Kabore Dissolves Burkina Faso’s Government 

Burkinabe President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, reelected for a second term, dismissed Prime Minister Christophe Dabiré from his post on Wednesday and dissolved the government, according to a decree sent to AFP, a usual procedure after the legislative elections.”The president of [Burkina] Faso decrees: The functions of the Prime Minister are terminated, the government is dissolved,” according to the presidential decree.No information has filtered out on the name of the future head of government or on the date of his appointment.Kaboré was re-elected in the first round for a second term on November 22. The presidential election was coupled with the legislative elections, largely won by the ruling party and its allies.A former commissioner in charge of trade, competition and cooperation of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, Dabiré was appointed head of government in January 2019.In the legislative elections, the People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) won 56 of 127 seats in the National Assembly, which it controls along with smaller allied parties.The outgoing president of the assembly, Allasane Bala Sakandé, a close friend of Kaboré, was reappointed on Monday.A poor and landlocked West African country of 20.5 million, Burkina Faso has been plagued since 2015 by recurrent jihadist attacks that have left at least 1,200 dead and a million internally displaced.Kaboré has promised to bring “security and stability” to the country in his second and last term.

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Census Bureau to Miss Deadline, Jeopardizing Trump Plan 

The Census Bureau plans to announce it will miss a year-end deadline for handing in numbers used for divvying up congressional seats. That delay could undermine President Donald Trump’s efforts to exclude people in the country illegally from the count if the figures aren’t turned in before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.It will be the first time that the December 31 target date has been missed since Congress implemented the deadline more than four decades ago.Internal documents obtained this month by a House committee show that Census Bureau officials don’t see the apportionment numbers being ready until days after Biden is inaugurated on January 20.Once in office, Biden could rescind Trump’s presidential memorandum directing the Census Bureau to exclude people in the country illegally from numbers used for divvying up congressional seats among the states. An influential GOP adviser had advocated excluding them from the apportionment.

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Actor Dawn Wells, Castaway Mary Ann on TV’s ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ Dies From COVID-19

Dawn Wells, who parlayed her girl-next-door charm and wholesome beauty into enduring TV fame as the sweet-natured desert island castaway Mary Ann on the classic 1960s sitcom Gilligan’s Island, died Wednesday at age 82, her publicist said. 
 
Wells, who won the title of Miss Nevada in 1959 and competed in the Miss America contest, died from complications of COVID-19, publicist Harlan Boll said in a statement. 
 
Born in the gambling city of Reno, Wells played Kansas farm girl Mary Ann Summers, one of seven castaways stranded after their boat, the S.S. Minnow, became battered in a storm during what was supposed to be a three-hour tour from Hawaii. Wells beat out actors including Raquel Welch for her role. 
 Gilligan’s Island ran for three seasons (1964-1967) with a cast that also included Bob Denver as the zany Gilligan, Alan Hale Jr. as the Skipper, Jim Backus as millionaire Thurston Howell III, Natalie Schafer as his posh wife, Russell Johnson as the Professor and Tina Louise as movie star Ginger.The death of Wells leaves Louise, 86, the sole survivor of these cast members. FILE – In this 1965 file photo, Dawn Wells, center, poses with fellow cast members of “Gilligan’s Island,” Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr., in Los Angeles.The 98 episodes invariably involved their efforts in vain to get off the island, even as a parade of guest stars dropped in and had no trouble getting out. The show drew the wrath of critics, but its innocent fun caught on with viewers at a time of tumult in America after the assassination of a president and during the rise of the Civil Rights Movement and the escalation of the Vietnam War. Wells, playing a cheerful brunette Midwestern farm girl, appeared in the series wearing short shorts, midriff tops and pigtails. Louise, playing a buxom red-haired sensation akin to Marilyn Monroe, wore slinky, form-fitting dresses. The two inspired what became an enduring pop culture question for men: “Ginger or Mary Ann?” 
 
Wells said that question was the most common topic mentioned to her by fans. “Mostly they’ll pick a favorite, Ginger or Mary Ann. For some reason, they feel they have to make a choice,” Wells told Forbes magazine in 2016. 
 
Wells had effusive praise for Denver and her other cast mates but was not especially close to Louise, who distanced herself from the Ginger character and declined to appear in various Gilligan’s Island reboots with her former co-stars. 
 
