Nanjing Outbreak Spreads to 5 Provinces and Beijing; Most Extensive Contagion after Wuhan

By GT staff reporters

Jul 29, 2021 10:38 PM 

A billboard outside a shopping mall reads "Nanjing, stand strong" on Wednesday as the city in East China's Jiangsu Province is fighting a fresh COVID-19 resurgence, which had infected 159 in the province and spread to at least 10 cities in five provinces (See story on Page 4). Photo: cnsphoto

A new surge of COVID-19 cases starting from an airport of Nanjing, capital city of East China's Jiangsu Province, has spread to five other provinces and Beijing municipality, the most extensive domestic contagion after Wuhan.

Since the first confirmed case of the latest outbreak was detected on July 20 at Nanjing Lukou International Airport, nearly 200 infections have been reported as of Thursday morning. Compared to previous rounds of domestic virus resurgences that were usually limited to one city or a few nearby cities, the Nanjing epidemic occurred at a busy international airport, and trans-regional passengers traveling for long distance soon brought the virus across the country to places including Southwest China's Sichuan and Northeast China's Liaoning, experts noted.

Zhangjiajie, a popular tourist site in Hunan Province and the shooting location of the James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar, is believed to be another key node on the infection chain. Four infected cases who had been to the Lukou airport were found watching a cultural performance with more than 2,000 people in Zhangjiajie on July 22. Beijing reported two confirmed cases who returned from Zhangjiajie on Thursday.

The highly transmissible Delta variant strain also led to the quick spread of the virus nationwide, Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

The unexpected and extensive contagion starting from Nanjing has a strong psychological impact on the public, many of whom have loosened daily protective efforts or are planning their summer vacations, but have to cancel them. 

"It's time for us to detect possible loopholes in our epidemic prevention and control efforts," Wang said, noting even cities that haven't found Nanjing-related infections should stay alert.

Many cities across China have ramped up screening for close contacts and identify residents who have been to Nanjing or other cities where confirmed cases have been found and tightened prevention work. For example, authorities in Handan, North China's Hebei Province, and Hulun Buir in North China's Inner Mongolia have also released epidemiological investigation results of some close contacts of cases confirmed in Nanjing.  

Raising the alarm

The new surge in Nanjing as well as the flare-up in Southwest China's Yunnan Province shared similarities as they were all related to imported cases, which raised the alarm that anti-epidemic work must avoid a lax attitude and management needs to be further strengthened in airports, entry and exit ports and transportation hubs, experts warned. 

Nanjing has been comparatively slow in taking action, but fortunately the city is still in the early stage of the outbreak, Chen Xi, an assistant professor of public health at Yale University, told the Global Times. 

The surge in Nanjing would last longer than the outbreak outside the city, but accelerated screening and epidemiological investigation will help curb virus transmission, Chen said.

The current outbreak in Nanjing is a small one caused by imported cases in the area, which is not on the same level as the pandemic in other countries. The outbreak was detected at an early stage and the measures taken were strong. It is believed that the epidemic will be under control in a short time, Shao Yiming, a leading physician and immunologist from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at an interview during the launch of the Report on the Global Use of COVID-19 Vaccines with Global Times on Thursday.

Experts reached by the Global Times said that the epidemic is still controllable since confirmed cases in other provinces are linked to the source of the outbreak in Nanjing Lukou International Airport. 

Always staying vigilant against virus spread is one of the biggest lessons that people can learn from the latest outbreak in Nanjing, said Zhou Zijun, a professor at Peking University's School of Public Health.

Preventing and controlling the virus with strict measures is routine, especially for those who work at international transport hubs like the Nanjing Lukou airport, where the imported COVID-19 cases were found, Zhou said. 

"Quarantine and regular nucleic acid tests are still necessary, as some people who have been vaccinated only have mild symptoms after being infected, that they don't realize the symptoms in time, or don't take them seriously," Zhou told the Global Times on Thursday.

Facing the current resurgence of the virus, Zhou said the public may need to get a booster shot. "But we should wait for the result of its phase III clinical trials for booster shot takers, to see how effective that will be to us," he added. 

Medical experts previously told the media that most of the cases in Nanjing had been vaccinated. However, the local authority revealed that seven of the cases in Nanjing had been classified as critical, which raised concerns among netizens over the efficacy of vaccines.

Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based expert, told the Global Times that it is still not clear whether these people had been vaccinated, and previous research had proven that vaccines were still the best method of preventing critical cases. 

Shao said that the existing vaccines are still effective for all the variants, while it's protective efficiency to prevent the infection of virus variants may be lower. But there is no big gap on the protection efficiency for severe cases and deaths caused by the coronavirus and its variants.

US Warships’ Taiwan Straits Transit, South China Sea Drill Futile to Contain China: Observers

By Liu Xuanzun

Jul 29, 2021 12:28 PM

Two fighter jets attached to a naval aviation brigade under the PLA Southern Theater Command prepare to take off in alongside formation during a 2-day continuous flight training exercise from February 24 to 25. Multi types of fighter jets participated in the flight training mission which included various offense and defense operations. Photo:China Military Online

A series of provocative moves by the US including sending a warship through the Taiwan Straits and holding a separate exercise in the South China Sea on Wednesday amid US officials' tours to Asia are an attempt to contain China not only politically but also militarily, but the tactic won't succeed because the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) holds unrivaled advantages on its doorsteps, Chinese analysts said on Thursday. 

The PLA Eastern Theater Command organized maritime and aerial forces, tracked and monitored the USS Benfold guided missile destroyer when it made a transit in the Taiwan Straits on Wednesday, Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson of the command, said in a statement released on Thursday.

It marked the seventh time a US warship has transited the Taiwan Straits this year, observers said.

Its repeated provocations show that the US is the biggest disruptor of peace and stability as well as creator of security risks in the Taiwan Straits, Shi said.

Troops of the PLA Eastern Theater Command stand ready to deal with all kinds of threats and provocations, and are determined, confident and capable of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the spokesperson said.

Also on Wednesday, the littoral combat ship USS Tulsa, the guided missile destroyer USS Kidd and an explosive disposal detachment formed a surface action group in the South China Sea, according to a statement the US 7th Fleet released on its website on the day.

This is the first time a US littoral combat ship and destroyer have joined to form a surface task group, supplemented by navy expeditionary forces, the 7th Fleet said, noting that this could expand capabilities that enable the fleet commander to execute a full spectrum of maritime and theater littoral warfare operations, on, above and below the water.

The US warships' movements came shortly after US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's visit to China on Monday and amid tours by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin to India and Southeast Asia since Tuesday.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday that the US is attempting to contain China's power in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in terms of military, as it is determined to maintain its military hegemony and political influence.

