Catalog

Today_1.pdf ······················································································································································ 1
World Daily News-Copy.pdf ····························································································································· 2
Australia, US, UK, Canada condemn Hong Kong mass arrests.pdf ······················································· 3
Australia, US, UK, Canada condemn Hong Kong mass arrests ···················································· 3
Beyond Capitol riot.pdf ···························································································································· 5
Beyond Capitol riot, Trump voter fraud claims leave their mark ···················································· 5
Body parts, debris found at Siriwajaya Air plane crash site.pdf ···························································· 10
Body parts, debris found at Siriwajaya Air plane crash site ························································· 10
French jets fly over CAR as tens of thousands flee vote tensions.pdf ·················································· 16
French jets fly over CAR as tens of thousands flee vote tensions ·············································· 16
Indonesia's Passenger Plane missing.pdf ···························································································· 19
Indonesia’ s Sriwijaya Air loses contact with passenger plane ····················································· 19
Momentum builds to impeach Trump as more Capitol rioters arrested.pdf ·········································· 23
Momentum builds to impeach Trump as more Capitol rioters arrested ······································· 23
National carriers announce resumption of Qatar-Saudi air travel.pdf ··················································· 30
National carriers announce resumption of Qatar-Saudi air travel ················································ 30
Pompeo lifts curbs on official US contacts with Taiwan.pdf ·································································· 33
Pompeo lifts curbs on official US contacts with Taiwan ······························································ 33
Six months on, most COVID patients still have at least 1 symptom.pdf ··············································· 38
Six months on, most COVID patients still have at least 1 symptom ············································ 38
UK coronavirus cases top 3 million as death toll passes 80,000.pdf ···················································· 41
UK coronavirus cases top 3 million as death toll passes 80,000 ················································· 41
 Catalog
Australia, US, UK, Canada condemn Hong Kong mass arrests.pdf ································································· 1
Australia, US, UK, Canada condemn Hong Kong mass arrests ····························································· 1
Beyond Capitol riot.pdf ····································································································································· 3
Beyond Capitol riot, Trump voter fraud claims leave their mark ····························································· 3
Body parts, debris found at Siriwajaya Air plane crash site.pdf ········································································ 8
Body parts, debris found at Siriwajaya Air plane crash site ···································································· 8
French jets fly over CAR as tens of thousands flee vote tensions.pdf ··························································· 14
French jets fly over CAR as tens of thousands flee vote tensions ························································ 14
Indonesia's Passenger Plane missing.pdf ······································································································ 17
Indonesia’ s Sriwijaya Air loses contact with passenger plane ······························································ 17
Momentum builds to impeach Trump as more Capitol rioters arrested.pdf ···················································· 21
Momentum builds to impeach Trump as more Capitol rioters arrested ················································ 21
National carriers announce resumption of Qatar-Saudi air travel.pdf ····························································· 28
National carriers announce resumption of Qatar-Saudi air travel ························································· 28
Pompeo lifts curbs on official US contacts with Taiwan.pdf ··········································································· 31
Pompeo lifts curbs on official US contacts with Taiwan ········································································ 31
Six months on, most COVID patients still have at least 1 symptom.pdf ························································· 36
Six months on, most COVID patients still have at least 1 symptom ····················································· 36
UK coronavirus cases top 3 million as death toll passes 80,000.pdf ······························································ 39
UK coronavirus cases top 3 million as death toll passes 80,000 ·························································· 39

News Source : Al Jazeera News Agencies

Edited & Composed by : Syed Sulaiman Shah & Suhana Panhwar

Australia, US, UK, Canada condemn
Hong Kong mass arrests
Foreign ministers issue joint statement condemning last week’s arrest of more than 50
democracy activists in Hong Kong.

Former Democratic Party legislators Andrew Wan, left, Lam Cheuk-ting, second left, and Helena
Wong, right, attend a news conference after being released on bail in Hong Kong, Friday, January 8,
2021 [Kin Cheung/ AP]

The foreign ministers of Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have expressed
“serious concern” about the arrests of 55 democracy activists and supporters in Hong Kong last week.

In a joint statement on Sunday, the four foreign ministers called on China to respect the freedoms of the
people in the semi-autonomous territory and condemned the use of a draconian national security law to
carry out the arrests.
“It is clear that the National Security Law is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political
views,” the foreign ministers said.

The dawn crackdown on Wednesday involved 1,000 police officers and was by far the largest such action
taken since China imposed the national security legislation last year.

The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law – banning secession, subversion, terrorism and
collusion with foreign forces – is needed to restore order in a city that was rocked in 2019 by months of
often violent anti-government protests demanding greater democracy.

Most of those arrested last week had taken part in an unofficial primary for a legislative election that
was later postponed. Authorities allege the primary was part of a plot to take control of the legislature
to paralyse government and force the city’s leader to resign.

The 55 have not been charged, and all but three have been released on bail, pending further
investigation. Convictions could disqualify them from running for office.

The four foreign ministers said the next legislative election should include candidates representing a
range of political opinions. Only half the city’s legislature is elected by popular vote.

“We call on the Hong Kong and Chinese central authorities to respect the legally guaranteed rights and
freedoms of the people of Hong Kong without fear of arrest and detention,” they wrote.

The statement was signed by Marise Payne of Australia, Francois-Philippe Champagne of Canada,
Dominic Raab of the UK and Mike Pompeo of the United States.

On Thursday, Pompeo also said Washington may sanction those involved in the arrests and will send the
US ambassador to the United Nations to visit Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China.

China has sharply criticised the upcoming visit, while the Taiwan government has welcomed it.

Pompeo on Saturday also announced that the US is voiding longstanding restrictions on how its
diplomats and others have contact with their counterparts in Taiwan.

The actions on Taiwan and Hong Kong will undoubtedly anger China, which views such moves as foreign
interference in its internal affairs.
Beyond Capitol riot, Trump voter fraud
claims leave their mark
United States election officials say ‘unprecedented’ spread of misinformation has eroded trust in
voting system.

Supporters of President Donald Trump take part in a rally to protest against the results of the
election in Washington, DC on December 12 [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]

For Bonnie Scheele, the 2020 United States presidential contest was incomparable.

The need to tamp down conspiracies and misinformation, fuelled in large part by President Donald
Trump’s false contention that widespread voter fraud occurred in the state, was unlike anything the
Republican election clerk in the US state of Michigan had seen before.

“I can’t seem to convince people that there isn’t some sort of conspiracy or fraud,” said Scheele, a clerk
in the right-leaning county of Grand Traverse who had to contend with a viral video in the wake of the
November 3 election that alleged local postal workers backdated mail-in ballots.
Despite President-elect Joe Biden’s commanding margin of victory in Michigan of more than 154,000
votes, Trump contended that thousands of dead people voted and that piles of fraudulent Biden ballots
were added to the count after Election Day.

Even after rioters – egged on by Trump’s assertions that the vote was “rigged” and “stolen” – overran
the US Capitol on January 6 as Congress met to certify the final election results, the president has not
dispelled his claims.

Instead, he maintained in a video released during the riot that “we had an election that was stolen from
us”. Facing mounting pressure, he tepidly acknowledged a day later that Biden would take office on
January 20.

Voters wait in line outside a polling centre on Election Day, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Social media
posts shared thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram falsely claimed that an
impossible number of people cast ballots in Wisconsin [ File: Wong Maye-E/AP Photo]

Despite that muted concession, Trump’s conduct – and the initial tacit or explicit support he has
received from the Republican National Committee and prominent members of his party – raises
questions over the future of elections in the US.
Observers say the US elections system, in part, relies on defeated candidates accepting and affirming
the results of the process – and a failure to do that is felt most strongly by local election officials who
often find themselves on the front lines of misinformation.

“I really don’t know how [the future’s] gonna play out,” Scheele told Al Jazeera in an interview in early
December, “because every time somebody’s candidate doesn’t win they might say that there’s voter
fraud – from either party.”

In Wisconsin, another state that has been at the centre of Trump’s campaign of baseless fraud
allegations, Lori O’Bright, the clerk of Outagamie County, said while allegations of election misconduct
have escalated in recent years, “this year has been unprecedented”.

O’Bright, a Republican, said a lack of trust in local election administrators plays into the spread of
misinformation – and urged people to speak to their local officials and get involved to understand “the
checks and balances of the system”.

“I’m not going to speak to one party or another party’s allegations, I’m only going to speak to my duties
and duties that we’re charged with conducting,” she told Al Jazeera before Congress met to certify the
results of the vote.

“But if [voters] really want to dig into an issue and learn about it and know about it, don’t look at the
allegations by just anyone, whichever side. Learn what the actual processes are and understand what
the actual process is.”

Results challenged

Observers say such a plea is a tall order in the face of Trump’s claims that Biden’s victory was achieved
only through election malfeasance.

The allegations by Trump and his allies often encompass theories that are so widespread and pervasive
they would require the participation of local election workers, county clerks from both parties, and
statewide election officials, to be real.
Steve Moeke, 64, casts his ballot in the 2020 US presidential election at the LaGrave Christian
Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, November 3, 2020 [File: Shannon
Stapleton/Reuters]

The onslaught of unfounded fraud claims has fostered scepticism from the electorate towards local
election officials, who had already been contending with the unprecedented challenges of conducting a
safe election amid a pandemic, said James Young, a Republican and former director of elections in
Louisville, Kentucky.

While past allegations of fraud in US elections have largely focused on outside actors trying to influence
the results, the allegations during this election cycle focus more on misconduct from within the election
systems themselves.

“This time, they’re actually calling into question who is counting the ballots, where the machine came
from. Who created the machines?” Young told Al Jazeera. “That’s something that’s really changed in this
election cycle.”

Those allegations include, among others, that there was massive “dump” of fraudulent Biden ballots in
the early hours of November 4 in Wisconsin. That was actually the result of valid mail-in ballots not
being counted until Election Day, per state law.
They also include debunked charges that more votes were cast than there are eligible voters in parts of
Michigan and that hordes of dead people voted there, as well as in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Another baseless allegation has been that Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting machines
across the US, is owned by Democratic actors. This week, Dominion filed a $1.3bn defamation
lawsuit against Trump lawyer Sidney Powell over “wild accusations” that the company rigged the
presidential election for Biden.

In many cases, the allegations conflate minor irregularities due to human error with massive fraud.

Nevertheless, a CBS poll released on December 13 indicated that Trump’s messaging resonated within
his party weeks after Election Day, with 75 percent of Republicans surveyed saying they believed the
election was not over and should still be contested.

