AFP

On a hot Sunday afternoon in New York, the epicenter of the US monkeypox outbreak, a long line of men aged 20 to 40 wait for a vaccine to protect themselves and their loved ones against the virus.

With its rows of tables and chairs and stacks of medical equipment, the vaccination center — a high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn — is reminiscent of a vaccine spot for Covid-19, a virus for which New York was also the US epicenter.

Everyone who spoke to AFP while waiting in line said they felt lucky to have gotten an appointment, as New York lacks doses. On Friday, 9,200 time slots became available on the city’s dedicated website at 6:00 pm.

They were all gone in seven minutes.

Three days earlier, site traffic was so high that the page crashed.

“It was frustrating, largely because especially with Covid, you’d think that we would have more of a structured process or vaccine rollout,” Aidan Baglivo, 23, told AFP. “There just wasn’t really anything.”

– ‘Shouldn’t be an issue’ –

The city of more than eight million people saw monkeypox infections climb last week, with 461 cases recorded Friday since the US outbreak began in May.

That number is up from 223 cases on Monday.

Baglivo, a data analyst, noted that people who are the most connected on social media have the highest chances of getting a vaccine appointment.

Robert, who declined to give his last name, told AFP he sat at his computer refreshing the website “like a crazy person” until he got a slot.

“This shouldn’t be an issue because there’s already a vaccine, and it (the rollout) should be… more efficient to prevent it from becoming more of an issue,” said the 28-year-old. Neither his partner nor his best friend have been able to get a vaccine.

“Every additional day where there’s not more people being vaccinated is a bummer.”

Anyone can catch monkeypox, which spreads through close physical contact, but the Jynneos vaccine is currently reserved for men who have sex with men, who make up the vast majority of cases.

Many LGBTQ people, of which there is a large population in New York, worry their community will be further stigmatized because of the virus.

– ‘Important to be proactive’ –

Nathan Tylutki, a 42-year-old actor, wonders if “there would be a quicker response to developing more vaccines if it wasn’t affecting queer people.”

In his opinion, there isn’t a lot of anti-vaccine sentiment in the LGBTQ community “because we’ve seen disease, we know what the AIDS epidemic” was like.

“We know that it’s important to be proactive about these kinds of things,” he told AFP.

Monkeypox is characterized by lesions on the skin — which can appear on the genitals or the mouth  — and is often accompanied by fever, sore throat and pain in the lymph nodes. It usually clears up on its own but can be extremely painful.

New York, on the US East Coast, has already either administered or scheduled 21,500 vaccines and hopes to speed up the process, promising more than 30,000 jabs for the whole state.

But due to a lack of doses, the Bushwick site is not expected to reopen Monday.

City health commissioner Ashwin Vasan said Sunday that New York needs tens of thousands more vaccines.

In line at the Bushwick site, fitness instructor Leroy Jackson has another concern.

“I am one of maybe two or three Black people on this line” out of more than 100, said the 27-year-old.

Access to appointments for minorities and underprivileged groups is even more limited, he pointed out.

Ukraine faced new turmoil Sunday with President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing he sacked his top two law enforcement officials, in the government’s most serious shakeup since Russia launched its deadly invasion in February.

The domestic crisis came as the European Union prepared to discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday, and as Kyiv accused Moscow of launching fresh strikes on multiple residential areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The new attacks came after Moscow announced it would step up its military operations and Ukraine accused Russia of installing missile launchers at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.

Zelensky said he was firing prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova and security chief Ivan Bakanov amid a high number of cases of suspected treason by Ukrainian law enforcement officials. 

In a national address, Zelensky said over 650 cases of suspected treason and aiding and abetting Russia by Ukrainian security officials are currently being investigated, including 60 cases of officials who he said have remained in territories occupied by Russia and are “working against our state.”

“Such a great number of crimes against the foundations of national security and the connections established between Ukrainian law enforcement officials and Russian special services pose very serious questions to the relevant leaders,” Zelensky said. 

“Each such question will be answered.”

Zelensky also highlighted the devastating military might Moscow has used against Ukraine, saying that as of Sunday Russian forces have launched more than 3,000 cruise missiles on targets in Ukraine.

– ‘High price’ –

With the conflict grinding on and increasingly spilling out into global energy and food crises, EU foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia.

And more Russian figures could also be placed on the EU blacklist. 

“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures. 

Brussels is expected to hold initial sanctions discussions Monday, but not make a same-day decision, according to a senior EU official.

The heaviest fighting continues to focus on the industrial east of Ukraine, and on Sunday, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko accused Moscow of shelling “civilian infrastructure, especially education institutions”.

But Igor Besukh, a chef in the local city of Kramatorsk, just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the frontline, was determined to stay strong in the face of Russian attacks.

Even after a Friday missile strike on Kramatorsk, which he admits scared him, Besukh continued operating his sushi restaurant, one of the few places still open in the city.

“War is war, but lunch must be served on time,” he said, quoting a popular saying.

– ‘Massive shelling’ –

Near Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, the southern city of Mykolaiv came under “massive shelling” Sunday, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said.

Kim added that several residential areas were shelled in the region a day earlier, with three people killed in the village of Shevchenkove and one woman killed in Shyrokiv where a “residential building was destroyed”.

In a BBC television interview broadcast Sunday, the head of Britain’s armed forces, Admiral Tony Radakin, estimated that 50,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the invasion with nearly 1,700 Russian tanks and some 4,000 armoured fighting vehicles destroyed.

Radakin suggested that Russia’s land forces may pose less of a threat now, but more than 20 weeks since the invasion began, Moscow said Saturday it would step up its military operations.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu “gave the necessary instructions to further increase” military pressure, according to his ministry.

The orders come after Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accused Russians of installing missile launchers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and using the facility to shell the Dnipro region.

Russia’s defence ministry said in its daily briefing Sunday that it destroyed a “warehouse for Harpoon anti-ship missiles delivered to Ukraine by NATO” in the port city of Odessa.

Ukraine denied the claim, saying Russia destroyed the “storage facility” of a company with no military links.

Hundreds of kilometres from the frontline, Ukraine said missile strikes earlier in the week left 24 dead in the central city Vinnytsia, triggering international condemnation.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted a meeting in Vinnytsia of the “command of the Ukrainian Air Force with representatives of foreign arms suppliers”. 

But a senior US defence official said on condition of anonymity that he had “no indication” there was a military target nearby.

Meanwhile, in Russia, police on Sunday detained journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live TV broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, her lawyer said.

No official statement has been made, but her detention comes days after Ovsyannikova, 44, demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding a placard criticising Russia’s invasion and President Vladimir Putin.

Celebrity couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married this weekend in Las Vegas, 18 years after their first romance failed, court records showed.

The couple tied the knot Saturday, according to a marriage license they filed in Clark County, Nevada, that was seen by AFP.

It lists the parties to the nuptials as Affleck, Benjamin Geza and Lopez, Jennifer and gives the latter’s “new name” as Affleck, Jennifer.

The pair — he is 49 and she is 52 — first met on the set of the widely panned movie “Gigli” in 2002.

They became a media sensation as they dated but postponed their planned 2003 nuptials, then announced their relationship was over in early 2004.

“Bennifer” — the couple’s public nickname from their first highly publicized relationship — set the internet alight last year when photos of them together again began circulating. 

Lopez and Affleck announced their engagement in April.

Lopez posted a video of herself appearing emotional and admiring a green ring in her newsletter, “On The JLo.” US media reported that the ring was an emerald-cut pale green diamond.

This is the fourth marriage for Lopez and the second for Affleck.

Lopez discussed her renewed relationship with Affleck in an interview with People in February.

“It’s a beautiful love story that we got a second chance,” she said.

Lopez was previously married to actor Ojani Noa, dancer Cris Judd and singer Marc Anthony, with whom she shares 14-year-old twins Max and Emme.

Affleck was married to actress Jennifer Garner and they are the parents of Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10.

The gossip news outlet TMZ said the couple have been “seemingly inseparable” since they got back together, shopping together for a house and sometimes bringing their kids along.

TMS said that last month Lopez’s car was seen outside a huge mansion in Beverly Hills, with several moving trucks outside it and also at each of their current homes.

Of the wedding, TMZ put it this way: “They did it like a couple of kids looking to elope, saying “I do” out in the desert.”

The European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday, as Kyiv accused Moscow of launching fresh strikes on multiple residential areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The fresh strikes came after Moscow announced that it would step up its military operations and Kyiv accused Russia of installing missile launchers at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.

With the conflict grinding on and increasingly spilling out into global energy and food crises, EU foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia, which would align with sanctions already imposed by G7 partners.

More Russian figures could also be placed on the EU’s blacklist. 

“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures. 

Brussels is expected to hold initial sanctions discussions Monday, but not make a same-day decision, according to a senior EU official.

On Sunday, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko accused Moscow of shelling “civilian infrastructure, especially education institutions”.

“I was scared,” says 23-year-old chef Igor Besukh of a nearby missile attack on Friday in Kramatorsk, where his sushi place is one of the few restaurants open just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the frontline.

Coming back to work the next day was not easy, he admitted, however “war is war, but lunch must be served on time,” he said, quoting a popular saying with a smile.

– ‘Massive shelling’ –

Near the coast of the Black Sea, the southern city of Mykolaiv came under “massive shelling” in the early hours of Sunday, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said.

Kim added that several residential areas were shelled in the region a day earlier, with three people killed in the village of Shevchenkove and one woman killed in Shyrokiv where a “residential building was destroyed”.

In a BBC television interview broadcast on Sunday, the head of Britain’s armed forces, Admiral Tony Radakin, estimated that 50,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the invasion with nearly 1,700 Russian tanks and some 4,000 armoured fighting vehicles destroyed.

Radakin suggested that Russia’s land forces may pose less of a threat now, but more than 20 weeks since the invasion began, Moscow said on Saturday that it would step up its military operations.  

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu “gave the necessary instructions to further increase” military pressure, according to his ministry.

The orders come after Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accused Russians of installing missile launchers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and using the facility to shell the Dnipro region.

The heaviest fighting continues to focus on the industrial Donbas region in the east, where several villages were hit by strikes Sunday with no casualties so far.

In Warsaw, nearly 2,000 demonstrators gathered on Sunday in front of Russia’s embassy to protest the invasion of Ukraine, an AFP journalist reported.

– ‘Enough death’ –

Carrying yellow and blue Ukrainian flags and chanting “enough death!” the Ukrainian and Polish protesters demanded that Russia is recognised as a “terrorist state”.

In his Saturday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged that his country would “endure”.

Zelensky said Ukraine has “withstood Russia’s brutal blows” and managed to take back some of the territory it lost since the start of the war and will eventually recapture more occupied land.

Russia’s defence ministry said in its daily briefing Sunday that it destroyed a “warehouse for Harpoon anti-ship missiles delivered to Ukraine by NATO” in the port city of Odessa.

Ukraine denied the claim, saying the destroyed the “storage facility” of a company with no military links.

Hundreds of kilometres from the frontline, Ukraine said missile strikes earlier in the week left 24 dead in the central city Vinnytsia and triggered international condemnation.

The Russian defence ministry said it had targeted a meeting in Vinnytsia of the “command of the Ukrainian Air Force with representatives of foreign arms suppliers”. 

But a senior US defence official said on condition of anonymity that he had “no indication” there was a military target nearby.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Radakin said Russia poses “the biggest threat” to the United Kingdom and the challenge would endure for decades.

The European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday, as Moscow is accused of using the continent’s largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and launch missiles on the surrounding regions of southern Ukraine.

The situation at the captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is “extremely tense”, Ukraine’s atomic energy agency chief Petro Kotin said, adding that the Russians had installed missile launchers and used the facility to shell the Dnipro region.

Describing “a deluge of fire”, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko on Saturday said Grad missiles had pounded residential areas.

“Rescuers found two dead people under the ruins” in the riverside city of Nikopol, he said.

With the conflict grinding on and increasingly spilling out into global energy and food crises, the EU’s foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia, which would align with sanctions already imposed by G7 partners.

More Russian figures could also be placed on the EU’s blacklist. 

“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures. 

Brussels is expected to hold initial sanctions discussions Monday, but not make a same-day decision, according to a senior EU official. 

– Stepping up attacks –

More than 20 weeks since Russia invaded its neighbour, killing thousands and displacing millions of Ukrainians, Moscow announced on Saturday that it would step up its military operations.  

Minister Sergei Shoigu “gave the necessary instructions to further increase” military pressure, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The war-ravaged nation’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has already accused Russia of seeking to inflict maximum damage, but pledged that Ukraine would “endure”.

In his Saturday evening address, Zelensky said Ukraine has “withstood Russia’s brutal blows” and managed to take back some of the territory it lost since the start of the war, and will eventually recapture more occupied land.

“We will endure. We will win,” he said, and “rebuild our lives”.

While the heaviest fighting has continued to focus on the industrial Donbas region in the east, in the northeast near Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, the bombardments have been fast and hard in recent days. 

A Russian missile attack killed three in the town of Chuguiv over the weekend and destroyed a residential house and a local school. 

“Why me? Just because I was born in Ukraine?” asked resident Raiysa Kuval as she sat on the rubble.

“We were leaving peacefully, and they tore apart mother from father, child from mother, brother from sister… It’s unbearable.”

– Russia participation at G20 ‘absurd’ –

A two-day meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies looked for solutions to the food and energy crises caused by the war but the gathering ended Saturday in Indonesia without a joint communique after the conflict divided the global forum.

The failure to issue a joint statement is expected to hinder coordinated efforts to address rising inflation and food shortages threatening to leave millions in developing nations at risk of hunger.

The failure to secure a joint communique came a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of G20 talks in Bali over criticism of Moscow. 

Canada blasted Moscow’s participation in the meeting at all as “absurd,” with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland saying from Bali that Russia’s presence “was like inviting an arsonist to a meeting of firefighters.”

– ‘Clearing’ Donbas town –

In the embattled Donbas region, grinding trench battles and artillery duels have morphed into a war of attrition.

Moscow-backed separatists said Friday they were closing in on their next target, Siversk, after wresting control of sister cities Lysychansk and Severodonetsk about 30 kilometres (18 miles) to its east.

Donetsk separatist official Daniil Versonov said rebel fighters were “clearing” eastern districts of Siversk in small groups.

Hundreds of kilometres from the frontline, missile strikes caused heavy civilian casualties in the central city Vinnytsia, with the death toll raised to 24 on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, one woman died in hospital today, she was 85 percent burned,” said Sergei Borzov, the governor of Vinnytsia region, adding that 68 people were still receiving treatment, including four children. 

In the face of international condemnation, the Russian Defense  Ministry said it had targeted a meeting in Vinnytsia of the “command of the Ukrainian Air Force with representatives of foreign arms suppliers”. 

But a senior U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity that he had “no indication” there was a military target nearby.