AUSTIN: A federal judge on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, ordered Texas to suspend the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., calling it an “offensive deprivation” of a constitutional right by banning most abortions in the nation’s second-most populous state since September.

The order by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman is the first legal blow to the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8, which until now had withstood a wave of early challenges. In the weeks since the restrictions took effect, Texas abortion providers say the impact has been “exactly what we feared.” 

In a 113-page opinion, Pitman took Texas to task over the law, saying Republicans lawmakers had “contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme” to deny patients their constitutional right to an abortion. 

“From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” wrote Pitman, who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama.

“That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”

But even with the law on hold, abortion services in Texas may not instantly resume because doctors still fear that they could be sued without a more permanent legal decision. Planned Parenthood said it was hopeful the order would allow clinics to resume abortion services as soon as possible.

Texas officials are likely to seek a swift reversal from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously allowed the restrictions to take effect. State officials did not immediately react to the ruling.

The lawsuit was brought by the Biden administration, which has said the restrictions were enacted in defiance of the U.S. Constitution.

“For more than a month now, Texans have been deprived of abortion access because of an unconstitutional law that never should have gone into effect. The relief granted by the court today is overdue, and we are grateful that the Department of Justice moved quickly to seek it,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 

The law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks, before some women even know they are pregnant. To enforce the law, Texas deputized private citizens to file lawsuits against violators, and has entitled them to at least $10,000 in damages if successful.

The Biden administration argued that Texas has waged an attack on a woman’s constitutional right to abortion under the GOP-engineered restrictions, which took effect Sept. 1.

Abortion providers say their fears have become reality in the short time the law has been in effect. Planned Parenthood says the number of patients from Texas at its clinics in the state decreased by nearly 80% in the two weeks after the law took effect.

Some providers have said that Texas clinics are now in danger of closing while neighboring states struggle to keep up with a surge of patients who must drive hundreds of miles. Other women, they say, are being forced to carry pregnancies to term.

Other states, mostly in the South, have passed similar laws that ban abortion within the early weeks of pregnancy, all of which judges have blocked. But Texas’ version has so far outmaneuvered the courts because it leaves enforcement to private citizens to file suits, not prosecutors, which critics say amounts to a bounty.

“This is not some kind of vigilante scheme,” said Will Thompson, counsel for the Texas Attorney General’s Office, while defending the law to Pitman last week. “This is a scheme that uses the normal, lawful process of justice in Texas.”

The Texas law is just one that has set up the biggest test of abortion rights in the U.S. in decades, and it is part of a broader push by Republicans nationwide to impose new restrictions on abortion.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court began a new term, which in December will include arguments in Mississippi’s bid to overturn 1973’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion.

Last month, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Texas law in allowing it to remain in place. But abortion providers took that 5-4 vote as an ominous sign about where the court might be heading on abortion after its conservative majority was fortified with three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the new Supreme Court term, Planned Parenthood on Friday released a report saying that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, 26 states are primed to ban abortion. This year alone, nearly 600 abortion restrictions have been introduced in statehouses nationwide, with more than 90 becoming law, according to Planned Parenthood.

Texas officials argued in court filings that even if the law were put on hold temporarily, providers could still face the threat of litigation over violations that might occur in the time between a permanent ruling.
At least one Texas abortion provider has admitted to violating the law and been sued — but not by abortion opponents. Former attorneys in Illinois and Arkansas say they sued a San Antonio doctor in hopes of getting a judge who would invalidate the law.

BUCHAREST: Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu of the governing National Liberal Party was ousted Tuesday after a no-confidence motion in his government passed overwhelmingly, deepening an ongoing political crisis.

The motion censure was filed by the opposition Social Democrat Party (PSD) and supported by former coalition partner USR-Plus, and the far-right AUR party.

The motion passed with 281 votes; only 234 were needed.

The fall of the government caps a political crisis that began a month ago when Citu fired justice minister Stelian Ion of USR-Plus for not signing off on a regional development program.

USR-Plus called the move an “abusive revocation” and quit the three-party cabinet.