The incident on Capitol Hill, which left four rioters and one Capitol Police officer dead, served as proof
for many of just how resonant Trump’s claims were. A PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released two days
after the riot found 18 percent of Republicans supported the pro-Trump rioters’ actions.

Even in the sombre hours after the Capitol was secured, six Republican senators and 121 Republicans in
the House of Representatives continued to pursue objections to the electoral results in some states
based on Trump’s claims.

‘Tarnished and muddied’

Kelly Michaels, a municipal election clerk in the city of Brookfield in Wisconsin and chair of the legislative
arm of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association, said the 2020 election cycle, which began with
Trump falsely claiming that increased use of mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to
more fraud, had been “discouraging”.

While county clerks are elected officials in Wisconsin, municipal clerks are non-partisan career officials,
which she said makes the president’s allegations particularly bruising.

“It kind of feels like when someone is accused of a crime and they sort of get judged by that, even
though they haven’t had their day in court,” Michaels told Al Jazeera in December. “It’s like, even if
you’re exonerated, you’re never exonerated because your reputation has been tarnished and muddied.”

“If you have someone like the president of the United States who is encouraging [allegations of
widespread fraud], how do you combat that?” she added.

“No matter how many times you say there is no proof and you have people like me who have
administered elections and have have done it with high integrity, it doesn’t matter, because you can say
it as many times as you want, but [his supporters] will believe it.”

Emily Sumlin contributed research.

Body parts, debris found at Siriwajaya
Air plane crash site
Rescuers haul body parts and debris from waters near Indonesia’s capital a day after plane
carrying 62 people crashed.

ndonesian rescue members carry what is believed to be the remains of the Sriwijaya Air plane flight
SJ 182 which crashed into the sea, at Jakarta International Container Terminal port in Jakarta,
Indonesia, January 10, 2021 [Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/ Reuters]

Indonesian rescuers pulled out body parts, pieces of clothing and scraps of metal from the Java Sea
early on Sunday morning, a day after a Boeing 737-500 with 62 people onboard crashed shortly
after takeoff from Jakarta, officials said.

Officials were hopeful they were honing in on the wreckage of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 after sonar
equipment detected a signal from the aircraft.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi told reporters that authorities have launched tremendous
search efforts after identifying “the possible location of the crash site”.
“These pieces were found by the SAR team between Lancang Island and Laki Island,” the head of
the National Search and Rescue Agency, Bagus Puruhito, in a statement.

Indonesian military chief Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said teams on the Rigel navy ship
equipped with a remote-operated vehicle had detected a signal from the aircraft, which fit the
coordinates from the last contact made by the pilots before the plane went missing.

“We have immediately deployed our divers from navy’s elite unit to determine the finding to evacuate
the victims,” Tjahjanto said.

ndonesian Navy divers hold wreckage from Sriwijaya Air flight SJY182 during a search and rescue
operation at sea near Lancang island on January 10, 2021 [Adek Berry/AFP]
An Indonesian soldier walks past a map showing the location where a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet
has lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after taking off [Dita Alangkara/AP]

More than 12 hours since the plane lost contact, little is known about what caused the crash. The nearly
27-year-old aircraft was much older than Boeing’s problem-plagued 737 MAX model, one of which
crashed off Jakarta in late 2018, killing all 189 people on board the Lion Air flight.

Older 737 models are widely flown and do not have the system implicated in the MAX safety crisis.

“We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time,”
Boeing said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families.”

Explosion reported

Meanwhile, fishermen in the area around Thousand Islands, a chain of islands north of Jakarta’s coast,
reported hearing an explosion about 2:30pm (07:30 GMT) on Saturday.

“We heard something explode; we thought it was a bomb or a tsunami since after that we saw the big
splash from the water,” fisherman Solihin, who goes by one name, told The Associated Press by phone.

“It was raining heavily and the weather was so bad. So, it is difficult to see around clearly. But we can
see the splash and a big wave after the sounds. We were very shocked and directly saw the plane debris
and the fuel around our boat.”
Authorities established two crisis centres, one at the airport and one at the port. Families gathered to
wait for news of loved ones. The 62 people on board included seven children and three babies.

“I have four family members on the flight – my wife and three children,” Yaman Zai said as he waited at
the Pontianak airport on Saturday night. “[My wife] sent me a picture of the baby today … How could my
heart not be torn into pieces?” he said as he sobbed.

More than 12 hours since the plane lost contact, little is known about what caused the crash. The nearly
27-year-old aircraft was much older than Boeing’s problem-plagued 737 MAX model, one of which
crashed off Jakarta in late 2018, killing all 189 people on board the Lion Air flight.

Older 737 models are widely flown and do not have the system implicated in the MAX safety crisis.

“We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time,”
Boeing said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families.”

Explosion reported

Meanwhile, fishermen in the area around Thousand Islands, a chain of islands north of Jakarta’s coast,
reported hearing an explosion about 2:30pm (07:30 GMT) on Saturday.

“We heard something explode; we thought it was a bomb or a tsunami since after that we saw the big
splash from the water,” fisherman Solihin, who goes by one name, told The Associated Press by phone.

“It was raining heavily and the weather was so bad. So, it is difficult to see around clearly. But we can
see the splash and a big wave after the sounds. We were very shocked and directly saw the plane debris
and the fuel around our boat.”

