others
Single-dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine gets EUA in India
India’s drug regulator on Sunday granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Single-dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine in India.
With this, Sputnik light becomes the ninth Covid-19 vaccine that has been granted EUA in the country, reports The Economic Times.
“This will further strengthen the nation's collective fight against the pandemic,” tweeted Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
Read: India to offer jobs to 80 Afghan military cadets
Dr Reddy's had completed Phase-3 clinical trial data of Sputnik Light and sought approval from DCGI to use the vaccine as standalone in January this year.
Around 6.5 lakh people have already taken the first dose of Sputnik V first dose.
"We feel confident that Sputnik Light is not only effective against other variants of concern, but also with Omicron,” MV Ramana, CEO, Branded Markets (India and Emerging Markets) of Dr. Reddy's said during the post earnings media briefing last month.
Sputnik V is a two-dose vaccine made from two components - recombinant adenovirus 26 or Ad26 and adenovirus 5 or Ad5 The first dose (Ad26) is the main vaccine, and the second (Ad5) is a booster shot. The Sputnik Light vaccine is made from Ad26, which is the first part of the Sputnik V vaccine.
The company has also submitted a proposal to conduct clinical trials to test Sputnik Light as a booster to other vaccines.
Russia's Gamelya Center had in December last year said that the Sputnik Light booster dose increased virus neutralizing activity against Omicron. The data was based on sera 2-3 months after re-vaccination.
Read: Russian bombers fly over Belarus amid Ukraine tensions
Earlier on February 4, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) announced that Sputnik V was granted full permanent approval by Russia’s Health Ministry. It had previously held temporary emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Russian regulator.
Sputnik Light is authorized in over 30 countries, both as a standalone vaccine and a universal booster to other vaccines.
Trial of 3 cops in Floyd killing to resume after COVID pause
The federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s rights is expected to resume Monday, after it was abruptly suspended last week because one of the defendants tested positive for COVID-19.
J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are accused of depriving Floyd of his rights when they failed to give him medical aid as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the Black man’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed, facedown and gasping for air. Kueng and Thao are also accused of failing to intervene in the May 2020 killing that triggered protests worldwide and a reexamination of racism and policing.
The trial, which was in the middle of its second week, was halted Wednesday when Judge Paul Magnuson said one of the defendants had tested positive. The defendant wasn’t named, but Kueng and Thao were in court that day and Lane was not. Lane’s attorney declined to say whether his client had COVID-19.
That “trial participant” was to be tested again before the trial resumes, as will all other case participants who had been near that person. The court said Magnuson and the jurors aren’t considered close contacts because they weren’t within 6 feet of the attorneys’ tables.
Case participants have to answer questions about COVID-19 symptoms each morning before the trial begins. If any test positive, have been in close contact with someone who did, or begins having symptoms, a COVID-19 test is immediately given.
Testimony began Jan. 24 after a jury was quickly selected in one day. Magnuson ordered the selection of six alternates instead of the usual two in case any jurors became ill and had to drop out.
To ensure social distancing, Magnuson set limits on who can be in the courtroom. That includes allowing only four pool reporters plus a sketch artist, along with a limited number of family and friends of the officers and Floyd. Everyone entering the courtroom is asked about symptoms.
The general public and other journalists can watch a closed-circuit TV feed in separate rooms.
UN experts: North Korea stealing millions in cyber attacks
North Korea is continuing to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms and exchanges, illicit money that is an important source of funding for its nuclear and missile programs, U.N. experts said in a report quoting cyber specialists.
The panel of experts said that according to an unnamed government, North Korean “cyber-actors stole more than $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia, probably reflecting a shift to diversify its cybercrime operations.”
And the experts said in the report’s section on cyber activities obtained Sunday by The Associated Press that an unidentified cybersecurity firm reported that in 2021 the North’s “cyber-actors stole a total of $400 million worth of cryptocurrency through seven intrusions into cryptocurrency exchanges and investment firms.”
These cyberattacks “made use of phishing lures, code exploits, malware, and advanced social engineering to siphon funds out of these organizations’ internet-connected ‘hot’ wallets into DPRK-controlled addresses,” the panel said, using the initials of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The cryptocurrency funds stolen by the DPRK cyber actors “go through a careful money laundering process in order to be cashed out,”″ the panel of experts monitoring sanctions on North Korea said in the report to the U.N. Security Council.
A year ago, the panel quoted an unidentified country saying North Korea’s “total theft of virtual assets from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately $316.4 million.”
In the executive summary of the new report, the experts said North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
“Although no nuclear tests or launches of ICBMs were reported, DPRK continued to develop its capability for production of nuclear fissile materials,” the panel said. Those fissile materials — uranium or plutonium — are crucial for a nuclear reaction.
The experts noted “a marked acceleration” of North Korean missile launches through January that used a variety of technology and weapons. The experts said North Korea “continued to seek material, technology and know-how for these programs overseas, including through cyber means and joint scientific research.”
Read: Russian bombers fly over Belarus amid Ukraine tensions
A year ago, the panel said North Korea had modernized its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles by flaunting United Nations sanctions, using cyberattacks to help finance its programs and continuing to seek material and technology overseas for its arsenal including in Iran.
