A total of 315 regular police officers and 165 auxiliary police personnel died in the line of duty in 2020, China’s Ministry of Public Security said on Monday.

Another 4,941 regular police officers and 3,886 auxiliary personnel were injured while performing their duties.

The ministry noted that over the past year, the police force made great contributions to the country’s economic development, social stability, and, in particular, the fight against the Coronavirus.

Statistics show that 3,773 regular police officers died in public service over the past decade, and 50,000 others were injured.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday reiterated his country’s support for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which commenced earlier this month.

Sisi’s remarks came during his meeting in Cairo with Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the AfCFTA, Egyptian Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

Sisi affirmed Egypt’s full support for the activities and work of the AfCFTA, which represents a promising start towards continental integration in Africa, the spokesman said.

The Egyptian president said his country was fully prepared to provide its expertise to help activate the free trade zone, noting that stability is very important as it provides the appropriate climate for the success of the efforts and activities of the agreement.

For his part, Mene expressed his appreciation for the vigorous follow-up of the Egyptian president to the procedures for launching the AfCFTA during his presidency of the African Union.

Mene pointed out that Egypt was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the agreement.

Trading under the AfCFTA began on Jan. 1, making it the world’s largest free trade area in terms of participating member states after the formation of the World Trade Organisation.

Data from the World Bank shows that the trade bloc, which has so far garnered 54 signatories, covers a total population of over 1.2 billion with a collective gross domestic product of 3.4 trillion U.S. dollars.

The AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-Africa trade by about 52 per cent by 2022, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive hit a bump on the first day due to glitches in an app called Co-Win.

Co-Win is being used to coordinate the campaign, according to several officials involved in the immunisation programme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched what his government has described as the “world’s largest vaccination programme” on Saturday to rein in the pandemic in India.

India has reported the second-highest number of cases after the United States.

Co-Win, developed by the government, is supposed to help by alerting healthcare workers who are first in line to get shots, and by allowing officials to monitor and manage the entire drive.

But many health workers, who were to receive the vaccines, did not get the message on Saturday, said a senior official with the health department of the western state of Maharashtra.

“We were planning to vaccinate 28,500 people on Saturday but could do only 18,328 because of glitches in the Co-Win app,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity as the details are not public yet.

Maharashtra, home to the financial hub of Mumbai, has been hit the hardest by coronavirus among all Indian states.

India was aiming to vaccinate more than 300,000 people on day one, but only 191,181 people were inoculated on Saturday, official data shows.

In the eastern state of Odisha, officials said they were forced to use printouts due to issues with the app.

“We also went with our plan B and contacted people to be vaccinated directly offline,” Bijay Kumar Mohapatra, Director, Health Services, Odisha, told Reuters.

The Indian government did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

“The system performance and speed were improved and is being further optimised,” Manohar Agnani, additional secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said on Saturday. (Reuters/NAN)

Unidentified gunmen killed two female judges from Afghanistan’s Supreme Court on Sunday morning, police said, adding to a wave of assassinations in Kabul and other cities while government and Taliban representatives have been holding peace talks in Qatar.

The two judges, who have not yet been named, were killed and their driver wounded, in an attack at around 8:30 a.m., police said, adding the case was being investigated by security forces.

A spokesman for the Taliban said its fighters were not involved.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning attacks on civilians by the Taliban and other militant groups.

Ghani said “terror, horror and crime” was not a solution to Afghanistan’s problem and beseeched the Taliban to accept “a permanent ceasefire”.

Government officials, journalists, and activists have been targeted in recent months, stoking fear particularly in the capital Kabul.

The Taliban has denied involvement in some of the attacks, but has said its fighters would continue to “eliminate” important government figures, though not journalists or civil society members.

Rising violence has complicated U.S.-brokered peace talks taking place in Doha as Washington withdraws troops.

Sources on both sides say negotiations are only likely to make substantive progress once U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office and makes his Afghan policy known.

The number of U.S troops in Afghanistan has been reduced to 2,500, the lowest level of American forces there since 2001, according to the Pentagon on Friday. (Reuters/NAN)

By Harrison Arubu

The United States (U.S.) has said it will take action against anti-democratic forces and human rights abusers in Uganda following Thursday’s general elections in the country.

The U.S. position came in a statement by the Department of State through its spokesperson, Ms Morgan Ortagus, on Saturday.

Ortagus said the government was “deeply troubled” by credible reports of “security force violence” and election irregularities before and during the polls.

She called for independent investigations into the allegations, and urged the Ugandan government to hold accountable security agents responsible for violence and abuses.

“The Ugandan people turned out to vote in multi-party national elections on Jan. 14 despite an environment of intimidation and fear.

“We are deeply troubled by the many credible reports of security force violence during the pre-election period and election irregularities during the polls.

“We strongly urge independent, credible, impartial, and thorough investigations into these reports and that those responsible be held accountable,” she said.

Earlier on Saturday, Uganda’s Electoral Commission declared long-time President Yoweri Museveni, winner of the disputed presidential election for a sixth term in office.

According to the results, Museveni, 76, secured 58.64 per cent of the total votes to beat his main challenger, Bobi Wine, who trailed with 35 per cent.

But the exercise has been marred by allegations of voter fraud and harassment of opposition politicians by security forces.

Reports say dozens of people were killed during violence in the run-up to the election.

Ahead of Election Day, the government shut down Internet connections in the country, drawing condemnation from civil society and election observers.

Wine, a former music star, has vowed to provide evidence of election fraud when internet services are restored, according to the BBC.

“We condemn the continuing attacks on political candidates and urge the government to respect their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression.

“We are gravely concerned by harassment of and continued threats to civil society.

