World

GENEVA — Economic sanctions are causing massive suffering in crisis-wracked Afghanistan, a top Red Cross official said on Monday, describing the situations as “infuriating”.

“I am livid,” Dominik Stillhart, operations director at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a statement at the end of a six-day visit to Afghanistan.

“Pictures viewed from afar of bone-thin children rightly elicit gasps of horror,” he said, adding though that “when you’re standing in the paediatric ward in Kandahar’s largest hospital, looking into the empty eyes of hungry children and the anguished faces of desperate parents, the situation is absolutely infuriating.”

“It’s so infuriating because this suffering is man-made.”

The United Nations has warned that around 22 million Afghans or more than half the country will face an “acute” food shortage in the winter months due to the combined effects of drought caused by global warming and an economic crisis aggravated by the Taliban takeover in August.

The financial crunch was aggravated after Washington froze about $10 billion of assets held in its reserve for Kabul and deteriorated further after the World Bank and International Monetary Fund halted Afghanistan’s access to funding.

Stillhardt warned that the economic sanctions “meant to punish those in power in Kabul are instead freezing millions of people across Afghanistan out of the basics they need to survive”.

“The international community is turning its back as the country teeters on the precipice of man-made catastrophe.”

He cautioned that “sanctions on banking services are sending the economy into free-fall and holding up bilateral aid”.

Stillhardt pointed out that municipal workers, including teachers and health staff, had not been paid in months.

“They have no money to buy food; their children go hungry, get dangerously thin, and then die.”

The Taliban authorities said on Saturday they had begun paying government employees, but said it would take time.

But Stillhardt warned the situation was dire, amid surging levels of malnutrition.

“This is a serious food crisis even before the worst of winter sets in.”

Even as needs continue to soar, ICRC warned that desperately needed funding to humanitarian organisations has been jeopardised as a number of countries, suppliers and banks are fearful of running afoul of UN Security Council resolutions.

“The ICRC is calling for a clear carve-out for impartial humanitarian organisations engaged in exclusively humanitarian activities,” Stillhardt said.

“It is in everyone’s interest to see humanitarian activities operating smoothly in Afghanistan.”

The ICRC itself is stepping up its assistance to Afghanistan.

Among other things, Stillhardt said the organisation had on Monday begun supporting 18 regional and provincial hospitals and some 5,100 staff who work there.

It would cover all costs and medical supplies for the next six months, ensuring they can keep running and conducting around half-a-million medical consultations each month.

THE HAGUE — Tens of thousands took to the streets in cities across Europe and Australia Saturday as anger mounted over fresh COVID restrictions imposed against a resurgent pandemic.

And Dutch police faced a second night of rioting, this time in The Hague, after the previous night's violence in the port city of Rotterdam.

Clashes erupted after a day of mainly peaceful protests elsewhere in the Netherlands, with rioters throwing stones and fireworks at police and setting fire to bicycles. Several people were arrested.

Europe is battling a fresh wave of infections and several countries have tightened curbs, with Austria on Friday announcing a nationwide partial lockdown, the most dramatic restrictions in Western Europe for months.

The Netherlands went back into partial lockdown last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs, and is now planning to ban unvaccinated people from entering some venues, the so-called 2G option.

Several thousand protesters angry at the latest measures gathered in Amsterdam. Another thousand marched through the southern city of Breda near the Belgian border, carrying banners with slogans such as “No Lockdown”.

Organisers said they opposed Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s plans to exclude the unvaccinated from bars and restaurants.

“People want to live, that’s why we’re here,” said organiser Joost Eras.

But “we’re not rioters. We come in peace,” he said, distancing himself from the chaos the previous night in Rotterdam, in which police said they had fired both warning and targeted shots and used water cannon.

In Austria, around 40,000 came out to protest in central Vienna near the Chancellery, responding to a call from the far-right FPO party.

They held up banners decrying “Corona dictatorship” and slamming the “division of society”.

“It’s not normal that the government deprives us of our rights,” said 42-year-old teacher Katarina Gierscher, who travelled for six hours to attend the rally.

Yellow star stunt 

Some protesters wore a yellow star reading the words “not vaccinated”, a nod to the Star of David many Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi era.

Austria’s Interior Minister Karl Nehammer expressed his outrage, saying in a statement that it “insults the millions of victims of the Nazi dictatorship and their families”.

