RIYADMEDIA

The Canadian Indigenous group that announced  the discovery of an estimated 751 unmarked graves near a former residential school last month said on Tuesday it would take charge of its own child welfare services under an agreement with the federal government.The accord, unveiled at an event in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan attended by Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, marks the first time in 70 years the community will have control over child and family services among its members.It is the first such agreement under a 2019 law meant to give Indigenous groups more control over child welfare in their communities and reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in foster care. Cowessess First Nation passed an act intended to do that in March 2020.”Our goal is one day there will be no children in care,” Delorme told the event, adding: “We have a lot of work to do.”Trudeau said his government is in talks with other First Nations on similar agreements. Government spokespeople did not confirm whether Ottawa would continue to fund the First Nation’s child and family services costs going forward.Canada has for decades disproportionately separated Indigenous children from their families to place them in foster care, sometimes because services they needed were underfunded on reserves.In Saskatchewan, 80% of children in foster care are Indigenous, according to a 2018 report.Canada is reeling from the discoveries of more than 1,000 unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools, many of them believed to be children. They are a grim reminder of the abuses Indigenous communities have suffered for generations and their fight for justice.For 165 years and as recently as 1996, Canada’s residential school system separated children from their families and sent them to boarding schools where they were malnourished, beaten and sexually abused in what the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called “cultural genocide” in 2015.The federal government was in court last month fighting a Human Rights Tribunal ruling that would have made Ottawa individually compensate children and families harmed by what the government admits is a discriminatory child and family services system. A federal court ruling is pending.Tuesday’s announcement may not improve things for Cowessess children if the circumstance of their families’ lives do not change as well, said Cindy Blackstock, a member of Gitxsan First Nation and executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, which is taking the government to court over the system.That would require better funding for services such as housing, she said.”We know from the research that the closer (to the First Nation) the control is for children’s services, the better the outcomes ultimately are for children. So that’s positive,” she said. 
…

The first Indigenous Canadian to assume the post of governor general addressed the public in her first language, Inuktitut, on Tuesday, and promised to work toward healing the nation at what she described as an “especially reflective time.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the appointment of Mary Simon, a former ambassador, journalist and Inuit community activist, to the largely ceremonial post that serves as the representative in Canada of its head of state, Queen Elizabeth. “We are honored to have Ms. Simon as Canada’s first Indigenous governor general,” Trudeau said. The queen’s Twitter account said she had approved the appointment on the prime minister’s recommendation. Canada has been grappling with the legacy of its treatment of Indigenous people, particularly in recent months. Since May, hundreds of unmarked graves of children have been discovered at former residential schools, run for Indigenous children forcibly separated from their families in what a Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called “cultural genocide.” Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference with Mary Simon to announce her as the next Governor General of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, July 6, 2021.”My appointment comes at an especially reflective and dynamic time in our shared history,” Simon told reporters. “I will work every day towards promoting healing and wellness across Canadian society.” After being introduced, she addressed the public first in Inuktitut, the Inuit language she spoke growing up in northern Quebec, adding she was deeply committed to improving her French, one of Canada’s two official languages. She was appointed more than five months after her predecessor, Julie Payette, quit the role amid allegations of workplace harassment. The governor general performs functions such as swearing in governments and formally signing legislation but is also the commander in chief of the military and can summon or dissolve Parliament. Canadian Indigenous groups welcomed Simon’s appointment. The Native Women’s Association of Canada said it was “delighted” to see the first Inuit person become governor general “in a country that has been home to Indigenous people for tens of thousands of years.” Simon, who was born in 1947, will serve a five-year term. She worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp in the 1970s and served as Canada’s ambassador to Denmark from 1999 to 2001 and ambassador for circumpolar affairs from 1994 to 2003. She was also chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), a group representing Inuit from a number of countries, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the country’s main Inuit advocacy group, from 2006 to 2012. With an Inuk mother and a non-Indigenous father who worked for Hudson’s Bay Co, she has spent her life as a “bridge between different lived realities that make up the tapestry of Canada,” while fighting for Indigenous and human rights, she said. “This is truly a historic day, especially given the heightened discussion around working towards meaningful reconciliation between colonial governments and first peoples,” said Jerry Daniels, grand chief of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which represents 34 First Nations groups in Manitoba. The prime minister is expected to ask the new governor general to dissolve Parliament ahead of a snap vote as early as August, but both Trudeau and Simon denied having discussed elections before her appointment. “We did not discuss elections at all,” Trudeau said. Opposition Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, Trudeau’s main political rival, wished Simon well, as did left-leaning New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh. “This is an important day for both our country as a whole and particularly Indigenous peoples,” O’Toole said on Twitter. 
 
…

Celebrity crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, known for his work in exposing the Dutch underworld, was shot and seriously wounded on a street in Amsterdam, police said Tuesday. “Peter R. de Vries was shot down in Lange Leidsedwarsstraat,” police said in a statement, referring to a street near one of the city’s largest public squares, where he had been in a television studio earlier in the evening. He was taken to a nearby hospital in “serious condition,” the police said, calling for eyewitnesses to come forward. Police had cordoned off the area as crowds gathered near the site where the incident took place. De Vries won an international Emmy Award in the current affairs category in 2008 for his work investigating the disappearance of teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. FILE – Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries arrives for a live TV show in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Jan. 31, 2008.An alleged shooter was arrested shortly afterward, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported, citing anonymous sources. Police said that they could neither confirm nor deny that report but that they expected to update the public later Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Mark Rutte was expected to make a statement after meeting with leading law enforcement officials in the wake of the shooting, news agency ANP reported. Dutch broadcaster RTL said that de Vries had just left its studio in downtown Amsterdam and that one of the shots hit him in the head. Amsterdam’s Parool newspaper published an image of the scene that showed several people gathered around a person lying on the ground. De Vries, 64, is a celebrity in the Netherlands, as both a frequent commentator on television crime programs and an expert crime reporter with sources in both law enforcement and the underworld. De Vries is known in the Netherlands for investigative work on countless cases, notably following the 1983 kidnapping of beer magnate Freddy Heineken. De Vries had been subjected to threats from the criminal underworld in connection with several cases. In 2013, Willem Holleeder, the Heineken kidnapper, was convicted of making threats against de Vries. Holleeder is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in five murders. In 2019, Ridouan Taghi, currently on trial for murder and drug trafficking, took the unusual step of making a public statement denying reports that he had threatened to have de Vries killed. De Vries has been acting as a counselor, but not lawyer, to a state witness identified as Nabil B. testifying in the case against Taghi and his alleged associates. Nabil B.’s previous lawyer was shot and killed on an Amsterdam street in September 2019. 
 