“Finally, we note the continued nationwide shutdown of the Internet and call for its immediate restoration along with that of social media services,” Ortagus said.

She urged all political actors to shun violence and resolve all arising disputes through constitutional and legal means.

The spokesperson also called on the Ugandan government to respect freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.

“We reiterate our intention to pursue action against those responsible for the undermining of democracy and human rights in Uganda,” Ortagus added. (NAN)

The commission announced this on Saturday afternoon.

President-elect Joe Biden, inheriting responsibility for a pandemic that is unchecked and worsening after nearly a year, has outlined his plan to throw the weight of the federal government behind getting Americans vaccinated against the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Biden, in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, five days before his inauguration, described a sweeping initiative that includes funding for community vaccination centers and other ways to expand access to shots, invoking the Defense Production Act to increase manufacturing of vaccines and supplies.

The all-out federal effort is a departure from the Trump administration’s mostly hands-off approach, which has left it to states and localities to decide how to allocate and administer the vaccines, just as it shirked responsibility for testing Americans for the coronavirus.

“The vaccine rollout in the United States has been a dismal failure so far.

“You have my word: We will manage the hell out of this operation,” Biden said.

President Donald Trump has bequeathed Biden a public health crisis that has been getting worse, with little attention for months from the White House.

Combating the pandemic is Biden’s top priority once he is sworn in on Wednesday, and he sees ending the virus’ spread as a prerequisite for reviving the economy.

With the nation’s COVID-19 death toll nearing 400,000 and a new, more infectious strain of the virus spreading, Biden said after a briefing with advisers, “Truthfully? We remain in a very dark winter.”

While much hope has been raised by the emergence of multiple vaccines, Biden warned, saying: “Things will get worse before they get better.”

He is asking all Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his presidency — a probably futile call given Trump’s politicisation of mask-wearing, which has left many supporters viewing it as an infringement of their freedom.

He derided congressional Republicans who refused to wear masks when they were sheltering in a large group during last week’s siege of the Capitol.

Biden’s Delaware colleague, Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, tried distributing masks, but video captured Republicans refusing to take them.

“What the hell is the matter with them? It’s time to grow up,” Biden said.

He has promised that in his first 100 days as president, 100 million vaccinations will be administered. As Biden acknowledged, that would require turning around a process that has been marked by considerable confusion, with people uncertain about who can get shots and, in some instances, vaccines going unused because of restrictions on who qualifies.

Many states, including California, have made vaccines available to people 65 years of age and older, but others have remained focused on other smaller cohorts of priority populations, such as those over 75 and health care workers.

Biden urged states to make more people eligible for vaccination, including people over 65, an age group that accounts for about 80 per cent of COVID-19 deaths.

He acknowledged, however, that the vaccine supply would not yet cover that whole population.

The Trump administration has also called for opening vaccinations to more people, including those over 65, but Biden is proposing to put much more federal money into the effort.

The 1.9-trillion-dolar economic and health relief plan he unveiled on Thursday included more than $400 billion for the vaccine mobilisation effort, including multiple avenues for increasing the number of sites where vaccines can be distributed.

Biden said: “Our plan is as clear as it is bold.

“Get more people vaccinated for free. Create more places for them to get vaccinated, mobilise more medical teams to get shots into people’s arms, increase supply, and get it out the door as soon as possible.”

He proposed federal funding for community vaccination centres and mobile units.

He promised to set up 100 federal vaccination centres by the end of his first month, and will order the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get that started on his first day in office.

He added that the administration would make vaccines more available through neighborhood pharmacies.

His staff estimated that 90 per cent of Americans live within five miles of a pharmacy.

Biden is also moving more aggressively than the Trump administration to address a shortage of people available to administer the vaccine.

He is proposing a public-health jobs program to shore up the underfunded and understaffed health departments of state and local governments.

He is also promising to reimburse states for using National Guard troops to help in vaccine distribution, a remarkable deployment of military force nearly a year after the pandemic first hit. (tca/dpa/NAN)

North Korea has displayed what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) at a military parade in Pyongyang, state media reported on Friday.

The show of military might have capped more than a week of rare political meetings.

Clad in a leather coat and fur hat, leader Kim Jong Un smiled and waved as he oversaw the parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square, photos by state media showed.

The parade featured rows of marching soldiers, as well as a range of military hardware including tanks and rocket launchers.

At the end, a number of what analysts said appeared to be new variants of short-range ballistic missiles and SLBMs rolled into the square on trucks.

“The world’s most powerful weapon, submarine-launch ballistic missiles, entered the square one after another, powerfully demonstrating the might of the revolutionary armed forces,” news agency KCNA reported.

North Korea has test-fired several SLBMs from underwater, and analysts say it is seeking to develop an operational submarine to carry the missiles.

Photos released by state media showed the SLBM was labelled Pukguksong-5, potentially marking an upgrade over the Pukguksong-4 that was unveiled at a larger military parade in October.

“The new missile definitely looks longer,” Michael Duitsman, a researcher at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said on Twitter.

Unlike that October parade, the latest event did not showcase North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are believed to be able to deliver a nuclear warhead to anywhere in the United States.

The parade in itself was not intended to be a provocation but was a worrying sign of Pyongyang’s priorities, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“The economy is severely strained from pandemic border closures, policy mismanagement and international sanctions.

“Despite or perhaps because of this, Kim Jong Un feels the need to devote scarce resources to another political-military display,” he said.

On Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un and a member of the ruling party’s Central Committee, criticised South Korea’s military for saying it had detected signs of a parade in Pyongyang on Sunday.

North Korean officials have been meeting in Pyongyang for the first party congress since 2016. (Reuters/NAN)