International
WHO action plan on preventing sexual abuse after DRC scandal
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The World Health Organization told AFP on Friday it was drawing up a plan to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation following a damning scandal implicating its workers in DR Congo.
The WHO has apologised to victims after a report on allegations of rape and sexual abuse by workers sent to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2020.
Major WHO donor countries have publicly put the UN health agency under pressure on the issue.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed details of the plan on Thursday.
“The director-general presented the draft response plan to member states for their comment and feedback,” the WHO said in a statement to AFP.
“It will be a public document and will be published in the coming days.”
On September 28, an independent commission of inquiry released a devastating report which found that 21 WHO employees — among 83 alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse — had committed such abuses against dozens of people in the DR Congo during the Ebola epidemic.
The report found “clear structural failures” and “individual negligence” among the UN agency’s staff after dozens of women told investigators they were offered work in exchange for sex, or were victims of rape.
The allegations first came light after a year-long probe by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian.
“The plan outlines immediate, medium- and longer-term actions to address the failures identified in the independent commission report,” the WHO statement said.
It focuses on putting victims and survivors at the heart of prevention and response actions, and “reforming WHO’s culture, structures, systems and capacity to create a culture in which there is no opportunity for sexual exploitation and abuse to happen, no impunity if it does, and no tolerance for inaction”, the statement said.
Tedros, who received the backing of most EU member states for a second term in office starting in August 2022, said he was “sorry” for what had happened, after the report was published.
The WHO is committed to implementing the report’s recommendations and to getting rid of the employees behind the abuse — as well as those who should have intervened.
Four employees have already had their contracts terminated, while two senior staff have been placed on administrative leave.
International
HMPV infection rate declining in Northern China, health official reports
The rate of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infections, which is similar to the flu, in northern China is decreasing, a health official said on Sunday, amid international concern about a potential pandemic.
HMPV, which belongs to the same family as the human respiratory syncytial virus, causes symptoms similar to the flu or a cold, such as fever, cough, and nasal congestion. Symptoms often resolve on their own, although they can lead to lower respiratory tract infections in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals.
“Human metapneumovirus is not a new virus and has been with humans for at least several decades,” said Wang Liping, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during a press conference by the National Health Commission of China.
Wang added that the recent increase in cases of the virus, first detected in the Netherlands in 2001, is due to better detection methods.
International
Elon Musk sends Cybertrucks with Starlink and supplies to assist Los Angeles wildfire victims
Rescuers are working to contain the wildfires in Los Angeles, where the death toll stands at least 24. Amid the tragedy, billionaire Elon Musk announced the deployment of Cybertrucks with Starlink and supplies to help the victims.
“We’re going to place Cybertrucks with Starlinks and free WiFi in a grid pattern in the areas that need it most in the Los Angeles/Malibu metropolitan area,” Musk posted on X.
“Security personnel will also be added to the vehicle, along with snacks and drinks for passersby,” he explained.
The Cybertrucks being used are scheduled deliveries, so Musk apologized in advance.
“We apologize to those awaiting Cybertruck deliveries in California over the next few days. We need to use those trucks as mobile base stations to provide power to Starlink internet terminals in Los Angeles areas without connectivity. A new truck will be delivered by the end of the week,” he stated.
International
Trump announces creation of external revenue service to collect foreign tariffs
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the creation of a body to “collect tariffs, duties, and all revenue from foreign sources,” comparing it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which collects taxes from Americans.
“We will begin charging those who profit at our expense through trade, and they will finally start paying what they owe,” Trump said in a message on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He indicated that the new body, to be called the External Revenue Service, will begin operations on January 20, the day Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the U.S. and when he is expected to make the first decisions of his second term.
The Republican also criticized “soft and pathetically weak trade deals” that have been in place until now.
“The U.S. economy has provided growth and prosperity to the world while we taxed ourselves,” he stated.
Trump has been insisting on raising tariffs for months and has even declared that “tariff” is, for him, “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
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