Day: June 5, 2021

Millions of Nigerians struggled Saturday to access Twitter, a day after authorities suspended the service in response to the company’s deletion of a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari for violating its terms of service.The Twitter ban took effect Saturday morning. Millions of users in Lagos and Abuja said they were unable to access their accounts.Authorities said Friday that they had banned Twitter because it was persistently being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”Twitter responded to the ban, saying it was “deeply concerning.”‘Reverse the unlawful suspension’Many citizens and rights groups objected to the ban. Amnesty International said it was a threat to free speech and must be reversed without delay. “Amnesty International condemns the Nigerian government’s suspension of Twitter in Nigeria,” said Seun Bakare, a spokesperson for the organization. Bakare said Amnesty had called on Nigerian authorities “to immediately reverse the unlawful suspension and other plans to gag the media, to repress the civic space and to undermine human rights of the people. The Nigerian government has an obligation to protect and promote International human rights laws and standards.”FILE – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari attends a press briefing in Pretoria, South Africa, Oct. 3, 2019.The ban mostly affected the country’s largest network providers, MTN and Airtel.Some users Saturday were able to access Twitter using Wi-Fi connections. Others were avoiding the shutdown by using virtual private networks that make them appear to be using Twitter from another country.VPN providers have since Friday seen a surge in usage. Abuja resident Basil Akpakavir was among Twitter users getting around the government ban.”They are relentless in their intolerant attitude toward people that have contrary opinion to theirs,” Akpakavir said. “But the truth is that we’re equal to the task, as well. Whichever way they want it, we’re going to give it to them. We want a Nigeria that is prosperous, that is built on the tenets of true democracy.”Separatist group singled outBuhari had threatened earlier in the week to crack down on separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in a manner similar to the civil war waged in 1967 when 3 million Biafrans were estimated to have died in battle against the Nigerian government.The president’s tweet was criticized as a war threat to separatist groups, and Twitter deleted it.Amnesty’s Bakare said the government must be held accountable for comments capable of instigating division and violence.”It is important that government platforms, and in this particular instance the president, do not invite violence or division,” Bakare said. “The government must be alive to the increased tensions in the country, given the spate of insecurity.”The Nigerian government has often attempted to regulate the use of social media to reduce criticism.Late last year, the government proposed a social media regulation bill after the End SARS protests against police brutality, when social media were used by young Nigerians to mobilize and challenge what they said was bad governance.
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President Joe Biden turned to his old boss, former President Barack Obama, on Saturday to help him encourage Americans to sign up for “Obamacare” health care coverage during an expanded special enrollment period in the pandemic.Biden used his weekly address for a brief Zoom chat with Obama to draw attention to the six-month expanded enrollment period that closes August 15.Meanwhile, the government released a report that nearly 31 million Americans — a record — now have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.”We did this together,” said Obama, whose administration established the health insurance marketplace. “We always talked about how, if we could get the principle of universal coverage established, we could then build on it.”The White House effort to spotlight the expanded enrollment and claim strong numbers for the health law came as the political world and the health care system await a Supreme Court ruling on the law’s constitutionality. The Zoom call was recorded Friday afternoon and released Saturday as Biden’s weekly address.The Health and Human Services Department said in a report that nearly 31 million had obtained coverage in 2021 as a result of the law. That’s considerably higher than the more than 20 million estimate that’s commonly cited.The Biden administration launched a special sign-up period during the pandemic, and Congress passed a big boost in subsidies for private health plans sold under the law. But that alone doesn’t explain the increased coverage.The numbersThe report says 11.3 million people are covered through the health law’s marketplaces, where subsidized private plans are offered. An additional 14.8 million are covered through expanded Medicaid, the report adds. All but a dozen states have accepted the law’s Medicaid expansion, which mainly serves low-income working adults. And 1 million are covered by so-called basic health plans, an option created by the law and offered in a limited number of states.That accounts for enrollment of about 27 million people. But the Biden administration is also claiming credit for 4 million people who would have been eligible for Medicaid without Obama’s law.Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said the law broke down barriers to enrollment among those who were already eligible by simplifying applications and increasing awareness. He also pointed to the establishment of community-based navigators tasked with helping newly eligible people find coverage and conducting outreach to those who were already eligible but didn’t necessarily know it.”It didn’t require a sweeping law like the ACA to get people who were already eligible for Medicaid enrolled, but the provisions of the ACA did help to get these millions of people covered,” Levitt said.States’ challengeThe Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on a challenge to the health law from Texas and other GOP-led states. They argue that because Congress has eliminated the law’s penalty for being uninsured, a now-toothless ACA requirement that almost all Americans must have health insurance is unconstitutional and therefore the law should fail.Those defending the law say that even if the Supreme Court strikes down the coverage requirement, there’s no reason to tamper with the rest of the law.The White House says 1.2 million people have signed up for health insurance through the government marketplace during the special enrollment period that began in February. That number includes people who would have qualified for a sign-up opportunity even without Biden’s special enrollment period.A life change such as losing workplace coverage or getting married is considered a “qualifying life event” that allows people to sign up any time during the year. Last year about 390,000 people signed up because of life changes from February 15 to April 30, the government said.Biden, in the conversation with Obama, spoke about the 2015 death of his son Beau Biden from cancer.”I literally remember sitting on the bed with him within a week or so him passing away,” Biden said, “and thinking, ‘What in God’s name would I do if I got a notice from the insurance company saying you’ve outrun your coverage?’ ” 
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China’s Guangzhou city, a port city of more than 13 million people, on Saturday ordered more restrictions due to a rise in COVID-19 cases that began in late May.Of the 24 new cases of COVID-19 reported in China on Saturday, 11 were transmitted in Guangzhou province, where the city is located.Authorities had imposed restrictions earlier in the week but sought additional limits on business and social activities. Authorities closed about a dozen subway stops, and the city’s Nansha district ordered restaurants to stop dine-in services and public venues, such as gyms, to temporarily close.Officials in the districts of Nansha, Huadu and Conghua ordered all residents and any individuals who have traveled through their regions to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Reuters reported.Also, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID-19 cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastagir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.
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Chinese state media report that scientists are developing an inhalable, fine-mist COVID-19 vaccine. The Chinese Food and Drug Administration has approved the vaccine for expanded clinical trials and is applying for emergency use of the vaccine.Also in China, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesperson Ghulam Dastigir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines.  “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news Friday and said he will wait for clinical advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization regarding how the vaccine should be administered. He said Britain should have enough supply of the vaccine to inoculate the nation’s adolescents.Meanwhile, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday urged parents of adolescents in the United States to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible, following the release of a CDC report showing a spike in hospitalizations among 12- to 17-year-olds between January and April.The study indicated one-third of those hospitalizations were intensive care patients and 5% of those patients had to be put on ventilators. Walensky said the figures saddened her and show that even young patients can get seriously ill from the virus that causes COVID-19.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.  
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Do you know how much data your car is collecting? VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on how law enforcement agencies in the U.S. are among those eager to dig into the automobile data gold mines.
Camera: Veronica Balderas Iglesias      Producer: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
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Nigeria’s government said Friday it was suspending Twitter indefinitely in Africa’s most populous nation, a day after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.It was not immediately clear when the suspension would go into effect as users could still access Twitter late Friday, and many said they would simply use VPNs to maintain access to the platform.Others mocked the government for using the platform to announce the action.”You’re using Twitter to suspend Twitter? Are you not mad?” one user tweeted in response.Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Friday that government officials took the step because the platform was being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”Mohammed criticized Twitter for deleting the post. “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious,” he said, adding that Twitter had in the past ignored “inciting” tweets against the Nigerian government.Twitter deleted Buhari’s post on Wednesday, calling it abusive, after the president threatened suspected separatist militants in the southeast.More than 1 million people died during the 1967-70 civil war that erupted when secessionists sought to create an independent Biafra for the ethnic Igbo people. Buhari, an ethnic Fulani, was on the opposing side in the war against the Igbos.In recent months, pro-Biafra separatists have been accused of attacking police and government buildings, and Buhari vowed to retaliate and “treat them in the language they understand.”
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