Zimbabwe Online News

Here's a look at what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats have been doing this week:

US, Russia, Ukraine

Following consultations with various European partners as well as Ukraine, the United States and NATO provided written responses to Moscow addressing Russia's renewed security demands — the latest moves in diplomatic maneuvering aimed at heading off armed conflict.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan delivered the document in person Wednesday to Russia's Foreign Ministry. Separately, NATO transmitted to Russia its own responses regarding European security in a document described by officials as a few pages in length.

US Responds to Russia's Security Demands, Renewing Call for Diplomacy

Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman assessed that China's hosting of the Winter Olympics early next month was a factor in Russian President Vladimir Putin's calculation of military actions against Ukraine.

"We all are aware that the Beijing Olympics begin on February 4 — the opening ceremony — and Putin is expected to be there," Sherman said. "I think that probably President Xi Jinping would not be ecstatic if Putin chose that moment to invade Ukraine. So, that may affect his timing and his thinking."

On Sunday, the State Department ordered the departure of eligible family members from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. direct-hire employees amid the continued threat of Russian military action against Ukraine. The State Department also asked U.S. citizens in Ukraine to consider departing the country via commercial or other privately available transportation options.

US Orders Departure of Family Members of Ukraine Embassy Staff

Burkina Faso

The State Department said it was watching closely "the fluid situation" in Burkina Faso, where a military junta ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. But the U.S. said it was "too soon" to officially characterize the events in Burkina Faso as a coup.

"We call for the immediate release of President Kabore and other government officials, and for members of the security forces to respect Burkina Faso's constitution and civilian leadership. We urge all sides in this fluid situation to remain calm and to seek dialogue as a means to resolve grievances," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said this week during a press briefing.

Burkina Faso Soldiers Say They Deposed President

US-Iran

The United States warned Iran was just weeks from developing the capacity to make a nuclear weapon. The alarm came amid indirect negotiations between the two countries seeking a mutual return to compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal.

"[Iran] is getting to the point where its breakout time, the time it would take to produce fissile material for a bomb, is getting down to a matter of a few weeks," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a virtual event Monday. How the U.S. and its allies would deal with the risks will be decided soon, Blinken said, adding that "given what Iran is doing, we can't allow this to go on."

As Iran Nears Uranium Breakout Capacity, US Mulls Bomb-Making Scenarios

Human trafficking

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department released its annual "Trafficking in Persons Report." Blinken called for other countries to improve "collective efforts to comprehensively address human trafficking," as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem.

State Department Releases Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

Source: Voice of America

ZURICH (Switzserland)— President of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, has expressed his condolences to the victims of Monday’s accident involving fans who attempted to enter the Yaoundé Olembe Stadium to watch the Africa Cup of Nations match between Cameroon and Comoros.

In a letter released Tuesday, the world football governing body expressed its deepest sympathies to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Cameroonian Football Association (CFA), families, and friends of victims who were involved in this heartbreaking incident.

The letter stated that “FIFA sends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims who lost their lives following the tragic incident that took place at Olembe Stadium during the Africa Cup of Nations fixture between Cameroon and Comoros.”

“The thoughts and prayers of the global football community are with the victims, the ones who have been injured in this incident, and all the staff of both CAF and the Cameroonian Football Association (FECAFOOT) at this difficult moment.”

Eight people were killed and many more injured in a crush as crowds attempted to enter through a southern entrance at Olembe stadium in the capital Yaounde to watch the host nation play Comoros.

Eight deaths were recorded, two women in their thirties, four men in their thirties, one child, one body taken away by the family, according to a preliminary health ministry report.

Cameroon’s Communication Ministry also confirmed that 38 people have been injured, out of which 31 were with minor injuries and seven with severe injuries.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

GENEVA–School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused “nearly insurmountable” losses in education among children around the world, UNICEF said.

More than 616 million students are still being affected by full or partial school closures, the United Nations children’s agency said.

In many countries, in addition to depriving millions of children of the chance to acquire basic skills, these disruptions have affected students’ mental health, put them at greater risk of abuse and prevented many from having access to “a regular source of nutrition”, UNICEF added.

“Quite simply, we are looking at a nearly insurmountable scale of loss to children’s schooling,” said UNICEF chief of education Robert Jenkins in a statement, almost two years into the pandemic.

And “just reopening schools is not enough”, he added, calling for “intensive support to recover lost education”.

UNICEF reported that “learning losses to school closures have left up to 70 per cent of 10-year-olds unable to read or understand a simple text, up from 53 per cent pre-pandemic” in countries with low and middle income.

In Ethiopia, for example, children learned only “between 30 to 40 per cent of the math they would have learned if it had been a normal school year” in primary school, the UN agency estimated.

Rich countries are far from being spared. In the United States, learning losses have been observed in several states, including Texas, California and Maryland, said UNICEF.

School dropouts are also a problem: In South Africa, between 400,000 and 500,000 students “reportedly dropped out of school altogether between March 2020 and July 2021”.

Finally, in addition to rising levels of anxiety and depression among children and young people linked to the pandemic, school closures also meant more than 370 million children around the world did not get school meals, “losing what is for some children the only reliable source of food and daily nutrition”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

NAIROBI— Kenya says it will consider allowing Emirati aircraft only after negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to reopen their airspace on Kenyan flights.

The two countries have been embroiled in a feud over a mutual flight ban that Dubai began, citing Covid-19 infections before Nairobi paid back in the same coin.

Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo said the two sides were holding discussions on the matter but there were no certainties on when flights could resume.

“We are working together to reach an understanding on how we can return to normalcy,” she told a press conference at her office.

“I have no white smoke to report today but I want to tell you that we are active on the matter and it is our hope that we will reach an understanding that will enable them to open up their flight paths and for us to do the same. It is a matter that is under discussion.”

When the UAE imposed a flight ban late last year, it cited Kenya’s then rising Covid-19 cases, which had seen the country report an infection rate of as high as 30 per cent.

There were also complaints about forged PCR certificates among travellers from Kenya, some of whom ended up testing positive on arrival. Now, the positivity rate has dropped to below 10 percent and some of Kenya’s neighbours, like Uganda and Rwanda, who had been on the UAE red list, have since been dropped.

Last week, Kenya extended the ban after the UAE retained Nairobi on the list of those whose flights will not be allowed.

Both countries had daily flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and sometimes Sharjah, frequented by travellers seeking to connect to other parts of the world or into Africa.

The ban means passengers who had planned to fly through the UAE have had to reroute their itineraries.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK