International

China confirms top officials vaccinated as it seeks to reassure vaccine-sceptic

AFP

Chinese anti-Covid vaccines are safe and have been given to the country’s top leaders, Beijing’s health authorities said Saturday, in a bid to reassure the population about their quality in the face of dwindling inoculation rates.

Using snap lockdowns, long quarantines and mass testing, China is the last major economy still pursuing the goal of eliminating outbreaks, even as its zero-Covid strategy takes a heavy toll on the economy.

But it has struggled to convince many Chinese people to get vaccinated — especially the elderly — with the relatively stable health situation and widespread fears over the quality of Chinese vaccines often blamed.

A year and a half since beginning its vaccination campaign in the country, Saturday’s comments by Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, mark the first time that China has officially commented on the inoculation status of its leaders.

“All current leaders of the Communist Party and the state have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and they have all been vaccinated with vaccines produced in China,” Zeng said, in comments indicating that President Xi Jinping is included in the group.

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“This demonstrates that our leaders take the prevention and control of Covid-19 very seriously, and have great confidence in Chinese anti-Covid vaccines,” he added.

According to Zeng, among those over 60, only 67.3 percent of people over 60 have received three doses, a rate that drops to 38.4 percent among those over 80.

Authorities are also working to defuse fears fueled by misinformation circulated online.

“Covid vaccines do not cause leukemia, diabetes” and “do not cause tumors to proliferate”, Wang Fusheng, director of the infectious disease department at the 301 Military Hospital in Beijing, said Saturday.

The most used Chinese vaccines are those made by the private laboratory Sinovac and those made by state pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. Beijing has yet to authorize the use of foreign Covid vaccines on its soil.

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China currently registers a few hundred new cases each day, with authorities moving quickly to quell outbreaks by instating localised confinements, and placing infected patients into mandatory quarantine.

International

Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka

Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.

The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.

An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.

The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.

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Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.

Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.

Internacionales

Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages

May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.

In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.

Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.

International

Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.

During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.

“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.

“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”

Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.

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On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.