…

With infection rates falling and vaccination numbers rising, Turkey has lifted nearly all COVID restrictions and is seeking a return to normalcy after several months of lockdown measures. Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul. 
 
…

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet welcomes efforts by Venezuela’s government to improve human rights standards in the country but says they do not go far enough. Bachelet gave her assessment in a report she submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council.The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced several new initiatives, including reforms of the country’s police and justice system.That seemingly has resulted in a downward trend in alleged deaths during protests and security operations. However, Bachelet says every death is one too many. In line with the spirit of the announced reforms, she called on the authorities in Caracas to assure accountability for past and present killings of protesters.FILE – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet looks on after delivering a speech on global human rights developments during a session of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, June 21, 2021.Bachelet said social protests are continuing because of a lack of access to basic services and persistent socio-economic inequalities. That, she said, is compounded by the impact of unilateral sectoral sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic.“Conditions of detention continue to give rise to concern. All the more so in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to adequate food, water, sanitation and health care must be guaranteed to all.… I welcome the imminent closure of all detention facilities run by the intelligence services as announced by the president,” she said, speaking through an interpreter.Regarding judicial reform, Bachelet called on the government to ensure people charged with a crime have the right to a fair trial, including unrestricted access to a lawyer of their choosing and guarantees of an independent, impartial proceedings.She said restrictions on civic space also are an issue of great concern.  “I highlight in particular the stigmatization, criminalization and threats against dissenting voices, particularly towards civil society, media and members of the opposition. From June 2020 to May of this year, my office documented 97 such incidents related to human rights defenders,” she said.Bachelet noted most were charged with criminal offenses for taking part in legitimate forms of civic engagement.Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Hector Constant Rosales, condemned the report, saying it is based on double standards. He said his country complies with international legal standards of human rights. That, he said, despite being under enormous pressure due to the financial sanctions imposed by the United States.
…

Russian authorities say the country is facing a surge in new coronavirus infections.  And, as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, that has prompted a renewed effort to convince a skeptical public that the time to get vaccinated is now.Camera: Ricardo Marquina      Video editor: Rob Raffaele
…

Belgium’s Africa Museum, once a celebration of the country’s colonial rule, will begin a multi-year process of returning stolen art to Democratic Republic of Congo, the Belgian government said on Tuesday.
 
From the late 19th century to 1960, thousands of art works including wooden statues, elephant ivory masks, manuscripts and musical instruments were likely taken by Belgian and other European collectors, scientists, explorers and soldiers.
 
Following a 66-million-euro ($78 million) overhaul of the Africa Museum to take a more critical view of Belgium’s colonial past, the government is ready to meet DRC calls for restitution.
 
“The approach is very simple: everything that was acquired through illegitimate means, through theft, through violence, through pillaging, must be given back,” Belgian junior minister Thomas Dermine told Reuters. “It doesn’t belong to us.”
 
Millions of Congolese are estimated to have died from the late 19th century when Congo was first a personal fiefdom of King Leopold II, before becoming a colony of the Belgian state.
 
Belgium will transfer legal ownership of the artefacts to DRC. But it will not immediately ship art works to the country from the museum in Tervuren, just outside Brussels, unless they are specifically requested by DRC authorities.
 
That is partly because the museum, which has proved popular since its renovation and attracted hundreds of thousands visitors before the COVID-19 pandemic, wants to keep artefacts on display. One option is to pay a loan fee to DRC.
 
Belgium says the Congolese authorities are conscious of the bigger audience in Belgium compared to DRC, which is one of the world’s poorest countries, according to the United Nations. It has few cultural centers or storage facilities.
 
“The museum believes it will be able to cooperate with the Congolese authorities, as is common among international institutions, to keep the objects in Belgium via loan agreements,” said museum director Guido Gryseels.
 
The museum also has a huge number of artefacts whose provenance is unclear. It hopes to use a team of scientists and experts over the next five years to identify them and to separate those that were acquired legally by the museum.
 
“In five years with a lot of resources we can do a lot, but it could be work for the next 10 to 20 years to be absolutely sure of all the objects we have, that we know the precise circumstances in which they were acquired,” Gryseels said.
 
Placide Mumbembele Sanger, a professor of anthropology at the University of Kinshasa who is working at the museum in Tervuren, said the process was a simple one.
 
“These are objects going back to their natural context so I don’t see why we should ask so many questions,” he said. “It’s as if you go out and someone steals your wallet and the person asks you whether or not you are ready to have it back.”
…

Russia reported a record 737 deaths from coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours on Tuesday, pushing the national death toll to 139,316.
 
The country confirmed 23,378 new COVID-19 cases, including 5,498 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 5,658,672.
 
The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and has said Russia recorded around 270,000 deaths related to COVID-19 from April 2020 to April 2021.
 
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko was quoted by TASS on Tuesday as saying that up to 850,000 people were being vaccinated against COVID-19 in Russia every day and building up immunity was key.
 
