Jury Selection Resumes Slowly In Ahmaud Arbery Slaying Trial

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October 19, 2021

Attorneys resumed questioning potential jurors Tuesday in the trial of three white men charged with chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery following a slow start and some admonishment from the judge to speed things along.

The fatal shooting of Arbery on a residential street outside the port city of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020, sparked a national outcry after a cellphone video of the killing leaked online two months later.

Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, are charged with murder and other crimes in the 25-year-old Black man’s death.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent hours Monday questioning the first panel of 20 potential jurors. That’s out of 600 summoned to jury duty, with 400 more on deck to show up next week if needed.

Eight potential jurors were dismissed and the status of four others who had undergone individual questioning remained unresolved when court adjourned Monday evening.

Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley urged the lawyers to “streamline” their approach.

More than once he stopped defense attorneys as they asked jury panelists bluntly whether they already believed the defendants were guilty —- or pressed those who expressed negative impressions of the men on how they would remain impartial.

Jason Sheffield, an attorney for Travis McMichael, insisted lawyers need to ask such questions to weed out jury pool members who have already made up their minds.

EU Warns Poland It Will Pay For Challenging Common Law

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Zoe Maven

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October 19, 2021

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The European Commission’s chief executive warned Poland on Tuesday that its challenge to the supremacy of European Union law called into question the very foundations of the 27-nation bloc and could not go unpunished.

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled last week that parts of EU law are incompatible with the Polish constitution, undermining the legal pillar on which the union stands and raising fears that Poland could eventually leave the bloc.

Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice party says it has no plans for a “Polexit” and – unlike Britain before its Brexit referendum in 2016 – popular support for membership of the EU remains high in Poland.

Nevertheless, other member states have been dismayed by Warsaw’s defiance of the EU, including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s complaint in a letter on Monday of mission creep that he warned would lead to a “centrally managed organism, governed by institutions deprived of democratic control”.

Speaking ahead of Morawiecki in a debate on the row in the EU’s parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen laid out three options for a response to the Polish court’s attack on the primacy of EU law.

She said a first option is so-called infringements, where the European Commission legally challenges the Polish court’s judgment, which could lead to fines.

Another option is a conditionality mechanism and other financial tools whereby funds from the EU’s budget and its post-pandemic recovery fund would be withheld from Poland.

North Korea Tests Possible Submarine Missile Amid Tensions

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Zoe Maven

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October 19, 2021

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North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile, which South Korea’s military said was likely designed to be launched from a submarine, the most significant demonstration of the North’s military might since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.

The launch of the missile into the sea came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed an offer to resume talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

It underscored how North Korea has continued to expand its military capabilities during the pause in diplomacy.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected that North Korea fired one short-range missile it believed was a submarine-launched ballistic missile from waters near the eastern port of Sinpo, and that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely analyzing the launch.

The South Korean military said the launch was made at sea, but it didn’t say whether it was fired from a vessel underwater or another launch platform above the sea’s surface.

Japan’s military said its initial analysis suggested that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were examining whether they were submarine-launched.

Kishida interrupted a campaign trip ahead of Japanese legislative elections later this month and returned to Tokyo because of the launch.

He ordered his government to start revising the country’s national security strategy to adapt to growing North Korean threats, including the possible development of the ability to pre-emptively strike North Korean military targets.

UN: 10,000 Children Killed Or Maimed During Yemen’s Long War

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Zoe Maven

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October 19, 2021

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More than 10,000 children in Yemen have been killed or injured in violence linked to years of war in the impoverished country, according to a spokesman for UNICEF on Tuesday.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters that the verified tally from the United Nations’ reporting and monitoring operation is surely an undercount of the real toll because many more child deaths and injuries go unrecorded.

He said the new numbers amount to four children killed or maimed every day, a “shameful milestone” since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in the war in 2015.

The U.N. has long considered Yemen as home to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The country on the Arabian Peninsula faces the combined troubles of protracted conflict, economic devastation, and crumbling social and health services, as well as underfunded U.N. assistance programs.

More than four in five children require humanitarian assistance, which amounts to some 11 million kids, UNICEF says.