During the debates in parliament Tuesday ahead of the vote, Citu lashed out at USR-Plus, saying he had tolerated “a team of incompetents.”

President Klaus Iohannis will now consult lawmakers on appointing a new prime minister, while Citu may remain at the government’s helm for 45 days.

Citu could be reappointed if lawmakers fail twice to agree on a new premier.

Claudiu Tufis, an associate professor of political science at the University of Bucharest, told The Associated Press that he expects the outcome of Tuesday’s vote to be a Liberal cabinet with support from the Social Democrats.

“In parliament, but not in the cabinet,” he said.

USR-Plus have expressed a wish to restore the coalition with a different prime minister.

The Liberal-led government came to power following a parliamentary election last December.

The ongoing crisis could hamper Romania’s efforts to tackle an alarming surge of COVID-19 infections in the European Union nation of 19 million, which is currently putting the country’s hospitals under serious strain.

On Tuesday, Romania recorded its highest number of daily COVID-19 infections — 15,037 cases — since the pandemic started.

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a series of steps, including issuing several executive orders and taking a few punitive measures, aimed at vaccinating the rest of America, arguing that the unvaccinated people pose a grave danger to the health of all Americans.

“My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see? We have made vaccinations free, safe and convenient. The vaccine is FDA approved. Over 200 million Americans have gotten at least one shot. We’ve been patient but our patience is wearing thin and your refusal has cost all of us,” Biden said in an address to the nation from the White House.

“So please, do the right thing,” he asserted.

“The vast majority of Americans are doing the right thing. Nearly three-quarters of the eligible have gotten at least one shot, but one quarter has not gotten any. That’s nearly 80 million Americans not vaccinated and a country as large as ours, that’s 25 per cent minority. That 25 per cent can cause a lot of damage, and they are,” he said.

Announcing a new plan to require more Americans to be vaccinated to combat those blocking public health, Biden said his plan also increases testing.

“It protects our economy and will make our kids safer in schools,” he said.

Some of the prominent measures taken by Biden include the new rule requiring all private employers with more than 100 employees to mandate weekly testing as well as plans to require vaccines for federal workers and contractors.

“My plan will extend the vaccination requirements that I previously issued in the health care field. Already, I’ve announced, we’ll be requiring vaccinations at all nursing home workers who treat patients on Medicare and Medicaid because I have that federal authority. Tonight, I’m using that same authority to expand that to cover those who work in hospitals, home health care facilities, or other medical facilities, a total of 17 million health care workers,” he said.

He also asked nearly 3,00,000 educators in the federal head start programmes to get vaccinated and called on all governors to require vaccination for all teachers and staff.

Biden said his another plan is increasing testing and masking.

“From the start, America has failed to do enough COVID-19 testing. In order to better detect and control the delta variant, I’m taking steps tonight to make testing more available, more affordable, and more convenient. I use the Defense Production Act to increase production of rapid tests, including those that you can use at home,” he said.

“In addition to testing, we know masking help stop the spread of COVID-19. That’s why when I came into office, I required masks for all federal buildings and on federal lands, on airlines, and other modes of transportation,” he said, adding that the Transportation Safety Administration will double the fines on travellers that refuse to mask.

Reiterating that COVID-19 transcends border, he said they need to continue fighting the virus overseas, continue to be the arsenal of vaccines.

“We’re proud to have donated nearly 140 million vaccines over 90 countries, more than all other countries combined, including Europe, China, and Russia combined,” he said.

“That’s American leadership on a global stage. And that’s just the beginning. We’ve also now started to ship another 500 million COVID vaccines, Pfizer vaccines, purchased to donate to 100 lower-income countries in need of vaccines. And I’ll be announcing additional steps to help the rest of the world later this month,” Biden said.

LUCKNOW: The BSP will make efforts to not field ‘bahubali’ (strongmen) or mafia candidates in next year’s Uttar Pradesh polls, party supremo Mayawati said Friday, announcing that jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari will not be given a party ticket from Mau again.

Mayawati’s announcement comes days after Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Sigbatullah Ansari joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party.