The Kremlin would not support the idea of closing borders between Russia’s regions to stop the virus from spreading, although some regions may take swift and harsh measures to withstand the pandemic, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
 
The recent surge in COVID-19 cases, along with the need to raise interest rates to combat inflation, are seen challenging economic growth in Russia this year.
…

Russia’s aviation agency said Tuesday wreckage had been found in the Kamchatka region in the far eastern portion of the country after a plane with 28 people on board went missing. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Antonov An-26 plane that was on its way from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana. The aviation agency said the wreckage was found about five kilometers from the airport where it was supposed to land. Russian news agencies reported there were no survivors among the 22 passengers and six crew members. This report includes information from the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.  
…

Tropical Storm Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday, charting a course toward Florida after causing at least three deaths elsewhere in the Caribbean. Elsa swept over Cuba’s south-central coast on Monday with sustained winds near 95 kph, according to Cuba’s Meteorology Institute. It brought a storm surge to the southern coast, along with heavy rains.  Cuban officials said they had evacuated 180,000 people from homes in flood-prone areas. Most of the evacuated went to relatives’ homes, while others took refuge in government shelters. Antony Exilien secures the roof of his house in response to Tropical Storm Elsa, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 3, 2021.The Associated Press, citing the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, reported that the storm had killed one person on St. Lucia and that two people were killed in separate building collapses in the Dominican Republic. The storm also hit Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, as well as Haiti and Jamaica. Cuba’s Meteorology Institute predicted that the storm would weaken while passing over central Cuba but could strengthen again slightly when it emerges over the Florida Straits and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 15 counties. Elsa is expected to pass near the Florida Keys early Tuesday and move over parts of Florida’s west coast Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. FILE – Hurricane Elsa approaches Argyle, St. Vincent, July 2, 2021.”All Floridians should prepare for the possibility of heavy rain, flooding and potential power outages,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter. Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane until Saturday, when it was downgraded to a tropical storm. It is the fifth named storm of the season and also the earliest one on record. Anticipation of the storm prompted Florida officials to demolish the remaining portion of a residential building in a Miami suburb that partially collapsed nearly two weeks ago. Twenty-seven people were killed in the collapse, and 118 are still missing. This report includes information from the Associated Press and Reuters news agency.
 
…

Venezuelan security forces carried out fewer extra-judicial killings in the 12 months through April, a U.N. report said Monday, but it accuses them of a continued pattern of torture or cruel treatment of individuals as well as enforced disappearances and incommunicado detentions. The report from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to cease the use of excessive force during demonstrations, dismantle pro-government armed civilian groups and ensure effective and independent investigations of all killings by security forces. “Accountability remains key to preventing and remedying human rights violations and strengthening the rule of law,” said the report, which covers June 1, 2020, through April 30. “The protection and expansion of civic space is vital to strengthening democracy, fostering inclusive dialogue and addressing the root causes of current challenges.” FILE – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks virtually during the 75th annual U.N. General Assembly, from Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Sept. 23, 2020.Maduro’s government issued a statement rejecting what it called the “fallacious content” in the report. It accused the U.N. agency of basing the report “on a handful of alleged allegations of human rights violations” with the intent of destabilizing Venezuela. “This report is the result of a Resolution promoted by a tiny group of governments with serious internal situations of human rights violations, which conspired to satisfy the policy of ‘regime change’ promoted by the United States of America against Venezuela,” the Foreign Ministry statement said. The U.N. agency documented 17 killings allegedly linked to security forces — 16 during security operations in places with high rates of violence and crime and one during a protest. The report did not provide numbers for extra-judicial killings in previous years. In the majority of the cases, the report said, the killers broke into the homes of the victims, most of whom were young men or boys from impoverished communities. Witnesses described being threatened with death, beaten and dragged by their hair by officers. The report said officers allegedly manipulated evidence and removed bodies from the victims’ homes. “The events continue to have severe effects in communities, as they instilled fear in the population, generated mistrust in law enforcement, further marginalized poor communities and caused displacement,” the report said. It also documents nine cases of individuals whose whereabouts were unknown to family and lawyers during their detentions. The agency also says it received reports of people being beaten, electrocuted, sexually violated and threatened with rape by officers.  The agency said it is not aware of actions taken by the National Commission Against Torture, an arm of the Ombudsman’s Office, which is headed by officials close to the government. Critics say the Ombudsman’s Office systemically looks the other way when complaints of human rights violations are reported.  The report acknowledges a police reform ordered by Maduro in April and the implementation of training for security forces on human rights and use of force. The reform, which Maduro said he wanted implemented within six months, creates an opportunity to strengthen oversight and vetting of security forces, the U.N. agency said. Proposed reforms in Venezuela do not always materialize, however.  The report accuses Maduro’s government of continuing to restrict freedom of expression, including by impeding the work of civil organizations and the media through regulatory and administrative actions, including criminal prosecution. The agency tallied almost 100 incidents in connection with human rights activists, journalists, union leaders and others, including two killings and six other violent acts.  On Friday, the director of the Venezuelan nonprofit human rights group FundaRedes, Javier Tarazona, was arrested after reporting to authorities that he was been harassed by national intelligence officials. Two other activists with the group were also detained.  The U.N. report noted that sanctions add to the problems in Venezuela, which is mired in a deep political, social and economic crisis attributed to plummeting oil prices and to two decades of mismanagement by socialist governments. It has been in recession for years. Millions live in poverty amid high food prices, low wages and hyperinflation. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. government imposed crippling sanctions, seeking to isolate Maduro. Those restrictions have made it difficult for Venezuela to develop, sell or transport its oil — the backbone of its economy. The European Union has also imposed sanctions. 
 