Authorities established two crisis centres, one at the airport and one at the port. Families gathered to
wait for news of loved ones. The 62 people on board included seven children and three babies.

“I have four family members on the flight – my wife and three children,” Yaman Zai said as he waited at
the Pontianak airport on Saturday night. “[My wife] sent me a picture of the baby today … How could my
heart not be torn into pieces?” he said as he sobbed.
Relatives of passengers arrive at a crisis centre set up following a report that a Sriwijaya Air
passenger jet has lost contact with air traffic controllers [Tatan Syuflana/ AP]

On social media, people began circulating the flight manifesto with photos and videos of those who
were listed as passengers. One video shows a woman with her children waving goodbye while walking
through the airport.

Sumadi, the transportation minister, said Flight SJ182 was delayed for an hour before it took off at
2:36pm (07:36 GMT). It disappeared from radar four minutes later, after the pilot contacted air traffic
control to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet (8,839 metres), he said.

Sriwijaya Air President Director Jefferson Irwin Jauwena said the plane, which was previously used by
airlines in the United States, was airworthy. He told reporters on Saturday that the plane had previously
flown to Pontianak and Pangkal Pinang city on the same day.

“Maintenance report said everything went well and airworthy,” Jauwena told a news conference. He
said the plane was delayed due to bad weather, not because of any damage.

Founded in 2003, Jakarta-based Sriwijaya Air group flies largely within Indonesia. The budget airline has
had a solid safety record, with no on-board casualties in four incidents recorded on the Aviation Safety
Network database.
In 2007, the European Union banned all Indonesian airlines following a series of crashes and reports of
deteriorating oversight and maintenance since deregulation in the late 1990s. The restrictions were fully
lifted in 2018.

Between 2007 and 2016, the US Federal Aviation Administration lowered its Indonesia safety evaluation
to Category 2, meaning its regulatory system was inadequate.
French jets fly over CAR as tens of
thousands flee vote tensions
Violence surrounding last month’s presidential vote forces 30,000 people to flee CAR and tens of
thousands more to become internally displaced, says UN.

A disputed election in the Central African Republic could further destabilise the country of 4.7 million
people, which has endured waves of armed group violence since 2013 [File: AFP]

French fighter jets have flown over the Central African Republic (CAR) for the first time since last
month’s disputed presidential election amid rising concern as violence and insecurity has forced tens of
thousands of people to flee into neighbouring countries.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday the flight took place at the request of
CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera and with permission of the United Nations peacekeeping
mission (MINUSCA) in the country.
Macron had condemned recent acts of violence during a phone call with Touadera, his office said, an
apparent reference to a rebel advance which Touadera and the UN say has been mounted by former
President Francois Bozize to thwart the election.

Touadera was declared the winner of the December 27 election with more than 50 percent of votes cast
in a single round, avoiding a runoff against any of 16 challengers.

Many of the opposition candidates have demanded the election be annulled and for the vote to be
repeated, citing irregularities and low turnout following violent clashes.

The electoral commission declared Touadera the winner with a voter turnout of more than 76 percent.
However, only half the country’s 1.8 million eligible voters were able to register to vote due to the rebel
offensive.

On Saturday, MINUSCA spokesman Abdoulaziz Fall said government forces were attacked by “armed
elements” in the western city of Bouar, which lies around 340km (210 miles) from the capital Bangui. UN
peacekeepers who came to the aid of the government troops had themselves come under fire, he told
AFP news agency.

The city is the base for the Leclerc camp, the army’s headquarters in the western region.

In November, six of the most powerful armed rebel groups, who between them control two-thirds of
the country, announced an alliance against Touadera’s government. They launched a series of attacks in
a bid to disrupt the presidential and legislative elections.

French fighter jets also flew over CAR four days before the polls.

France has a history of repeated military interventions in the CAR, most recently from 2013-16. The UN
now maintains nearly 13,000 peacekeepers there.

Macron reiterated condemnation of former President Bozize on Saturday.

Thousands flee due to unrest

The disputed election could further destabilise a country whose population of 4.7 million has endured
waves of armed group violence in recent years that has killed thousands of people and forced more than
a million from their homes.

Bozize was removed in 2013 by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels, prompting reprisals from mostly Christian
militias and plunging the CAR into a civil war.

Touadera, who was prime minister under Bozize, was first elected in 2016. He has worked to restore
state institutions and signed an agreement with armed groups in 2019, but has failed to bring lasting
peace. Vast swathes of the country remain under militia control.

The UN said on Friday that more than 30,000 people had already been forced to flee the CAR due to
violence surrounding last month’s vote, and tens of thousands of others were internally displaced.
The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said those who have left the CAR for neighbouring countries needed
urgent assistance with water, shelter, healthcare and sanitation.

Goniwar Maxime, who fled with his family to Cameroon after armed groups took over control of Bouar,
said armed group members had robbed him of his belongings.

“I was on my motorcycle when they chained my legs, look they stabbed me in the stomach and in the
back, then they stole all that I had,” Maxime said.

As a result of the violence, more than 24,000 crossed into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while
nearly 4,500 arrived in Cameroon, a further 2,200 in Chad and about 70 in the Republic of Congo,
according to the UNHCR.