“Cyberattacks, particularly on cryptocurrency assets, remain an important revenue source” for Kim Jong Un’s government, the experts monitoring the implementation of sanctions against the North said in the new report.
In addition to its recent launches, North Korea has threatened to lift its four-year moratorium on more serious weapons tests such as nuclear explosions and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Security Council initially imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and toughened them in response to further nuclear tests and the country’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The panel of experts said North Korea’s blockade aimed at preventing COVID-19 resulted in “historically low levels” of people and goods entering and leaving the country. Legal and illegal trade including in luxury goods “has largely ceased” though cross-border rail traffic resumed in early January, it said.
The panel has previously made clear that North Korea remains able to evade sanctions and to illicitly import refined petroleum, access international banking channels and carry out “malicious cyber activities.”
U.N. sanctions ban North Korean coal exports and the experts said in the new report that although coal exports by sea increased in the second half of 2021, “they were still at relatively low levels.”
“The quantity of illicit imports of refined petroleum increased sharply in the same period, but at a much lower level than in previous years,” the panel said, adding that direct deliveries by non-North Korea tankers has ceased and only tankers from the North delivered oil, “a marked change of methodology” probably in response to COVID-19 measures.
The experts said North Korea also continues to evade maritime sanctions “by deliberately obfuscated financial and ownership networks.”
While the humanitarian situation in the country continues to worsen, the panel said the almost complete lack of information from the country makes it difficult to determine the “unintended humanitarian consequences of U.N. sanctions affecting the civilian population.”
A different COVID-19 vaccine debate: Do we need new ones?
COVID-19 vaccines are saving an untold number of lives, but they can’t stop the chaos when a hugely contagious new mutant bursts on the scene, leading people to wonder: Will we need boosters every few months? A new vaccine recipe? A new type of shot altogether?
That’s far from settled, but with the shots still doing their main job many experts are cautioning against setting too high a bar.
“We need collectively to be rethinking what is the goal of vaccination,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, infectious disease chief at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. “It’s unrealistic ... to believe that any kind of vaccination is going to protect people from infection, from mild symptomatic disease, forever.”
If the goal is preventing serious illness, “we may not need to be doing as much fine-tuning of the vaccines every time a new variant comes.”
The virus is essentially shape-shifting as it mutates, with no way to know how bad the next variant will be. Already a sub-strain of omicron bearing its own unique mutations is circulating. Research is underway to create next-generation vaccines that might offer broader protection against future mutants -- but they won’t be ready anytime soon.
Read: Omicron drives US deaths higher than in fall’s delta wave
The immediate solution: Getting today’s shots into more arms will “reduce the opportunities for the virus to mutate and spawn new Greek letters that we then have to worry about,” said Jennifer Nuzzo of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
WHY IMMUNITY ISN’T PERFECT
The job of blocking infection falls to antibodies, which form after either vaccination or a prior bout with COVID-19, ready to fight back the next time someone’s exposed.
One problem: Mutations change the appearance of the spike protein that covers the coronavirus much like a crook switches disguises to evade capture. That’s why omicron was more able to slip past that first defense than earlier variants -- its spike coating was harder for existing antibodies to recognize.
Also, the immune system isn’t designed to be in a constant state of high alert, so the antibodies that fend off infection do wane over time. Several months after two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, people had little protection against an omicron infection — a result of both waning antibodies and the variant’s mutation.
Thankfully, different immune system soldiers called T cells are key to prevent an infection from turning into severe illness — and that protection is lasting longer because T cells are recognizing other parts of the virus that don’t mutate as easily.
A THIRD DOSE MATTERS
After a booster, protection against symptomatic disease from omicron is about 70% -- not as good as the 94% protection seen with earlier variants that more closely matched the vaccine yet highly effective. Importantly, the booster also further strengthened protection against serious illness.
Researchers are closely tracking if infection-fighting antibodies stick around longer after a third dose -- but at some point, those levels are guaranteed to wane again. So-called memory cells can make more the next time the body senses they’re needed.
Still, Israel is offering a fourth dose to some people, including those 60 and older, and mulling giving the additional booster to all adults.
The debate is whether repeated boosting really is the best approach — especially since scary new variants are less likely to form once more of the world’s population gets initial vaccinations.
Endless boosting just to keep antibody levels constantly high is “not a public health strategy that works,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Pfizer and Moderna are testing omicron-specific boosters in some American adults, although it’s far from clear if authorities would abandon a vaccine recipe proven to save lives for a tweaked version in hopes of fewer breakthrough infections. Brewing a single shot with two kinds of vaccine is technically possible but, again, they’d have to prove the mixture doesn’t weaken the original protection against severe illness.
NEW APPROACHES IN THE PIPELINE
Whatever happens with omicron, it’s clear the coronavirus is here to stay and the U.S. National Institutes of Health is funding about $43 million in projects to develop so-called “pan-coronavirus” vaccines that promise to protect against more than one type. One possibility: Nanoparticles that carry pieces of spike proteins from four to eight different versions of the virus rather than the single type in today’s vaccines.
It’s a tantalizing idea, but NIH infectious diseases chief Dr. Anthony Fauci called it a years-long endeavor. “I don’t want anyone to think that pan-coronavirus vaccines are literally around the corner,” he said.
