ap-breaking
Festival travel, vaccine shortage put Bangladesh at risk
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) Tens of thousands of people left Bangladesh s capital on Thursday to join their families in home villages to celebrate the Islamic religious festival of Eid al-Fitr, despite stark warnings that the exodus could worsen the country s sharply rising coronavirus outbreak.People crowded exit points in Dhaka, defying a nationwide lockdown in effect until Sunday and a suspension of long-distance passenger buses, trains and ferries.Authorities urged citizens not to congregate to offer special prayers for the festival on Friday and instead pray in phases in the country s more than 300,000 mosques while following health guidelines.Health officials fear the chaotic mass travel will spread the coronavirus, especially a potentially more dangerous Indian variant already detected in the crowded nation of 160 million people, and reverse a recent hard-won decline in cases following weeks of nationwide lockdown.Barricades and police posted on highways and at ferry terminals failed to stop the exodus on Thursday marking the end of the monthlong fasting month of Ramadan.Many people walked or took risky rides in the back of produce trucks or small motorized vehicles to get to local ferry terminals to cross the mighty rivers. At least five people have died in stampedes since Wednesday when people packed ferries beyond their capacity. On Thursday, the body of a sixth person was retrieved from the water after a car fell into a river as it hurried to get a space on a ferry.Shila Akhter, an employee at a private company, said she was desperate to join her family.As Muslims, we should celebrate Eid with our families, she said. Dhaka is the place of work for many of us. We work for the whole year. So, once in a year, we need to go home to our children and parents. They re the reason I m going home.The country s garment industry, centered in Dhaka, employs about 4 million workers, mostly women, from rural areas.On Monday, the World Health Organization designated a new virus version isolated in India a variant of concern based on preliminary research, alongside ones that were first detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil.In Bangladesh, the South African variant is already widely present and the U.K. variant has also been detected.Viruses mutate constantly, and a surge in infections in a country could result in more opportunities for new versions to emerge.No matter what variant is here, the issue is whether our people are wearing masks and avoiding crowds, said S.M. Alamgir, a senior scientific officer at the government s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.Risks are there to spread the virus because of the holiday rush, he said.The country suspended administration of second doses of vaccine for three days as the holidays began Thursday, but it will still have to skip about 1.4 million people because of a vaccine shortage.The crisis began when India banned exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India because of its own devastating surge in infections.Bangladesh has received only about 7 million doses from the Serum Institute despite a deal for it to supply 30 million doses by June. Bangladesh was forced to suspend administering first doses of vaccine on April 30.On Wednesday, China sent 500,000 doses of its Sinopharm vaccine to help Bangladesh cope with the shortage. Bangladesh has also signed a deal with Russia to produce the Sputnik V vaccine locally.Health officials reported 31 deaths and 1,290 new cases on Thursday, for a total of 12,076 deaths and 778,687 confirmed cases since March last year.
Bitcoin slips below $50k after Musk says Tesla won t take it
NEW YORK (AP) The price of bitcoin fell below $50,000 Thursday morning after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a day earlier that the electric car maker would stop accepting the digital currency as payment for its vehicles.Musk on Wednesday cited environmental concerns for the change in policy.We are concerned about rapid increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel, Musk said on Twitter. He added that cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels but its promise cannot come at a great cost to the environment.He also said that Tesla won t be selling any of the Bitcoin it owns.The price of bitcoin slipped to $49,880 in morning trading Thursday, the first time it s been below $50,000 since early March. Tesla shares were poised for gains early Thursday after falling 4.4% on Wednesday.Tesla said in February that it had invested around $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and it planned to begin accepting the digital currency as payment soon. The fair market value of Tesla s Bitcoin holdings as of March 31 was $2.48 billion, according to securities filings.Bitcoin relies on computers, which rely on electricity, to exist. The number of computers and the energy needed to power them is rising the growing value of bitcoin is directly tied to the amount of energy it uses.Bitcoin miners unlock bitcoins by solving complex, unique puzzles. As the value of bitcoin goes up, the puzzles become increasingly more difficult, and it requires more computer power to solve them. Estimates on how much energy Bitcoin uses vary.A 2019 study by researchers at the Technical University of Munich and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluded that, in late 2018, the entire bitcoin network was responsible for up to 22.9 million tons of CO2 per year similar to a large Western city or an entire developing country like Sri Lanka. Total global emissions of the greenhouse gas from the burning of fossil fuels were about 37 billion tons last year.