…

Raffaella Carrà, for decades one of Italian television’s most beloved entertainers, a woman affectionately nicknamed the “queen of Italian TV,” died Monday at 78, Italian state TV quoted her family as saying. Rai state TV read a statement from the star’s family, announcing that she died in Rome after a long illness. No further details were released. With her energetic presence and strong, almost husky, singing voice, the trim Carrà was a wildly popular staple in the early heyday decades of Rai, especially when it was the only nationwide TV broadcaster. With often sexy costumes — daring by state TV standards in a country where the Vatican wields considerable influence — Carrà also was credited with helping Italian women become more confident with their bodies and their sexuality, once even baring her belly button during a TV performance.  FILE – Raffaella Carra smiles as she poses for photographers during a press conference at Rome’s Foro Italico, Sept. 30, 1999.But she could also be devastatingly classy in her dress and manners. The La Repubblica newspaper wrote that she managed to pull off being provocative but still familiar and reassuring to millions of TV viewers. She also was considered an icon for gay fans due to her joyful performances.  Her trademark bouncy blond haircut and bangs — dubbed the helmet look — were imitated by many fans.  TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian premier, mourned Carrà’s passing, calling her “one of the symbols of Italian television, perhaps the most beloved personality.” In a post on Facebook, Berlusconi said that with her TV programs, “she knew how to speak to various different generations, having the ability to always remain current with the times and without ever descending into vulgarity.” “She was the lady of Italian television,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said. President Sergio Mattarella recalled Carrà as the “face of television par excellence — she transmitted, with her talent and her likeability, a message of elegance, kindness and optimism.” In one of her last interviews, Carrà told an Italian magazine that “Italian women found me greatly likable because I am not a man-eater — you can have sex appeal together with sweetness and irony.” FILE – Italian singer Raffaella Carra, center, performs during the Italian State RAI TV program “The Voice of Italy”, in Milan, Italy, May 28, 2014.She scandalized conservative TV viewers with her 1971 hit song Tuca, Tuca, a playful corruption of the Italian words “touch, touch,” which she sang while moving her hands up and down various men’s bodies. She performed the number many times with different stars, including one classic version with comedian Alberto Sordi. A 1980s TV show she starred in, Fantastico, drew 25 million viewers, nearly a half of what was then Italy’s population.  But it was the 1970s TV variety program Canzonissima — roughly, “full of song” — that sealed her reputation as a star. Italians would be glued to their black-and-white TV sets every Saturday night to enjoy the musical variety show, which launched hit songs year after year.  FILE – English actress Joan Collins, right, and Italian TV star Raffaella Carra record a new TV show in Milan, Italy, Jan. 23, 1988.Affectionately known as Raffa, Carrà was born Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni in Bologna on June 18, 1943. She started her career as a singer, dancer, TV presenter and actress when still a child.  Later shows included a noon talk program called Pronto Raffaella (Hello, Raffaella). Some shows were tailor-made for her exuberant performing style, including Carramba! Che Sorpresa, (Carramba! What a Surprise) which debuted in 1995 and whose title played off her name and her years of being a presenter in Spain.  Carrà became popular in Spain and Latin America in the mid-1970s, especially because of translations of some of her catchy hits — Fiesta and Caliente, Caliente, among others, that she recorded in Spanish. With a fondness for tight dresses and jumpsuits, the singer brought a breath of fresh air to Spanish television sets with novel choreography to disco beats at a time when the heavily Catholic country was just emerging from four decades of a strict conservative dictatorship. That’s when Carrà made her Spanish debut with a 10-minute performance in a musical program called Ladies and Gentlemen! (Señoras y señores!), enough for the Italian singer to seduce many Spaniards with her spontaneity. Carrà wasn’t married. She had no children, but a former companion, TV director and choreographer Sergio Japino, quoted her as often saying, “I didn’t have children, but I had thousands of them,” according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper. That referred to the 150,000 needy children over the years that she helped generate financial sponsors for through one of her TV programs called Amore (Love). 
 
…

France’s champagne industry group on Monday blasted a new Russian law that forces foreign producers to add a “sparkling wine” reference to their bottles of Champagne, and called for the halting of exports of the bubbly drink to Russia. The law, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, requires all foreign producers of sparkling wine to describe their product as such on the back of the bottle — though not on the front — while makers of Russian “shampanskoye” may continue to use that term alone. The French Champagne industry group called on its members to halt all shipments to Russia for the time being and said the name “Champagne,” which refers to the region in France where the drink comes from, had legal protection in 120 countries. “The Champagne Committee deplores the fact that this legislation does not ensure that Russian consumers have clear and transparent information about the origins and characteristics of wine,” Maxime Toubart and Jean-Marie Barillere, the group’s co-presidents, said in a statement. French Trade Minister Franck Riester said he was tracking the new Russian law closely, and was in contact with the wine industry and France’s European partners. “We will unfailingly support our producers and French excellence,” he said on Twitter. Moet Hennessy, the LVMH-owned French maker of Veuve Clicquot and Dom Perignon Champagnes, said on Sunday it would begin adding the designation “sparkling wine” to the back of bottles destined for Russia to comply with the law. FILE – Bottles of French Veuve Clicquot champagne are offered at a supermarket of Swiss retail group Coop in Zumikon, Switzerland, Dec. 13, 2016.LVMH shares were down around 0.2% on Monday afternoon, underperforming the Paris bourse, which was up 0.34%. Shares in Russian sparkling wine maker Abrau-Durso were up more than 3% after rising as much as 7.77% in early trading. Pavel Titov, the president of Abrau-Durso, told Radio France Internationale on Saturday his firm does not have sparkling wines that would be called “Champagne” in its portfolio and said he hoped the issue would be resolved in favor of global norms and standards. “It is very important to protect the Russian wines on our market. But the legislation must be reasonable and not contradict common sense … I have no doubts that the real Champagne is made in the Champagne region of France,” he said. The European Commission said the legislation in Russia regarding spirits and wine would have a considerable impact on wine exports and would do all it could to express its disagreement and concern. “We will do everything necessary to protect our rights and take the necessary steps if this law enters into force,” European Commission spokeswoman Miriam Garcia Ferrer said. Asked what counter-measures the European Union could take in response to the Russian law, she said it was premature to discuss such a situation.  
 