A possibly more direct approach: Creating COVID-19 vaccines that can be squirted into the nose to form antibodies ready to fight the virus right where we first encounter it. Nasal vaccines are harder to develop than injected versions but attempts are underway, including a large study just announced by India’s Bharat Biotech.
Read:Third COVID wave looms in Indonesia as omicron spreads
PROTECTION VARIES GLOBALLY
Complicating any possible change to vaccine strategy is the grim reality that only 10% of people in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose. Also, recent studies show that some types of vaccines used around the world appear easier than others for omicron to evade, meaning booster strategies may need to be tailored.
Yale University researchers found no omicron-targeted antibodies in the blood of people given two doses of vaccine made by China’s Sinovac. Following those initial shots with a Pfizer booster -- a very different kind of vaccine -- helped but not enough, only increasing antibody levels to the amount seen by Pfizer recipients who didn’t get a booster.
Overshadowing all of these questions is that “we don’t know how to predict the next strain,” said Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, a former Food and Drug Administration vaccine chief. He wants to see a global strategy that defines the trigger for any vaccine change. “Otherwise we are going to have a confused public, again.”
Omicron amps up concerns about long COVID and its causes
More than a year after a bout with COVID-19, Rebekah Hogan still suffers from severe brain fog, pain and fatigue that leave her unable to do her nursing job or handle household activities.
Long COVID has her questioning her worth as a wife and mother.
“Is this permanent? Is this the new norm?” said the 41-year-old Latham, New York, woman, whose three children and husband also have signs of the condition. “I want my life back.’’
More than a third of COVID-19 survivors by some estimates will develop such lingering problems. Now, with omicron sweeping across the globe, scientists are racing to pinpoint the cause of the bedeviling condition and find treatments before a potential explosion in long COVID cases.
Could it be an autoimmune disorder? That could help explain why long COVID-19 disproportionately affects women, who are more likely than men to develop autoimmune diseases. Could microclots be the cause of symptoms ranging from memory lapses to discolored toes? That could make sense, since abnormal blood clotting can occur in COVID-19.
As these theories and others are tested, there is fresh evidence that vaccination may reduce the chances of developing long COVID.
It’s too soon to know whether people infected with the highly contagious omicron variant will develop the mysterious constellation of symptoms, usually diagnosed many weeks after the initial illness. But some experts think a wave of long COVID is likely and say doctors need to be prepared for it.
Read:Third COVID wave looms in Indonesia as omicron spreads
With $1 billion from Congress, the National Institutes of Health is funding a vast array of research on the condition. And clinics devoted to studying and treating it are popping up around the world, affiliated with places such as Stanford University in California and University College London.
WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?
Momentum is building around a few key theories.
One is that the infection or remnants of the virus persist past the initial illness, triggering inflammation that leads to long COVID.
Another is that latent viruses in the body, such as the Epstein-Barr virus that causes mononucleosis, are reactivated. A recent study in the journal Cell pointed to Epstein-Barr in the blood as one of four possible risk factors, which also include pre-existing Type 2 diabetes and the levels of coronavirus RNA and certain antibodies in the blood. Those findings must be confirmed with more research.
A third theory is that autoimmune responses develop after acute COVID-19.
In a normal immune response, viral infections activate antibodies that fight invading virus proteins. But sometimes in the aftermath, antibodies remain revved up and mistakenly attack normal cells. That phenomenon is thought to play a role in autoimmune diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis.
Justyna Fert-Bober and Dr. Susan Cheng were among researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who found that some people who have had COVID-19, including cases without symptoms, have a variety of these elevated “autoantibodies” up to six months after recovering. Some are the same ones found in people with autoimmune diseases.
Another possibility is that tiny clots play a role in long COVID. Many COVID-19 patients develop elevated levels of inflammatory molecules that promote abnormal clotting. That can lead to blood clots throughout the body that can cause strokes, heart attacks and dangerous blockages in the legs and arms.
In her lab at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, scientist Resia Pretorius has found microclots in blood samples from patients with COVID-19 and in those who later developed long COVID. She also found elevated levels of proteins in blood plasma that prevented the normal breakdown of these clots.
She believes that these clotting abnormalities persist in many patients after an initial coronavirus infection and that they reduce oxygen distribution to cells and tissue throughout the body, leading to most if not all symptoms that have been linked to long COVID.
IT CAN HIT NEARLY ANYONE
While there’s no firm list of symptoms that define the condition, the most common include fatigue, problems with memory and thinking, loss of taste and smell, shortness of breath, insomnia, anxiety and depression.
Some of these symptoms may first appear during an initial infection but linger or recur a month or more later. Or new ones may develop, lasting for weeks, months or over a year.
Because so many of the symptoms occur with other illnesses, some scientists question whether the coronavirus is always the trigger. Researchers hope their work will provide definitive answers.
Long COVID affects adults of all ages as well as children. Research shows it is more prevalent among those who were hospitalized, but also strikes a significant portion who weren’t.
Retired flight attendant Jacki Graham’s bout with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic wasn’t bad enough to put her in the hospital. But months later, she experienced breathlessness and a racing heart. She couldn’t taste or smell. Her blood pressure shot up.
In the fall of 2020, she became so fatigued that her morning yoga would send her back to bed.