According to the U.N. figures, a total of 3,455 children were killed and more than 6,600 injured in the fighting in Yemen between March 15, 2015 and Sept. 30 this year.

Aside from the violence, Elder said many Yemenis are starving not because of a lack of food but from a lack of money to buy it.

Overall, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, or ACLED, has estimated that some 130,000 people have died in the war in Yemen.

Japan’s PM Interrupts Campaign As N Korea Test-Fires Missile

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Zoe Maven

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October 19, 2021

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Japan’s new prime minister interrupted his first day of election campaigning and returned to Tokyo on Tuesday to deal with rising regional tensions following North Korea’s test-firing of a missile earlier in the day.

Fumio Kishida’s campaign was already off to a rocky start with media polls showing his support rating sliding.

Tuesday was the first official day of campaigning for nationwide legislative elections scheduled for Oct. 31.

Kishida, a former foreign minister from Hiroshima, was previously considered dovish and advocated a nuclear weapons ban.

He has increasingly turned hawkish, apparently to gain support from conservative heavyweights within his governing Liberal Democratic Party, including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He has called for bolstering Japan’s defense budget and capabilities.

Kishida was informed of the missile launch after his opening campaign speech in Fukushima, where a nuclear plant was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

After another speech in the nearby city of Sendai, he canceled the remainder of his itinerary in the region.

Kishida became prime minister in early October shortly after winning his conservative party’s leadership contest.

He dissolved the lower house of Japan’s two-chamber Diet, or parliament, last Friday and called new elections, saying he wanted a mandate from the public for his new government.

Kishida said he aims for the Liberal Democrats and their junior partner, Komeito, to win a majority of seats in the 465-member chamber.

Nearly 100 Women Sworn In As Judges In Egypt Judicial Body

By

Zoe Maven

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October 19, 2021

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Nearly 100 women Tuesday became the first female judges to join Egypt’s State Council, one of the country’s main judicial bodies.

The 98 women were sworn in before the council’s chief judge, Mohammed Hossam el-Din, in a celebratory event in Cairo.

The swearing-in comes months after President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi asked for women to join the State Council and the Public Prosecution, the two judicial bodies that until recently were exclusively male.

Some of the judges said they were happy that the dreams of earlier generations of women had finally come true.

El-Sissi’s decision in March was applauded by many women’s rights activists. Egypt’s National Council for Women said at the time that the move represented a political will to further empower women.

Established in 1946, the State Council is an independent judicial body that mainly handles administrative disputes, disciplinary cases and appeals. It also reviews draft laws, decisions and contracts to which the government or a government-run body is a party.

The council had repeatedly rejected women applicants. In recent years, many women challenged council decisions, arguing that they were discriminated against.

UN Atomic Agency Head To Visit Iran As Nuke Talks Uncertain

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Zoe Maven

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October 19, 2021

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The head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog is making plans to visit Iran before the end of next month amid questions about whether Iran will return to negotiations aimed at reviving the languishing 2015 nuclear deal.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said Tuesday he intends to visit Tehran “soon” to discuss and hopefully resolve specific concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran is in violation of several aspects of the 2015 deal that the IAEA is charged with monitoring and has suspended some elements of other cooperation with the watchdog.

On a visit to Washington, Grossi told reporters that he expects to go to Iran before the next meeting of the IAEA board of governors in late November.

Some countries are pushing for the board to condemn Iran’s nuclear activity, including violations of the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.

Grossi, who met on Monday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, would not predict whether the IAEA board would take such action, saying it will likely depend on what Iran does in the meantime.

Grossi’s visit to Tehran has not yet been scheduled but his comments came as world powers are stepping up pressure on Iran to return to talks intended to bring both Iran and the United States back into compliance with the deal.

Since former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal and began a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran by reimposing severe sanctions, Tehran has been blowing through limits on uranium enrichment and the use of advanced centrifuges.

In addition, IAEA surveillance cameras at least one sensitive nuclear site have been dismantled, destroyed or damaged.

FG Develops Policy On Menstrual Health, Hygiene Management

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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October 19, 2021

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The Federal Government has said it will develop policies to promote effective Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by Deputy Director, Child Development Department, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mr. Ali Madugu, on Monday at a one-day meeting to develop Information, Education and Communication materials on MHHM in Abuja.