“Inside CAR, 185,000 people from at least 25 localities have fled, mostly as a preventative measure, into
the bush and forests since December 15,” spokesman Boris Cheshirkov told reporters in Geneva.

While thousands have since returned home, some 62,000 people remain newly internally displaced, he
said.

UN staff said they were overwhelmed by the number of refugees.

“A staggering amount of people [are] in need of assistance and help and any improvement in the
security would mean people could return home but they can’t do that at the moment,” said Romain
Desclous, UNHCR spokesman.

“The presidential election was supposed to bring peace to this war-torn country instead it has unleashed
a wave of uncontrollable violence,” he added.
Aircraft with 62 people on board is missing after it plunged into a steep dive minutes after
takeoff from Jakarta.

Relatives of Sriwijaya Air plane passengers arrive at the crisis centre in Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport [Mast Irham/EPA]

An Indonesian Sriwijaya Air plane is feared to have crashed into the sea after the Boeing 737 lost contact
with air traffic control in the capital Jakarta with flight tracking data showing it plunged into a steep dive
minutes after takeoff.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said flight SJ182 was delayed by an hour before it took off at
2:36pm (07:36 GMT) on Saturday.

The Boeing 737-500 disappeared from radar four minutes later, after the pilot contacted air traffic
control to ascend to an altitude of 8,839 metres (29,000 feet), he said.

Sumadi told a news conference that 62 people had been on board.

A statement released by the budget airline said the plane was on an estimated 90-minute domestic
flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island,
about 740km (460 miles) away.

Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from Jakarta, said the 62 people on board included seven
children and three infants and that the authorities believe they have found debris of the plane.

“The military has sent reinforcements including helicopters, and military vessels attempting to find what
exactly happened,” she said.

Washington said the flight was delayed due to poor weather conditions and heavy rain at Soekarno-
Hatta International Airport at the time of takeoff.

Minister Sumadi said a dozen vessels, including four warships, were deployed in a search and rescue
operation centred between Lancang and Laki islands, part of the Thousand Islands chain just north of
Jakarta.

Separately, the Indonesian Navy said it determined the coordinates of the missing plane and ships were
deployed to the location.

Surachman, a local government official, told Kompas TV that fishermen found what appeared to be the
wreckage of an aircraft in waters north of Jakarta. Other news channels showed images of suspected
wreckage.

“We found some cables, a piece of jeans, and pieces of metal on the water,” Zulkifli, a security official,
told CNNIndonesia.com.
Bambang Suryo Aji, the National Search and Rescue Agency’s deputy head of operations and
preparedness, said rescuers collected plane debris and clothes and they handed the items over to the
National Transportation Safety Committee for further investigation to determine whether they were
from the missing plane.

Aji said no radio beacon signal had been detected from the aircraft. He said his agency was investigating
why the plane’s emergency locator transmitter, or ELT, was not transmitting a signal that could confirm
whether it had crashed.

Reliable tracking service Flightradar24 said on its Twitter feed that flight SJ182 “lost more than 10,000
feet [3,000 metres] of altitude in less than one minute, about four minutes after departure from
Jakarta”.

Indonesian soldiers are seen at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after a Sriwijaya Air plane lost
contact [Willy Kurniawan/Reuters]

Television footage showed relatives and friends of the flight passengers weeping, praying and hugging
each other as they waited at Jakarta and Pontianak airports.

The aircraft is a 27-year-old Boeing 737-500, according to registration details included in the tracking
data.
“Many airlines in Indonesia have had issues in the past but this is a story that has caught many people
off-guard as Sriwijaya Air does have some reliable history,” and the plane was believed to be in good
condition, Al Jazeera’s Washington said.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation with more than 260 million people, has been plagued
by transport accidents on land, sea and air because of overcrowding on ferries, ageing infrastructure and
poorly enforced safety standards.

A Boeing 737 MAX operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed off Jakarta in late 2018, killing all 189
passengers and crew. The plane that lost contact on Saturday is a much older model.

In December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea, killing 162 people.

Sriwijaya Air is one of Indonesia’s discount carriers, flying to dozens of domestic and international
destinations.

Founded in 2003, Jakarta-based Sriwijaya Air group flies largely within Indonesia.

The airline has a solid safety record until now with no onboard casualties in four incidents recorded on
the Aviation Safety Network database, though a farmer was killed when a Boeing 737-200 left the
runway in 2008 following a hydraulic problem.
Momentum builds to impeach Trump as
more Capitol rioters arrested
Dozens of US legislators say Donald Trump should be removed from office for stoking recent
violence on Capitol Hill.

Supporters of US President Donald Trump, including a man identified by the FBI as Jacob Anthony
Chansleya were among rioters who breached the US Capitol [File: Saul Loeb/AFP]

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, faced a renewed push by Democrats to remove him
from office, as federal agents arrested more Capitol Hill rioters on Saturday, including a man who carried
off the House speaker’s lectern.

Representative Ted Lieu said on Twitter that Democratic members of the House of Representatives will
introduce formal articles of impeachment on Monday. The California Democrat, who helped draft the
charges, said the articles had drawn 180 co-sponsors as of Saturday afternoon.

A spokeswoman for Lieu said no Republicans have yet signed on.

The impeachment declaration accuses Trump of engaging “in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by willfully
inciting violence against the Government of the United States”, according to a copy Lieu posted on
Twitter on Friday.

