Pakistan boosts security for polio fight
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani health official said a five-day anti-polio drive has started in the country to vaccinate millions of children under 5 years of age against the crippling disease.
Aimal Khan, a spokesman with the anti-polio drive, said the campaign began Monday amid tight security.
He said a total of 23.8 million children are to be vaccinated in the campaign, which involves a total of 161,000 health workers in 109 districts.
Pakistan is one of few countries where polio is still endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. After constant efforts for years, Pakistan is close to completely eradicating the disease.
Pakistan’s government regularly holds anti-polio drives despite threats from the Taliban, who perceive the campaign as part of a Western conspiracy and claim it will sterilize Pakistani children.
Trump, Pence to miss embassy opening
Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence will be in attendance when the U.S. opens its embassy in Jerusalem next week.
The White House said Trump is instead sending a high-level delegation to the ceremony marking the formal recognition by the U.S. of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump ordered the move last year, fulfilling a key campaign promise but drawing condemnation from many U.S. allies, who say the move makes it more difficult to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
The White House said Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan is leading the delegation, joined by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the president’s daughter and son-in-law, White House aides Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Afghan air raid killed 30 kids, U.N. says
KABUL, Afghanistan — The United Nations mission to Afghanistan said Monday that 30 children were among those killed in an Afghan air raid last month that officials said targeted insurgents.
The mission released a report saying that a total of 36 people were killed in the April 2 attack, which it said targeted a religious ceremony attended by hundreds of men and boys in the Dashti Archi district of the northern Kunduz province. It said another 71 people were wounded, including 51 children.
The U.N. said it is “not able to confirm the civilian status of each individual killed or injured, nor is the mission in a position to determine the presence or actions of Taliban leaders or units at the time of the airstrike.”
The report said the aircraft fired rockets and heavy machine guns at a religious gathering. It said its findings were based on firsthand accounts, observations by medics, and discussions with government and security officials.
Islamic nations call for aid to Rohingya
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A grouping of Islamic countries said Burma’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims is a “serious and blatant violation of international law” and it is calling for international support in solving the crisis.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a joint statement Sunday at the end of a two-day conference in Bangladesh, which has taken in more than 700,000 Rohingya who have fled violence in Burma since August.
The statement said the group will continue to work the U.N. and other global platforms to address the rights violations taking place in Burma. The group echoed previous international statements saying ethnic cleansing is taking place in Burma.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that military authorities adopted in 1989. Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali said delegates pledged solidarity with his country “in the face of the huge Rohingya influx with its humanitarian and security consequences.”
Security forces in Buddhist-majority Burma began a scorched-earth campaign in late August in response to attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the crackdown, which many rights activists believe was a calculated attempt to drive Rohingya from the country.
Rohingya are denied citizenship in Burma, where they have long faced persecution.
A Section on 05/08/2018