“In upcoming assembly polls, the BSP’s effort will be to not field ‘bahubali’ and mafia elements. So, the name of Bhim Rajbhar, the BSP UP president, has been finalised from the Mau assembly seat in place of Mukhtar Ansari,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

Mukhtar’s another brother, Afzal Ansari, is a BSP MP who represents the Ghazipur seat.

He had defeated the BJP’s Manoj Sinha, who is now the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mayawati said the decision to not field criminal and mafia elements has been taken to meet people’s expectation as she appealed to party leaders to keep this in mind while choosing candidates.

“So that there is no problem in taking strict action against such elements once the government is formed.”

She added, “Alongside ensuring ‘a rule of law, by law’, the BSP’s resolve is to also change Uttar Pradesh’s image now.”

She said the BSP’s should be known as the government that follows the philosophy of ‘Sarvajan Hitay and Sarvajan Sukhay’ (universal good).

KABUL: The Taliban were expected to form a government as early as Friday, September 3, 2021, with the new regime under intense international scrutiny over its vow to rule Afghanistan with greater tolerance, especially on women’s rights.

The announcement of a new administration could be made after Friday afternoon prayers, two Taliban sources told AFP, as the Islamists shift gears from insurgent group to governing power, days after the United States fully withdrew its troops and ended two decades of war.

While the West has adopted a wait-and-see approach to the Taliban, there were some signs of engagement with the new leaders gathering pace.

The United Nations said it had restarted humanitarian flights to parts of the country, linking the Pakistani capital Islamabad with Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south.

A Taliban spokesman tweeted early Friday that China’s foreign ministry had promised to keep its embassy in Afghanistan open and to “beef up” relations and humanitarian assistance.

The British and Italian foreign ministers were meanwhile both headed to Afghanistan’s neighbours in the coming days to discuss the plight of refugees still hoping to escape the Taliban.

The new rulers have pledged to be more accommodating than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, which also came after years of conflict — first the Soviet invasion of 1979, and then a bloody civil war.

That first regime was notorious for its brutal and violent interpretation of Islamic law, and its treatment of women, who were forced behind closed doors, banned from school and work and denied freedom of movement.

Now, all eyes are on whether the Taliban can deliver a cabinet capable of managing a war-wracked economy and honour the movement’s pledges of a more “inclusive” government.

Speculation is rife about the makeup of a new government, although a senior official said this week that women were unlikely to be included.

In the western city of Herat, some 50 women took to the streets Thursday in a rare, defiant protest for the right to work and over the lack of female participation in the new government.

“It is our right to have education, work and security,” the demonstrators chanted in unison, said an AFP journalist who witnessed the protest.

“We are not afraid, we are united,” they added.

Herat is a relatively cosmopolitan city on the ancient silk road near the Iranian border. It is one of the more prosperous in Afghanistan, and girls have already returned to school there.

One of the organisers of the protest, Basira Taheri, told AFP she wanted the Taliban to include women in the new cabinet.

“We want the Taliban to hold consultations with us,” Taheri said. “We don’t see any women in their gatherings and meetings.”

Among the 122,000 people who fled Afghanistan in a frenzied US-led airlift that ended on Monday was the first female Afghan journalist to interview a Taliban official live on television.

Speaking to AFP in Qatar, the former anchor for the Tolo News media group said women in Afghanistan were “in a very bad situation”.

“I want to say to the international community — please do anything (you can) for Afghan women,” Beheshta Arghand said.

Women’s rights were not the only major concern in the lead-up to the Taliban’s announcement of a new government.

In Kabul, residents voiced worry over the country’s long-running economic difficulties, now seriously compounded by the militant movement’s takeover.

“With the arrival of the Taliban, it’s right to say that there is security, but business has gone down below zero,” Karim Jan, an electronic goods shop owner, told AFP.

The United Nations warned earlier this week of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” in Afghanistan, as it called for those still wanting to flee the new regime to be given a way out.

Italy’s foreign minister was due to visit Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Qatar and Pakistan from Friday to assist Afghan refugees, while his British counterpart was to head to the region next week.

