally shot by Coy. There is no
audio because the officer hadn't activated
the body camera; an automatic "look
back" feature captured the shooting
without audio.
Twenty-three people died in a road accident in central Nigeria on Monday
with 22 others injured, according to local police.
Photo : AP
23 killed in road accident
in central Nigeria
LAGOS : Twenty-three people died in a road
accident in central Nigeria on Monday with
22 others injured, according to local police,
reports BSS.
The accident, which involved a truck,
occurred along the Bokani-Makera road in
the Mokwa local government area of Niger
state in the middle belt region of the country,
according to Adamu Usman, police chief in
the state.
He told reporters in Minna, the state
capital on Monday that the truck loaded with
dozens of cows and 45 persons skidded off
the road and somersaulted into a bush after
the loss of control by the driver.
Usman said the truck was coming from
Dadin Kowa, in the northwest state of
Kebbi state, en route to Lagos, the
country's economic hub when the incident
occurred.
The bodies of the deceased and those
wounded have been transferred to a local
hospital, he said, adding failure of drivers to
obey traffic rules and regulations led to the
tragedy.
Deadly road accidents are frequently
reported in Nigeria due to bad roads,
overloading and reckless drive.
5 killed, 2 injured in
southern Somalia blast
MOGADISHU : At least five people were on Monday evening killed and two others injured in
a blast along the road in Dhobley town in the Lower Juba region in southern Somalia, an
official confirmed on Tuesday.
Mohamed Hassan, governor of Dhobley said that the blast was a landmine planted at the
roadside which hit a vehicle passing by the area, causing casualties.
"Five people who were on the bus died at the scene and two other passersby got injured,"
Hassan said. He added that the blast took place near the town of Taabto, northeast of Dhobley
with witnesses in the area saying they heard a huge blast. "We heard the sound of a big
explosion, people said it caused many casualties," Garad Dhaqane, a witness said.No one
claimed responsibility for the latest incident but al-Qaida allied group al-Shabaab has
conducted similar attacks in the past.
India records
lowest daily
COVID-19
cases in 187
days
NEW DELHI : The daily
new COVID-19 cases in the
country touched a new low
with less than 16,500 new
cases being added to the
national tally after a gap of
187 days, the Union Health
Ministry said on Tuesday.
The daily new cases were
16,922 on June 25.
India's active caseload has
fallen to 2,68,581 as on date.
"The share of active cases
in the total cases has further
compressed to 2.63 per cent
of the cumulative caseload,"
the ministry said.
A net decline of 8,720
cases has been recorded in
the total active cases in a
day, it stated.
With the rising recoveries
and decline in daily new
cases, India's cumulative
recoveries are inching closer
to 1 crore, the ministry said.
The total recovered cases
have crossed 98 lakh
(98,07,569).
The gap between
recoveries and active cases
continues to grow and
presently stands at
95,38,988, it underlined.
A total of 24,900 cases
have recovered in a span of
24 hours. The ministry said
that 77.66 per cent of the
new recovered cases are
observed to be concentrated
in 10 states and UTs.
Maharashtra has reported
the maximum number of
single-day recoveries with
4,501 recoveries. Kerala
follows with 4,172 new
recoveries. Chhattisgarh
recorded another 1,901 daily
recoveries.
South Africa imposes new virus curbs
as WHO warns of worse pandemics
JOHANNESBURG : South Africa banned
alcohol sales and made masks mandatory in
public from Tuesday after a surge in
coronavirus cases, as the World Health
Organization warned that pandemics far
more deadly than Covid-19 may lie ahead.
Nations around the world are struggling
with winter spikes in infections that have
pushed the global caseload close to 81
million, even as the rollout of vaccines
gathers pace in North America and Europe.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
on Monday announced a ban on selling
alcohol and said face masks will be
compulsory in public after his nation became
the first in Africa to record one million cases.
"We have let down our guard, and
unfortunately we are now paying the price,"
said Ramaphosa, blaming "super-spreader"
social events and an "extreme lack of
vigilance over the holiday period" for the
spike. Ramaphosa said data showed
"excessive alcohol consumption" leads to an
increase in trauma cases reported at
hospitals, causing an "unnecessary" strain on
public health facilities.
Surging cases also forced authorities in Rio
de Janeiro - one of Brazil's worst-hit cities -
to announce Monday that they will block
access to beaches on December 31 to prevent
crowds celebrating New Year's Eve.
And in Spain, where the death toll has
topped 50,000, the health minister said the
government would set up a registry of people
who refuse to be vaccinated, and share it
with other European Union member states.
Vaccinations in Spain and other EU
countries started over the weekend, and
authorities fear vaccine hesitancy and
rejection could hamper those efforts -
especially because of misinformation
campaigns on social media.
That was not a concern with 75-year-old
Jacques Collineau, resident of an old
people's home in Joue-les-Tours, France.
"Fear? Fear of what? I've been vaccinated
for the flu before, now it's the same thing,"
Collineau said as he got the shot on Monday.
"We don't make vaccines to kill people, we
make vaccines to try to save them."