It states that Trump “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and
the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-
governance and the rule of law”.

A vote could be held as soon as Wednesday.

The new push comes after Trump incited his supporters to storm the US Capitol on Wednesday as
legislators met to certify the election victory of President-elect Joe Biden. Trump urged the crowd to
march there in force during remarks in which he repeated his bogus claim that his election defeat was
fraudulent.
The four-hour occupation of the seat of the US legislature shocked the country and raised questions
about security preparations ahead of the well-planned and publicised event. Five people, including a
rioter shot by police as she attempted to enter the House chamber and a Capitol Police officer struck by
a fire extinguisher, died during the incident.

Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, accused the Trump supporters who invaded the Capitol of choosing
“their whiteness over democracy”.

Addressing her hometown San Francisco constituents during an online video conference, Pelosi on
Saturday said Trump’s actions “cannot be exaggerated”. She added, “The complicity, not only the
complicity, the instigation of the president of the United States, must and will be addressed.”

More alleged rioters arrested

In a statement on Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) said it had arrested and charged
two men whose alleged participation in the Capitol riot went viral, as well as a West Virginia state
legislator who allegedly livestreamed his illegal entry into the building.

The FBI said it identified Jacob Anthony Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, of Arizona, as the man
“seen in media coverage who entered the Capitol building dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red,
white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants”.

Chansley was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds
without lawful authority, as well as with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, the FBI
said.

Chansley is a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory and has been mainstay outside of the Arizona
Capitol since 2019, according to the Arizona Republic newspaper.
A pro-Trump rioter, identified by the FBI as Adam Johnson, carries the lectern of the speaker of the
House, Nancy Pelosi, through the rotunda of the US Capitol building [File: Win McNamee/Getty
Images]

The FBI also identified Adam Johnson, 36, as the man allegedly seen smiling while carrying the lectern of
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi through the rotunda of the Capitol complex. The man identified
as Johnson wore a knitted hat that said “Trump” and “45” and appeared ebullient during the chaotic
scene.

Johnson, a resident of Parrish, Florida, was arrested on Friday night and charged with knowingly
entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, theft of
government property, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

In its statement, the FBI also said that Derrick Evans, a 35-year-old man recently elected to the West
Virginia House of Delegates, had been arrested and charged in relation to the events.

The Reuters news agency reported that Evans resigned on Saturday, writing a one-sentence letter to
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice that read, “I hereby resign as a member of the West Virginia House of
Delegates, effective immediately.”
On Friday, the FBI said 13 others who allegedly participated in the riot are facing federal charges.
Another 40 people have been charged so far in Washington, DC Superior Court.

‘I want him out’

The riot reignited calls from legislators for Trump to be removed from office before his term ends, either
through the invocation of the 25th Amendment, which allows the removal of a president who is deemed
unable to fulfil the duties of the office, or through impeachment.

Democrats have pressed Vice President Mike Pence to consider the 25th Amendment, but a Pence
adviser has said he opposes the idea.

Ilhan Omar, a Democratic congresswoman, tweeted on Saturday afternoon that it was important to
impeach and “convict this president even if he has few days left in office”. She added: “It will set a
precedent. We must make it clear that no president can lead an insurrection against the US government.
What we do today will matter for the rest of this nation’s history.”

The effort has drawn scattered support from Republicans, whose party has been splintered by the
president’s actions.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said on Friday that Trump should resign immediately and suggested
she would consider leaving the party altogether if Republicans cannot separate themselves from him.

“I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” she told the Anchorage Daily News.

Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania told Fox News on Saturday that Trump had “committed
impeachable offences” but declined to commit to voting in favour of Trump’s removal.

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic, told CBS News he would “definitely consider”
impeachment because the president “disregarded his oath of office”.

Trump allies, including Senator Lindsey Graham and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, however,
urged Democrats to shelve any impeachment effort in the name of unity.

“Impeaching President Donald Trump with 12 days remaining in his presidency would only serve to
further divide the country,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

If Trump were to be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate, he might also be prevented
from running again for the presidency in 2024 or ever holding public office again. He would be the only
president twice impeached.

But the odds that Trump will actually be removed before January 20, when Biden is sworn in, remain
long. Any impeachment in the House would trigger a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, which is
scheduled to be in recess until January 19 and has already acquitted Trump once before.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a memo to his fellow Republican senators suggesting a trial
would not begin until Trump was out of office, a source familiar with the document told Reuters. A
conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds majority vote.

Democrats will take control of the Senate later this month, after Georgia certifies two runoff elections
won by Democratic challengers.

Biden, meanwhile, said he is focused on his job as he prepares to take office. Asked about impeachment,
he said, “That’s a decision for the Congress to make.”

‘Domestic terrorism’

The deadly violence at the Capitol Hill also prompted the resignation of the Capitol Police chief and the
House sergeant-at-arms – and spurred demands for a thorough investigation into what occurred.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Representative Tim Ryan, the chair of the House Appropriations
subcommittee, which oversees Capitol Police, decried the “epic failure” of intelligence and preparation.

He said the committee is working with federal authorities to identify the rioters, who he said committed
an act of “domestic terrorism”.
Ryan also promised to thoroughly investigate videos that showed some Capitol Police officers taking
selfies with rioters and allowing them to pass barricades.

