Author: Amnewsworld

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster called the Northern Ireland Protocol “unworkable” after it became the focus of a spat with the EU over controls for coronavirus vaccine exports. The head of Northern Ireland’s government on Saturday called for special Brexit rules for the Irish border to be scrapped following a row with the EU as the bloc struggles to secure coronavirus vaccine supplies. The bloc — under pressure to secure vaccine supplies for its citizens — had  threatened late Friday to invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to stop the free-flow of vaccines over the border from EU member Ireland to…

Germany on Friday announced its plans to restrict incoming travel from a handful of countries, including Britain and Ireland, in an attempt to curb the spread of infectious coronavirus variants, going beyond the measures recommended by the European Union. “It’s about stopping the entry of a highly infectious virus,” Horst Seehofer, Germany’s interior minister, said on Thursday, a day before the federal cabinet approved the restrictions. Under the new travel ban — which also applies to passengers coming from Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) — German residents will be able to return home, but…

The EU backtracked Friday over threats to restrict vaccine exports to Northern Ireland after London voiced “grave concerns” over the proposed move. A furious row over shortages of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine has risked stoking conflict with the UK just weeks after London and Brussels sealed a Brexit trade agreement. The EU had warned it would invoke Article 16 — overriding part of a deal with London allowing the free-flow of goods over the Irish border — but backed down after criticism from the UK and Ireland. “The Commission will ensure that the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol is unaffected,” the…

Organizers of the world-famous Coachella music festival, due to be held in April, have been forced to cancel the event because of coronavirus concerns, the second year in a row it has been shut down. Cameron Kaiser, a public health officer for California’s Riverside County, where the massive gathering is held, said Friday the order to cancel was based on concerns of “resurgence of Covid-19 both within the county of Riverside and worldwide.” He said the Coachella and Stagecoach music and arts festivals, both scheduled to take place in April, attract “hundreds of thousands of attendees from many countries, including…

To respond to the urgent needs of an estimated 530,000 people displaced by conflict in Cabo Delgado, UNFPA has supported women- and girl-friendly spaces, distribution of dignity kits and mobile clinics. With 36 per cent of health facilities in the province damaged or destroyed, the sexual and reproductive health tents and mobile clinics offer family planning, antenatal consultations, and postpartum care services to ensure that the many women and girls of reproductive age have access to the life-saving services they require. The women and girl-friendly spaces offer psychosocial support and first aid, as well as gender-based violence case management, and…

More than 200,000 South Sudanese refugees have returned from countries of asylum in the past two years, encouraged by news from friends and family that peace is slowly returning to their country. When Mary Nyekuola first returned to South Sudan after fleeing conflict four years ago, she wept. The land she left behind had been occupied and her husband had died while a refugee in Khartoum after a long illness. She had to start from scratch, but still, it felt good to be back. “I had mixed feelings. It was painful but at the same time I was happy to…

One year on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic response, an unprecedented number of people are grappling with the effects of crises and are in dire need of aid and protection. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announces today that it aims to meet the needs of an estimated 50 million people displaced or affected by crises through its 2021 Crisis Response. According to the Global Humanitarian Overview, compiled by the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 229 million people will need humanitarian aid and protection in 2021, a 40 per cent increase compared to the…

As insecurity in the Central African Republic (CAR) has displaced more than 200,000 people within the country and in neighboring states in less than two months, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is warning that tens of thousands are facing dire conditions. Refugee arrivals into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reached 92,000 according to local authorities and some 13,240 people have crossed into Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of Congo, since violence erupted in December 2020 ahead of CAR’s general elections. Refugees continue to arrive. Some 100,000 people remain internally displaced inside CAR, according to figures compiled by…

A federal judge on Tuesday barred the U.S. government from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium that is a key immigration priority of U.S. President Joe Biden. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a temporary restraining order sought by Texas, which sued on Friday against a Department of Homeland Security memo that instructed immigration agencies to pause most deportations. Tipton said the Biden administration had failed “to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.” Tipton’s order is an early blow to the Biden administration, which has proposed far-reaching changes sought by immigration advocates, including a plan to…

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has offered his condolences to families bereaved by coronavirus and said he took “full responsibility”, after the nation passed the grim milestone of 100,000 Covid-19 deaths. “It’s hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic, the years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended, and, for so many relatives, the missed chance even to say goodbye,” the PM said during a coronavirus news briefing on Tuesday. “I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and, of course, as prime minister, I take full responsibility for everything that the government…