South Africa banned alcohol sales and made masks mandatory in public
from Tuesday after a surge in coronavirus cases, as the World Health
Organization warned that pandemics far more deadly than Covid-19 may
lie ahead.
Photo : AP
More England Covid patients in
hospital than at April peak
LONDON : England is "back in the eye"
of the coronavirus storm, health chiefs
warned Tuesday, with as many patients
in hospital as during the initial peak in
April. A new strain of the virus appears
to be behind the recent upsurge in
cases, heaping further pressure on the
state-run National Health Service
during its busiest winter period.
NHS England figures showed there
were 20,426 Covid patients in the
country's hospitals on Monday,
compared to the 18,974 peak recorded
during the first wave.
The number of positive tests
recorded over a 24-hour period also hit
a new high of 41,385 Monday,
according to government figures,
although testing is now much more
extensive.
However, case figures do not include
Scotland and Northern Ireland, which
did not report over the Christmas
period. "Many of us have lost family,
friends, colleagues and - at a time of
year when we would normally be
Belarus starts
coronavirus
vaccination
with Sputnik V
MOSCOW : Belarus on
Tuesday began a vaccination
drive against coronavirus
using the Sputnik V jab,
becoming the first country
outside Russia to use the
vaccine developed by
Moscow.
Belarus, with a population
of around 9.5 million people,
has registered more than
188,000 cases of
coronavirus infections and
nearly 1,400 deaths.
"Today the first vaccine
shipment has arrived in
Belarus," said the Russian
Direct Investment Fund
(RDIF) which financed
Sputnik V, reports BSS.
RDIF spokesman Arseny
Palagin did not say how
many doses had been sent to
Belarus. Belarus Health
Minister Dmitry Pinevich
said health workers and
teachers would be among
the first Belarusians to be
inoculated.
celebrating - a lot of people are
understandably feeling anxious,
frustrated and tired," said NHS
England chief executive Simon Stevens.
"And now again we are back in the
eye of the storm with a second wave of
coronavirus sweeping Europe and,
indeed, this country."
Britain is pinning its hopes on its
mass vaccination programme, with the
Oxford/AstraZeneca jab expected to
receive approval shortly, according to
reports.
"We think that by late spring with
vaccine supplies continuing to come on
stream we will have been able to offer
all vulnerable people across this
country Covid vaccination," said
Stevens. "That perhaps provides the
biggest chink of hope for the year
ahead." Health trusts have been told to
begin planning for the use of
Nightingale field hospitals, the
temporary facilities created during the
first wave that have largely gone
unused. London and southeast
England are currently bearing the
brunt of the outbreak, with paramedics
in the capital saying they are receiving
up to 8,000 emergency calls each day.
London Ambulance Service said
Boxing Day - December 26 - was one of
its "busiest ever days".
A further 357 people testing positive
for the virus were announced on
Monday to have died, bringing the UK
total to 71,109, the second worst toll in
Europe.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has
been under fire for his government's
handling of the pandemic, and is now
under pressure to introduce even more
social restrictions, including school
closures after the Christmas break.
More than 24 million people - 43
percent of England - are already living
under the tightest level of regional
restrictions. The outbreak has hit
Premier League football giants
Manchester City, leading to the
postponement of their game with
Everton on Monday night.
UN chief calls for making 2021 "year
of healing" in New Year message
UNITED NATIONS : United Nations
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on
Monday called on the international
community to make 2021 "a year of healing"
in his video message for the new year.
"Together, let's make peace among
ourselves and with nature, tackle the climate
crisis, stop the spread of COVID-19, and
make 2021 a year of healing," the UN chief
said. "Healing from the impact of a deadly
virus. Healing broken economies and
societies. Healing divisions. And starting to
heal the planet," the secretary-general
added, noting that "that must be our New
Year's Resolution for 2021."
Noting that 2020 has been "a year of trials,
tragedies and tears," Guterres said that
"COVID-19 upended our lives and plunged
the world into suffering and grief."
"So many loved ones have been lost - and
the pandemic rages on, creating new waves
of sickness and death," he said.
The top UN official stressed that "poverty,
inequality and hunger are rising. Jobs are
disappearing and debts are mounting.
Children are struggling. Violence in the
home is increasing, and insecurity is
everywhere."
On a positive note, the UN chief said that
"a New Year lies ahead. And with it, we see
rays of hope."
"People extending a helping hand to
neighbors and strangers; frontline workers
giving their all; scientists developing
vaccines in record time; countries making
new commitments to prevent climate
catastrophe," the secretary-general
elaborated.
"If we work together in unity and
solidarity, these rays of hope can reach
around the world," he said. "That's the lesson
of this most difficult year."
"Both climate change and the COVID-19
pandemic are crises that can only be
addressed by everyone together - as part of a
transition to an inclusive and sustainable
future," Guterres said.
Noting that the central ambition of the
United Nations for 2021 is to build a global
coalition for carbon neutrality - net zero
emissions - by 2050, the UN chief
underscored that "every government, city,
business and individual can play a part in
achieving this vision."