“I’m an early riser, so I’d get up and push myself, but then I was done for the day,” said Graham, 64, of Studio City, California. “Six months ago, I would have told you COVID has ruined my life.”
Hogan, the New York nurse, also wasn’t hospitalized with COVID-19 but has been debilitated since her diagnosis. Her husband, a disabled veteran, and children ages 9, 13 and 15 fell ill soon after and were sick with fever, stomach pains and weakness for about a month. Then all seemed to get a little better until new symptoms appeared.
Hogan’s doctors think autoimmune abnormalities and a pre-existing connective tissue disorder that causes joint pain may have made her prone to developing the condition.
POTENTIAL ANSWERS
There are no treatments specifically approved for long COVID, though some patients get relief from painkillers, drugs used for other conditions, and physical therapy. But more help may be on the horizon.
Immunobiologist Akiko Iwasaki is studying the tantalizing possibility that COVID-19 vaccination might reduce long COVID symptoms. Her team at Yale University is collaborating with a patient group called Survivor Corps on a study that involves vaccinating previously unvaccinated long COVID patients as a possible treatment.
Iwasaki, who is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which supports The Associated Press’ Health and Science Department, said she is doing this study because patient groups have reported improvement in some people’s long COVID symptoms after they got their shots.
Study participant Nancy Rose, 67, of Port Jefferson, New York, said many of her symptoms waned after she got vaccinated, though she still has bouts of fatigue and memory loss.
Two recently released studies, one from the U.S. and one from Israel, offer preliminary evidence that being vaccinated before getting COVID-19 could help prevent the lingering illness or at least reduce its severity. Both were done before omicron emerged.
Read: Omicron drives US deaths higher than in fall’s delta wave
Neither has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, but outside experts say the results are encouraging.
In the Israeli study, about two-thirds of participants received one or two Pfizer shots; the others were unvaccinated. Those who had received two shots were at least half as likely to report fatigue, headache, muscle weakness or pain and other common long COVID symptoms as the unvaccinated group.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
With few clear answers yet, the future is murky for patients.
Many, like Graham, see improvement over time. She sought help through a long COVID program at Cedars-Sinai, enrolled in a study there in April 2021, and was vaccinated and boosted.
Today, she said, her blood pressure is normal, and her sense of smell and energy level are getting closer to pre-COVID levels. Still, she wound up retiring early because of her ordeal.
Hogan still struggles with symptoms that include agonizing nerve pain and “spaghetti legs,” or limbs that suddenly become limp and unable to bear weight, a condition that also affects her 13-year-old son.
Some scientists worry that long COVID in certain patients might become a form of chronic fatigue syndrome, a poorly understood, long-lasting condition that has no cure or approved treatment.
One thing’s for sure, some experts say: Long COVID will have a huge effect on individuals, health care systems and economies around the world, costing many billions of dollars.
Even with insurance, patients can be out thousands of dollars at a time when they’re too sick to work. Graham, for example, said she paid about $6,000 out of pocket for things like scans, labs, doctor visits and chiropractic care.
Pretorius, the scientist in South Africa, said there is real worry things could get worse.
“So many people are losing their livelihoods, their homes. They can’t work anymore,” she said. “Long COVID will probably have a more severe impact on our economy than acute COVID.”
Meeting UN chief, Xi stresses unity, cooperation to tackle global challenges
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday stressed strengthening unity and cooperation to tackle various pressing global challenges, while meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Beijing.
Xi said China will continue to firmly support the United Nations' work, and make new contributions to safeguarding world peace and development and building a community with a shared future for humanity.
Read: French, German leaders to visit Russia, Ukraine amid tension
Guterres came to China for the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Xi said hosting a streamlined, safe and splendid Olympics will inject confidence and strength into the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lethal US raid on IS encounters a doll, crib, bomb, bullets
When helicopters carrying some 50 U.S. commandos thumped onto the ground in Syria an hour after midnight, the raiders confronted a houseful of extremists and children.
Baby comforts were inside — a stuffed bunny, a blue plastic swing, a crib. So was the paraphernalia of violence — such as the bomb Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi is said by U.S. officials to have used to blow up himself, his family and perhaps others in his immediate proximity.
It was an audacious raid in an extremist stronghold of northwest Syria, months in the works and executed with the understanding that children might die as well as the hunted IS chief if the building’s occupants did not get out when given the chance to leave.
The apparent suicide bombing came before or early in a two-hour gun battle Thursday. First responders said 13 people died, six of them children. No U.S. commandos were wounded, military officials said.
President Joe Biden, who ordered the raid, said the world is rid of a man he described as the driving force behind the “genocide of the Yazidi people in northwestern Iraq in 2014,” when slaughters wiped out villages, thousands of women and young girls were sold into slavery and rape was used as a weapon of war.
“Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said.
THE PREPARATION
Over months of planning, U.S. intelligence first had to locate al-Qurayshi’s whereabouts and understand his movements — or lack thereof. They concluded he rarely, if ever, left his family’s third-floor quarters except to bathe on the building’s roof.
Anticipating that al-Qurayshi could well choose death by self-detonation if cornered by U.S. forces, U.S. officials commissioned an engineering study-from-afar of the three-story, cinder-block building to see if it would collapse in that event and kill everyone inside.