…

The United Nations’ special rapporteur to Belarus likened the country to a totalitarian regime Sunday. Anais Marin urged authorities to release over 500 people whom right groups consider political prisoners. Marin cited the case of jailed journalist Raman Pratasevich, whose Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania in May had been diverted to land in Minsk, where he was immediately arrested.Belarus Joins Long List of Regimes Targeting Exiled CriticsBelarus diverting a passenger plane to arrest a blogger is an extreme but not isolated case of authoritarian regimes grabbing critics living in exileSpeaking to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Marin said the incident “illustrates the desire of authorities to end all forms of dissidence by purging society of elements it considers undesirable.””It is a form of purge that recalls those practiced by totalitarian states,” she went on. In August, protests broke out over a controversial election in which longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko declared victory.  More than 35,000 people have been jailed since Lukashenko’s election, with opposition candidates either in hiding outside the country or in jail, according to the U.N. Many countries’ representatives at the council also denounced Belarus’ human rights abuses, with the United States hinting at more sanctions. “Such contempt for international norms cannot go unanswered,” Benjamin Moeling, the U.S. delegate, said, adding that the U.S. “will consider further actions as necessary.” The U.S. has enacted multiple rounds of sanctions against Belarus, including as recently as two weeks ago. European Union foreign ministers also announced late last month a fresh raft of sanctions against the Belarusian government, this time targeting 86 officials and state-owned entities, closely following Pratasevich’s arrest.EU Announces More Sanctions on Belarus European Union foreign ministers were due to announce Monday a fresh raft of sanctions against the Belarusian government, this time targeting 78 officials and at least seven state-owned entitiesSo far, Western sanctions imposed on Belarus have had little effect in persuading Lukashenko to pull back from his crackdown on dissent. Belarusian authorities have detained and tortured thousands of protesters, according to rights groups. Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
 
…

LGBT campaigners in Georgia have canceled a planned Pride march after opponents attacked activists and journalists and the government and church spoke out against the event.Hundreds of violent counter-protesters took to the streets of Tbilisi against the Pride march scheduled for the evening.At least 15 journalists were attacked by mobs at different locations, including two RFE/RL reporters, while covering the Tbilisi Pride events.Videos showed anti-LGBT groups waving Georgian flags scaling the Tbilisi Pride headquarters, tearing town pride flags, and ransacking the office.In a statement announcing the march had been called off, Tbilisi Pride accused the government and church of emboldening a “huge wave of hate” against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and failing to protect citizens’ rights.Earlier on July 5, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said it was inappropriate to hold a Pride march, arguing that it would create confrontation and was “unacceptable for a large segment of the Georgian society.”He also claimed that the “radical opposition” led by exiled former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement was behind the march and sought to create “unrest.”The Georgian Orthodox Church had also called on supporters to gather against the Pride march. Videos of the mobs showed some priests joining the protests.Opponents of the march push a man as they block off the capital’s main avenue to an LGBT march in Tbilisi, Georgia, July 5, 2021.Tbilisi Pride organizers said that although they could not go out “in a street full of violence” supported by the government and church, they would continue to advocate for LGBT rights.
“We would like to tell the supporters clearly that the fight for dignity will continue, this is an indispensable process that despite the hate groups, the Patriarchate and the government’s resistance, will not stop,” they said.Condemning the violence, the U.S. and EU diplomatic missions in Georgia, as well as the embassies of 16 other countries, issued a joint statement calling on the Georgian government to protect people’s constitutional right to gather peacefully.”We condemn today’s violent attacks on the civic activists, community members, and journalists, as well as the failure of the government leaders and religious officials to condemn this violence,” the joint statement said. Rights groups also condemned the violence and accused the government of supporting hate groups.”Violent far-right crowds supported by Church & emboldened by incredibly irresponsible statement of PM @GharibashviliGe gathered in Tbilisi center to prevent Pride March, attacking journalists & breaking into Pride office,” wrote Giorgi Gogia, the associate director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch. 
…

Maxima Ccalla, 60, an indigenous Quechua woman, has spent her life tilling the harsh soil in Peru’s Andean highlands, resigned to a fate far removed from the vast riches buried deep beneath her feet in seams of copper, zinc and gold.
 
The Andean communities in Ccalla’s home region of Puno and beyond have long clashed with the mining companies that dig mineral wealth out from the ground.
 
In recent interviews, many said they felt discriminated against and marginalized, and accused mining companies of polluting their water and soil.
 
But in a country still under the shadow of a colonial past, the rise of an outsider politician, the son of peasant farmers, is sparking hopes of change. It has also thrown a spotlight on stark divides between the rural Andean highlands and remote Amazon settlements, and the wealthier — and whiter — coastal cities.
 
Pedro Castillo, who wears a straw farmers hat and plays up his humble village roots, has pledged to give a voice to Peru’s “forgotten” rural groups and redistribute mineral wealth in the world’s second largest producer of copper.
 
“The looting is over, the theft is over, the assault is over, the discrimination against the Peruvian people is over,” he said at a speech in Cuzco.
 
The socially conservative leftist is on the cusp of being confirmed president after firing up the rural and indigenous vote, including in mineral-rich regions like Puno.
 
“So long, governments have promised to solve our problems, but nothing has changed,” Ccalla said in Quechua through a translator while working in the fields surrounding her home in the community of Carata.
 
“Now, hopefully, he will fulfill his promises.”
 