From Monday, 8.9 million Austrians will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise. The restrictions will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days.

Vaccination against COVID-19 in the Alpine nation will be mandatory from February 1 next year.

Thousands also marched in Croatia’s capital Zagreb and in Denmark, around a thousand people protested against government plans to reinstate a COVID pass for civil servants going to work.

“Freedom for Denmark,” cried some of the marchers at a rally in Copenhagen organised by the radical Men in Black group, who believe COVID-19 is just a “scam”.

French skiers ‘delighted’ 

In Australia around 10,000 marched in Sydney and there were also protests in other major cities against vaccine mandates applied to certain occupations by state authorities.

“In Australia where a fanatical cult runs our health bureaucracies, they say it’s OK” to vaccinate children, right-wing politician Craig Kelly told the Sydney crowd to large cheers.

On Saturday, France dispatched dozens of elite forces to its Caribbean island of Guadeloupe after arson and looting overnight in the overseas territory, despite a newly imposed night curfew.

In Iran, the health ministry said Saturday more than half of the population had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as infection and death rates in the country have started to drop.

Winter sports have again been hit by the pandemic. Germany has ordered next month’s Ski Jumping World Cup in Klingenthal to be held behind closed doors.

But it wasn’t all bad.

In France, jubilant skiers hit the slopes as resorts fully opened their doors for the first time in almost two years.

“We’re delighted to be able to get the lifts up and running again and to be able to do our job 100 percent,” rescue worker Emmanuel Laissus told AFP in the Val Thorens resort in the southeast.

HAJNOWKA, Poland — Poland said on Saturday that Belarus has changed tactics in their border crisis by directing smaller groups of migrants to several points along the European Union's eastern frontier.

Though there have been signs of the crisis easing, Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he expected the border showdown to be long drawn out while Belarus said the situation remained "tense".

Polish border guards reported new attempted crossings by several groups mostly consisting of dozens of migrants, though also including one crowd of 200 people hurling rocks and using tear gas.

"We have to prepare for the fact that this problem will continue for months. I have no doubt that that will be the case," Blaszczak told RMF FM radio.

"Now a bit of a new method has been taken on by the migrants and Belarusian services... Smaller groups of people are trying to cross the border in many places."

He added that "there is no question that these attacks are directed by Belarusian services".

The West accuses Belarus of artificially creating the crisis by bringing in would-be migrants — mostly from the Middle East — and taking them to the border with promises of an easy crossing into the European Union.

Belarus has denied the claim, instead criticising the EU for not taking in the migrants.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told the BBC on Friday that it was "absolutely possible" his forces had helped people cross into the EU but denied orchestrating the operation.

“We’re Slavs. We have hearts. Our troops know the migrants are going to Germany... Maybe someone helped them,” he said.

“But I didn’t invite them here.”

The migrants have abandoned everything in their countries, spending thousands of dollars to fly into Belarus on tourist visas, determined to reach the EU.

There were indications this week that the crisis was abating after several hundred migrants were repatriated to Iraq, while 2,000 others left a makeshift border encampment for a nearby logistics centre.

Muluseu Mamo, a representative of the United Nations refugee agency in Belarus, visited the centre on Saturday, saying that while conditions there were better than in the forest, “much is missing”.

“If you ask if these are good conditions for further living, I would say no,” he was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti as telling reporters, adding that migrants there have complained about a lack of food, clothing and medical services.

Also Saturday, the Belarusian health ministry said that a World Health Organisation mission had arrived in Belarus to help organise medical support for the migrants.

Yemen’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that it was working on bringing back its citizens from the border, including eight on the Belarusian side and nine in Poland.

Polish border guards said that on Friday there had been 195 attempted illegal crossings, with 82 migrants ordered to leave Poland.

“The largest group consisted of around 200 foreigners, the others each numbered several dozen,” the guards tweeted on Saturday.

“The foreigners were aggressive — they threw rocks, firecrackers and used tear gas.”

The Belarusian state border committee, meanwhile, said that “the situation on the border remains tense”.

“Attempts to violently and brutally expel refugees from the territories of neighbouring EU member states continue,” the committee said on its Telegram channel.

On Friday the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic called the humanitarian situation “alarming” and demanded an immediate end to Poland’s controversial returns of migrants to Belarus.