Qatar’s foreign minister said on Thursday the Gulf state was working with the Taliban to reopen Kabul’s airport as soon as possible.

Turkey said it was also evaluating proposals from the Taliban and others for a role in running the airport.

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to wage a tougher epidemic prevention campaign in “our style” after he turned down some foreign COVID-19 vaccines offered via the U.N.-backed immunization program.

During a Politburo meeting Thursday, Kim said officials must “bear in mind that tightening epidemic prevention is the task of paramount importance which must not be loosened even a moment,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday, September 3, 2021. 

While stressing the need for material and technical means of virus prevention and increasing health workers’ qualifications, Kim also called for “further rounding off our style epidemic prevention system,” KCNA said.

Kim previously called for North Koreans to brace for prolonged COVID-19 restrictions, indicating the nation’s borders would stay closed despite worsening economic and food conditions. Since the start of the pandemic, North Korea has used tough quarantines and border closures to prevent outbreaks, though its claim to be entirely virus-free is widely doubted.

On Tuesday, UNICEF, which procures and delivers vaccines on behalf of the COVAX distribution program, said North Korea proposed its allotment of about 3 million Sinovac shots be sent to severely affected countries instead. North Korea was also slated to receive AstraZeneca shots through COVAX, but their delivery has been delayed. 

According to UNICEF, North Korea’s health ministry still said it would continue to communicate with COVAX over future vaccines.

Some experts believe North Korea may want other vaccines, while questioning the effectiveness of Sinovac and the rare blood clots seen in some recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

The previously allocated 1.9 million AstraZeneca doses would be enough to vaccinate 950,000 people — only about 7.3% of the North’s 26 million people — meaning North Korea would still need much more quantities of vaccine to inoculate its population. 

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, said North Korea is likely angling to receive more effective jabs from COVAX and then strategically allocate them domestically. 

“Pyongyang appears to have issues with COVAX involving legal responsibility and distribution reporting requirements. So it might procure vaccines from China to deliver to border regions and soldiers while allocating COVAX shots to less sensitive populations,” Easley said.

“The Kim regime likely wants the most safe and effective vaccine for the elite, but administering Pfizer would require upgraded cold chain capability in Pyongyang and at least discreet discussions with the United States. The Johnson & Johnson option could also be useful to North Korea given that vaccine’s portability and one-shot regimen,” he said.

In a recent U.N. report on the North’s human rights situation, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked North Korea to “take all necessary measures, including through international cooperation and assistance, to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines for all persons, without discrimination.”

He also asked North Korea to form a plan to enable diplomats and aid workers to return to the North and revive humanitarian aid distribution systems as soon as possible in conjunction with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

After their meeting in Seoul last month, Sung Kim, the top U.S. diplomat on North Korea affairs, and his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk told reporters that they discussed humanitarian cooperation with North Korea in providing anti-virus resources, sanitation and safe water.

LONDON: An inquiry investigating child sexual abuse in a wide range of religious organisations and settings in England on Thursday found “shocking failures” in how many religions handled abuse allegations, with victim-blaming and abuse of power by religious leaders often contributing to under-reporting.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse looked into child protection in 38 religious organisations in England and Wales, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists, Methodists, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism and non-conformist Christian denominations.

It took evidence from two weeks of public hearings held earlier this year.

It cited figures showing that from 2015 to 2020, of all known institutions where abuse had been reported, 11% took place within a religious organization or setting.

Some 10% of suspects were employed by or linked to a religion.

” Some religious settings have no child protection policies in place, it found, and there is currently “either no or very limited oversight” of child protection in religious organisations.

“Religious believers can find it difficult to accept that members of their congregation or religious leaders could perpetrate abuse,” its report said.

“As a result, some consider that it is not necessary to have specific child protection procedures or to adhere strictly to them.

” The report cited examples including four victims who were sexually abused when they were about 9 years old while they were taught the Quran by a teacher in a mosque.

The teacher was convicted in 2017.

In another instance, the report said, a boy was abused by a prominent leader in an evangelical organization connected to the United Reformed Church at Sunday school camp and other places from 7 to 10 years old.

