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‘We are seeking information from Israeli government,’ says CEO Gary Pruitt

The American news agency Associated Press on Saturday voiced “shock and horror” over an Israeli attack targeting a building which houses its office in Gaza City.

“We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza,” Associated Press CEO and President Gary Pruitt said in a statement.

“We are seeking information from the Israeli government and are engaged with the U.S. State Department to try to learn more,” he added.

Despite Israel’s knowing the location of Associated Press office there, Pruitt said that they received a warning that the building would be hit.

“This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time,” he stated.

“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” he concluded.

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes destroyed a building in Gaza City with offices of various media groups, including Al Jazeera and the Associated Press.

An Anadolu Agency correspondent reported that several Israeli missiles hit the Al-Jala Tower.

The 13-story building, one of Gaza’s oldest multi-story buildings, had a total of 60 units, including offices of media companies, legal firms, and doctors.

Offices of Mayadeen Company for media services, radio station of Voice of Prisoners, and Doha Media Center were among the media offices destroyed by the Israeli shelling.

Israel has destroyed at least four multi-story buildings since it launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on May 10.

At least 139 people, including 39 children and 22 women, have been killed and 950 more injured in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns in the strongest terms, the unexplained attack today on Mustaqbal Media by Somali security forces, during which they ransacked the media house, taking away production equipment.

At around 5:50am on April 27, Somali security forces raided and forcefully entered the headquarters of Mustaqbal Media, an independently owned media house, located in Hodan district, in the KM4 neighbourhood. The security forces then ransacked the offices and confiscated Radio and TV production equipment, including computers used by management staff, Ahmed Isse Gutale, Director of Mustaqbal Media told NUSOJ.

Bashir Mohamud Yusuf, night shift-editor who was at the station during the raid was beaten up by the soldiers.

Neither the government nor the security forces has come out to explain the reasons behind the raid. However, Mustaqbal Media has in recent weeks aired a number of critical reports about government operations and the electoral dispute between the federal government and some federal member states.

“We urge the government to return the equipment they confiscated from our offices and do desist from treating us in a manner that makes us feel targeted by the very government that has a duty to protect us,” he added.

“We strongly condemn this unwarranted attack on Mustaqbal Media. It represents a return to the naked aggression against the media that had made Somalia a notorious place for journalists and independent media to operate” said NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman.

“Today’s attack is all the more shocking because it is the first time in 5 years since President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo came to office that we are witnessing such an incident in Mogadishu. The Mogadishu media community had taken a break from such ugly and violent raids by security forces targeting news media organisations” he added.

In this period of political turmoil and security operations, NUSOJ urges the government forces and the forces loyal to opposition politicians to respect media neutrality, refrain from interfering with the work of media and desist from acts that put journalists’ safety in peril.

NUSOJ also reminds journalists to exercise extreme caution in this situation, and put their safety first. They should also avoid situations that could compromise their professionalism, independence and impartiality.

A host of Somalia’s partners have released a statement strongly condemning the violence in Mogadishu over the weekend.

“International partners strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Mogadishu on April 25.”

Somalia’s international partners said they have repeatedly warned that a term extension would deepen the political crisis and undermine peace and security. It called on all sides to avoid unilateral actions and exercise maximum restraint. It also called for a resumption of dialogue between the belligerents.

The joint statement said that they were particularly alarmed about the cracks emerging in Somalia’s security apparatus.

“We are alarmed especially by the emerging fragmentation of the Somali National Army (SNA) along clan lines, which detracts from its primary task of combating Al Shabab and protecting the Somali population. Use of security forces for pursuit of political objectives is unacceptable.”

Once again, Somalia’s international partners have stressed that they will only support the September 17 agreement.

“We reiterate that the September 17 agreement remains the only agreed model for elections, and we urge the signatories of this agreement to return immediately to talks on that basis.”

The statement welcomed a recent decision from the African Union Peace and Security Council to appoint a Special Envoy. It said they stand ready to support the envoy and efforts at bringing Somalia’s leaders together.

The UN Secretary-General said that he too was concerned about the armed clashes in Somalia’s capital and also called for dialogue and restraint. António Guterres urged all stakeholders to resume negotiations immediately with the September 17 Electoral Model and Baidoa proposals as the bedrock of all talks.

MOGADISHU (HOL) – Somalia could be headed for a second lockdown following a spike of COVID19 cases in the country as the second wave hits the Horn of Africa nation.

“The first outbreak was managed largely thanks to a lockdown and closure of all school and universities. We have again submitted and advised for these same restrictions and measures,” Dr Abikar said.

Noting the situation in the country was ‘dire’ the Health Minister urged Somalis to adhere to health protocols to tame the spread of the disease.

She asked parents not to send back their children to school. Somalia banned international and local flights in March last year when the first cases of COVID19 were detected in the country.

It also closed learning institutions and put in place stringent measures. However most of those measures have since been relaxed and mask wearing or social distancing is hardly observed in public places.

The country recorded 266 new cases Friday out of a sample of 1807. Somalia is part of the COVAX programme and is expected to receive the COVID19 vaccines soon.

