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A United Nations overview of conditions in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province after more than nine-months of civil strife finds a society of staggering devastation, of ruined lives and livelihoods. Thousands of people have been killed and two million internally displaced since Ethiopian troops invaded Tigray on November 4 to retake the province from rebel forces.  The United Nations reports millions of people are suffering from acute hunger, with some 400,000 on the verge of famine. Malnutrition is soaring, putting thousands of children’s lives at riskSpokesman for the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, says 5.2 million people—around 90 percent of the population–are now dependent on humanitarian aid for survival.   “There is extremely limited time left to halt the rapid deterioration of the food security situation,” said Laerke. “Trucks should be arriving into Mekelle every day.  Aid organizations estimate that at least 500 trucks of supplies are needed each week to meet the needs of people in Tigray.  That is not happening.”   UNICEF: 100,000 Children in Tigray Suffering Life-threatening MalnutritionThis is a tenfold increase over the annual average caseload in this war-torn regionLaerke notes only one 50-truck convoy of aid supplies has been able to enter Tigray since late June.Newly appointed UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffith is halfway through a six-day mission to Ethiopia.  He is expected to travel to Tigray to assess the humanitarian situation for himself.   Observers say he will find a desolate landscape, full of traumatized people.  Laerke says civilians have been victims of multiple atrocities and abuse by the warring parties.  “Horrific violations against civilians have been reported throughout the conflict,” said Laerke. “This includes the widespread and systematic use of rape as a tactic of war.  More than 1,600 cases of sexual and gender-based violence have been reported since the conflict began…Health facilities have been targeted, attacked, and looted.  Only 16 out of 40 hospitals in Tigray are fully functioning.  Women and girls who have survived sexual violence have few if any place to go for medical help.”   Laerke says U.N. and private agencies are operating within an extremely dangerous environment.  He notes at least 12 aid workers have been killed in Tigray. This includes the brutal murder of three staff from the charity, Doctors Without Borders, on June 24.The OCHA spokesman says money also is a problem.  He says U.N. agencies require more than $430 million to implement their life-saving operations through the end of the year.
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“The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it,” World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday in Geneva about the global COVID-19 outbreak that is now being driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and that infections in vaccinated people may be as transmissible as those in the unvaccinated.“WHO’s goal remains to support every country to vaccinate at least 10% of its population by the end of September, at least 40% by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year,” the WHO chief said, but added that the realization of the goals is “a long way off.”“So far, just over half of countries have fully vaccinated 10% of their population, less than a quarter of countries have vaccinated 40%, and only three countries have vaccinated 70%,” Tedros said.He recalled that WHO had earlier “warned of the risk that the world’s poor would be trampled in the stampede for vaccines” and that “the world was on the verge of a catastrophic moral failure” because of vaccine inequity.“And yet the global distribution of vaccines remains unjust,” Tedros said. “All regions are at risk, but none more so than Africa.”“Many African countries have prepared well to roll out vaccines, but the vaccines have not arrived,” he said. “Less than 2% of all doses administered globally have been in Africa,” with only 1.5% of the continent’s population fully vaccinated.The WHO chief said his organization was “issuing an urgent call” for $7.7 billion for the launching of the Rapid ACT-Accelerator Delta Response, or RADAR, a response to the delta surge that would provide tests, treatments and vaccines.He also said COVAX; which provides vaccines to lower-income countries, needs additional funding.“The question is not whether the world can afford to make these investments,” Tedros said, “it’s whether it can afford not to.”U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that civilian federal government employees must be vaccinated or submit to regular testing and wear masks.On Friday, a reporter asked Biden as he was leaving the White House whether Americans should expect more guidelines and restrictions related to the coronavirus. “In all probability,” he said.Passengers wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus board a westbound bullet train at Tokyo Station in Tokyo, July 31, 2021.Biden also noted that on Thursday almost a million Americans received COVID-19 vaccinations and said, “I am hopeful that people are beginning to realize how essential it is to move” in response to the coronavirus threat.The White House said the average number of people getting their first shot of the coronavirus vaccines this week was up 30% over last week.Also Friday, Walmart joined a growing number of U.S. companies issuing mandates for its workers to be vaccinated, saying the policy would apply to all employees at its headquarters along with managers who travel within the United States.The Broadway League said Friday that audiences will be required to show proof of vaccination to watch Broadway performances and will be required to wear masks.Australia’s third-largest city of Brisbane said it would begin a COVID lockdown on Saturday amid rising case numbers. Neighboring areas will also be subject to the stay-at-home orders.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that 80% of adults must be vaccinated before the country will consider reopening its border.In Israel, health officials began administering coronavirus booster shots Friday to people older than 60 who have been fully vaccinated in an effort to stop a recent spike in cases.Italy’s Health Institute announced Friday that the delta variant accounted for almost all new COVID-19 cases in the country at nearly 95% of cases as of July 20.German officials announced Friday that unvaccinated travelers arriving in the country will need to present a negative COVID-19 test result.The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center on Saturday reported there have been more than 197 million global COVID-19 infections.  
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Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA Congressional correspondent, Katherine Gypson and VOA executive editor Steve Redisch about riveting testimony and video footage of four police officers who were overwhelmed by a mob during the attack on the Capitol, what’s ahead after the GOP Senate voted to begin work on a $1 trillion national infrastructure plan, President Joe Biden’s new foreign policy focus as the U.S. will end its combat mission in Iraq, the CDC’s new mask wearing guidelines as COVID-19 variants continue to spread and world reaction to super star gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from some competitions at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Scientists, using data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, recently discovered a pulse of powerful gamma radiation that traveled for about half the age of the universe. The high energy burst took place in August 2020 and it only lasted for about one second making it the shortest gamma-ray burst spotted to date.
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A prominent Chinese pig farmer who was detained after praising lawyers during a crackdown on legal activists by President Xi Jinping’s government was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison on charges of organizing an attack on officials and other offenses.

Sun Dawu, chairman of Dawu Agriculture Group, was among 20 defendants who stood trial in Gaobeidian, southwest of Beijing in Hebei province. They were detained after Dawu employees in August 2020 tried to stop a state-owned enterprise from demolishing a company building.

Sun also was fined 3.1 million yuan ($480,000), the People’s Court of Gaobeidian said in a statement.

Sun was convicted of gathering people to attack state organs, obstructing public affairs, picking quarrels, sabotaging production, illegal mining, illegal occupation of farmland and illegally taking public deposits, the court said.

Other defendants received sentences ranging from one to 12 years, according to a statement from Dawu Group. It said the company was ordered to refund 1 billion yuan ($155 million) in investment that was raised improperly.

Sun became nationally known in 2003 when he was charged with illegal fundraising after soliciting investments for his business from friends and neighbors. The case prompted an outpouring of public support for Sun.

Since then, Sun has praised lawyers who help the public at a time when prominent legal figures have been imprisoned by Xi’s government. Sun’s lawyer in the 2003 case, Xu Zhiyong, disappeared in February 2020. Fellow activists say he was charged with treason.

Sun was accused of provoking quarrels, a charge used against labor and other activists, when he was detained in August 2020.

The trial officially was open to the public but only one spectator from the family of each defendant and 10 from the company were allowed due to coronavirus restrictions, defense lawyers said earlier. 
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