“We had nothing against each other,” Wells told the Los Angeles Times in 2014. “We didn’t have much in common.” 
 Gilligan’s Island was canceled by network executives despite respectable ratings, then became ubiquitous in syndicated reruns. 
 
“A misconception is that we must be wealthy, rolling in the dough, because we got residuals. We didn’t really get a dime,” Wells told Forbes. 
 
Wells said she was paid $750 a week, adding, “Sherwood Schwartz, our producer, reportedly made $90 million on the reruns alone.” 
 
Like some of her co-stars, she suffered from typecasting in Hollywood in the years after the series ended, appearing in TV guest spots and stage work before taking roles in B-movies. 
  FILE – This Oct. 2, 1978, photo shows the cast of “Gilligan’s Island,” from left, Russell Johnson, Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Alan Hale Jr., Bob Denver, Judith Baldwin replacing original cast member Tina Louise, and Dawn Wells.In light of the show’s steady popularity in the 1970s, three made-for-TV movies were made with progressively far-fetched plots involving Soviet satellites and visiting basketball players: Rescue from Gilligan’s Island (1978), The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island (1979) and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island (1981). 
 
Wells also lent her voice to the animated Gilligan’s Planet (1982) in which the castaways become stranded on a faraway planet. 
 
Wells also capitalized on her fame by writing, Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook, and later, for the 50th anniversary of the series in 2014, the book, What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to Life. 
 
Wells was born Oct. 18, 1938, in Reno, studied theater at the University of Washington, and headed to Hollywood after her beauty pageant success. 
 
She embraced her pop culture status but said there was more to her than just being Mary Ann. 
 
“I’m deeper, smarter, more ambitious, funnier. I think if you meet me for 15 minutes, there is nothing you won’t know: what you see is what you get,” she told Forbes. 

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Nigerian Christian, Muslim Groups at Odds Over Catholic’s Sermon 

Muslim groups in Nigeria are calling for the resignation of a Catholic clergyman who sternly criticized President Muhammadu Buhari over continued insecurity in the country. But Nigerian Christian groups have backed the priest, noting that his views represent the position of the broader Christian public. Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has condemned Bishop Matthew Kukah’s comments about the government, saying he portrayed Islam as a violent religion and implied that Buhari should be overthrown.The group also moved for Kukah’s removal from the country’s National Peace Committee, where he is secretary.Ishaq Akintola, director of MURIC, said, “Anyone can criticize [the] government in a democracy. What we object to is his call for [a] military coup. That is treason. We also took him up on his reference to Islam as a violent religion.  He has no right to do that. We believe such an explosive statement is un-Christian and inconsistent with the spirit of Christmas.”In a Christmas Day sermon, Kukah accused the president of favoring fellow Muslims, adding that “President Buhari’s acts of nepotism could have led to a coup if he was a non-northern Muslim.”His sermon also talked about the Nigerian government’s inability to address insecurity in the country.Truth to powerChristian groups support his stance, saying the statement was apolitical and represented the position of most citizens.Mike Umoh, spokesperson at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), said the bishop only spoke truth to power.”There are people who seem to have problem with truths, truths as obvious as the troubles and pains in Nigeria,” Umoh said. “Look at the level of poverty, insecurities, corruption. Some people as usual have tried to twist the message in order to make it appear to have religious or tribal colorations.”The National Peacekeeping Committee has yet to respond to calls for Kukah’s resignation.But Abdullahi Otaki with the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), a northern political group contesting the statement, says supporting the priest could lead to violence.”Their backing him can cause more harm than the original statement, to be honest,” Otaki said. “As a religious group, you should always think of the peaceful coexistence of your followers first.”Nigeria strikes a delicate balance between its Christian and Muslim populations, which each make up roughly half of the total population. But Christian groups often say they’re prime targets of violent clashes, especially in the country’s north.This month, the United States added Nigeria to a list of countries violating religious freedom.

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Vladimir Putin: President for Life?