“I have personally listened to the appalling accounts of extreme suffering from desperate people... who spent weeks or even months in squalid and extreme conditions in the cold and wet woods due to these pushbacks,” she said in a statement.

Several hundred people marched through central Warsaw on Saturday touting banners saying “Save the people on the border!” and shouting “Nobody’s illegal”.

Polish mothers also held a rally for migrant rights in the eastern town of Hajnowka, where they chanted “The forest is no place for children”.

Polish media say at least 11 migrants have died since the crisis began over the summer.

Poland held its first burial for one of the migrants — a Syrian teenager who drowned in the Bug border river — this week and two other funerals are planned.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden got a clean bill of health from the White House doctor on Friday after undergoing an extensive, routine check-up during which his powers were briefly transferred to Vice President Kamala 

Harris.

"The President remains a healthy, vigorous, 78-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state and Commander in chief," Kevin O'Connor, the White House physician, wrote.

The detailed report said that Biden did have “perceptibly stiffer and less fluid” motion while walking than a year ago, and suffered “increasing frequency and severity of ‘throat clearing’ and coughing during public speaking engagements”.

However, these two symptoms were not considered of immediate concern and did not appear to result from serious conditions, O’Connor’s letter said.

On a raft of tests, Biden came out with high marks.

He has “no signs of heart failure”, “no dental issues”, has no “suspicions for skin cancer”, and his eye health “is reassuring”.

One reason for that solid report may be the doctor’s finding that “the president does not use any tobacco products, does not drink alcohol, and he works out at least five days a week”.

Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday and is the oldest president in US history, takes three common prescription medications and two over-the-counter medicines, as well as wearing contact lenses, the letter revealed.

He measures 1.82 metres weighs 83.46kg and has a body mass index of 25.

A smiling Biden returned to the White House from his checkup at Walter Reed hospital earlier, saying “I feel great.”

“We’re in great shape,” he said, wearing his trademark aviator sunglasses.

While the annual visit to Walter Reed hospital was routine for a president, the requirement for Biden to transfer power while sedated during a colonoscopy exam made history.

For one hour and 25 minutes, Harris was the first woman to hold presidential power in the United States. She is already the first female vice president.

The White House press office said that official letters to Congress declaring the temporary transfer of power were sent at 10:10am (15:10 GMT). “The president resumed his duties at 11:35am,” (16:35 GMT), the White House said in a statement.

“Today that was another chapter in that history for many women, young girls across the country,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, noting Harris’ trailblazing role.

Harris made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party nomination in 2020, before being picked as Biden’s running mate. While holding the temporary presidential reins she continued to “work from her office in the West Wing”, Psaki said.

Psaki noted that a similar temporary transfer of power, “following the process set out in the Constitution”, had been carried out when president George W. Bush underwent the same procedure in 2002 and 2007.

The details on Biden’s health were being closely watched, given speculation on whether he will stand by his stated intention to seek a second term in 2024.

The positive medical assessment mirrored an earlier letter from Biden’s physician during his election campaign in December 2019, when he was described him as “a healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency”.

He was vaccinated early on against COVID-19, and received a booster shot in September.

The health check comes at a crucial moment in his presidency, with the House of Representatives voting to send Biden’s huge “Build Back Better” social spending agenda to the Senate for approval. Earlier this week, Biden signed into law another package to fund the biggest national infrastructure revamp in more than half-a-century.

The twin victories come after weeks of falling approval ratings for Biden and setbacks for his Democratic Party ahead of next year’s midterm elections when the Republicans are widely predicted to take control of at least the lower house of Congress.

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Dutch police fired warning shots, injuring at least two people, after rioters against a partial COVID lockdown torched a police car and hurled stones in Rotterdam on Friday.

Chaos broke out after a protest in the port city against the coronavirus restrictions and government plans to restrict access for unvaccinated people to some venues.

Dozens of people were arrested and seven people were injured in total, including police officers, during the night-time rampage on one of Rotterdam's main shopping streets.

The Netherlands went back into Western Europe's first partial lockdown of the winter last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs on restaurants, shops and sports.

"Warning shots were fired several times. At one point the situation became so dangerous that officers felt compelled to shoot at targets," police said.

Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb described the riots as an "orgy of violence".

"The police have felt the need to draw a police weapon in the end to defend themselves," he told reporters.

Police said in a statement that the demonstration that started on the Coolsingel street "has resulted in riots. Fires have been set in several places. Fireworks were set off and police fired several warning shots".