A UK aircraft carrier task force led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier entered the South China Sea earlier this week and was lurking around the region on Wednesday, according to the monitoring of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Beijing-based think tank.

The US warships are encouraging the UK vessels to provoke China in similar ways and gang up with the US in confronting China, Song said.

But despite the muscle-flexing of the US military and its allies, the PLA is the stronger force on China's doorsteps thanks to comprehensive factors including not only troops, but also the systematic combat capabilities and logistics support, Song said.

The PLA has been preparing for this, and the advantage is on the Chinese side, Song said.

China is holding multiple military exercises in sea areas including the Bohai Strait, the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea this week, according to navigational restriction notices released by the Maritime Safety Administration of China.

US Will be Disappointed Forcing SE Asian Countries to Get on its Anti-China Chariot

By Mu Lu

Jul 29, 2021 08:13 PM

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wrapped up his two-day visit to Hanoi on Thursday. He wrote several tweets without mentioning China. Although this doesn't mean Austin didn't talk about China in his meetings with Vietnam leaders, it still shows the US hasn't gotten what it desires from Hanoi. It is also a public show of Hanoi's opposition to taking sides.

The US seems to be obsessed with being two-faced. It has on one hand launched a comprehensive smear against China, using confrontational measures such as unreasonable sanctions to provoke China. On the other, it emphasized that it does not "seek confrontation" but is "committed to pursuing a constructive, stable relationship with China." 

Such hypocrisy cannot hide the most virulent geopolitical goals of the US' China policies. The Biden administration recently began to attach importance to Southeast Asia, after the US had snubbed the region for a long time. Clearly, the US is now seriously thinking about how to make full use of this "ideal tool" to contain China. 

Southeast Asian countries, especially Vietnam, due to their divergence with China over the South China Sea, are viewed by the US as a good leverage against China.

However, relations between China and Vietnam are generally sound. Hanoi views Beijing as an important partner, so in spite of Washington's lure, Hanoi will keep a distance from Washington. Vietnam is reluctant to provoke China. 

Every time the US talks with Southeast Asian countries, it tries to create waves in the South China Sea. Austin's visit is no exception. By doing so, the US aims to portray itself as the guardian of regional security and regional countries' interests. 

"The US says it does not want Southeast Asian countries to take sides, but it is asking other countries to side with it to jointly contain China. Vietnam is clear about such intent, and it knows better than any other regional countries the risk of being involved in the campaign," Li Kaisheng, a research fellow and deputy director at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Austin said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies on Tuesday when he was in Singapore, "Beijing's claim to the vast majority of the South China Sea has no basis in international law. That assertion treads on the sovereignty of states in the region."

Such a gesture is welcomed by Hanoi, but this won't make Vietnam to take sides. "Indeed, Vietnam will possibly cooperate with the US to support its claims over the South China Sea. But due to the two countries' various contradictions, Hanoi is unlikely to ride with Washington," Li said.

After Austin's visit to Vietnam, US Vice President Kamala Harris could also visit the country in August. This reflects the increase in weight of Southeast Asia in the US' strategy to contain China. The US knows it cannot realize its goals in a single visit. So a high density of visits also shows the US' strategy to gradually woo Southeast Asian countries. 

Nonetheless, the Biden administration's Southeast Asia policy fundamentally serves US strategic competition with China, rather than based on the specific conditions of the region. Such being the case, Washington will never really care about Southeast Asia. Regional countries including Vietnam are aware of this and won't blindly follow the US. 

If the US continues to stir up the South China Sea issue and add fuel to the fire, forcing Southeast Asia to get on its chariot against China, it may be disappointed no matter how hard the US manipulates.

Visit to Friendship Tower in DPRK

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, on July 28 visited the Friendship Tower on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the great victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.

Accompanying him were Jo Yong Won, Ri Il Hwan, Jong Sang Hak, Ri Pyong Chol, Pak Jong Chon, Kwon Yong Jin and Ri Yong Gil.

Amid the playing of the wreath-laying music, a wreath in the name of the respected General Secretary Kim Jong Un was laid before the tower.

The ribbon of the wreath bore letters reading "We pay noble respect in the name of all the Korean people. On behalf of the Korean people, Kim Jong Un."

The respected General Secretary paid tributes to the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers who joined the Korean people in the Fatherland Liberation War for repelling the imperialists' invasion and dedicated their valuable lives.

There was a march-past of the guard of honour of the Korean People's Army.

The General Secretary looked round the tower together with the officials who accompanied him.

He said that remaining fresh in the history of the great victory in the war and in the memory of our people are the true militant friendship and matchless sacrificing spirit displayed by officers and men of the CPV who fought shoulder to shoulder with the KPA during the harsh days of the war under the uplifted banner of resisting America and aiding Korea, safeguarding the home and defending the motherland.

The noble soul and exploits of the Chinese people who aided the sacred historic struggle of the Korean people at the cost of their blood when the DPRK was undergoing the harshest and most difficult trials will remain immortal along with prospering socialist Korea, he said, stressing that the DPRK-China friendship forged as kindred ties will be firmly carried forward generation after generation on the road for the common cause.

KCNA

2021-07-29

DPRK: A Woman Revolutionary Who Lives in the Memory of the Country

75 years have passed since the proclamation of the Law on Sex Equality. Over the period, a dramatic change has taken place in the position of the Korean women.

The career of Kim Rak Hui, a former honorary councillor of the Cabinet of the DPRK, eloquently speaks of this fact.

A plowwoman hero

Kim Rak Hui was born as the second daughter into a poor slash-and-burn farmer in a remote mountain village in Kaechon, South Phyongan Province when Korea was under the Japanese military rule. From the first day of her birth, she was fated to suffer from the poverty-stricken circumstances of her family and the shackles of feudalism.

After President Kim Il Sung liberated Korea (August 1945) by launching the anti-Japanese armed struggle, she could lead a genuine life as a human being. In the liberated country Korean women exercised legitimate, equal rights with men and farmers became the owners of land. She learned how to read and write the Korean alphabets and did farming diligently, enjoying the pleasure of life.

When the Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-July 1953) was at its height, a national conference of farmer activists was held in Pyongyang in January Juche 41 (1952). The 19-year-old girl took part in the conference for her meritorious services performed in the campaign to increase wartime grain production.

At that time, women had to defend the rear in place of men fighting on the front. She took the initiative in the plowwoman movement, cultivating fields by camouflaging the back of ox with green leaves even in the teeth of heavy bombings of enemy planes. Her painstaking efforts brought about unprecedented bumper crops. She contributed 29 straw bags of rice to the country, a patriotic deed winning admiration from all people.

During the break of the conference, Kim Il Sung met the girl and spoke highly of her as she demonstrated the indomitable mettle of the Korean people who were unafraid of any hardships. He said with confidence that we could surely win in the war as such brave women like her were defending the rear. That year, she boosted crop yields by forming ox-sharing and labour-aid teams and donated once again lots of grains as contributions to the front.