They concluded that enough of the building was likely to survive such a blast to spare those not near him.
They constructed a tabletop model of the house and in December set it up in the Situation Room, the ultra-secure White House command and communications post where presidents and their national security aides manage crises.
The second floor of the Syrian house, also white, was occupied by a lower-ranking Islamic State leader and his family. The ground floor, partly a basement, housed a family unconnected to the Islamic State and unaware of al-Qurayshi’s presence or significance, U.S. officials said.
Biden was first briefed in depth more than a month ago by operational commanders after U.S. forces were satisfied they would find al-Qurayshi — also known as Haji Abdullah — where they did.
The Islamic State, which once controlled most of the territory in Iraq and parts of Syria, has been attempting to regenerate, and staged its most ambitious operation in years when it seized a prison in northeast Syria last month holding at least 3,000 IS detainees.
For all his brinkmanship with Russia as it amasses its forces for a possible new invasion of Ukraine, Biden could not afford to take his eyes off IS.
On Tuesday morning, he met Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the Oval Office and gave the go-ahead. Wednesday evening in Washington, Biden was in the Situation Room, monitoring a live feed of the mission as it unfolded.
THE MISSION
At his refugee camp near the raid, Jamil el-Deddo heard aircraft and an explosion ripping through the night and thought at first it might be the notorious barrel bombs “that used to be dropped on us.” President Bashar Assad’s forces used the explosives-packed barrels against opponents during the Syrian conflict, inflicting indiscriminate death and injury.
“The first moments were terrifying,” el-Deddo told AP. “No one knew what was happening.”
The U.S. launched the raid from a unidentified base in the region after having “deconflicted” the mission with “a range of entities.” That’s jargon for giving certain other military forces or interests in the region — perhaps Russia — notice of a U.S. operation underway.
At the outset, the building’s occupants were told to get out.
“If you don’t leave, we have orders,” a man speaking with Iraqi dialect could be heard saying through a loudspeaker. “We will fire missiles toward the house. There are drones overhead.”
Ten people left the building, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby — a man and woman from the first floor and eight children in all from the first and second.
Not long after came the explosion that collapsed much of the third story and blew bodies out of the house, al-Qurayshi’s among them. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the blast was more massive than one that would be expected from a suicide vest.
From the second floor, the barricaded IS lieutenant, whom officials did not identify, and a woman thought to be his wife exchanged sustained gunfire with the commandos, U.S. officials said. Both died in the firefight, U.S. officials said, and one child with them was also found dead, McKenzie said.
The special operations forces conducting the mission faced danger from outside the building as well.
While the commandos were clearing the second floor, a number of foreign fighters linked to al-Qaida in Syria “began maneuvering with weapons toward U.S. forces” at the scene, McKenzie said. Gunfire from a U.S. helicopter killed at least two of them, he said.
Another helicopter developed a significant malfunction, McKenzie said. After landing it safely, away from the scene, the Americans rigged it to explode, then struck it with munitions from the air to be doubly sure “no sensitive equipment would remain in Syria.”
Videos released by the Syrian opposition group Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, showed a paramedic rushing a little girl from the house into an ambulance. A photo of a girl circulated on social media later showing a girl who appeared to be about five with blood on her face.
When the commandos safely departed, Biden uttered “God bless our troops,” according to a U.S. official who briefed the press on condition of anonymity. Biden was kept abreast of their long flight out of Syria overnight by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.
AFTERMATH
In images afterward, blood could be seen on the walls and floor in what remains of the structure. A wrecked bedroom had a wooden crib and the stuffed rabbit doll. On one damaged wall, the baby swing was still hanging.
In the fog-of-war aftermath, there was no immediate accounting from the U.S. of how many children died in all, and how. The White House attributed the deaths of three of the children to al-Qurayshi’s blast while the Pentagon spoke of two, both leaving unexplained, for now, how many might have been killed in the firefight.
Biden said U.S. forces chose a riskier commando raid instead of an attack from the air so as to minimize civilian casualties.
Yet the U.S. launched the operation knowing the IS leader might respond by killing innocent people around him as well as himself. McKenzie said the U.S. “as always” will look into whether innocent people were killed by its forces.
Biden says IS leader killed during US raid in Syria
ATMEH, Syria (AP/UNB) — The leader of the violent Islamic State group was killed during an overnight raid carried out by U.S. special forces in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
The raid targeted Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who took over as head of the militant group on Oct. 31, 2019, just days after leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a U.S. raid in the same area. A U.S. official said al-Qurayshi died as al-Baghdadi did, by exploding a bomb that killed himself and members of his family, including women and children, as U.S. forces approached.
The operation came as IS has been trying for a resurgence, with a series of attacks in the region, including a 10-day assault late last month to seize a prison.
U.S. special forces landed in helicopters and assaulted a house in a rebel-held corner of Syria, clashing for two hours with gunmen, witnesses said. Residents described continuous gunfire and explosions that jolted the town of Atmeh near the Turkish border, an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s civil war.
First responders reported that 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women.
Biden said in a statement that he ordered the raid to “protect the American people and our allies, and make the world a safer place.” He planned to address the American public later Thursday morning.
“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS,” Biden said in a statement. He said all Americans involved in the operation returned safely.
Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and senior national security aides monitored a live-feed of the operation from the White House Situation Room according to an official.
The operation marked a military success for the United States at an important time after setbacks elsewhere — including the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal — have led allies and opponents to conclude U.S. power globally was weakening.
The two-story house, surrounded by olive trees in fields outside Atmeh, was left with its top floor shattered and blood spattered inside. A journalist on assignment for The Associated Press and several residents said they saw body parts scattered near the site. Most residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“The mission was successful,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement. “There were no U.S. casualties.”
Idlib is largely controlled by Turkish-backed fighters but is also an al-Qaida stronghold and home to several of its top operatives. Other militants, including extremists from the rival IS group, have also found refuge in the region.
“The first moments were terrifying; no one knew what was happening,” said Jamil el-Deddo, a resident of a nearby refugee camp. “We were worried it could be Syrian aircraft, which brought back memories of barrel bombs that used to be dropped on us,” he added, referring to crude explosives-filled containers used by President Bashar Assad’s forces against opponents during the Syrian conflict.
The top floor of the low house was nearly destroyed; a room there had collapsed, sending white bricks tumbling to the ground below.
Blood could be seen on the walls and floor of the remaining structure. A wrecked bedroom had a child’s wooden crib and a stuffed rabbit doll. On one damaged wall, a blue plastic baby swing was still hanging. Religious books, including a biography of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad, were in the house.
Read: Police: 2 students shot, 1 fatally, outside Minnesota school
Al-Qurayshi had kept an extremely low profile since he took over leadership of the Islamic State. He had not appeared in public, and rarely released any audio recordings. His influence and day-to-day involvement in the group’s operations was not known and it is difficult to gauge how his death will affect the group.
His killing, however, is a significant blow just as the group had been trying to reassert itself in Syria and Iraq.
The opposition-run Syrian Civil Defense, first responders also known as the White Helmets, said 13 people were killed in shelling and clashes that ensued after the U.S. commando raid.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, also said the strike killed 13 people, including four children and two women. Ahmad Rahhal, a citizen journalist who visited the site, reported seeing 12 bodies.
The Pentagon provided no details on casualties in the raid.
The Observatory said the troops landed in helicopters. Residents and activists described witnessing a large ground assault, with U.S. forces using megaphones urging women and children to leave the area.
Omar Saleh, a resident of a nearby house, said he was asleep when his doors and windows started to rattle to the sound of low-flying aircraft at 1:10 a.m. local time. He ran to open the windows with the lights off, and saw three helicopters. He then heard a man, speaking Arabic with an Iraqi or Saudi accent through a loudspeaker, urging women to surrender or leave the area.
“This went on for 45 minutes. There was no response. Then the machine gun fire erupted,” Saleh said. He said the firing continued for two hours, as aircraft circled low over the area.
Taher al-Omar, an Idlib-based activist, said he witnessed clashes between fighters and the U.S. force. Others reported hearing at least one major explosion during the operation. A U.S. official said that one of the helicopters in the raid suffered a mechanical problem and had to be blown up on the ground.
The military operation got attention on social media, with tweets from the region describing helicopters firing around the building near Atmeh. Flight-tracking data also suggested that multiple drones were circling the city of Sarmada and the village of Salwah, just north of the raid’s location.
Through slickly engineered propaganda, including brutal beheading videos, IS emerged as a dominant global extremist threat in the past decade. Its clarion call to followers in the West to either join its self-described caliphate in Syria, or to commit acts of violence at home, inspired killings in the U.S. as well as thousands of travelers determined to become foreign fighters. The allure of IS to would-be militants has proved challenging for the West to fully stamp out even amid leadership changes and U.S. military strikes and raids.
At the height of its territorial conquests around 2014, the Islamic State controlled more than 40,000 square miles stretching from Syria to Iraq and ruled over 8 million people.
The Islamic State group has been reasserting itself in Syria and Iraq with increased attacks.
Last month, it carried out its biggest military operation since it was defeated and its members scattered underground in 2019: an attack on a prison in northeast Syria holding at least 3,000 IS detainees. The attack appeared aimed to break free senior IS operatives in the prison.
It took 10 days of fighting for U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led forces to retake the prison fully, and the force said more than 120 of its fighters and prison workers were killed along with 374 militants. The U.S.-led coalition carried out airstrikes and deployed American personnel in Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the prison area to help the Kurdish forces.
A senior SDF official, Nowruz Ahmad, said Monday that the prison assault was part of a broader plot that IS had been preparing for a long time, including attacks on other neighborhoods in Kurdish-run northeastern Syria and on the al-Hol camp in the south, which houses thousands of families of IS members.
The U.S.-led coalition has targeted high-profile militants on several occasions in recent years, aiming to disrupt what U.S. officials say is a secretive cell known as the Khorasan group that is planning external attacks. A U.S. airstrike killed al-Qaida’s second in command, former bin Laden aide Abu al-Kheir al-Masri, in Syria in 2017.
As Russia tensions boil, US farmer remains jailed in Ukraine
When Kurt Groszhans set out from North Dakota for Ukraine in 2017, he was eager to connect with his family’s ancestral homeland and to farm the rich, black soil for which the country is known.
But his farming venture with a law professor who’s now a high-ranking Ukrainian government official soon collapsed in acrimony and accusations, culminating in his arrest last November on charges of plotting to assassinate his former business partner. His family and supporters say the accusations are bogus and designed to silence Groszhan’s claims of corruption in Ukraine, a country pulled between Russian and Western interests and straining to shed its reputation for graft and cronyism.
The case is unfolding as Ukraine braces for a potential Russian invasion and as the U.S. has ordered the families of American personnel at the U.S. Embassy there to evacuate,. The upheaval has Groszhan’s family afraid that the North Dakota farmer could be left behind, with the U.S. government preoccupied with broader concerns of possible military action and geopolitical chaos.
“We’re terrified for my brother’s well-being right now, especially everything that you’re hearing in the news with the Russian troops on the border,” his sister, Kristi Magnusson, said in an interview with The Associated Press. With fears an invasion could force the evacuation of U.S. diplomatic staff, she called on the Biden administration and the State Department to “use their leverage” to get him home.
“If the embassy is not there to check on him and make sure that he’s doing OK, we don’t know what will happen,” she added.
Asked for comment, the State Department said the administration took seriously its responsibility to help detained Americans and was closely following the case, but declined to comment further.
Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, who recently visited Groszhans at the detention center where he awaits trial, said the episode has “created friction between at least me and them, if not our two governments, that should be alleviated” at a time when U.S. and Ukrainian interests should be aligned in countering the threat from Moscow.
“This bit of friction is unnecessary,” he added. “And I think we could relieve all of us of it simply by releasing Kurt.”
Groszhans, a 50-year-old farmer from Ashley, North Dakota, traveled in 2017 to Ukraine, where his ancestors are from. The chance to work the country’s coveted black earth was a “dream come true,” and he invested a large sum to get a farming operation up and running, his sister said. In a country with a prized agricultural sector, Groszhans was proud of his work, she said, sending pictures to his family of his crops.
Once there, he connected with a law professor, Roman Leshchenko, who offered himself up as a native speaker with knowledge of the local farming business and regulatory requirements. Grozhans named him the director of his company.
Read: Putin accuses US, allies of ignoring Russian security needs
Things fell apart quickly.
Groszhans has alleged in a lawsuit and in an internet post that Leshchenko began embezzling money from him, defrauding him of over $250,000 in total and transferring funds to a family company. Groszhans has been vocal about his allegations, describing himself in a Medium post in August as a “humble” but deceived investor.
“Probably, I am not the first or the last American investor who made a mistake in the person hired as a manager. But the personality of this manager makes my case unique,” he wrote.
Leshchenko declined to comment to the AP, but has denied the embezzlement claims in interviews with the Ukrainian media and has insisted that the men had agreed that Leshchenko’s company would run the farming business.
He’s leveled his own accusations against Groszhans, alleging that the American farmer planted genetically modified soybean that is banned from cultivation and sales in Ukraine and it was that discovery that prompted Leshchenko to resign from the company and was the source of their dispute.
Ukrainian media that began looking into the conflict reported that Leshchenko had used some of the funds for a roughly $60,000 contribution to the 2019 campaign of current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who later named Leshchenko the government’s minister of agrarian policy and food.
The AP was unable to independently confirm the contribution. Zelenskyy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Amid controversy about the contribution, Leshchenko was interviewed by the Kyiv Post last year. The article said the $60,000 donation came from Leshchenko’s dying father. Leshchenko said he and his father saw Zelenskyy “as the only person who wants to change Ukraine, bring structural reforms.”
Magnusson says Leshchenko ultimately did return some money to her brother, but also threatened to have him arrested if he didn’t stop talking publicly about his fraud accusations.
In November, Groszhans was arrested along with his assistant on charges of plotting to assassinate Leshchenko, allegations that Groszhans’ supporters say are wholly fabricated but may have arisen from Groszhans’ hiring of a private investigator to dig into Leshchenko as part of his litigation.
The arrest, his family and supporters believe, was a pretext for silencing his allegations, particularly in a country that has sought to shore up diplomatic and military support from the U.S. through reassurances it is making a serious effort to curb corruption.
“My brother has never in all of his 50 years of life ... been in trouble with the law,” Magnusson said. “And we don’t believe any of this can be true because why would you want to assassinate somebody if you’re trying to collect money back that is legally owed to you?”
His supporters are asking the Biden administration to formally designate him a wrongful detainee, a classification that would allow for his case to be reassigned to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department.
But his family fears the window for attention to Groszhan’s case may be limited, given the potential for an incursion by Russia and the dwindling diplomatic presence by the U.S.
“It just makes us more and more concerned for him and for his safety to know that these people could be leaving and Kurt is forgotten about, and he’s left behind,” Magnusson said.
Putin accuses US, allies of ignoring Russian security needs
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Russia’s top security demands but said Moscow is willing to talk more to ease tensions over Ukraine.
The comments were his first on the standoff in more than a month and suggested a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine may not be imminent and that at least one more round of diplomacy is likely.
Yet the two sides remain unyielding in their main positions, and there was little apparent hope for concessions. Russia is expected to respond soon to a U.S. proposal for negotiations on lesser Russian demands after which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak.