"There are injuries related to the fired shots," they added. They did not give a number but public broadcaster NOS said two people were hurt.

Dutch media said several hundred protesters shouted slogans including "freedom", then threw stones at police and firefighters and set fire to several electric scooters.

'Very serious situation' 

The situation had largely calmed later but the smoking wreckage of a burned-out police car and dozens of smashed bicycles littered the scene, an AFP reporter said.

Riot police carrying shields and batons were directing groups of people away from the area. Officers on horseback and in police vans patrolled the streets.

Police also cordoned off several scenes to comb for evidence, with a human finger visible on the ground at one of them, the AFP correspondent said.

“Most of the demonstrators are now gone. There only remain a few groups in a few places,” police spokesman Jesse Brobbel told AFP.

Dutch police said units from around the country were brought in to “restore order” to Rotterdam.

“Dozens of arrests have now been made, it is expected that more arrests will follow. Around seven people have been injured, including on the side of the police,” a police statement said.

Rotterdam authorities issued an emergency order banning people from gathering in the area “to maintain public order”, while its main railway station was closed.

“This is a very serious situation which requires action with the highest priority,” said the emergency order by the Rotterdam municipality.

Tensions will now be high ahead of planned demonstrations in Amsterdam and the southern city of Breda on Saturday. Local media say thousands of people are expected to attend.

Like much of the rest of Europe, The Netherlands has seen COVID-19 cases soar to record levels in recent days, with more than 21,000 new infections reported on Friday.

The latest restrictions were announced on November 12, and sparked clashes between demonstrators and police outside the justice ministry in The Hague.

In January The Netherlands suffered its worst riots in four decades, including in Rotterdam, after a night-time COVID curfew came into force.

But the most controversial measure could be yet to come.

The Dutch government is considering excluding the unvaccinated from bars and restaurants — the so-called 2G option — limiting admittance to people who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from the disease.

However, there was significant opposition to the plan during a debate in parliament this week.

Similar measures have already been taken in neighbouring Germany, while Austria initially did so but has now gone into full lockdown.

Earlier Friday the Dutch government outlawed traditional fireworks over New Year for a second year in a row “to prevent an extra burden on care workers”, the government said.


VIENNA — Austria on Friday became the first EU country to announce it would make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory and will next week impose a partial lockdown in the face of spiralling infections.

The lockdown, which comes into effect Monday, constitute the toughest restrictions introduced in Europe in recent weeks as Covid-19 cases surge continent-wide, fuelled by vaccine resistance.

Austrians will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise. The restrictions will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.

Schools will remain open, although parents have been asked to keep their children at home if possible. Working from home is also recommended.

Vaccination against Covid-19 in the Alpine nation will be mandatory from February 1 next year, Schallenberg said. So far, the Vatican alone in Europe has imposed a vaccination mandate.

"Despite months of persuasion, we have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated," Schallenberg told a press conference, calling vaccinations the only "exit ticket" out of the pandemic.

At the beginning of the week, Austria sought to impose restrictions on those not vaccinated or recently recovered from the virus, becoming the first EU country to do so.

But infections continued to rise. On Friday, a new record of more than 15,800 new cases were recorded in the EU member of nearly 9 million people.

'Tragedy' 

"I was hoping that there wouldn't be a general lockdown," said Markus Horvath as he prepared to shut from Monday his stall selling wooden jewellery at a Christmas market in Vienna.

Andreas Schneider, a 31-year-old from Belgium who works as an economist in the Austrian capital, described the lockdown as a "tragedy", saying confining just the unvaccinated had been "reasonable" since they had a choice.

Other European countries are also re-introducing curbs to fight the virus' spread.

On Friday, the German state of Bavaria cancelled all of its popular Christmas markets this year, as well as announced a shutdown of clubs, bars and night service at restaurants.

"The situation is very, very serious and difficult," state premier Markus Soeder told a news conference.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany's 16 states agreed Thursday to exclude the unvaccinated from restaurants, sporting events and cultural shows.

Hungary, which neighbours Austria, is making mask-wearing compulsory indoors again from Saturday.

Last Saturday, the Netherlands shut bars, restaurants, cafes and supermarkets from 8:00 pm for three weeks with non-essential shops forced to shut at 6:00 pm.