From October 1953, she worked as the management board chairwoman of the then Ponghwa Agricultural Cooperative in Kaechon County and overfulfilled the state plan by producing lots of grains every year.

In the spring of 1954, the year after the ceasefire, she was selected as the one and only farmer and woman delegate of a DPRK’s delegation for a foreign tour.

In April 1958, she was awarded the title of Labour Hero at the age of 25.

A model woman revolutionary

Kim Rak Hui was appointed as the chairwoman of the Jagang Provincial Rural Economy Committee in the early 1970s when socialist construction went full steam ahead in the country.

With a view to lessening the burden of the President who kept visiting farms across the country to provide people with affluent life, come rain or shine, irrespective of holidays and days off, she devoted herself to increasing agricultural production of the country.

On day in the new century, Chairman Kim Jong Il spoke highly of her good track records and said to the officials: Though she is old now, she works as an advisory chairwoman of the provincial rural economy committee, faithfully upholding the leadership of the Party with a determination to die at her post.

From May Juche 94 (2005), she started to work as the chief secretary of the South Hwanghae Provincial Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. When he was reported that she was working hard to live up to the Party’s trust, the Chairman said she remained faithful in support of the Party’s leadership as one of women officials promoted by Kim Il Sung and that she was a model woman revolutionary of our era.

She was elected a deputy to the Supreme People’s Assembly several times from 1957.

She was awarded Order of Kim Il Sung and Order of Kim Jong Il.

An everlasting life

Kim Rak Hui worked as a vice-premier of the Cabinet at the great age of 70. She worked hard with an awareness that she should do farming well to render services to solving the food problem for the people.

She worked devotedly to solve urgent problems for farming, sometimes taking manure in her hands to smell it and sometimes driving her car hundreds of miles overnight. Her image still remains etched in the memory of people.

The State took all measures for her to receive medical treatment in a hospital and work as an honorary councillor of the Cabinet.

One February day in Juche 102 (2013), she called her eldest daughter-in-law to wear a wrist watch bearing the august name of President Kim Il Sung, and said:

I earnestly ask you to bring up your children to be loyalists who remain firm in their support of the country like this gold wrist watch which stays unchanged in colour and keeps good time.

It was a legacy she left during her lifetime.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, in his opening address at the Seventh Congress of the WPK held in May Juche 105 (2016), called one by one the names of the revolutionary comrades who had passed away after rendering brilliant services to the country and the people during the period under review, and proposed to observe a minute’s silence in memory of them.

Among them was Kim Rak Hui of an ordinary peasant origin who had supported the Party with grain production throughout her life.

2021-07-29 

 DPRK V-Day Celebrated

The Korean people significantly celebrated the 68th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War.

People from all walks of life visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the supreme sanctuary of Juche where the great leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are preserved in their lifetime appearance, and made a deep bow before the portraits of their smiling images in the plaza.

Service personnel of the Korean People’s Army and people visited the revolutionary sites associated with the history of the immortal leadership of Kim Il Sung who led the war to victory.

People and youth and students in different parts of the country visited the statues and cemeteries of martyrs, memorial towers and cemeteries of the fallen soldiers of the KPA, and paid tribute to the victors of the great years.

Colourful celebration performances were given in the capital city of Pyongyang and other localities.

The Mansudae Art Troupe gave a music and dance performance at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, and the National Symphony Orchestra, a concert at the Moranbong Theatre.

The National Folk Art Troupe gave a music and dance performance.

A revolutionary drama “Blood at an International Conference” was given at the National Theatre and a combined acrobatic performance, at the Pyongyang Circus Theatre.

Artistes of the Phibada Opera Troupe, National Theatrical Troupe, National Folk Art Troupe and National Acrobatic Troupe gave performances in front of the Pyongyang Grand Theatre and the Three-Revolution Exhibition House, adding to the festive atmosphere.

Members of women’s union art squads and mobile artistic motivational teams from several units gave outdoor performances in different places of the city.

Art groups of university students gave a performance “July 27, Eternal Victory” at the Central Youth Hall.

Members of provincial art troupes and artistic motivational teams gave performances in celebration of V-Day in different parts of the country.

Many working people and youth and students visited the families of war veterans to congratulate them.

2021-07-28

Receptions Given in Honour of Participants in 7th National Conference of War Veterans

Receptions were given in honour of the participants in the Seventh National Conference of War Veterans at the People’s Palace of Culture, Okryu Restaurant, Chongnyu Restaurant, Pyongyang Noodle House, etc., on July 27.

Present there were Choe Ryong Hae and Kim Tok Hun, members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and other senior officials of the Party and the government, together with the war veterans.

Speeches were made there.

Speakers said that the exploits performed by the victorious wartime generation are shining more brilliantly under the loving care of the respected General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the WPK who exerts efforts to respect, value and give prominence to the war veterans and bestow greater glory and happiness on them.

Noting that the war veterans’ long life in good health would be a great encouragement to the Party and the country, they stressed that the people would steadily carry forward the noble spirit and tradition of victory created by them.

The participants toasted the good health of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, the great victory of our ideology and cause which the victorious wartime generation defended at the cost of their blood, and the war veterans’ long life in good health and their happiness.

2021-07-28

Performance Given for Participants in 7th National Conference of War Veterans

A performance for the participants in the 7th National Conference of War Veterans was given at the People’s Theatre on July 26.

Among the audience were Choe Ryong Hae and Kim Tok Hun, members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and other leading officials of the WPK and the DPRK government.

The performance was given by the artistes of the State Merited Chorus and the central art troupes.

The performance started with the national anthem of the DPRK and a prelude “Our Victory-Day July 27”. Put on the stage were wartime and other famous songs.

The entertainers sang in high praise of the immortal revolutionary exploits of the peerlessly great men who created the military miracles of the 20th century in the anti-imperialist revolutionary wars and glorify the ever-victorious tradition from one decade to the next and from one century to the next.

The performance reached its climax when the orchestral music and male chorus “Let Us Support Our Supreme Commander with Arms” and “Our Revolutionary Armed Forces Support Only the Marshal’s Leadership” were put on the stage, paying the highest tribute to the great Party Central Committee which has ushered in the dignified our-state-first era and built up the absolute power of socialist Korea to such an extent which no one can belittle it.

The performance ended with the finale “Festival of the Great War Victory”, “Honour to the Victors in the Great Years” and “Our Victory-Day July 27”.

2021-07-27

Nigerian Court Frees El-Zakzaky, Wife - Says They Have No Case to Answer

Daily Trust

Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria

28 JULY 2021

Premium Times (Abuja)

By Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu

The judge, Gideon Kurada, upheld the no-case submission filed by Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife.