For Russians, the past year saw a national vote to approve changes to their constitution … including an amendment granting longtime leader Vladimir Putin the right to remain president through the year 2036. And as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, the question now is … will he?Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montanana  
Producer: Henry Hernandez  
 

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British Lawmakers Approve Trade Deal with EU

Britain’s House of Commons voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a trade deal with the European Union, the last major step in London’s yearslong split from the continent’s 27-member governing body. With a day to spare, lawmakers voted 521-73 in favor of the Brexit deal that Britain reached with the EU last week. It will become British law after passing through the unelected House of Lords and gets a formal royal assent from Queen Elizabeth. Britain left the EU almost a year ago, but its economic split will be finalized Thursday at midnight in Brussels. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, and European Council President Charles Michel show signed EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreements at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Dec. 30, 2020.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel signed the agreement in Brussels early Wednesday. The documents were then flown by a Royal Air Force plane to London for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to add his signature. “The agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union has displayed an unprecedented level of unity,” Michel said. “It is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the fundamental interests of the European Union and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies.” Johnson heralded the pact as “a new relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals.” UK chief trade negotiator David Frost looks on as Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson signs the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement at 10 Downing Street, London, Dec. 30, 2020.It has been 4 1/2 years since Britain voted 52% to 48% to leave the bloc it joined in 1973. Starting Friday on New Year’s Day, the trade deal ensures that Britain and the EU can continue to trade goods without tariffs or quotas. That should help protect the $894 billion in annual British-EU trade, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it. But Brexit will also bring inconvenience, such as the need for tourists to have insurance when traveling between the EU and Britain and for companies to fill out millions of new customs declarations. But Johnson said Brexit would turn Britain from “a half-hearted, sometimes obstructive member of the EU” into “a friendly neighbor — the best friend and ally the EU could have.” He said Britain would now “trade and cooperate with our European neighbors on the closest terms of friendship and goodwill, whilst retaining sovereign control of our laws and our national destiny.” 
 

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Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard Arrives in Israel

Thirty-five years after he was convicted in the United States of spying for Israel, former U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard arrived Wednesday in Tel Aviv with his wife Esther. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met him at the plane with his new Israeli identity card. Pollard, who served 30 years in a U.S. prison, was on parole for five years before the U.S. allowed him to leave the country.
 US Allows Convicted Spy Pollard to Move to Israel Jonathan Pollard served 30 years for giving away classified US documents
Jonathan and Esther Pollard arrived in Tel Aviv on a private plane owned by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson. After deplaning, Pollard knelt and kissed the ground, and he helped his wife, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment, so she could do the same.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was emotional as he greeted Pollard, telling them, “You are home.”The prime minister said it was an emotional moment for him and then said a blessing thanking God, who frees prisoners. Pollard said he was ecstatic to be in Israel and thanked Netanyahu.He said he and his wife are proud of Israel and hope to quickly become productive citizens and get on with their lives. Pollard said it is a wonderful country with a tremendous future. He said it is the future of the Jewish people and he and his wife are not going anywhere.”Pollard was arrested in the United States in 1985 for giving Israel hundreds of top secret documents that he had access to as a U.S. naval intelligence specialist. According to a CIA report, most of the documents dealt with Arab states in the Middle East and the military support they received from what was then the Soviet Union. The CIA report concluded that Pollard had “put at risk important U.S. intelligence and foreign policy interests.”Many Israelis said that Pollard had been given a harsher sentence for spying for an ally, Israel, than others who had spied for the Soviet Union. Pollard said he did it to support Israel, but he was also paid for the information.He served 30 years of a life sentence before being released on parole. For five years he had to wear an ankle monitor and was not allowed to leave the U.S. His parole ended a month ago.In Israel, many welcomed his release. Pollard and his wife went to a Jerusalem apartment where they will quarantine for two weeks, according to current rules in Israel. 

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US Slaps Import Ban on Malaysian Palm Oil Producer

Citing the alleged use of forced labor, the United States announced it has banned the import of palm oil from the Malaysian company Sime Darby Plantation Berhad.U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday released a statement saying it has issued a “withhold release order,” allowing it to impound shipments of Sime Darby’ Plantation’s palm oil products made with forced labor.“This Withhold Release Order demonstrates how essential it is for Americans to research the origins of the everyday products that they purchase,” said CBP Acting Commissioner Mark A. Morgan in the statement. “American consumers can help end modern slavery by choosing to buy products they know are ethically and humanely sourced.”Malaysia Palm Oil Producer Vows to Clear Name after US Ban US banned imports of its palm oil over allegations of forced labor and other abuses 
Palm oil is used in many products from food to cosmetics to biodiesel. Indonesia and Malaysia are principal exporters of palm oil, the production of which has been blamed for deforestation. The U.S. imported approximately $410 million of crude palm oil from Malaysia in fiscal year 2020, CNN reported.
 