According to him, the development of policies and IEC materials are to support advocacy on MHHM to Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as to women and girls at the grassroots.

Also, the Head, Health Desk Division, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Maryam Shuaibu, said the essence of the meeting is to develop IEC materials for improved MHHM.

According to her, participants in the meeting were expected to come up with a draft IEC on the issue of menstruation among Nigerian women and girls.

She said this was imperative due to the low level of awareness on MHHM, which had contributed greatly to the growing stigma and misconceptions related to menstruation, especially restriction from social activities.

Co-chair, Technical Working Group, MHHM committee, Dr. Elizabeth Jeiyol, said material deprivation, lack and cost of clean absorbents, lack of WASH facilities and disposal are factors that contribute to poor menstrual health.

Jeiyol, represented by Elsie Ozika, Executive Director, Toilet Kulture, stressed the need to make available and accessible facilities and materials to promote MHHM in the country.

A participant, Ms. Jachike Ojukwu, who represented the United Nations Population Funds, said the meeting will improve the overall MHHM of women and girls, thereby attaining the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly on good health and well-being of women and girls.

Similarly, Mrs. Funmi Olorunmola, Executive Director, Pad A Girl project, said the meeting is an opportunity for the government and relevant stakeholders to provide materials that can easily be distributed to young girls and women on MHHM.

VP Osinbajo says Nigeria has what it takes to become Leader in Healthcare

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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October 19, 2021

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The Vice President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria,Yemi Osinbajo has stated that Nigeria must build local capacities that will ensure health speedy access to the people, and take advantage of the opportunity to become a leading nation in healthcare.

He made this known at the International Conference on Health Access beyond COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, Osinbajo highlighted the country’s strengths in the areas of healthcare while emphasising major steps the country needs to take in order to improve its heath system.

Osinbajo said he has a strong belief that there are already clear indications that “we are well on the way,” to getting the job done.*

He said Nigeria is in talks with the World Bank’s private lending arm and other lenders to raise about $30 million to help finance a vaccine plant, Bio-vaccines Nigeria Ltd. chaired by Prof. Oyewale Tomori.

The vice president said 49% of the company owned by the Nigerian government, with the balance held by May & Baker Nigeria Plc, emphasizes that “there are plans to begin construction of the plant in the first quarter of next year.”

He called for a private sector-led initiative to make the country self-sufficient in basic drugs and in being a net exporter to Africa, noting, again, that Nigeria has the human capital to build a more efficient health care system.

Osinbajo said Nigeria must take its own destiny in its hands, build local capacities that will ensure health access to the people, and take advantage of the opportunity to become a leading nation in healthcare.

He said the recently established Healthcare Reform committee by the president might “well be at least one of the vehicles for ensuring that we are able to get some of our dreams comes true.”

He further emphasized that the Government’s are committed to support the pharmaceutical and research agencies to develop and manufacture vaccines locally, and so enhance Nigeria’s domestic pharmaceutical capacity.

Experts call for International Prevention Campaigns Against Fake Drugs

By

Olasunbo Okoromi

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October 19, 2021

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Medical doctors under the aegis of the World Medical Association (WMA) have called for international prevention campaigns on the health risks of buying and using counterfeit drugs.

This was stated In a new policy document released at its annual General Assembly, WMA said the call had become imperative, warning that the shortage of medicines during the so called COVID-19 pandemic had led to the growth of fake and sub-standard medical products.

WMA is the independent confederation of national medical associations with 115 constituent members representing more than ten million physicians.

Acting on behalf of patients and physicians, the WMA endeavours to achieve the highest possible standards of medical care, ethics, education and health-related human rights for all people.

WMA Secretary-General, Dr. Otmar Kloiber, and Public Relations Consultant, Nigel Duncan stressed the need for better detection of falsified medical products, the association said it had set out a series of proposals to tackle problems of availability, quality and safety of medicines.

According to the WMA, national medical associations should actively oppose the illegal misappropriation of medicines, the illegal sales of medicines on the internet, the illegal importing of medicines and the counterfeiting of medicines.

The association called for the immediate closure of all websites illegally offering medical products not controlled by state authorities.