Lavrov and Blinken spoke Tuesday and reiterated positions put forward by Putin and President Joe Biden. The White House said Biden and Putin could also speak once the U.S. receives Russia’s response.
In remarks to reporters at a Moscow news conference with the visiting leader of NATO ally Hungary, Putin said the Kremlin is still studying the U.S. and NATO’s response to the Russian security demands received last week. But he said it was clear that the West has ignored Russian demands that NATO not expand to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations, refrain from deploying offensive weapons near Russia and roll back its deployments to Eastern Europe.
Putin argued that it’s possible to negotiate an end to the standoff if the interests of all parties, including Russia’s security concerns, are taken into account. “I hope that we will eventually find a solution, although we realize that it’s not going to be easy,” Putin said.
Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops along the border of Ukraine, fueling fears of an invasion. It has denied any intention to attack.
Read: Virus enters Tonga along with disaster aid, lockdown planned
Washington and its allies have rejected Moscow’s key demands. They emphasize that Ukraine, like any other nation, has the right to choose alliances, although it is not a NATO member now and is unlikely to join any time soon.
Putin said the Western allies’ refusal to meet Russia’s demands violates their obligations on the integrity of security for all nations. He warned that a Ukrainian accession to NATO could lead to a situation where Ukraine launches military action to reclaim control over Russian-annexed Crimea or areas controlled by Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.
“Imagine that Ukraine becomes a NATO member and launches those military operations,” Putin said. “Should we fight NATO then? Has anyone thought about it?”
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 following the ouster of the country’s Moscow-friendly president and later threw its weight behind rebels in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, triggering a conflict that has killed over 14,000 people.
Putin charged that while the U.S. airs concerns about Ukraine’s security, it is using the ex-Soviet country as an “instrument” in its efforts to contain Russia.
He alleged that Washington may try to “draw us into a military conflict and force its allies in Europe to impose the tough sanctions the U.S. is talking about now.” Another possible option would be to “draw Ukraine into NATO, deploy offensive weapons there” and encourage Ukrainian nationalists to use force to reclaim the rebel-held east or Crimea, “drawing us into a military conflict,” Putin claimed.
Speaking after talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, who has forged closer ties with Moscow than almost any other NATO member, Putin noted that it’s still possible to negotiate a settlement that would take every party’s concerns into account.
“We need to find a way to ensure interests and security of all parties, including Ukraine, European nations and Russia,” Putin said, emphasizing that the West needs to treat Russian proposals seriously to make progress.
He said French President Emmanuel Macron may soon visit Moscow as part of renewed diplomatic efforts following their call on Monday.
In a bid to exert pressure on the West, Lavrov sent letters to the U.S. and other Western counterparts pointing out their past obligations signed by all members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a top trans-Atlantic security grouping.
Russia has argued that NATO’s expansion eastward has hurt Russia’s security, violating the principle of “indivisibility of security” endorsed by the OSCE in 1999 and 2010. It says the U.S. and its allies have ignored the principle that the security of one nation should not be strengthened at the expense of others, while insisting on every nation’s right to choose alliances.
In his letter, which was released by the foreign ministry, Lavrov said “there must be security for all or there will be no security for anyone.” And in his call with Blinken, Lavrov warned that Moscow will not allow Washington to “hush up” the issue.
Blinken, meanwhile, emphasized “the U.S. willingness, bilaterally and together with Allies and partners, to continue a substantive exchange with Russia on mutual security concerns.” However, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken was resolute in “the U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of all countries to determine their own foreign policy and alliances.”
Read: EXPLAINER: Are Israel, Hamas committing war crimes in Gaza?
Blinken “urged immediate Russian de-escalation and the withdrawal of troops and equipment from Ukraine’s borders,” Price said. He reaffirmed that “further invasion of Ukraine would be met with swift and severe consequences and urged Russia to pursue a diplomatic path.”
Senior State Department officials described the call as professional and “fairly candid,” noting that if Russia wanted to prove it isn’t going to invade Ukraine, it should withdraw its troops from the border and neighboring Belarus.
Shortly after speaking to Lavrov, Blinken convened a conference call with the secretary general of NATO, the EU foreign policy chief and the chairman-in-office of the OSCE as part of efforts to ensure that the allies are engaged in any further contacts with Russia.
Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the U.S. statement about its readiness for dialogue “doesn’t correlate” with Washington sending planeloads of military equipment to Ukraine.
“I don’t know why the U.S. is escalating tensions and at the same time accusing Russia,” he said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv for scheduled talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Johnson said the U.K. has a package of measures including sanctions ready to go “the moment the first Russian toecap crosses further into Ukrainian territory.”
“It is vital that Russia steps back and chooses a path of diplomacy, and I believe that is still possible,” Johnson said. “We are keen to engage in dialogue, of course we are. But we have the sanctions ready.”
He said he would have a call with Putin on Wednesday, noting that the Russian leader was trying to “impose a new Yalta, new zones of influence” in a reference to the 1945 deal between the allied powers. “And it would not just be Ukraine that was drawn back into the Russian sphere of influence,” Johnson added.
In other developments, Biden was expected to nominate career foreign service officer Bridget Brink to assume the long-vacant diplomatic post of American ambassador to Ukraine, according to a U.S. official familiar with the decision. Brink currently serves as the ambassador to Slovakia.