World Tour: India opens Hindu temple built on ruins of a mosque

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere

AUDIO: [Sound from hospital]

ONIZE OHIKERE: Cameroon malaria vaccinations — We start today in Cameroon where health workers have kickstarted a first-of-its-kind routine malaria vaccination program.

The Central African country plans to vaccinate about 250,000 children by 2025. The vaccination is free for all infants up to six months old.

Authorities are using the RTS,S vaccine developed by the British drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline. The shot is only about 30 percent effective, requires four doses, and fades after several months.

Kate O’Brien is the vaccines director at the World Health Organization.

OBRIEN: The malaria vaccines have been shown to reduce clinical malaria cases by more than half in the year after vaccination, and that level of efficacy goes up when the vaccine is provided seasonally. In that case, it prevents about three-quarters or 75% of malaria cases.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 600,000 people each year—the majority of them in Africa.

The global vaccine alliance—Gavi—said 20 other countries plan to roll out the same program this year. The World Health Organization has endorsed a second malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University and is still under production.

AUDIO: [Chanting protesters]

France protests — Over in France, about 16,000 protesters holding placards and playing music turned out on the streets of Paris to oppose a contentious immigration law.

Similar crowds turned out in other cities, including in Nantes and Marseille.

AUDIO: [Chanting protesters]

The legislation strengthens France’s ability to deport foreigners and toughens opportunities for foreigners to access social welfare.

Lawmakers approved the law in December. But French President Emmanuel Macron had said some parts of the bill are unconstitutional.

PROTESTER: [Speaking French]

This 20-year-old protester says the law creates a divide between French and non-French people.

The Constitutional Council will vote tomorrow on whether all articles of the bill are in line with the constitution.

Ecuador arrests — In Ecuador, authorities detained nearly 70 suspects after they tried to seize a hospital in the southwest Guayas province.

Authorities said they belonged to a criminal group, whose member was receiving treatment. Police said the gang was trying to guard the patient from rival gangs.

Ecuador is currently under a two-month state of emergency amid a surge in violence.

Gang violence has destabilized parts of Ecuador, as transnational cartels use its ports to send drugs to the United States and Europe.

Over the weekend, Ecuador and Colombia both intercepted two semi-submersible vessels with drugs onboard in different operations. They each arrested three suspects.

Jaime Vela is the head of Ecuador’s Armed Forces.

VELA: [Speaking Spanish]

He says here that the ongoing military operations are targeting terrorist groups.

A U.S. delegation is in Ecuador this week for talks on bilateral security and collaborative responses to the criminal organizations.

AUDIO: [Music, cheering, fireworks]

India temple opening — We wrap up today at religious celebrations in India marking the opening of a controversial Hindu temple.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the opening ceremony at the temple still under construction.

The worship site is dedicated to one of Hinduism’s most revered deities. It was also built over a razed 16th-century mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya.

A Hindu mob burned down the mosque back in 1992. About 2,000 people died in ensuing riots. A 2019 Indian Supreme Court ruling over the ownership of the land paved the way for the temple’s construction.

MODI: [Speaking Hindi]

Prime Minister Modi says here that the temple’s opening marks the dawn of a new era.

The ceremony marks a crucial political victory for Modi and his nationalist party ahead of upcoming elections this year.

Many opposition leaders boycotted the event, saying it contradicts India’s stance as a secular nation.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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