A Kaduna State High Court has freed the embattled leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife Zinatu.

In a ruling that lasted over eight hours, on Wednesday, the judge, Gideon Kurada, upheld the no-case submission filed by Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife.

The ruling was delivered behind closed doors and journalists were not allowed inside the courtroom.

One of the cleric's lawyers told reporters that the court set Mr El-Zakzaky free.

The couple have been standing trial in the court for the past four years on an eight-count charge of culpable homicide, disruption of public peace and unlawful assembly among others levelled against them by the Kaduna State Government.

The government accused them of being responsible for the death of a soldier when soldiers massacred over 300 protesting Shiites in December 2015.

South Africa 'Appalled' By AU's Decision to Give Israel Observer Status

28 JULY 2021

SAnews.gov.za (Tshwane)

The South African government says it is "appalled" at the unjust and unwarranted decision of the African Union Commission (AUC) to grant Israel observer status in the African Union (AU).

"The African Union Commission has taken this decision unilaterally without consultations with its members. 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 Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) statement read on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the department said the AU "strenuously" objected to the deaths of Palestinians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.

"The decision by the AU Commission in this context is inexplicable."

According to reports, Israel on Thursday obtained observer status at the AU, which it has been demanding for years and seen as a diplomatic win for the Jewish State.

Israel, which has relations with 46 of the AU member States, enjoyed observer status with the Organisation of African Unity until 2002 when the organisation dissolved itself and became the AU.

The department believes that 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."

South Africa said Israel continues to illegally occupy Palestine in complete defiance of its international obligations and relevant United Nations (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."

Meanwhile, the South African government said it will ask the Chairperson of the Commission to provide a briefing to all member States on this decision which the department said 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 African Union. The African Union 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," the department added.

Read the original article on SAnews.gov.za.

African Union Commission Chairperson Reiterates Two State Solution for Palestine and Israel in Meeting With Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ethiopia

Peter Luhanga/GroundUp

South African demonstrators march to Parliament to protest against Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip during May, 2021.

22 JULY 2021

African Union (Addis Ababa)

PRESS RELEASE

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat today received credentials from H.E. Aleli Admasu, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ethiopia, Burundi & Chad during which the long-standing issue of the Palestine-Israeli conflict was also discussed.

The Chairperson stated that the conflict between the State of Palestine and Israel has been a cause of great concern for over seventy years with various regional and international actors having participated in the search for a peace between the two nations; and noted that a lasting solution was required to ensure the co-existence of both nations and to allow their people to live in a state of peace and stability. He emphasised that the path towards long lasting peace and stability requires that the peace process and the solutions sought must not only be acceptable, but must guarantee the rights of all parties

The Chairperson reiterated that in the almost sixty-year history of Africa's continental organisation, from its formation as the Organization of African Unity and re-launch as the African Union, the Union has been very clear on it position that in the issue of Palestine and Israel, a Two-State Solution is necessary for a peaceful co-existence.

On his part the, Ambassador Admasu welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Chairperson of the AU Commission as it marked the beginning of a new phase in building Israel's relationship with the region at a continental level. He noted that whereas Israel has bilateral relationships with several African countries, the engagement with African states through the African Union was key towards building the multilateralism that is required for promoting continental initiatives earmarked under Africa's Agenda 2063. He commended the African Union for the role it plays in promoting Africa's peace and security agenda and advocating for conflicting parties to engage in discussions and partnerships that will promote a stable environment free from conflict.

Ambassador Admasu extended an invitation from the State of Israel to the Chairperson of the AUC to visit the country noting that the State of Israel would welcome the opportunity host a meeting between the Chairperson and its leaders.

Botswana Sends Troops to Help Mozambique Fight Insurgency

By ANDREW MELDRUM and TOM BOWKER

July 26, 2021

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Botswana sent military troops to Mozambique on Monday, becoming the first country of the 16-nation Southern African Development Community to dispatch soldiers to help battle an Islamic extremist insurgency in northern Cabo Delgado province.

Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, said the troops would work with Mozambique’s armed forces and soldiers sent by other members of the regional bloc, known as SADC, to put down the insurgency in which more than 3,000 people have died since 2017..

Botswana’s troops will join 1,000 soldiers who arrived in Mozambique earlier this month from Rwanda, which is not an SADC member. The Rwandan troops reported to already be in action; local news site Carta de Moçambique said they had killed 30 insurgents last week.

The SADC mission in Mozambique will be led by South African Maj. Gen. Xolani Mankayi, who is in Mozambique as part of an advance deployment.

More troops are expected from other SADC member countries, including Tanzania and Angola, local newssheet Mediafax reported Monday, citing Mozambique’s defense ministry.

The regional body last month approved a $12 million budget for the deployment of the Standby Force Mission for Mozambique. Earlier this year, military experts from the group recommended that the SADC send about 3,000 soldiers with arms, helicopters, airplanes, and naval ships.

The World Food Program has warned of a growing hunger crisis, saying nearly 1 million people need food aid as a result of the conflict.

The insurgency in northern Mozambique started in Cabo Delgado province in 2017 and has grown rapidly in the past year. The rebels have held the port of Mocimboa da Praia for nearly a year and have repeatedly attacked the strategic center of Palma, forcing the French energy firm Total to suspend its $20 billion liquified natural gas project there.

The United States sent 12 special forces officers to help train Mozambique’s military. The European Union has approved sending a military training mission to build on a program provided by Portugal, according to a recent report by Cabo Ligado, which reports on the conflict with the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project.

A private military contractor, Dyck Advisory Group, provided helicopter air support to Mozambique’s police, but its contract expired at the start of April and was not renewed.

___

Bowker reported from Belgrade, Serbia.

UN Says Its Food Aid Runs Out This Week in Ethiopia’s Tigray

July 27, 2021

A man gestures as youth joining the Defense Forces gather, at Meskel Square, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tuesday, July 27 2021. A repatriation program is underway for young people from Ethiopia who have decided to join the Defense Forces. (AP Photo)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The head of the United Nations World Food Program says the agency will “run out of food” in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region on Friday, while hundreds of thousands of people there face the world’s worst famine crisis in a decade.

Some 170 trucks with food and other supplies are “stuck” in the neighboring Afar region and “must be allowed to move NOW,” David Beasley tweeted on Tuesday, noting that 100 such trucks are needed per day in Tigray. “People are starving.”

International pressure is again rising on Ethiopia’s government to allow badly needed food and other supplies into Tigray, where aid hasn’t reached some communities since the war started in November between Ethiopia’s military and Tigray forces. The Associated Press has reported that scores of people have begun to starve to death.

Shortly after the WFP chief’s statement, Ethiopia’s government blamed the aid delivery problem on Tigray forces’ “provocations” in the Afar region, which the U.N. says has the only remaining road route into Tigray. But a WFP convoy trying to use that route was attacked on July 18, and insecurity remains a challenge.

