ONE YEAR AGO… CAPITOL CHAOS : United States
With Jan. 6 as the publication date of this edition, one has to harken back to what happened one year ago to the day.
On Jan. 6, 2021, elected officials on Capitol Hill carried out the business of the nation, particularly confirming Joseph R. Biden as the elected 46th President of the United States. While this was going on, outgoing President Donald J. Trump led a rally against the proceedings, as he and his supporters felt that the election was “stolen.” After the rally ended, Trump asked the gathering to head to the Hill to let lawmakers have a piece of their mind. Then, the unthinkable happened.
The gathering then morphed into a riotous mob, who breached the grounds of the Capitol, destroying property and threatening members of Congress, who had to run for their lives. As they rioted for hours, Trump, who was still the legal President in charge, finally told them to go home. The group eventually dispersed, but not before several people were injured.
Sadly, there were fatalities; most notably, Capitol officer Brian Sicknick who died after trying to defend those he was sworn protect, and Air Force veteran Ashli Bobbitt, one of the rioters who was shot by an official as she tried to climb through a barricaded door. Three others – Rosanne Boyland, Kevin Greeson, and Benjamin Philips – also had their deaths attributed to the riot.
The aftermath was swift: Trump was impeached – for the second time, and removed from all major social media platforms, hundreds of rioters were prosecuted and sentenced, and security at the Capitol was permanently altered. Meanwhile, Facebook, one of the aforementioned platforms, was put under extreme pressure to make changes to its services.
FIRE SCORCHES TREATMENT CENTER: ASIA
A devastating fire has ripped through a COVID-19 treatment center for Myanmar refugees sheltering in Bangladesh, UN migration agency (IOM) said on Jan. 4.
In a tweet, IOM said that no-one was hurt at the health facility, part of the vast Cox’s Bazar camp complex, after the blaze began suddenly on the evening of Jan. 2.
Parts of the hospital were badly damaged, but health services are expected to “resume soon,” the agency said.
Field teams have been working around the clock to save the hospital and restore some normality to camp life. They are also assessing the damage and assist those in need.
Pictures posted on social media show charred metal bed frames and workers clearing away piles of ash at the isolation and treatment center for people with severe acute respiratory infections.
Earlier, IOM teams, Disaster Management Unit volunteers, and Government of Bangladesh response services, rushed to the hospital and worked hard to put out the fire and assist those in need.
The IOM teams are also working to raise awareness amongst refugees about what to do in the case of sudden fire in the camps.
The camp hosts many of the million Rohingya refugees that have fled violence in Myanmar in successive waves of displacement since the early 1990s.
At the peak of the latest crisis, in 2017, thousands were crossing into Bangladesh daily.
Since then, the Kutupalong refugee settlement has grown to become the largest of its kind in the world, with more than 600,000 people living in an area of just 13 square kilometers, stretching infrastructure and services to their limits.
The 2021 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis targets almost 1.4 million people in need.
The $943 million plan seeks to meet the needs of 884,000 Rohingya refugees and 472,000 Bangladeshis in the host communities of Cox’s Bazar.
TRAVEL RULES UPDATED: EUROPE
From 4 am on Jan. 9, eligible fully vaccinated travelers and over 5s will be able to take a lateral flow test instead of a PCR on or before day 2 of their arrival in England. Lateral flow tests for travel can be booked from Friday 7 January and taken upon arrival, by the end of day 2.
Eligible fully vaccinated passengers and under 18s will no longer need to take a pre-departure test or self-isolate on arrival in England from 4 am on Jan. 7 but must continue to take their post-arrival tests.
As data shows Omicron is the dominant variant in the UK and spreading widely in the community it is now proportionate to cautiously reduce testing measures at the borders.
Anyone who receives a positive result on their lateral flow test must self-isolate immediately and order a NHS PCR test from gov.uk. Positive PCR tests for arrivals will be sequenced to understand if and where variants are emerging around the globe in order to protect the UK public.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said, “As we learn more about the Omicron variant it is right that we keep our testing and border measures under review to ensure they remain proportionate. The steps we’re taking will make travel easier for people while protecting the UK public from the virus. Omicron continues to be a serious threat and it is important that travelers continue to get tested. The most important thing anyone can do if they haven’t already is come forward for their vaccine.”
Lateral flow tests for international travel must be purchased from a private provider as NHS Test and Trace lateral flow tests cannot be used for international travel. Passengers who have already bought a PCR to use for travel do not need to buy another test as PCRs can still be used.
Unvaccinated passengers must continue to take a pre-departure test, PCR test on or before Day 2 and on or after Day 8 and self-isolate for 10 days. “Test to release” remains an option for unvaccinated people to shorten their self-isolation period.
Proof of vaccination from over 15 further countries and territories will be accepted for entry into England from 4 am on Jan. 10: Bhutan, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Fiji, Iraq, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, north of Cyprus, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Solomon Islands, The Gambia and Uzbekistan.
The World Health Organization has recently granted WHO Emergency Use List (EUL) authorization to the two versions of the ‘Novavax’ vaccine named Covovax and Nuvaxovid. Therefore, eligible travelers who have received either version of this vaccine will be recognized for international travel into England from 4 am on Jan. 10.
No countries have been added to the UK travel red list, which remains on standby. A further review of all travel measures will be carried out later in the month, and our long-term goal remains to return to safe, restriction-free travel as soon as it’s safe to do so.
ALLEGED SMUGGLER ARRESTED : AFRICA
Kenyan Police have arrested a man wanted by INTERPOL for allegedly smuggling dozens of men, women and children to Europe.
Wanted by The Netherlands since 2017, 53-year-old John Habeta was taken into custody at Schiphol International airport in Amsterdam on Dec. 25 after his arrest in Kenya.
Kenyan Police arrested John Habeta in Nairobi on Dec. 16 as part of a sting operation coordinated between authorities in the Netherlands and Kenya with the support of INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters.
Acting on globally sourced INTERPOL intelligence leads, the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in The Hague alerted the Kenyan NCB to the fugitive’s presence in Nairobi on Dec. 10.
An INTERPOL Red Notice – or international fugitive alert – was published the same day for people smuggling and use of fake identity documents to carry out transcontinental smuggling operations, triggering the suspect’s surveillance and arrest on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital.
The Dutch national remains in custody in The Netherlands until trial where, if convicted, he faces a sentence of up to eight years in prison.
Using INTERPOL’s secure global police communications network – I-24/7, INTERPOL coordinated global efforts to disrupt the network by enabling countries to share criminal intelligence and analysis about Habeta and how he organized transcontinental smuggling operations.
Habeta was allegedly involved in at least four different operations to smuggle groups of Eritrean nationals into Europe using routes from Asia.
INTERPOL’s specialized unit on migrant smuggling and human trafficking identified Habeta as a high priority target in October 2020 when member countries alerted INTERPOL to new leads about the fugitive’s global smuggling activities, which were immediately shared with the NCB in The Hague.
The subsequent issue of the INTERPOL Red Notice played a central role in the location and arrest of the fugitive.
People smuggling syndicates are run like businesses with high profit margins and links to a wide range of serious and often violent crimes including illicit money flows, corruption, terrorism, trafficking in illicit goods and human trafficking.
They focus on profit margins, facilitating the passage of migrants with little or no regard for their safety and well-being.