Ccalla is one of millions of mostly poor, rural Peruvians who voted for Castillo in the June 6 run-off election.
 
Wearing a colorful, traditional Montera hat against the sun, Ccalla’s demands are simple: she wants safe drinking water.
 ‘One of us’
 
Castillo holds a slim lead, which is being scrutinized after legal pressure from his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori who has alleged fraud and wants to disqualify some votes from rural areas.
 
Election observers said the vote was carried out cleanly.
 
The tension over the count has exposed a racial and socio-economic divide in the country.
 
More than a dozen leaders and activists from Quechua and Aymara communities, scattered across the Andes, and others deep in the Amazon rainforest hundreds of miles north, spoke to Reuters candidly about the discrimination they face.
 
In Puno, the region where Carata is located, Castillo scored some 90% of the total vote count. His party logo, a yellow pencil on red background, had been painted on walls of lone houses – the only splashes of bright color for miles around.
 
Though Castillo does not identify as a member of an indigenous community, those who spoke to Reuters overwhelmingly said they could relate to him “as one of us” because of his humble upbringing and his background as a farmer.
 
As with Bolivia’s Evo Morales a decade ago, they hoped he would give greater representation to marginalized groups, and a more state-led approach to mining to drive higher social spending.
 
“Now we see a lot of possibilities for the future – he’ll be a good president,” said Rene Belizario, 34, a Quechua. But, he added, “this is our opportunity and if he doesn’t deliver, the people will rise. There’ll be protests.”
 
Belizario, a father of three young boys, said he hoped Castillo would “recover” mines in the area operated by private companies to redistribute profits and generate jobs.
 
Mining is a key driver of Peru’s economy. Metals are the country’s largest export and Castillo, even with his plans to shake things up, will need to negotiate his way forward.
 
And what farming-based indigenous communities want in development terms rarely tallies with the ideas of the government in distant Lima, said Vito Calderon, an Aymara who took part in a 2011 protest against a mining project.
 ‘Our land has been stolen’
 
Castillo is not Peru’s first indigenous leader.
 
Alejandro Toledo, a Quechua who was president in the early 2000s, had sparked hopes among Andean groups that he would give them more profile, though left them largely disappointed.
 
More recently, leftist president Ollanta Humala also promised dialogue with indigenous groups but was criticized for pushing oil interests over preserving their land rights.
 
Indigenous leaders told Reuters that they had decided to support Castillo after he met with them to hear their demands and pledged to protect indigenous lands and push for a new constitution.
 
Melania Camales, who represents indigenous women in the Amazon, is among those who met him. She has hopes for him as president but knows it won’t be easy.
 
“For decades, our land has been stolen by private companies, concessioned by the government,” she said. Some 200 years of “colonialist, racist, classist and male chauvinist education” will be difficult to undo, she added.
 
“We know he could betray us and power could go to his head. But the last thing we as indigenous communities should lose is hope.”
 
Long feeling discriminated against because of their social and economic status or skin color, many told Reuters the problem had become even more evident during the election.
 
AIDESEP, an umbrella organization for Peru’s indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest, slammed attempts to annul rural votes as “denying our existence.”
 
“They don’t understand that our country, Peru, is plurinational — it’s not just the capital Lima,” said Lourdes Huanca, an Aymara and rights activist at another organization, FENMUCARINAP.
 
Discrimination was systematic, she said. “To them, we are not capable; to them, we don’t know how to think; according to them, we can’t make decisions.”
 
Back in Carata, thin cows with prominent ribs grazed on herbs burnt by the highland sun; the potato harvest was laid out to freeze dry in the cold night air; barefoot children, with red cheeks, wrapped newborn lambs in blankets for the cold.
 
For Ccalla and others, the fear was that development is eroding a way of life – much older than the 200 years of Peru.
 
“We feel vulnerable and discriminated but we are so worried about contaminated water and soil, we can’t fight for a bigger cause,” she said.
…

Euro zone businesses expanded activity at the fastest rate in 15 years in June as the easing of more coronavirus restrictions brought life back to the bloc’s dominant service industry, a survey showed on Monday.
 
But that surge in growth has come at a cost as inflationary pressures mounted due to labor shortages and disruptions to supply chains caused by the pandemic.
 
IHS Markit’s final composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), seen as a good gauge of economic health, jumped to 59.5 last month from May’s 57.1, its highest level since June 2006.
 
That was ahead of the 59.2 “flash” estimate and well above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.
 
“The index was at its 15-year high, confirming that the recovery in bloc’s economy is well underway. At the same time, backlogs and producer price pressures show no signs of abating,” said Mateusz Urban at Oxford Economics.
 
“The services PMI sub-index posted an increase. This indicated that the sector has benefited from easing of restrictions and increased consumer optimism on the back of advancing vaccination campaign.
 
An acceleration in vaccination programs on the continent has meant governments have allowed more of the services industry to re-open and the sector’s PMI soared to its highest reading since July 2007.
 
Activity in Germany’s service industry grew in June at its fastest pace since March 2011 while in France the sector boomed following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
 
Meanwhile, in Britain – outside the euro zone and the European Union – the post-lockdown bounce-back for services firms eased only slightly in June but price pressures jumped by the most on record.
 
World stocks clung close to record highs on Monday as worries about the Delta variant of COVID-19 offset the positive sentiment from surging euro zone business activity.
 Price riseA PMI covering euro zone manufacturers, released last week, showed factory activity expanded at its fastest pace on record in June but that they faced the steepest rise in raw materials costs in well over two decades.
 
Those inflationary pressures were also felt by the services industry and the composite input prices index bounced to the highest in nearly 21 years.
 
Although inflation risks are skewed to the upside the European Central Bank was expected to maintain its loose monetary policy and look through higher inflation expectations for a while before it acts, a Reuters poll found last month.
 