Ethiopia’s government in June declared a unilateral cease-fire, saying it was in part on humanitarian grounds, while its forces retreated from Tigray and Tigray forces retook the regional capital and many other areas. Calling the cease-fire a “sick joke,” the Tigray forces vowed to secure the region and chase “enemies” over its borders if needed.

“Our forces are advancing in every direction and no one is going to stop them, not even rain,” spokesman Getachew Reda with the Tigray forces tweeted on Tuesday.

Since the cease-fire, Ethiopia’s government has prepared for a renewed offensive in Tigray, with public rallies and recruiting drives. Some 3,000 youths gathered on Tuesday in the capital, Addis Ababa, to enlist in the military and denounce Tigray’s former ruling party, which once dominated Ethiopia’s government but this year was declared a terrorist group.

“Our recruits shall bury the enemy and make sure Ethiopia’s sovereignty is respected,” Defense Minister Kenea Yadeta said.

Tigray’s civilians are caught in the middle, largely cut off from the outside world as communications links in the region remain down and supplies run low. Thousands have been killed in the conflict, and even outside the region witnesses say thousands have been detained because of their ethnicity.

Tunisia Islamist Party Counters President Kais Saied

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA and ELAINE GANLEY

July 27, 2021

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The leader of Tunisia’s Islamist party and speaker of parliament said Tuesday that his party is working to form a “national front” to counter President Kais Saied’s decision to suspend the legislature, fire top government officials and take control of the fragile democracy amid the country’s multi-layered crisis.

Ennahdha party head Rachid Ghannouchi told The Associated Press in a video call that the goal is to pressure the president “to demand the return to a democratic system.”

Ghannouchi claimed that groups that attacked his party’s offices in several cities during nationwide demonstrations leading up to the president’s actions Sunday night organized online and were the same that later celebrated the president’s actions in the streets of Tunis, the capital.

The groups “are closer to anarchist groups,” and “attribute themselves” to the president, he alleged, rejecting the suggestion that they may be citizens expressing discontent with the nation’s largest party.

Widespread concern in Tunisia and abroad has been voiced since the series of decisions by Saied to halt political life and most government action with the sudden firing of the prime minister, the defense and justice ministers and the freezing of parliament.

Ghannouchi and others were locked out of parliament on Monday.

More than a half-dozen civil organizations, including the powerful Tunisian General Labor Union, issued a joint statement Tuesday asking Saied for a road map of fixes to the country’s problems. They also warned against “any illegitimate and unjustified extension of the suspension of the activities of state institutions,” and said a one-month deadline in the Tunisian Constitution must be respected.

The president invoked a constitutional article that allows him to assume executive power in cases of “imminent danger threatening the institutions of the nation and the independence of the country and hindering the regular functioning of the public powers.”

Saied was formerly a constitutional law professor and has stressed that he wasn’t acting outside the constitution.

Ghannouchi reiterated his statement that the moves amount to a coup, “and we have called on the president to reverse these announcements and return to the constitutional democratic order of the state.”

In a pressure tactic, the Ennahdha leader said his party and other parliamentary blocs are organizing.

“We are moving toward escalating pressure on the president, of course peacefully … to demand the return to a democratic system and respecting the will of the Tunisian people,” he said. Among pressure tactics, he cited plans for protests and sit-ins.

“We are seeking to work, not as separate parties, but as a national front building the broadest possible front in order to eventually convince the president to submit to the will of the people and return to the democratic order,” Ghannouchi said.

He added that parliamentary work would continue despite the presidential freeze via digital methods, a means formally approved earlier because of the pandemic.

Saied’s decisions to at least temporarily centralize decision-making and most state functions comes amid a crescendo of crises in Tunisia, battling coronavirus infections that are ravaging the nation and growing social and economic woes.

Tunisia, which ignited the Arab Spring in 2011 when protests led to the overthrow of its longtime autocratic leader, is often regarded as the only success story of those uprisings. But democracy didn’t bring prosperity. Tunisia’s economy was already flailing before the pandemic hit, with 18% unemployment, and young people demanding jobs and an end to police brutality protested in large numbers earlier this year.

These crises need to be addressed, “rather than seek to create other problems or to create ideological conflicts,” Ghannouchi said, adding that everyone must work to prevent Tunisia “from being dragged into violence.”

He conceded that Ennahdha, which has been accused of focusing on its internal concerns instead of managing the coronavirus, “needs to review itself, as do other parties.”

Ennahdha, with its high political profile, is a perfect target to blame for Tunisia’s economic and other problems, Ghannouchi maintained.

“And they succeeded at some of their objectives in inciting hatred against Ennahda,” he said.

The Islamist leader hastened to add, “However, it is through elections the popularity of parties is measured,” and Ennahdha remains the largest.

But all parties “must come together … to save Tunisia and not this or that party,” Ghannouchi said.

The 80-year-old Ghannouchi, a co-founder of Ennahdha, also said that he wouldn’t seek a new term as its president at a party congress later this year.

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Elaine Ganley reported from Paris.

Tunisia Opens Corruption Probes of Leading Islamist Party

FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2019 file photo, Islamist party leader and parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi speaks during a meeting in Tunis, Tunisia. Rached Ghannouchi said on Tuesday July 27, 2021, that his party is working to form a "national front" to counter President Kais Saied's decision to suspend the legislature, fire top government officials and take control of the fragile democracy amid the country's multi-layered crisis. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi, File)

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian prosecutors have opened investigations into alleged foreign campaign funding and anonymous donations to Islamist movement Ennahdha and two other political parties, according to local media.

Ennahdha is the dominant party in parliament, whose activities were suspended this week by President Kais Saied. Tunisia’s leader also fired the prime minister and key Cabinet members, saying it was necessary to stabilize a country in economic and health crisis. But Ennahdha and other critics accused him of overstepping his power and threatening Tunisia’s young democracy.

The spokesperson for the financial prosecutor’s office, Mohsen Daly, said Wednesday on Mosaique FM radio that the investigations were opened in mid-July.

He also announced investigations were opened earlier this month into the country’s national anti-corruption agency — suspected itself of corruption — and into Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission created to confront abuses during Tunisia’s decades of autocratic rule.

Calm prevailed in Tunis, the capital, four days after nationwide protests that ended with the president’s decision to centralize power in his hands “until social peace returns to Tunisia and until we save the state.” The following day, on Monday, security forces raided the Tunis offices of Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite news network and shut it down.

The Cairo bureau chief for the New York Times tweeted Wednesday that she and her team reporting in Tunis were detained for two hours by police. “We’re continuing to report in Tunis,” Vivian Yee tweeted. She provided no details.