The Federal Government said last month it had secured the vaccines targeting the first two million people among them front line workers, the elderly and the vulnerable.

The outgoing president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo who addressed the parliament today acknowledged that there is foreign interference in the country.

Although not mentioned in the President’s intervention in Somalia has said that it has reached agreement looga missing part of the foreign intervention gelintaas.

“In general, the situation in Somalia and the electoral process really involves foreign interference. I am not saying that any region is more prone to interference. But in fact, that intervention is not good for us, ”said President Farmajo.

Somalia’s Information Minister Osman Dubbe has previously accused the Kenyan government of meddling in Somalia’s internal affairs, specifically in support of Jubaland’s president in a political battle with Villa Somalia.

President Farmajo also said in his speech today that there will be no constitutional vacancy, with only two days left in his term, which ends on Monday, the 8th of this month

Thursday January 21, 2021

Just hours into his presidency, Joe Biden signs string of executive actions reversing key Trump administration policies.


Just hours after his inauguration at the US Capitol on Wednesday, Biden signed 15 executive actions that his team earlier said aimed to ‘reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration’ [Tom Brenner/Reuters]

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United States President Joe Biden has signed a string of executive orders, memorandums and directives that will reverse some of his predecessor Donald Trump’s most divisive policies, including rescinding the so-called “Muslim ban”, rejoining the Paris climate accord, and ending the process to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Just hours after his inauguration at the US Capitol on Wednesday, Biden signed 15 executive actions that his team earlier said aimed to “reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration”.Ads

“Some of the executive actions I’m going to be signing today are going to help change the course of the COVID crisis, we’re going to combat climate change in a way that we haven’t done so far and advance racial equity and support other underserved communities,” he said, as reported by the Reuters news agency.Biden’s first big challenge as he enters the White House will be tackling the surging COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 400,000 people across the country to date. 

To that effect, Biden signed an order on Wednesday afternoon to institute a 100-day mask mandate across the US and appoint a COVID-19 coordinator to manage a national response to the pandemic.

He has also announced that the US would remain a member of the WHO, and that Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, would attend the ongoing WHO Executive Board meeting at the head of the US delegation.

Rescinding the ‘Muslim ban’

Biden rescinded the so-called “Muslim ban”, an executive order Trump signed in 2017 that banned travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the US.

The ban was changed several times amid legal challenges and ultimately upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2018.

“The president put an end to the Muslim ban – a policy rooted in religious animus and xenophobia,” Biden’s White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a Wednesday evening briefing.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations welcomed the decision as “an important first step toward undoing the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant policies of the previous administration”.

“It is an important fulfilment of a campaign pledge to the Muslim community and its allies,” the group’s executive director, Nihad Awad, said in a statement.

Rejoining Paris agreement

The US will once again become a party to the Paris Agreement, Biden also announced.

The move to rejoin the international treaty on climate change is expected to take effect 30 days after it is deposited with the UN, Biden’s team said earlier on Wednesday.

In November, the US became the first country in the world to withdraw from the treaty – a move that fuelled tensions between Washington and its allies in Europe and drew a widespread rebuke from environmental and human rights groups.

Launching mask mandate

Biden launched his “100 Days Masking Challenge”, ordering a mandatory mask mandate in all US federal buildings for the first 100 days of his administration to try and curb the spread of COVID-19.

The order asks Americans to do their “patriotic duty and mask up for 100 days” and also creates the position of COVID-19 response coordinator, who will report directly to the president and help coordinate a unified national response to the surging pandemic.

“This will strengthen our own efforts to get the pandemic under control by improving global health,” Psaki said during the briefing, adding that Dr Fauci, one of the top US infectious disease experts, would participate in a WHO meeting this week “as the US head of delegation”.The Infectious Disease Society of America immediately welcomed the mandatory mask order.

“The president’s order comes at a critical point, when vaccines, as well as a plan to accelerate their roll out, offer new hope, but also when more easily transmitted variants of the virus present new challenges,” the group said.

Re-engaging with WHO

Biden received his second dose of a vaccine against COVID-19 at ChristianaCare Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, on January 11 [Tom Brenner/Reuters]

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Biden is halting Trump’s planned withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO).The Trump administration in July of last year notified Congress and the United Nations that the US was formally withdrawing from the WHO. The decision would have gone into effect in July.

Trump justified the decision by saying the WHO “failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms” and accusing the group of helping China cover up the origins of the novel coronavirus.

The Biden-Harris administration is expected to participate in a WHO executive board meeting that is continuing this week, Biden’s team said earlier on Wednesday.Bob Goodfellow, the interim executive director of Amnesty International USA, welcomed Biden’s WHO decision as “a much-needed first step” in restoring Washington’s cooperation with the international community.

He also urged Biden to support the WHO’s COVAX programme, which aims to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are evenly distributed between countries.

“It is of the utmost importance that the Biden administration lead multilateral efforts to fight the pandemic and to support and fund global vaccine efforts,” Goodfellow said.

