Day: June 15, 2022

TUNIS— Tunisia arrested 72 migrants who attempted to cross the Mediterranean to enter Italy illegally, the Tunisian Ministry of Defense said.

They were arrested in two operations and are of various African nationalities, the ministry said in a statement, adding 42 of them were rescued by a Tunisian coastguard unit off the coastal city of Zarzis in northeastern Tunisia.

The arrested migrants admitted they had sailed from the Libyan city of Zuwara a night earlier, according to the statement.

In another operation, the National Guard of Kerkennah Island in Sfax Province arrested 30 illegal immigrants, said the ministry.

Thousands of illegal immigrants attempt to cross the Mediterranean every year as Tunisia is one of the main points of access to Europe through irregular channels.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KIGALI— The Rwandan government said on Wednesday it was still committed to taking in asylum seekers sent by the UK under a controversial deal after a first flight was cancelled following a European court ruling.

“We are not deterred by these developments. Rwanda remains fully committed to making this partnership work,” government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said.

“The current situation of people making dangerous journeys cannot continue as it is causing untold suffering to so many,” she said.

“Rwanda stands ready to receive the migrants when they do arrive and offer them safety and opportunity in our country.”

A first flight was due to take off from Britain for the East African country late Tuesday but was cancelled after a last-minute ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

The UK’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to a country thousands of kilometres away has been branded “immoral” by church leaders in England and heavily criticised by the UN refugee agency and rights groups.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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PARIS— The depressing state of the world is leading people to switch off from the news, the Reuters Institute reported on Wednesday.

The combined impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and cost-of-living crisis have led to declining interest in the news, a survey by the British research group found.

Across 46 countries surveyed and 93,000 participants, it found the share who said they actively avoided the news had increased from 29 to 38 percent since 2017.

The numbers doubled in some countries, including Brazil (54 percent) and Britain (46).

Young people in particular found the news to be a downer, but the chief reason for avoiding the news was its repetitiveness, especially around Covid and politics.

“I actively avoid things that trigger my anxiety and things that can have a negative impact on my day,” a 27-year-old British respondent told the researchers.

“I will try to avoid reading news about things like deaths and disasters.”

Others said the news led to arguments they would rather avoid, or a feeling of powerlessness, while many young people said they found it hard to understand.

Lead author Nic Newman said the findings were “particularly challenging for the news industry”.

“Subjects that journalists consider most important, such as political crises, international conflicts and global pandemics, seem to be precisely the ones that are turning some people away,” he was quoted as saying.

Most of the study was completed before the invasion of Ukraine in February, but subsequent surveys in five countries found these issues had only deepened in its aftermath.

Trust in the media fell in half the countries surveyed, and rose in just seven, the report said, reversing gains made during the pandemic.

Overall, trust was at 42 percent, down from 44 percent when the media had a small positive bump from the pandemic.

The United States showed the lowest level of trust at 26 percent, tied with Slovakia.

The problem is being compounded by young people increasingly detached from legacy media, with 15 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds saying they use TikTok as a primary source of news.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

GENEVA— The World Health Organization says it is working with experts to come up with a new name for monkeypox.

It comes after more than 30 scientists wrote last week about the “urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatising” name for the virus and the disease it causes.

Continued reference to the virus as African is both inaccurate and discriminatory, they said.

Some 1,600 cases of the disease have been recorded globally in recent weeks.

While 72 deaths have been reported in countries where monkeypox was already endemic, none have been seen in the newly affected 32 countries, such as the UK.

At the latest count, as of June 12, there were 452 confirmed cases in England, 12 in Scotland, 2 in Northern Ireland and 4 in Wales.

The World Health Organization says it will hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern – the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.

The only other diseases this has happened for in the past are Swine flu, polio, Ebola, Zika and Covid.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The outbreak of monkeypox is unusual and concerning.

“For that reason I have decided to convene the Emergency Committee under the international health regulations next week, to assess whether this outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.”

Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the same family of viruses as smallpox, although it is much less severe.

Infections are usually mild and the risk to the general population is low, but the UK government has bought stocks of smallpox vaccine to guard against it.

The virus has been spreading in an unusual manner around the world in recent months. Previous outbreaks have been mainly confined to parts of Africa where rodents – not monkeys – are thought to be the main animal host.

The infection causes a rash that looks a bit like chickenpox. The virus can be spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person.

It has not previously been described as a sexually transmitted infection, but it can be passed on by close contact.

Anyone with the virus should abstain from sex while they have symptoms.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK