Germany Wants Those behind Iran Crackdown Banned from EU, Assets Frozen

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (not in the picture) at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 07 October 2022. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (not in the picture) at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 07 October 2022. (EPA)
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Germany Wants Those behind Iran Crackdown Banned from EU, Assets Frozen

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (not in the picture) at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 07 October 2022. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (not in the picture) at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 07 October 2022. (EPA)

Germany will ensure the European Union freezes the assets of those responsible for a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran and bans their entry to the bloc, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told a German Sunday newspaper.

Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic have submitted 16 proposals for new EU sanctions against Iran for its clampdown on protests ignited by the death in policy custody of a young woman, a German foreign ministry source said last week.

Those proposing the sanctions are aiming for the EU foreign ministers to decide on them at their meeting on Oct. 17, with no resistance expected from the members of the bloc.

The protests, which initially focused on women's rights, have spiraled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's authorities in years, with many calling for the end of more than four decades of clerical rule.

On Saturday, female students in Tehran chanted "get lost" as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited their university campus on Saturday and condemned protesters enraged by the death of a young woman in custody, videos on social media showed.

"Those who beat up women and girls on the street, who abduct, arbitrarily imprison and condemn to death people who want nothing other than to live free - they stand on the wrong side of history," Baerbock told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"To those people in Iran we say: we stand by you, and will continue to do so," she said.

Baerbock, who has vowed to pursue a feminist foreign policy, has faced criticism at home for an initially muted reaction to the protests.



UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
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UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)

More than 14 million children did not receive a single vaccine last year — about the same number as the year before — according to UN health officials. Nine countries accounted for more than half of those unprotected children.

In their annual estimate of global vaccine coverage, released Tuesday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said about 89% of children under one year old got a first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine in 2024, the same as in 2023. About 85% completed the three-dose series, up from 84% in 2023.

Officials acknowledged, however, that the collapse of international aid this year will make it more difficult to reduce the number of unprotected children.

In January, US President Trump withdrew the country from the WHO, froze nearly all humanitarian aid and later moved to close the US AID Agency. And last month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it was pulling the billions of dollars the US had previously pledged to the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the group had “ignored the science.”

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has previously raised questions the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine, which has proven to be safe and effective after years of study and real-world use. Vaccines prevent 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year, according to UN estimates.

“Drastic cuts in aid, coupled with misinformation about the safety of vaccines, threaten to unwind decades of progress,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

UN experts said that access to vaccines remained “deeply unequal” and that conflict and humanitarian crises quickly unraveled progress; Sudan had the lowest reported coverage against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

The data showed that nine countries accounted for 52% of all children who missed out on immunizations entirely: Nigeria, India, Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Angola.

WHO and UNICEF said that coverage against measles rose slightly, with 76% of children worldwide receiving both vaccine doses. But experts say measles vaccine rates need to reach 95% to prevent outbreaks of the extremely contagious disease. WHO noted that 60 countries reported big measles outbreaks last year.

The US is now having its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, while the disease has also surged across Europe, with 125,000 cases in 2024 — twice as many as the previous year, according to WHO.

Last week, British authorities reported a child died of measles in a Liverpool hospital. Health officials said that despite years of efforts to raise awareness, only about 84% of children in the UK are protected.

“It is hugely concerning, but not at all surprising, that we are continuing to see outbreaks of measles,” said Helen Bradford, a professor of children’s health at University College London.

“The only way to stop measles spreading is with vaccination,” she said in a statement. “It is never too late to be vaccinated — even as an adult.”