Ennahdha’s leader, who is the speaker of parliament, said Tuesday that his party is a perfect target to blame for Tunisia’s crescendo of economic, health and other problems. Coronavirus infections are notably ravaging the country, aggravating public anger.

Rachid Ghannouchi told The Associated Press that his party is working to form a “national front” to counter Saied’s decision to suspend the legislature, to pressure the president “to demand the return to a democratic system.”

He conceded that Ennahdha, which has been accused of focusing on its internal concerns instead of managing the coronavirus, “needs to review itself, as do other parties.”

Tunisia, which ignited the Arab Spring a decade ago when protests led to the overthrow of its longtime autocratic leader, is often regarded as the only success story of those uprisings. But democracy didn’t bring prosperity.

Reactions in Tunis were mixed to Saied’s decisions, with some hoping they bring stability and others worried he seized too much power.

Omar Oudherni, retired army brigadier and security expert, said the president’s moves, coming after a day of nationwide protests, “put an end to the development of anger ... This decision calmed the situation and protected the state and citizens, and even the ruling political parties, from the people’s wrath.”

He played down concerns of a return to authoritarianism.

“The Tunisian people will not be silent on any tyrant,” and will resist if the president goes too far, he said. “Doing what is good will receive support, and if he wants dictatorship, the people will sweep it up as they swept others.”

In Breakthrough, Tanzania Kicks off COVID-19 Vaccinations

By CARA ANNA

A nurse vaccinates Tanzaian President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Dodoma, Tanzania, Wednesday, July 28 2021. In a major breakthrough for one of the world's last countries to embrace COVID-19 vaccines, Tanzania's president has kicked off her nation's vaccination campaign by publicly receiving a dose and urging others to do the same. (AP Photo/Domasa Sylivester)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In a major breakthrough for one of the world’s last countries to embrace COVID-19 vaccines, Tanzania’s president kicked off its vaccination campaign Wednesday by publicly receiving a dose and urging others to do the same. But she immediately met some hesitation in one of Africa’s most populous nations.

The East African country’s government under former President John Magufuli had long worried health officials by denying the pandemic. Magufuli, who insisted the coronavirus could be defeated with prayer, died in March. The presidency went to his deputy, Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has since changed Tanzania’s course on COVID-19.

Hassan, who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, expressed confidence in the safety of vaccines and said the country of more than 58 million people will pursue more. The United States on Saturday announced the delivery of more than 1 million doses via the COVAX global initiative aimed at supplying low- and middle-income countries.

Now the Tanzanian government’s challenge is to reverse the skepticism the previous administration promoted about COVID-19 vaccines. “Why don’t we consider our traditional solutions? Why do we have to use foreign medicine? Is there something that is hidden here?” asked one resident of commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Kelvin Mmari, who said Wednesday he’s not willing to be vaccinated.

Tanzania’s president stressed that the vaccine is voluntary, and other citizens welcomed the arrival of doses. “The action by the president to take a new direction in the battle against the coronavirus has brought relief to Tanzanians,” said Dar es Salaam resident Hawa Bihoga.

Tanzania went well over a year without updating its number of confirmed virus cases but has now resumed reporting the data to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which showed 858 cases in the country as of Wednesday.

Critics of Tanzania’s past stance on COVID-19, however, have long warned that many more people have been infected.

The country is trying to catch up as many parts of the African continent face a devastating resurgence of infections. “We are making efforts to ensure that we import more vaccines to meet the demand,” Hassan said.

Tanzania’s president has even pledged to invest in vaccine manufacturing, according to the Africa CDC; the agency’s director, John Nkengasong, met with Hassan on Tuesday. African countries, hit hard by so-called vaccine nationalism as rich nations prioritize doses for their own citizens, are embracing the need to have more control over vaccine production.

Just two African countries still have yet to start COVID-19 vaccinations, Burundi and Eritrea. Burundi, whose late President Pierre Nkurunziza also had been criticized for downplaying the pandemic, has said vaccines aren’t needed yet. And Eritrea has long been criticized by human rights groups as one of the world’s most closed-off, repressive countries.

EXPLAINER: Why Masks Are Again Advised for Everyone Indoors

By MIKE STOBBE

FILE - A student wears a face mask while doing work at his desk at the Post Road Elementary School, in White Plains, N.Y., in this Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, file photo. U.S. health officials say the highly contagious delta version of the coronavirus is behind changes to mask guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week announced that fully vaccinated people should resume wearing masks indoors if they live in areas where the virus is surging. CDC officials said new information about the spread of the delta variant forced them to reverse course. The agency also said teachers and students everywhere should go back to wearing masks in schools. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, FIle)

NEW YORK (AP) — Wait, we’re supposed to wear masks again? Even if we are vaccinated?

For a large part of the U.S., that’s the latest advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC this week revisited and revised its guidance for wearing masks indoors to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The change comes two months after the agency eased its mask advice, declaring that fully vaccinated people no longer had to cover up at indoor public places. Since then, the agency also said vaccinated adults and teens no longer needed to wear them at summer camps and schools.

A look at the latest developments:

WHAT CHANGED?

CDC officials announced that people who are fully vaccinated should resume wearing masks indoors if they live in areas where the virus is surging — which is most of the country, or more than 60% of U.S. counties. Masks generally aren’t needed outdoors.

The agency also said everyone — teachers and students — should go back to wearing masks in schools, whether the virus is surging in your community or not.

The CDC wasn’t the first to call for the return of masks. In recent weeks, a number of cities and towns in hot spots have brought back indoor mask rules. The list includes municipalities ranging in size from Los Angeles to Provincetown, Massachusetts. More places, as well as businesses, took steps to join the list after Tuesday’s CDC announcement, including Kansas City and the state of Nevada.

WHY THE CHANGE?

It’s all because of the highly contagious delta version of the virus, the CDC said. That variant is driving surges of COVID-19 in much of the country and now accounts for more than 80% of infections. CDC officials said new information about its spread forced them to reverse course.

The vast majority of new infections in the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. Rarely, some vaccinated people do end up getting infected as well, although the vaccine cushions the blow and generally protects them from severe illness.

Previously, vaccinated people with “breakthrough infections” had low levels of virus and were unlikely to spread the virus much, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. But new data shows that isn’t the case with the delta variant. Vaccinated people “have the potential to spread that virus to others,” she said.

WHAT DIDN’T CHANGE?

The guidance for anyone who hadn’t gotten a COVID-19 vaccine stays the same: Masks are recommended indoors, pretty much everywhere.

Everyone — regardless of vaccination or location — should wear a mask while at airports or train stations, or while riding buses, trains or other public transportation.

Hospitals, stores and businesses may require masks, too.

The CDC did not explicitly change its guidance for summer camps, mostly because the season is ending and schools are opening soon.