“Palm oil is an ingredient in a lot of products that American consumers buy and use. And I think it’s important for manufacturers and importers to be aware of where they’re at higher risk of forced labor, and to demand that their suppliers are adhering to protecting human rights of their workers,” Ana Hinojosa, director of CBP’s Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate, told CNN.
 
Sime Darby Plantation did not immediately respond to the ban announcement.
 
It is the third Malaysian company this year to be slapped with an import ban over allegations of using forced labor.

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Uganda Authorities Arrest Bobi Wine During Campaign Stop

Ugandan soldiers arrested opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine during a campaign stop Wednesday in the Kalangala district. This is the third time Wine has been arrested since launching his campaign to unseat President Yoweri Museveni. “Kalangala is not one of the districts where campaigns were banned,” said Joel Senyonyi, spokesperson of Wine’s National Unity Platform party or NUP. “So, he went to campaign, but to his shock when he got there, the military surrounded him and arrested the entire team, 90 of them. Took them to different places. We understand he’s being airlifted, we don’t know to where.” FILE – Yoweri Museveni, who has been president of Uganda since 1986, speaks at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Sept. 4, 2019.Senyonyi says the Museveni government is trying to frighten the NUP. “But clearly all these are illegal acts being done by the regime, to intimidate us, to break our resolve,” he said. “But we are a lot more resolute than before. We’ll keep pressing him, we’ll keep going. Mr. Museveni must go.” The Ugandan police in a statement asked the public to disregard what they call false claims by the National Unity Platform that Wine has been arrested. Police say Wine was restrained for continuously holding massive rallies amid the threat of coronavirus, in what police called a total disregard of the electoral commission and Ministry of Health guidelines. The police say Wine is being transferred to his home in the capital, Kampala.   They also say that part of Wine’s advance team was arrested because they were caught on camera deflating the tires of police motor vehicles, inciting violence, obstructing police officers on duty, violating the health and safety protocols, and various traffic offenses. Human rights lawyer releasedEarlier in the day, human rights lawyer Nicholas Opio was released on bail after nine days in prison.  Authorities have charged Opio with money laundering, but critics say he is being prosecuted for his support of the opposition. A court in process hears a bail application of human rights lawyer Nicholas Opio, on screen, who faces charges of money laundering, in Kampala, Uganda, Dec. 30, 2020. (Halima Athumani/VOA)According to the human rights organization Chapter Four, at the time of his arrest Opio was collecting evidence surrounding killings and arrests that occurred during two days of protests last month.  Fifty-six people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces after Wine was arrested in mid-November.  Critics say the Ugandan government has been targeting civil society organizations and leaders, particularly those who have taken part in election activities.  Uganda holds a presidential election on January 14. 
 

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Putin Signs Amendments to ‘Foreign Agents’ Law

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law legislation that human rights watchdogs and opposition politicians have said will undermine democratic processes.The legislation, which came into force on December 30, included a series of amendments to the controversial law on “foreign agents” to allow individuals and public entities to be recognized as “foreign agents” if they are considered to be engaged in political activities “in the interests of a foreign state.”Entities that have received the label will be required to report their activities and face financial audits.Putin Signs Amendments Allowing Large Fines for ‘Foreign Agents’ Law ViolationsCritics say law is used to muzzle dissent, discourage the free exchange of ideas and a free pressPutin signed a separate bill imposing penalties of up to five years in prison to those identified as “foreign agents” who do not register as such or fail to report on their activities.Grounds for being recognized as a “foreign agent” could be holding rallies or political debates, providing opinions on state policies, actions promoting a certain outcome in an election or referendum, or participation as an electoral observer or in political parties if they are done in the interest of a foreign entity.Amnesty International has slammed the proposed legislation, saying it would “drastically limit and damage the work not only of civil society organizations that receive funds from outside Russia but many other groups as well.”Critics say the “foreign agent” law, originally passed in 2012 and since expanded through amendments, has been arbitrarily applied to target Russian civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and political activists.Putin also signed a bill allowing media regulator Roskomnadzor to partially or fully restrict or slow access to foreign websites that “discriminate against Russian media.”The legislation is expected to affect major social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

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US Senate Poised to Vote on Defense Funding Veto Override    