The abuser was convicted in 2017, decades after the abuse took place.

Thursday’s report came after the inquiry’s earlier investigations into the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches that detailed widespread abuse.

The long-running inquiry, which has heard from thousands of victims, has also looked into allegations of abuse linked to British government institutions and lawmakers.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan was not “responsible or orderly”, warning that the “consequences of abandonment” could lead to a civil war in the war-ravaged country if the West failed to engage with the Taliban.

The last C-17 cargo aircraft carrying US forces took off from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in the early hours of Tuesday, ending America’s military campaign in Afghanistan.

The Taliban, ousted from power by the US shortly after the 9/11 attacks, now control nearly all of the country.

“Things could become chaotic, there could be anarchy, and that will give space to the organisations we all dread: the international terrorist organisation that we do not want their footprint to grow in Afghanistan,” he said.

The foreign minister said that the “consequences of abandonment” are dangerous and could “lead to a civil war.”

Qureshi said that the West should now test the new Taliban government to ensure it keeps its promises.

He said that if the West did not maintain dialogue with the Taliban, Afghanistan could fall victim to another civil war and a new wave of terrorism could spread in the region.

“They should have learned from their mistakes,” he said.

“And I think the attitude and the approach they are taking is reflective of a different approach,” the minister said.

“What I’m saying is test them (Taliban) before trusting them. They’re (making) big statements but let us see if they live up to them and if they do, then build on it because the other option is far worse,” he said.

Qureshi said the initial statements made by the Taliban leadership were positive and encouraging.

He hoped that the Taliban would work to establish an inclusive government in the multi-ethnic state.

“One option is engagement as opposed to isolation, you know we’ve withdrawn, let’s wash our hands, we’ve done our bit, we leave. That is a dangerous option. That is an option of abandonment of Afghan people,” he said.

He said that the same mistake was committed in the 1990s and urged the international community not to repeat the same mistake again.

Washington: The US has conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State “planner” in Afghanistan, striking back at the terror outfit in less than 48 hours after a suicide bombing claimed by the group killed 169 Afghans and 13 American soldiers at the Kabul airport.

“US military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner. The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target, Capt Bill Urban, spokesperson of US Central Command, said on Friday.

We know of no civilian casualties,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the White House said President Joe Biden does not want the terrorists, who planned the attack at the Kabul airport, to live any longer.

I think he made it clear yesterday that he does not want them to live on the Earth anymore, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference.

However, it wasn’t immediately known if the ISIS-K planner was involved specifically in Thursday’s Kabul airport attack, claimed by the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate — Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K.

The US airstrike came a day after President Biden vowed to “hunt” down the terrorists and make them “pay” for the Kabul airport attack and ordered his commanders to develop plans to strike back at them.

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm notice, we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command,” Biden had said in his remarks at the White House on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The G7 leaders, who met to discuss the situation in Afghanistan on Tuesday, have decided that India would be included in further discussions on the war-torn country. According to sources, the decision to include India in future discussions was taken keeping in mind India’s interests in the region. India has economic interests worth around $3 billion in Afghanistan.

It is learnt that the decision to include India in further negotiations by the G7 was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a 45-minute conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders agreed to establish a permanent channel to deal with the situation in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, sources said India is ready to engage with anyone who has its national interests in mind. Without naming the Taliban, sources added that New Delhi was ready to protect its interests in Afghanistan by engaging with entities who are ready to secure their economic and security interests in the war-torn country.

Earlier also, India had hinted that it was engaging with the Taliban. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, when asked about India holding talks with the group, had said it was a fact that the militant group and its representatives had taken control of Afghanistan. “It is time to take it forward from here,” he added.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in response to a question and without denying the engagement with the Taliban, had stated India was in touch with all stakeholders in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed reports that some of the evacuees from Afghanistan, who landed in the capital on Tuesday, have tested positive for coronavirus. They are said to be asymptomatic and are in quarantine. Some of theose who tested positive, had come in contact with Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and V Muraleedharan at the airport.