With demand surging, and amid hopes of further easing of restrictions leading to a more normal way of life, optimism about the coming year improved. The services business expectations index climbed to 72.7 from 71.2, its highest since August 2000.
 
Investor morale in the euro zone rose for the fifth month in a row in July, its highest level since February 2018, lifted by reopening restaurants and retailers as well as tourism as coronavirus cases fall, another survey showed on Monday.  
  
…

Pope Francis was spending his first morning convalescing on Monday in a Rome hospital following intestinal surgery under general anesthesia and reportedly doing well. The Vatican has given scant details about the operation Sunday evening in Gemelli Polyclinic, a major Catholic hospital in the Italian capital.An Italian cardinal told reporters he had been informed that the pope was doing well. “Our prayer and our closeness are very great,” Cardinal Enrico Feroci said at Rome’s airport where he was catching a flight. The Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying that he had heard earlier in the morning from another cardinal, Angelo De Donatis, “and he told me that the pope is well.” De Donatis is the vicar of the Rome diocese.Francis is staying in special, 10th floor suite that the hospital keeps available for use by a pontiff, after Pope John Paul II stayed there several times for various medical problems.He is expected to stay hospitalized for several days.Twice daily updates on Pope Francis’ condition are expected to be issued by the Vatican, with the first coming later Monday morning.The Vatican said late Sunday that Francis, 84, responded well to the surgery on the lower part of his colon.But it didn’t say just what the surgery entailed or how long it lasted.Francis had developed a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing, of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.The Vatican has said the surgery was planned, although it only announced the hospitalization after Francis had checked into Gemelli.Doctors not connected to the pope’s hospitalization have said it is common to perform a re-sectioning of the affected part of the bowel in such cases.Get-well messages continued to arrive for the pope. Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s office said the leader “expresses affectionate wishes for a rapid convalescence and quick healing.”
…

Tropical Storm Elsa swept along Cuba’s southern coast early Monday, and forecasters said it could make landfall on the island’s central shore by midafternoon.    By Sunday, Cuban officials had evacuated 180,000 people as a precaution against the possibility of heavy flooding from a storm that already battered several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people. Most of those evacuated stayed at relatives’ homes, others went to government shelters, and hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in caves prepared for emergencies.      Elsa was forecast to cross over Cuba by Monday night and then head for Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County, where a high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.      Late Sunday, Elsa’s center was about 440 kilometers southeast of Havana and moving northwest at 24 kph. Its maximum sustained winds had strengthened a bit to about 100 kph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.     The center said the storm was likely to gradually weaken while passing over central Cuba. “After Elsa emerges over the Florida Straits and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, some slight re-strengthening is possible,’” it said.     Rain fell intermittently in Cuba’s eastern provinces throughout Sunday as the storm passed by to the south.     “So far it’s a soft, serene rain. There are no downpours. The streets are not overflowing,” Yolanda Tabio, a 73-year-old retiree living in Santiago, told The Associated Press. “I thought it could be worse.”     Rafael Carmenate, a volunteer for the local Red Cross who lives facing the beach in Santa Cruz del Sur, told the AP by telephone: “We have a little water – showers. The sea has not intruded. It’s cloudy and gusty.”      The storm killed one person on St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. A 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.     Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage on several eastern Caribbean islands Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that collapsed.     Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation. Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said Sunday that three people had been injured by downed trees.     A tropical storm warning was in effect for western Cuba and for the Florida Keys from Craig Key westward to the Dry Tortugas. Cuba’s government posted a hurricane warning for Cienfuegos and Matanzas provinces.     Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 50 kph Saturday morning, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.     Portions of Cuba were forecast to get rainfall of 13 to 25 centimeters through Monday, with isolated spots getting up to 20 centimeters. Jamaica expected a total of 10 to 20 centimeters, with maximum totals of 38 centimeters.
…