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging his colleagues to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a $740 billion defense spending measure in a vote expected this week.    “President Trump has rightly noted this year’s defense bill doesn’t contain every provision that we Republicans would have wanted. I’m confident our Democratic colleagues feel the same way,” McConnell said Tuesday. “But that is the case every year. And yet, for 59 consecutive years and counting, Washington has put our differences aside, found common ground, and passed the annual defense bill.”    The Senate approved the NDAA in an 84-13 vote earlier this month, far more than the two-thirds vote needed to override a veto.  After Trump’s veto, the House of Representatives responded with an overwhelming vote to override it on Monday.  McConnell was hoping to hold the Senate vote on Wednesday. However liberal senators led by Bernie Sanders are blocking action on the defense bill until the Senate votes on a proposal to increase coronavirus relief payments to Americans.  If the Senate approves the override, it would be the first time Congress has gone against a Trump veto during his four years in office. Trump on Tuesday called the defense legislation a “disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to Big Tech. Negotiate a better Bill, or get better leaders, NOW! Senate should not approve NDAA until fixed!!!″ The president has criticized the bill on several fronts, including saying it should include the repeal of a provision that protects social media companies from liability over content their users post. Trump has voiced his displeasure that Twitter has frequently labeled his claims that he was defrauded of re-election as “disputed.” He also said the bill restricted his ability to bring U.S. troops home from “foreign lands who do NOTHING for us.”    And Trump has demanded the removal of language that allows the renaming of U.S. military bases that honor leaders of the Confederacy, which seceded from the United States in the early 1860s, before collapsing at the end of the Civil War in 1865.McConnell introduced a measure Tuesday that ties together some of Trump’s complaints about the defense bill and the president’s demand for higher coronavirus pandemic relief payments that were part of a massive funding bill signed Sunday. Trump had harshly criticized that bill as well, before relenting while he demanded the $600 payments be increased. Democrats have long supported the higher payments, and the Democrat-majority House quickly approved them. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer objected to McConnell’s attempt to tie the stimulus money to Trump’s demands on social media companies and allegations of election fraud. “Senator McConnell knows how to make $2,000 survival checks reality and he knows how to kill them,” Schumer said Tuesday.  “If Sen. McConnell tries loading up the bipartisan House-passed CASH Act with unrelated, partisan provisions that will do absolutely nothing to help struggling families across the country, it will not pass the House and cannot become law – any move like this by Sen. McConnell would be a blatant attempt to deprive Americans of a $2,000 survival check.” McConnell blocked Schumer’s attempt Tuesday to force an immediate up-or-down vote on the stand-alone measure authorizing the $2,000 payments. How the Republican-majority Senate will proceed with the two proposals is not clear. Some Republicans have expressed support for the bigger coronavirus payments to those with annual family incomes of up to $150,000, comprising about 81% of all U.S. households. Among the Republican proponents are Georgia’s two embattled senators — David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — who are facing run-off elections against Democratic challengers next week who also favor the bigger payments.   But some Republicans have voiced opposition, saying the bigger payments would be too costly and would not necessarily boost the U.S. economy, which has been staggered by the coronavirus pandemic. 

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Britain Drug Regulatory Agency Approves Second COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use

The year 2020 is ending with good news about two more potential vaccines that could slowly bring an end to the global COVID-19 pandemic that has killed nearly 1.8 million people out of a total of nearly 82 million infections.   Britain’s medical regulatory agency announced Wednesday that it has granted emergency authorization of a coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Late-stage clinical trials of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine revealed it to be 70% effective against COVID-19. The vaccine had a 62% efficacy rate for participants given a full two doses, but tests of a smaller sub-group revealed it to be 90% effective when given a half-dose followed by a full dose weeks later.   The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine is the second to be approved by Britain for its mass inoculation effort, which began earlier this month with the vaccine developed by U.S.-based Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.  The new vaccine will be distributed across the country within days, with Britain having already ordered 100 million doses.   Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which needs to be stored in super-cold refrigerators at temperatures below 70 degrees Celsius, the newly approved vaccine can be stored at normal temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, making it easier to transport and administer to people in poorer and remote nations.   But the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has come under intense scrutiny over the number of people who took part in the smaller sub-group, which was just 2,741, and whether it is effective for people over age 55.   In a related development, Chinese state-owned drug maker Sinopharm is seeking regulatory approval for its COVID-19 vaccine after it was found to be 79.3 percent effective against the disease in a final large-scale clinical trial. The vaccine, developed by Sinopharm’s subsidiary Beijing Biological Products Institute, is one of five vaccines developed by Chinese companies that have already been administered to more than one million people in China under its emergency use program while still undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials.   The United Arab Emirates granted emergency use approval for a Sinopharm-developed vaccine earlier this month after it was shown to be 86% effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of the virus in a late-stage clinical trial back in September.   Wednesday’s vaccine news comes just days after several European Union countries began inoculating its citizens after receiving a first shipment of 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.  Vaccinations also began Wednesday in Singapore, with a 46-year-old nurse the first in the city-state to be inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.  The nurse is one of more than 30 staffers at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases to receive the first dose of two-shot vaccine, with the second dose to be delivered sometime in January.  Singapore, which has one of the lowest rates of total infections with just 58,569, including 29 deaths, is the first Asian nation to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.  It expects to have enough vaccine doses for all its 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, another potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S.-based drug maker Novavax has begun final-stage testing in the United States. The trials involving 30,000 volunteers will focus on high-risk older adults, as well as people from Black and Hispanic communities who have been disproportionately affected by the virus.    