WHERE ARE THE HOT SPOTS?

The new guidance is for areas with substantial or high virus spread, as shown on a CDC map. That means at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week.

New case rates are particularly high in the South and Southwest, according to the CDC tracker. In Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, every county exceeds the CDC benchmark. And rates are high in all but a few counties in Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. 

New CDC Guidelines Set off Rush to Reimpose Mask Mandates

By PHILIP MARCELO

New guidance from the federal government set off a cascade of mask rules across the nation Wednesday as cities, states, schools and businesses raced to restore mandates and others pushed back against the guidelines at a time when Americans are exhausted and confused over constantly shifting pandemic measures.

Nevada and Kansas City, Missouri, were among the locations that moved swiftly to re-impose indoor mask requirements following Tuesday’s announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But governors in Arizona, Pennsylvania and South Carolina said they would resist reversing course.

The federal recommendations quickly plunged Americans into another emotionally charged debate over the face coverings meant to curb easy transmission of the deadly coronavirus.

In Florida, a Broward County School Board meeting devolved into a screaming match between irate parents and board members on Tuesday. Some protesters even took to burning face masks outside the building.

In suburban Atlanta, Jamie Reinhold said she would pull her kids from school if the district stuck to the CDC’s guidance, which the 52-year-old believes takes the country “backward” and damages confidence in the vaccines.

“If you believe in the masks, go ahead, but don’t try to tell me what to do for my child’s health and safety and immune system,” she said. “It’s my child. It’s my choice.”

And in New Orleans, Lisa Beaudean said she was not convinced mask mandates would inspire the unvaccinated — who account for most new infections — to take the virus seriously and get inoculated.

“I’m very frustrated,” the St. Louis woman said as she strolled the French Quarter without a mask. “For the last 18 months, I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do, and there are no repercussions for those who haven’t done what they’re supposed to do.”

Elsewhere, Ford Motor Co. said it would reinstate mask protocols for all employees and visitors at its Missouri and Florida facilities. The two states are among the hardest hit by the summer surge in which the U.S. is now averaging more than 60,000 new cases a day, driven by the highly contagious delta variant.

Google also postponed a planned Sept. 1 return to the office for most of its more than 130,000 employees until mid-October, following a similar move by Apple. Google said Wednesday that it will also eventually require everyone on staff to be vaccinated, a mandate that President Joe Biden said he’s also weighing for federal employees.

Other government leaders, meanwhile, said they will hold off reinstating mask rules for now.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said he’s not considering imposing a mask mandate in schools or statewide, arguing that such orders were necessary before there was a vaccine.

“People have the ability to make the decision to get a vaccine,” the Democrat told a Pittsburgh radio station Tuesday. “If they do, that’s the protection.”

The CDC’s new guidance applies to places with at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week, which is roughly 60% of all U.S. counties, federal officials said. Nearly all of the South and Southwest is subject to the guidance, but most communities in the Northeast — with the exception of major metro areas like New York City and Boston — are exempt for now, according to the CDC’s COVID tracker.

The stark partisan divide over mask wearing set up the potential for a patchwork of regulations within states and counties.

In Florida’s Miami-Dade County, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava imposed an indoor mask mandate Wednesday at county facilities.

The Democrat’s announcement, which does not apply to businesses or restaurants, comes after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law in May giving the state the power to invalidate local pandemic measures, including mask mandates and limits on business operations.

“We have all come too far. We have all sacrificed too much in this past almost year and a half. We cannot turn back now,” Levine Cava said.

In Missouri, the St. Louis County Council voted Tuesday to reverse the county’s mask mandate, just a day after it became one of the first reinstated in the country.

But Democratic County Executive Sam Page insisted Wednesday that the mandate remained in effect and blamed the pushback on politics.

On the other side of the state, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, reinstated a similar indoor mask mandate for Missouri’s largest city.

State Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, has sued to block the St. Louis-area mandate and has vowed to do the same for Kansas City’s requirement, saying on Twitter that the mandates are “about politics & control, not science.”

The CDC’s updated guidance was prompted by new data suggesting vaccinated people can pass on the virus in rare cases.

But the agency’s director, Rochelle Walensky, stressed that the vaccines are working by preventing greater levels of hospitalization and death. Unvaccinated people account for the vast number of new infections. Two-thirds of the vaccine-eligible population in the U.S. has received at least one dose.

“I know this is not a message America wants to hear,” Walensky told CNN on Wednesday. “With prior variants, when people had these rare breakthrough infections, we didn’t see the capacity of them to spread the virus to others, but with the delta variant, we now see that you can actually now pass it to somebody else.”

In Provincetown, Massachusetts, where officials earlier this week re-imposed an indoor mask requirement following a surge in COVID-19 cases this month, store owner Patrick Patrick says he doesn’t mind asking customers to mask up once more.

The owner of Marine Specialties, a long running Army-Navy store, had been leery of the decision to drop nearly all virus safety mandates ahead of the busy summer season. He even tried to impose his own in-store mask mandate before relenting last month.

“If we’d stuck with masks all along, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation,” Patrick said. “We wore them all last summer, and we didn’t have a single case in Provincetown. Now see where we’re at.”

As of Wednesday, the town had reported more than 800 cases associated with the most recent cluster, which started around the busy July 4th holiday.

The business drop-off has been significant, Patrick said. But he hopes the return of masks helps brings visitors peace of mind.

“I don’t see masks as bad for business,” he said. “If it gets people back out and feeling safe, it’s worth it. We take care of public health and safety, the dollars and cents will take care of themselves.”

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Marcelo reported from Boston. Associated Press writers Kelli Kennedy in Miami, Stacey Plaisance in New Orleans, Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta and Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this report.

State Lawmakers Work to Strip Old ‘Whites Only’ Covenants

By SUSAN HAIGH

In this Saturday, July 17, 2021, photo, Dave Ware, left, and his father, Fred Ware, look over a deed and copy of a covenant for their home in Manchester, Conn. Fred and Dave Ware recently found a whites-only covenant on his property dating back to 1942 when researching the title chain. Upon finding the covenant, Dave Ware, who grew up in the home, reached out to state lawmakers and helped get a bill passed that strips these covenants on properties. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Fred Ware and his son were researching the history of the home he’s owned in the Hartford suburbs since 1950 when they discovered something far uglier than they expected.

Tucked in a list of rules on the home’s original deed from the developer was a provision that said: “No persons of any race other than the white race shall use or occupy any building or any lot,” with the exception of “domestic servants of a different race.”

“He was stunned and I was stunned. This is the house I grew up in and is the only home my dad has ever owned,” David Ware said.

While the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948 ruled such racially restrictive housing covenants unenforceable, many remain on paper today and can be difficult to remove. In Connecticut, David Ware asked legislators to help homeowners strike the language, and a bill ultimately was signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, in July.