Jewish group condemns pure antisemitism in German protests
BERLIN (AP) Germany s leading Jewish group on Thursday sharply condemned protests in front of a synagogue in the western city of Gelsenkirchen as pure antisemitism.Several other German cities including Berlin, Hamburg and Hannover have seen anti-Israeli protests over the past few days. At least two synagogues were attacked, and several Israeli flags were torn down and burned since the latest eruption of violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip.The Central Council of Jews in Germany tweeted a video of dozens of protesters in Gelsenkirchen waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and yelling expletives about Jews.Jew hatred in the middle of Gelsenkirchen in front of the synagogue. The times in which Jews were cursed in the middle of the street should have long been over. This is pure antisemitism, nothing else! the group tweeted.The protests in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday were dispersed by police, German news agency dpa reported, but authorities reported further incidents in other parts of the country.Some cities which had hoisted Israeli flags in front of their city halls on Wednesday in remembrance of the start of German-Israeli diplomatic relations on May 12, 1965, reported that the flags were torn down and sometimes burned.An Israeli flag in front of a city hall in the western town of Solingen was torn and burnt and two Israeli flags in Berlin were also torn down late Wednesday night.On Tuesday night, police stopped 13 suspects in the western city of Muenster near a synagogue after an Israeli flag was burned there. In the western city of Bonn, police said several people damaged the entrance of a synagogue with stones and investigators found a burned flag as well. In nearby Duesseldorf, somebody burned garbage on top of a memorial for a former synagogue.In Berlin, some 100 people also assembled for a pro-Israel rally on Wednesday night in front of the city s landmark Brandenburg Gate waving Israeli flags and holding a banner saying We stand with Israel Now and Forever.Several cities and states in Germany have since upped their security and raised police presence in front of Jewish institutions, dpa reported.The German government has sharply condemned the attacks and vowed that the perpetrators must be found and held responsible and Jewish institutions must be protected thoroughly.
McDonald s raising US workers pay in company-owned stores
McDonald s is raising pay at 650 company-owned stores in the U.S. as part of its push to hire thousands of new workers in a tight labor market.The fast-food giant is the latest restaurant chain to announce pay raises. Chipotle said Monday it will raise workers pay to an average of $15 per hour by the end of June. Darden Restaurants, the owner of Olive Garden and other chains, said it March that it will guarantee workers $12 per hour including tips by 2023.Amazon, Costco and other big companies have also announced pay raises in recent weeks.Wages and benefits for U.S. workers have been rising quickly as vaccinations increase and employers try to meet growing demand at restaurants and other businesses. U.S. workers total compensation rose 0.9% in the first three months of this year, the largest gain in more than 13 years, according to the Labor Department.Chicago-based McDonald s said Thursday its hourly wages will increase an average of 10% over the next few months to $13 per hour, rising to $15 per hour by 2024. Entry-level workers will make at least $11 per hour; shift managers will make at least $15 per hour.But only around 5% of McDonald s U.S. stores are owned by the company. The vast majority of McDonald s nearly 14,000 U.S. stores are owned by franchisees, who set pay in their own restaurants.McDonald s said it didn t have data on wages at franchised restaurants. But the company is asking franchisees to follow its lead.We encourage all our owner operators to make this same commitment to their restaurant teams in ways that make the most sense for their community, their people and their long-term growth, McDonald s U.S. President Joe Erlinger wrote in a letter to employees.In a statement, the U.S. National Franchisee Leadership Alliance __ which negotiates with the company on behalf of franchisees __ expressed support for the wage hikes and encouraged restaurants to stay competitive in their local markets.
US agents encounter more single adults crossing border
LA JOYA, Texas (AP) Parents emerge from the brush into a baseball field, carrying exhausted children. Border Patrol agents dictate orders: Families with young children in one line and unaccompanied children in another. The smallest of three lines is for single adults.The scene Tuesday night in La Joya, a town of about 4,000 people, plays out nightly in Texas Rio Grande Valley, presenting Joe Biden with one of the most serious challenges of his young presidency high numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum. April was the second-busiest month on record for unaccompanied children encountered at the border, following March s all-time high.But while asylum-seeking families and children dominate public attention, single adults represent a growing number of border encounters, nearly two of every three in April. They are less likely to surrender to authorities than families and children, making them less visible.The Border Patrol s 173,460 total encounters in April were up 3% from March, marking the highest level since April 2000. The numbers, released Tuesday, are not directly comparable because most of those stopped were quickly expelled from the country under federal pandemic-related powers that deny rights to seek asylum. Being expelled carries no legal consequences, so many people try to cross multiple times.Single adults more than half of them from Mexico drove the increased activity. The Border Patrol had 108,301 such encounters in April, up 12% from March. Nearly nine of 10 adult encounters ended in expulsions under pandemic-related authority that began under former President Donald Trump and continued under Biden.Biden, however, exempts unaccompanied children from expulsion, allowing them to stay in the U.S. while pursuing asylum claims. Families with young children are also often released in the U.S. while their cases wind through the bottlenecked immigration courts.Some current and former border enforcement officials say massive attention on families and unaccompanied children consumes agents time and has created an opening for single adults and drug smugglers to elude authorities.Michael Fisher, the Border Patrol chief from 2010 to 2015, said some agency leaders have told him that agents are spending 40% less time patrolling and more on processing, doing meals and duties related to the increased numbers of children.The line is very thin right now, and the cartels exploit that, he said.While agents try to count how many people elude capture, Fisher thinks it would be a guess at best in the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Its often thick brush has traditionally not had many sensors, and many families and children cross in large groups. The Border Patrol s most trusted method of counting how many people get away relies on observing tiny human traces: dusty footprints, torn cobwebs, broken twigs, overturned pebbles.The Trump administration frequently flew Mexican adults far from the border in hopes of deterring them from crossing again, but recidivism has remained unusually high. The Border Patrol says 29% of people expelled in April had been expelled before.Hoping to recalibrate staffing, the Border Patrol Academy recently graduated its first class of employees devoted to preparing court documents, freeing up more agents to work in the field. They are assigned to the busiest corridors in Texas but their limited numbers mean they re unlikely to make much immediate impact.Meanwhile, authorities encountered 17,171 children traveling alone in April, down 9% from 18,960 in March but well above the previous high of 11,475 reported in May 2019 by the Border Patrol, which began publishing numbers in 2009.Border Patrol encounters with families fell in similar proportion to unaccompanied children down 10% to 48,226 from 53,406 in March. Barely one in three family encounters resulted in expulsion.In La Joya, a 15-year-old girl said she left her native Honduras without her parents or siblings in hopes of an education and eventually a job to help her family back home. She traveled for a month and a half and arrived at the baseball field with a larger group of migrants, sporting a black T-shirt with a phrase in English she did not understand: Women Move Mountains.I wanted a better future for me and my family. I want to study and work, she said, adding that her uncle and aunt in New York offered to open their home to her.The Associated Press is not using the girl s name. It does not normally name children without permission from their parents, and the identity of her parents could not be obtained.Nearby, two sisters from Honduras, ages 14 and 16, undid their buns and removed the laces of their pink sneakers after an agent ordered them to place the laces and hair ties and other property like phones and bracelets in a plastic bag.Rudys Acu a, 29, said he left Nicaragua for political reasons. He carried his 4-year-old son on his shoulders as he awaited orders from agents.Sometimes you are really forced to leave your country. It s not that you want to, he said.___Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report.
Novak Djokovic enjoys himself with fans back at Italian Open
ROME (AP) The fans were back at the Foro Italico, the sun was out, and Novak Djokovic s game was clicking.The top-ranked Serb seemed to enjoy every moment of his 6-2, 6-1 win over Spanish qualifier Alejandro Davidovich Fokina that put him in the Italian Open quarterfinals.After spectators were banned from the opening rounds of the Rome tournament because of the coronavirus pandemic, capacity was at 25% on Thursday as part of the Italian government s re-opening plan.It was not good, it was great, Djokovic said. I missed the crowd as much as anybody else one of the biggest reasons why I keep on playing.So it was nice to see them back and hopefully I can stay in this tournament an extra day to experience the crowd more and more. They definitely gave me great sensations today on the court and I enjoyed it.Djokovic often trains with Davidovich Fokina in Marbella, Spain. Perhaps that familiarity helped Davidovich Fokina break the top-ranked Djokovic in the opening game.But Djokovic broke right back and quickly took control.A five-time champion in Rome with his last title coming in September when the tournament was moved amid the pandemic Djokovic is looking to boost his clay-court game before the French Open starts at the end of the month.It s been a rough start to the clay season for Djokovic with a third-round loss to Daniel Evans at the Monte Carlo Masters followed by a defeat to Aslan Karatsev in the semifinals of his home tournament, the Belgrade Open.Djokovic said he played at least 20-30% better than he did against Taylor Fritz in his opening match in Rome.So I m on a good trajectory, he said. And hopefully tomorrow will be even better.Djokovic will next face either Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas or Madrid Open finalist Matteo Berrettini both top-10 players.It s going to be a battle, Djokovic said. Both of these guys are in great form.Also reaching the quarterfinals was 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) American Reilly Opelka, who eliminated Karatsev, an Australian Open semifinalist, 7-6 (6), 6-4.Opelka served 18 aces and won 52 of 69 points on his serve to record his third consecutive straight-set win this week after entering Rome on a six-match losing streak that included dealing with a bout of COVID-19.In the women s tournament, top-ranked Ash Barty beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 6-3 and will next face American teenager Coco Gauff, who defeated Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 6-3.Sabalenka, who overcame Barty in the Madrid Open final on Saturday, committed more than twice as many unforced errors as Gauff 36 to 17.It s the fourth time this season that the 17-year-old Gauff has reached the quarterfinals.Jessica Pegula, another American, followed up her victory over Naomi Osaka by eliminating Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-4.___More AP Tennis: https: apnews.com hub tennis and https: twitter.com AP_Sports___Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com AndrewDampf
Pope meets Argentine president months after abortion law
ROME (AP) Pope Francis met Thursday with Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, months after Argentina legalized abortion despite a personal appeal from the pontiff and opposition from the Catholic Church.In a break with usual practice, the Vatican communique about Fernandez s visit omitted any reference to issues discussed between the president and pope. The brief statement provided only a rundown of topics Fernandez discussed with the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister: the pandemic, Argentina s financial crisis and its fight against poverty.The meeting took place in a side study off the Vatican s auditorium rather than in the Apostolic Palace, where official state visits are usually held. The location, often used for less formal meetings, is where Francis received Queen Elizabeth II in 2014.It s the second time Francis and Fernandez have met and added yet another wrinkle in the Argentine pope s sometimes strained relationship with the governments of his native country. He has declined to return home since his 2013 election, friends say, because he wants to avoid being used for political ends by the reigning government.Argentina s abortion law, which Fernandez firmly supported, went into effect in January. It guarantees the procedure up to the 14th week of pregnancy and beyond that in cases of rape or when a woman s health is at risk.Fernandez, a Peronist, had campaigned on pledges to make abortion legal and free. Argentina thus is the largest nation in Latin America to legalize elective abortion, a development feminist movements have hailed and that could pave the way for similar legislation across the socially conservative, heavily Roman Catholic region.Francis, who has repeatedly denounced abortion as evidence of today s throwaway culture, issued a last-minute appeal before the December vote, noting in a tweet that Christ was born as an outcast, and came into the world as each child comes into the world, weak and vulnerable.The Jesuit pope had also encouraged opponents of the legislation, writing a letter in November in which he asked: Is it fair to eliminate a human life to solve a problem? Is it fair to hire a hit man to solve a problem?Fernandez is in Italy as part of a European tour that also included Portugal, Spain and France.