“Not only must we get to the bottom of how and why this was allowed to happen, we have a duty to
ensure it never ever can happen again,” he said.
National carriers announce resumption
of Qatar-Saudi air travel
Announcements coincide with Qatar and Saudi Arabia reopening their land border crossing
following landmark deal to end the years-long Gulf crisis.

Qatar Airways announced the resumption of flights to three Saudi cities next week [File: Reuters]

The national carriers of Qatar and Saudi Arabia have announced the resumption of air travel between
the two countries starting next week, just days after a deal was reached to end a years-long regional
diplomatic dispute.

A Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit on Tuesday declared an end to the bitter rift in which
members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain – along with Egypt – blockaded Qatar since
June 2017. The group severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting
terrorism, an accusation Doha vehemently denied.

Kuwait and the United States had been mediating for reconciliation.
On the eve of the 41st GCC summit held in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom agreed to reopen its air, sea and
land borders with Qatar – a major breakthrough in the Gulf crisis.

The state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines – also known as Saudia – said on Saturday it will operate flights
from capital Riyadh and the port city of Jeddah to the Qatari capital Doha starting on Monday.

Qatar’s national carrier also announced on Twitter the resumption of flights to three Saudi cities next
week. The first services will be to Riyadh on Monday.

Border crossing reopened

The announcements came as Saudi Arabia and Qatar reopened a major land border crossing on
Saturday.
Saudi state television Al-Ekhbariya aired footage of Qatari cars entering the kingdom via the Salwa
border crossing.

“Thank God, the crisis has been resolved,” a Qatari man in his car told the broadcaster. “I appreciate the
warm welcome by our brothers.”

Some 68 cars entered Saudi Arabia via the crossing, while 20 others departed to Qatar on Saturday, a
Saudi customs official said.

“The crossing is in full operation. We welcome Qatari citizens,” the head of customs at the Salwa
crossing, Ali al-Aklabi, told Al-Ekhbariya.

Qatar meanwhile said arrivals through its border crossing with Saudi Arabia starting on Saturday will
undergo coronavirus-related measures.

They include undergoing a coronavirus test and obtaining a virus-free certificate no more than 72 hours
before travel.

All arrivals will also be subject to hotel quarantine for one week, Qatar’s Government Communications
Office added in an online statement.
Pompeo lifts curbs on official US
contacts with Taiwan
The announcement comes before a planned trip to Taiwan by the US ambassador to the UN that
has drawn anger from China.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement comes less than two weeks before President-
elect Joe Biden is set to take office [File: Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters]

The United States will end its decades-old restrictions on official contacts with Taiwan, Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo has announced, a move in the final days of President Donald Trump’s administration that
is certain to anger China.

In a statement on Saturday, Pompeo said the US State Department had for several decades “created
complex internal restrictions to regulate our diplomats, servicemembers, and other officials’ interactions
with their Taiwanese counterparts”.
“The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist
regime in Beijing,” he said. “No more.”

It was not clear what the change means in practice, with Pompeo saying executive branch
communications with Taiwan will be handled by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which is owned
by the US government and serves as the de facto embassy on Taiwan.

Taiwan’s government welcomed the move.

“Decades of discrimination, removed,” tweeted Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan’s

diplomatic envoy to the States. “A huge day in our bilateral relationship. I will
cherish every opportunity.”
Foreign minister Joseph Wu said he was grateful Pompeo had lifted
“restrictions unnecessarily limiting our engagements”.

“The closer partnership between Taiwan and the US is firmly based on our
shared values, common interests and unshakeable belief in freedom and
democracy,” he added.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States in Washington, DC, which
serves as Taiwan’s unofficial embassy, said the move showed the “strength and depth” of the US-Taiwan
relationship.

However, the declaration – which comes less than two weeks before US President-elect Joe Biden is set
to be inaugurated – is expected to upset China, which views Taiwan as its own territory and has worked
to keep it isolated on the world stage.

It also came days before Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the United Nations, is set to visit the island
from January 13 to 15. Craft will be the highest-ranking US official to do so.

The US has historically kept Taiwan at arms length to help maintain ties with China.
However, the relationship between Washington and Beijing has deteriorated during the last four years,
with Trump’s acceptance of a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on
December 2, 2016, setting the tone.

Since then, experts said the US has increasingly used Taiwan as a cudgel amid the acrimony.

This week, China warned the Trump administration that it would pay a “heavy price” if Craft’s planned
visit takes place.

“The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action,” the Chinese mission to the UN said in a
statement.

“China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for
China-US relations … and stop going further on the wrong path.”

Taiwan has benefitted from the discord, with record US arms sales and visits from other officials,
including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

Last year, Trump also signed into law the Taiwan Assurances Act, which deepens US-Taiwan ties even
though the two do not maintain formal diplomatic relations.

Analysts said Craft’s upcoming visit will likely be more symbolic than impactful, as it will take place days
before Biden assumes office and Taiwanese leaders are anxiously waiting to see how he will approach
the relationship.
Six months on, most COVID patients still
have at least 1 symptom
New study finds fatigue or muscle weakness are the most common symptoms, while sleeping
difficulties are also reported.

Medical workers carry a man who is the last patient to recover from the COVID-19 coronavirus infection
in the Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital [File: AFP]

More than three-quarters of people hospitalised with COVID-19 still suffered from at least one symptom
after six months, according to a new study.