From scanning residents’ faces to let them into their building to spotting police suspects in a crowd, the rise of facial recognition is accompanied by a growing chorus of concern about unethical uses of the technology.A report published on Monday by U.S.-based researchers showing that Russian facial recognition companies have built tools to detect a person’s race has raised fears among digital rights groups, who describe the technology as “purpose-made for discrimination.”Developer guides and code examples unearthed by video surveillance research firm IPVM show software advertised by four of Russia’s biggest facial analytics firms can use artificial intelligence (AI) to classify faces based on their perceived ethnicity or race.There is no indication yet that Russian police have targeted minorities using the software developed by the firms — AxxonSoft, Tevian, VisionLabs and NtechLab — whose products are sold to authorities and businesses in the country and abroad.But Moscow-based AxxonSoft said the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s enquiry prompted it to disable its ethnicity analytics feature, saying in an emailed response it was not interested “in promoting any technologies that could be a basis for ethnic segregation.”The IPVM findings — seen exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation — have sparked concern among civil rights groups, who say racial profiling is common in the country and note that authorities have already used AI to identify and detain anti-government protesters.“The findings underline the ugly racism baked into these systems,” said Edin Omanovic, advocacy director at Privacy International, a rights charity based in London.“Far from being benign security tools which can be abused, such tools are deeply rooted in some of humanity’s most destructive ideas and purpose-made for discrimination.”The Russian interior ministry and NtechLab did not reply to requests for comment.The other three companies expressed skepticism about their technology’s current capacity to enable abuse, but said they are aware of ethical concerns related to its use.Vadim Konushin, CEO of Tevian, also known as Video Analysis Technologies, denied current uses of its tool by police could entrench discrimination, and VisionLabs said its ethnicity analytics software was developed for internal research purposes only.Ethnicity analytics  Race detection is part of a broadening range of analytics offered by facial recognition companies that allow clients to detect physical features like hair color and facial expressions, and deduce information such as a person’s age, gender and emotions.The software developed by AxxonSoft, Moscow-based Tevian and VisionLabs, a Russia-founded firm headquartered in the Netherlands, all categorize people walking past their cameras into roughly the same groups: Asian, Black, white and Indian.The categories for Axxonsoft’s Face Intellect tool included the outdated and offensive terms “Mongoloid” and “Negroid,” which the company put down to a translation error. The terms have now been removed from the company literature.NtechLab, which is partially funded and owned by the Russian government, lists “race” among the features its software can detect.The findings come as facial recognition firms are feeling increased pressure across the globe over the technology’s potential to undermine human rights and civil liberties.In June, a group of 50 investors managing more than $4.5 trillion in assets urged companies to make sure their facial recognition products are developed and used in an ethical way.That same month, more than 170 rights groups signed an open letter calling for a global ban on the use of facial recognition and remote biometric recognition tools that enable mass and discriminatory targeted surveillance.While ethnicity analytics are developed by dozens of firms worldwide — most prominently in China — Russian companies have a significant presence in the facial recognition market, with reported revenues of up to $40 million and expansion abroad, according to IPVM.Rights removed  The potential for facial recognition technology to cause harm has come to the fore in China, where AI firms have developed tools that can detect, track and monitor Muslim minority Uyghurs, said Matt Mahmoudi, AI and human rights researcher at Amnesty International.United Nations officials have said China is transforming the Xinjiang region, where many Uyghurs live, into a “massive internment camp,” with the tracing tech seen by rights groups as key to the crackdown.The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., has said cameras operating in public places in Xinjiang did not “target any specific ethnicity” and authorities have said the camps in the region provide vocational training and help fight extremism.In Russia, where rights groups say migrants, particularly from Central Asia, are often subjected to racial profiling, arbitrary detentions and violence, authorities’ potential use of race-detection was worrying, said Mahmoudi.“Minorities who might have been equated with a level of deviance or criminality may fall subject to having their rights, for example their freedom to assemble, removed as a result of the extensive usage of this technology,” he said.A spokesperson for Moscow’s Department of Technology, which manages the city’s surveillance system, said via email that video analytics were used to improve safety and find offenders.They did not reply to questions on race detection software, only saying the city uses algorithms from various independent developers.‘Frightful’ future   AxxonSoft, which is known as ITV in Russia, and Tevian said law enforcement agencies used their products for criminal investigations, usually to find suspects based on descriptions.NtechLab’s website says its FindFace software underpins Moscow’s facial recognition system, which authorities say has helped cut crime and enforce coronavirus lockdown restrictions.Some of the Russian firms said they were aware of how their tech could be used to lead to discrimination.Anton Nazarkin, global sales director at VisionLabs, said that while the tool was marketed on the firm’s website, the company has never licensed it because of ethical and legal concerns, as it might contravene European data protection laws.Azret Teberdiev, head of marketing for AxxonSoft, whose website says it has more than 2 million cameras installed worldwide, said ethnicity analytics were included in its product “inadvertently” when integrating third-party software.The company has pledged to disable the feature after being contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.“We consider such functionality as not aligning with the ethical standards of our company,” Teberdiev said.Tevian’s Konushin said while facial recognition technology is still too rudimentary to target specific ethnic minority groups, its potential is worrisome.“What frightens (me) the most is a theoretical use case, when all people are automatically being racially profiled, and law enforcement officers are signalled to check up on ethnic minorities,” he said.“If algorithms improve a lot, it could theoretically become possible — which is frightful.”
…

Cuba evacuated 180,000 people amid fears Sunday that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash severe flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.The Cuban government had opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm. Most of those evacuated went to relatives’ homes, while some people sheltered at government facilities. Hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in natural caves that had been prepared for the emergency.  The storm’s next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.  On Sunday afternoon, Elsa was about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south-southeast of Cabo Cruz, Cuba and was heading northwest at 22 kph (14 mph). It had maximum sustained winds of about 95 kph (60 mph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.The center said the storm is expected to gradually weaken Monday as it moves across Cuba.A man secures the roof of his house in preparation for Tropical Storm Elsa, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 3, 2021.”After Elsa emerges over the Florida Straits and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, some slight restrengthening is possible,” it said.The storm killed one person in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage in several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that completely collapsed as the government promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic.  Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation.Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 50 kph (31 mph) on Saturday morning, according to Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
 
…

A strong explosion shook the Caspian Sea area where Azerbaijan has extensive offshore oil and gas fields and a column of fire rose late Sunday, but the state oil company said none of its platforms were damaged.  The cause of the blast was not immediately determined, but state oil company SOCAR said preliminary information indicated it was a mud volcano.The Caspian Sea has a high concentration of such volcanoes, which spew both mud and flammable gas.  SOCAR spokesman Ibrahim Ahmadov was quoted by the Azerbaijani news agency APA as saying the blast took place about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Umid gas field, which is 75 kilometers (45 miles) off the coast of the capital, Baku.
 
…

A car with wings recently completed a test flight in Slovakia. Its designers say the successful journey brings us one step closer to flying cars, but experts aren’t so sure that’s happening any time soon. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.Produced by:  Arash Arabasadi
…

Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island’s southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people. The government opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week. Elsa was located about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was speeding west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm killed one person in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center. Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane up until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage in several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that completely collapsed as the government promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic. Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation. Antony Exilien secures the roof of his house in response to Tropical Storm Elsa, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, July 3, 2021. Elsa brushed past Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday.A tropical storm warning was in effect for Jamaica and from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic. A hurricane watch was issued for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba. Some of those provinces have reported a high number of COVID-19 infections, raising concerns that the storm could force large groups of people to seek shelter together. Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 31 mph on Saturday morning, according to Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. It is forecast to drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with maximum totals of 15 inches (38 centimeters) across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica. 
…