Halting border wall construction

Biden also rescinded the national emergency declaration that was used to justify some of Trump’s funding diversions to build the wall on the US-Mexico border.

The order, Biden’s team said earlier on Wednesday, will direct “an immediate pause” in construction to allow for a review of the funding and contracting methods used.

Building a “big” and “beautiful” wall between the US and Mexico to block undocumented immigrants from entering the country was one of Trump’s key 2016 election campaign promises.

Revoking Keystone pipeline approval

The Keystone XL pipeline was cancelled by the Obama administration in 2015 but was given a presidential permit by Trump in 2017 [File: Andrew Burton/Getty Images]

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Biden also revoked the presidential permit granted to the multibillion-dollar Keystone XL pipeline, a contentious energy project that was slated to ship 830,000 barrels of oil per day between the Canadian province of Alberta and the US state of Nebraska.Canada, which this week said it remained committed to the project, expressed its “disappointment” at the decision on Wednesday.

But Matthew Campbell,a staff lawyer at the Native American Rights Fund, which has represented Indigenous nations in legal challenges against Keystone XL, told Al Jazeera Biden’s decision is “vindication” for Native communities opposed to the pipeline.

Fortifying DACA

In 2012, while serving as vice president to President Barack Obama, the US adopted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to provide temporary relief from deportation to “Dreamers”, young people who were brought to the US as children.

The Trump administration has tried to terminate the programme, through which 700,000 young people have applied for relief.

In a presidential memorandum signed on Wednesday, Biden directed the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the US attorney general, to make sure that DACA is preserved and fortified.

The memorandum also calls on Congress to enact legislation that would provide “permanent status and a pathway to citizenship” to the Dreamers.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Somalia, ambassador James Swan addressed the UN Security Council meeting on Monday.

The e-conference was also attended by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble who briefed the council on the recent progress undertaken by his administration towards the realization of free and fair polls.

On his part ambassador Swan also updated the members on the tangible political, economic, social, and humanitarian aspects achieved by the horn of the African nation through the support of the international partners led by the UN agencies.

On much-anticipated polls, ambassador Swan said an electoral process to choose the parliament and president is on the right path so far before February next year.

“When I last addressed this Council in August, the Somali leadership was meeting to agree on a plan for the 2020/21 elections. In September, they reached consensus on an indirect electoral model, ending a two-year political stalemate between the Federal Government and the Federal Member States.”

He said dialogue is however needed to address the concerns of the opposition leaders who are worried about the members of the election committee while strengthening peace and stability in the country.

“Political dialogue is also key to addressing other pressing priorities, including operations against Al Shabaab, economic and security reforms, and collaboration to tackle the multiple humanitarian challenges facing the country. We encourage political actors to institutionalize this dialogue among leaders, such as through the newly formed National Consultative Forum.

In the security sector, the UN envoy confirmed that despite persistent hit and run attacks by the armed group al Shabaab in major cities the wellbeing of the civilians remains a top priority for both Somali security forces and AU peacekeepers.
“I pay tribute to the Somali security forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia for their steadfast and courageous pursuit of peace and stability in Somalia. We also welcome the continuing support and commitment from the many Member States to the development of Somalia’s rule of law and security sector. It is through collective gains in the security realm that space is created for the political process, governance, and institution-building.”

He commended the swift response by the Somali health workers in curving the COVID-19 graph despite other immense challenges posed by recurrent floods and locust infestation

“Humanitarian needs remain acute in Somalia. The country has been hard hit by the triple-shock of COVID-19, flooding, and locust infestation. The national trends in COVID-19 cases are broadly favorable, but we must remain vigilant. I again commend Somali authorities for their rapid response to COVID-19’s outbreak and thank Somali health workers who are on the frontlines to defeat the pandemic.”

The Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia HE Mohamed Hussein Roble met with the Council of Ministers of the South West State of Somalia in Baidoa to discuss bilateral relations with the Federal Government of Somalia,SONNA reported.

Prime Minister Rooble urged the South West Council of Ministers to work with the Federal and State Electoral Commissions, traditional elders and civil society organizations to ensure free and fair elections.

He also met with traditional elders in the South West State and briefed them on the purpose of his visit, urging them to strengthen their role in security, counter-terrorism and social cohesion.

He said it was an important role for traditional elders and the community at large to take part in the fight against extremism and to educate the misguided youth about the importance of maintaining peace within the community.

Bodies of five suspected Yemeni fishermen were on Sunday found off coast Hafun in Somalia’s northeastern regional state.

According to locals, bodies have washed up on the beach were collected by good samaritans in the area.

Local authorities say the boat of the men was destroyed by strong rains and wind which hit number of coastal area in the region.

Since yesterday evening, the phone lines in Hafun and its neighbouring areas.

According to FAO, a tropical Storm named GATI has developed in the northern Indian Ocean and is moving westwards towards the coastal areas of Puntland and Somaliland at a speed of 45 KPH.

The severity of the storm is expected to increase as it passes over Somalia between 1800 to 2100 hours today with an estimated speed of 100-110 KPH.

The storm poses an immediate threat to the shipping lane that links Somalia and Gulf states.