The nation’s reckoning with racial injustice has given new momentum to efforts to unearth racist property covenants and eradicate the language restricting residency to white people. It also has highlighted the ramifications such restrictions have had on housing segregation and minority home ownership challenges that persist today.

Scot X. Esdaile, president of the Connecticut State Conference of the NAACP, said the law’s passage is bittersweet because housing discrimination remains an enduring problem.

“We’re glad that the law is being passed, but the practices are still being carried out today. We see gentrification going on all over America. So housing is a huge issue and this law doesn’t eradicate behavior,” he said.

Ten states this year have passed or are considering bills concerning restrictive covenants based upon race or religion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Besides Connecticut, the list includes California, Indiana, Ohio, Utah, Washington, Colorado, Nebraska, New York and North Carolina. In 2020, three states — Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia — passed legislation concerning covenants. In some cases, the bills update earlier anti-discrimination laws already on the books.

The restrictive language was written into property documents in communities throughout the U.S. during the early- to mid-20th century amid the Great Migration, which saw millions of African Americans move from the rural South to the urban Northeast, Midwest and West.

These restrictive covenants were a tool used by developers, builders and white homeowners to bar residency by Blacks, Asians and other racial and ethnic minorities. Even after they became unenforceable, according to historians, people privately abided by the covenants well into the 1960s.

David Ware, a corporate attorney, was working on a Master of Laws degree in human rights and social justice in 2019 when he first learned about such covenants. That prompted him and his father Fred, a genealogy buff who is now 95, to go through a deed for the family home from 1942, the year it was built. Both men are white.

“Sure enough, there was this blatant race-based covenant — only white people can use or occupy the property,” said David Ware, who dug further and found 248 properties in the same Connecticut town of Manchester with racially restrictive covenants. The list includes many homes in his father’s neighborhood, which, unlike some historically restricted communities in the U.S., has become racially and ethnically diverse over the years.

Under Connecticut’s new law, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly unanimously, the unlawfulness of such covenants is codified in state statute and homeowners are allowed to file an affidavit with local clerks identifying any racially restrictive covenant on the property as unenforceable. The clerks must then record it in the land records.

In Washington, under a law that took effect July 25, the University of Washington and Eastern Washington University are tasked with reviewing existing deeds and covenants for unlawful racial or other discriminatory restrictions and then notifying property owners and county auditors. The law also includes a process for striking and removing unlawful provisions from the record.

“Obviously, most homeowners have no idea that these covenants ... actually exist and they’re in their deeds,” Washington state Rep. Javier Valdez, a Democrat from Seattle, said during a floor speech in March. “I think if they knew that these restrictions existed in their documents, even though they’re not enforceable, they would want to do something about it.”

Several bills concerning covenants are currently before the California legislature, which previously passed legislation allowing property owners to address restrictive covenants. One bill would redact “any illegal and offensive exclusionary covenants in the property records” as part of each sale before they reach the buyer.

In Minnesota, where thousands of racial covenants have been discovered by a team of historians, activists, geographers and community members, a law was signed in 2019 that allows residents to fill out a form seeking to clarify that the restrictive covenant is ineffective, and subsequently discharge it from the property.

Rep. Jim Davnie, a Democrat from Minneapolis who pushed for the legislation, said even though such covenants no longer have any force of law, residents should have the ability to address the “dated racist stains” on their homes’ titles.

Since passage of the law, a group called Just Deeds has provided free legal and title service to help more than 100 homeowners discharge covenants from their properties. A group of neighbors in Minneapolis went so far as to have lawn signs printed that say, “This home renounced its racial covenant.” The Minneapolis Start-Tribune reported that some are planning to support other initiatives to close the home ownership gap between whites and minorities, support reparations legislation and make micro-reparation payments directly to Black residents of Minnesota.

“Renouncing the covenants is really the first step,” neighbor Eric Magnuson told the newspaper.

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Associated Press Writers Adam Beam in Sacramento, California; Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington; and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Olympic Champ Biles Withdraws from All-around Competition

By WILL GRAVES

Simone Biles, of the United States, waits to perform on the vault during the artistic gymnastics women's final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Tokyo. The American gymnastics superstar has withdrawn the all-around competition to focus on her mental well-being. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

TOKYO (AP) — Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic title.

The American gymnastics superstar withdrew from Thursday’s all-around competition to focus on her mental well-being.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Wednesday that the 24-year-old is opting to not compete. The decision comes a day after Biles removed herself from the team final following one rotation because she felt she wasn’t mentally ready.

Jade Carey, who finished ninth in qualifying, will take Biles’ place in the all-around. Carey initially did not qualify because she was the third-ranking American behind Biles and Sunisa Lee. International Gymnastics Federation rules limit countries to two athletes per event in the finals.

The organization said Biles will be evaluated daily before deciding if she will participate in next week’s individual events. Biles qualified for the finals on all four apparatuses, something she didn’t even do during her five-medal haul in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Biles spent a portion of Wednesday evening watching American teammates Sam Mikulak and Brody Malone compete in the men’s all-around finals. Mikulak, a three-time Olympian, praised Biles’ decision.

“We’ve had some conversations (and) she seems like she’s doing what’s best for her,” Mikulak said. “It’s awesome to see that she’s gotten to go against the pressure of society and do what’s best for herself.”

The 24-year-old came to Tokyo as possibly the face of the Games following the retirement of swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Usain Bolt. She topped qualifying on Sunday despite piling up mandatory deductions on vault, floor and beam following shaky dismounts.

She posted on social media on Monday that she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. The weight became too heavy after vaulting during team finals. She lost herself in mid-air and completed 1 1/2 twists instead of 2 1/2. She consulted with U.S. team doctor Marcia Faustin before walking off the field of play.

When she returned, she took off her bar grips, hugged teammates Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum and Jordan Chiles and turned into the team’s head cheerleader as the U.S. claimed silver behind the Russian Olympic Committee.

“Once I came out here (to compete), I was like, ‘No mental is, not there so I just need to let the girls do it and focus on myself,’” Biles said following the medal ceremony.

The decision opens the door wide open for the all-around, a title that was long considered a foregone conclusion. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil finished second to Biles during qualifying, followed by Lee and Russians Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova. The four were separated by three-tenths of a point on Sunday.

Carey now finds herself in the final, capping a remarkable journey for the 21-year-old from Phoenix. She spent two years traveling the globe in an effort to pile up enough points on the World Cup circuit to earn an individual nominative spot, meaning she would be in the Olympics but technically not be part of the four-woman U.S. team.

Carey posted the second-best score on vault and the third-best on floor during qualifying, earning trips to the event finals in the process. Now she finds herself competing for an all-around medal while replacing the athlete considered the greatest of all-time in the sport.