Protests 

The Dutch are limited to having four visitors at home and have been advised to work at home unless absolutely necessary with public events scrapped, although schools remain open and people can leave their homes without restrictions.

In Austria, demand for vaccinations has increased in recent days, and 66 per cent of the population are now fully jabbed, slightly below the EU average of more than 67 percent.

Outside Europe, Indonesia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory, while French Pacific territory of New Caledonia has also decided to impose vaccination from the end of December.

On Friday, Austrian opposition party NEOs said the government should have acted sooner to avoid intensive care units from struggling and thus prevent another lockdown -- the fourth in the country since the pandemic hit Europe last year.

"Austria is now a dictatorship!" said Herbert Kickl, the head of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), which was a junior partner in the country's last government, referring to the plan to make vaccinations mandatory.On Sunday, hundreds demonstrated against the lockdown for the unvaccinated. The FPOe is planning a bigger rally on Saturday though Kickl will miss it as he has contracted the virus.

On Monday, Vienna city authorities also became the first in the EU to start inoculating children between the ages of five and 11.

They said they would increase the offer in line with high demand even though the European Medicines Agency has not yet approved any of the coronavirus vaccines for the five-to-11 age bracket.

Canada on Friday became the latest country to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged between five and 11-years-old.

SOKOLKA, Poland — Poland warned on Wednesday that the crisis on the Belarusian border could last for months or even years, a day after Polish forces used tear gas and water cannon to deter stone-throwing migrants.

Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said there had been further attempts at crossing the border during the night, in the latest escalation of a months-long standoff on the EU's eastern border.

Thousands of migrants, mainly from the Middle East, are staying on the border in what the West says is a crisis engineered by Belarus to try to divide the EU and hit back against sanctions.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his main ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, have rejected the accusations and criticised the EU for not taking in the migrants.

"We have to prepare for the fact that the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border will not be resolved quickly. We have to prepare for months or even years," Blaszczak told Poland's Radio Jedynka.

Blaszczak said attempts to cross the border had continued during the night, adding that migrants had used the same "method of attacking the Polish border" as seen on Tuesday at the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing.

"The public attention focused on what happened in Kuznica, while smaller groups of migrants tried to break through the Polish border in other sections, also at night," he said.

Flying bans 

The border guard service said it had detected 161 illegal crossing attempts on Tuesday, including "two forceful attempts".

Polish police said nine officers, a border guard and a soldier were hurt during Tuesday's clashes — though no officers were still in hospital on Wednesday.

Belarus and Russia condemned the use of tear gas and water cannon, which came a day after the EU and US said they were expanding sanctions against Belarus.

The West has accused Belarus of luring thousands of migrants, many from Iraq and Syria, with the promise of an easy crossing into the EU and then forcing them to stay at the border.

Eastern EU members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have all refused to take the migrants, leaving many stranded for weeks in forested borderlands.

Following pressure from the EU, several airlines have said they will now stop transporting would-be migrants to Belarus.

Iraq has also said it will start voluntary repatriations of its citizens from Belarus this week and the EU border agency Frontex is working with the Polish and Iraqi authorities on arranging charter flights from Poland as well.

‘Extremely dangerous’ 

Lukashenko, who has crushed opposition to his rule over nearly three decades in power, discussed the crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday.

It was his first phone call with a Western leader since he suppressed mass protests against his rule last year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday welcomed the talks saying it was “very important that contact has been made between representatives of the EU and the leadership of Belarus”.

But Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller the conversation was “not a good step” and appeared to be “an acceptance of his choice”, referring to Lukashenko.

Aid groups say at least 11 migrants have died on both sides of the border since the crisis began in the summer and have called for a humanitarian response to the crisis.

Visiting areas near the border on the Polish side, the Council of Europe human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatovic on Tuesday said the situation was “extremely dangerous”.

“We need to find a way to de-escalate, to make sure the focus is really to stop the suffering,” she told reporters.

The Belarus Red Cross on Wednesday said that some 1,000 migrants were being put up in a “logistical centre” close to the Bruzgi-Kuznica checkpoint.

Another 800 were still in a makeshift camp near the border, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported.

Volunteers and military personnel distributed hot porridge, sweets, water, tea and canned food in what looked like a large warehouse, according to images shown on Russian state television.

The Belarusian health ministry said it had hospitalised six people, including four children, from the Bruzgi camp.