The research, which was published on Saturday in the Lancet medical journal, involved hundreds of
patients in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus was first detected.

It found that fatigue or muscle weakness were the most common symptoms, while people also reported
sleeping difficulties.

Scientists said the study – among the few to trace the long-term symptoms of COVID-19 – shows the
need for further investigation into lingering coronavirus effects.
Play Video

“Because COVID-19 is such a new disease, we are only beginning to understand some of its long-term
effects on patients’ health,” said lead author Bin Cao, of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine.

The professor said the research highlighted the need for continuing care for patients after they have
been discharged from hospital, particularly those who have had severe infections.

The new study included 1,733 COVID-19 patients discharged from Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan between
January and May last year.

Patients, who had an average age of 57, were visited between June and September and answered
questions on their symptoms and health-related quality of life.

Researchers also conducted physical examinations and lab tests.

The study found that 76 percent of patients who participated in the follow-up (1,265 of 1,655) said they
still had symptoms.

Fatigue or muscle weakness was reported by 63 percent, while 26 percent had sleep problems.

The study also looked at 94 patients whose blood antibody levels were recorded at the height of the
infection as part of another trial.

When these patients were retested after six months, their levels of neutralising antibodies were 52.5
percent lower.

The authors said this raises concerns about the possibility of COVID-19 reinfection, although they said
larger samples would be needed to clarify how immunity to the virus changes over time.

Play Video

The World Health Organization has said the virus poses a risk for some people of serious continuing
effects – even among young, otherwise healthy people who were not hospitalised. To date, there have
been more than 89 million confirmed coronavirus cases, including some 1.9 million related deaths and
49.5 million recovered.

“Patients have to be seen over a period of six months or longer due to complications of contracting the
virus. That means we’re going to have even less capacity, less healthcare workforce available for treating
these individuals,” Oksana Pyzik, global health adviser and lecturer at UCL, told Al Jazeera.

“That will have knock-on consequences for caring for all sorts of chronic conditions,” such as cancer,
Pyzik said.

In a comment article, which was also published in the Lancet, Monica Cortinovis, Norberto Perico, and
Giuseppe Remuzzi, from Italy’s Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, said there was
uncertainty over the long-term health consequences of the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, there are few reports on the clinical picture of the aftermath of COVID-19,” they said,
adding the latest study was, therefore, “relevant and timely”.

They said longer-term multidisciplinary research being conducted in the United States and the United
Kingdom would help improve understanding and help develop therapies to “mitigate the long-term
consequences of COVID-19 on multiple organs and tissues”.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

UK coronavirus cases top 3 million as
death toll passes 80,000
COVID-19 infections and related deaths pass grim milestones amid growing risk of British
hospitals being overwhelmed.

People wearing face masks walk, amid the spread of COVID-19, outside the Kensington Palace
Gardens in London, UK, January 9, 2021 [Simon Dawson/Reuters]

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases recorded in the United Kingdom has now surpassed three
million, as the human cost of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to mount amid growing fears about the
fast-spreading new variants of the virus.

UK authorities on Saturday announced another 59,937 new infections and 1,035 related fatalities, taking
the total death toll to 80,868 – one of the highest in Europe, alongside Italy.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a third stay-at-home order at the start of the week as alarm
deepens that hospitals could be overwhelmed, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday declared a
“major incident” in the capital and said the spread of COVID-19 was “out of control”.

Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker described the situation as “extremely bad”.

“Before the majority of the population receive the vaccine, there might be a significant impact on how
hospitals are able to cope … [as well as] the death toll and the rate of infection,” he said.

To date, more than 1.5 million people in the UK have received coronavirus jabs, with the elderly, their
carers and health workers prioritised during the immunisation drive.

The government has launched a new public awareness campaign to get people to better comply with
coronavirus restrictions, with Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty appearing in a video
advertisement urging people to stay home as much as possible, protect the National Health Service
(NHS) and save lives.

Citizens are also encouraged people to not be complacent and act as though they have the virus, or
people around them might have COVID-19.

Medical workers transfer a patient from an ambulance at the Royal London Hospital [Simon
Dawson/Reuters]
Last week, the government announced what is now the third national lockdown as it battles a new,
more contagious variant of coronavirus that has swept across Britain.

The infection surge threatens to overwhelm hospitals, putting more strain on doctors and nurses who
are already tired after almost a year of the pandemic.

“We are hearing about people being treated in ambulances and car parks outside the hospital because
there’s no room inside to bring people in,” said Dr Tom Dolphin, a hospital anaesthetist and spokesman
for the British Medical Association council. “It’s getting to the point where we are struggling to maintain
basic standards in some hospitals.”

The number of COVID-19 patients treated in hospital in London was up in the first week of January alone
by almost a third, and the number of artificially ventilated patients rose by more than 40 percent,
according to Khan.

Hundreds of firefighters came to the aid of the health service to drive ambulances.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, were among those to be
vaccinated on Saturday. It is understood the monarch decided the information should be made public to
prevent inaccuracies and speculation.

The UK is banking on the roll-out of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines to halt the
spread of the virus.

Regulators in the country this week also approved US firm Moderna’s vaccine – the third to be
authorised for use.

The government aims to have inoculated 15 million of the most vulnerable groups – including front-line
staff at the NHS – by mid-February, and has deployed armed forces to help with the roll-out.