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How Biden’s Respect for 53-year-old Dialogue Process Could Reshape US-Asia Policy

Countries in Southeast Asia, a growing region of more than 650 million people, stand to make lasting deals with the United States and keep China at bay if President-elect Joe Biden works with their prized cross-border dialogue process, analysts in the region believe.Biden’s expected willingness to strengthen a U.S. role in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc will increase confidence among the Asian leaders that Washington will act predictably as a bulwark against China — neither bowing to it nor over-provoking it — as well as a potential source of trade deals, analysts say.Aide John McEntee directs President Donald Trump as he participates in the U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines Nov. 13, 2017.Washington worries that its old Cold War foe Beijing is gaining too much control over a disputed Asian sea despite rival claims by four association members — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. U.S. President Donald Trump’s government sends naval ships to the sea as warnings while helping to arm and train militaries in states near China.But Trump’s hands-off approach to ASEAN, a 53-year-old process trusted around Southeast Asia, has given China an opening to influence those governments, said Carl Thayer, University of New South Wales emeritus professor.China is exerting “soft power” in Southeast Asia on issues such as post-pandemic economic relief and climate control, Thayer said. Beijing sends officials to ASEAN events and makes proposals there.“Any multilateral group, ASEAN in particular, needs the full U.S. participation as a counterweight to China,” Thayer said. “Without it, the other members of that multilateral group are put in a position of relative weakness.”U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center, poses for a group photo with ASEAN leaders at the ASEAN Summit in Singapore, Nov. 15, 2018.Trump’s approach to Asian leaders has come off as “unsettling,” especially when he asked ally South Korea in 2017 to pay for a U.S. military installation there, said Manu Bhaskaran, CEO of the Singapore-based research firm Centennial Asia Advisors. The president’s meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were “sudden decisions” too, Bhaskaran wrote in a November 16 commentary for The Edge Malaysia Weekly news website.Trump attended ASEAN events only in 2017, sending other officials in 2018 and 2019. He spurned multi-country free trade and upset the World Trade Organization this year over a tariff levy against China. Trump’s government withdrew this year from the World Health Organization.Biden is expected to plug back into multilateral organizations because his Democratic Party has a record of doing diplomacy that way, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.“At least there’s a framework that the U.S. will work with ASEAN, not go it alone,” Araral said. “It’s a short-term relief, because it reduces the friction and uncertainty and the brinksmanship. At least it buys ASEAN some time, some honeymoon period between U.S.-China.”A screen grab taken from Vietnam Host Broadcaster’s Nov. 14, 2020 live video shows U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, center, addressing ASEAN member states’ representatives.The United States must “engage” ASEAN to resist China as well, said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in Metro Manila. Despite resentment of China for taking control of islets in the disputed South China sea and passing ships near other countries’ coastlines, Southeast Asian governments look to the Asian superpower for trade and investment.On paper ASEAN sides neither with China nor the United States, but many of its members are decades-old American allies.A more engaged United States could start talks with ASEAN on a trade deal, experts point out. “ASEAN would be receptive to whatever economic overtures that the U.S. would be coming up with,” Rabena said.China and ASEAN, a growing consumer market, agreed in 2009 to form a free trade area. Much of Southeast Asia depends on export manufacturing and values the large U.S. market.As a president-elect “committed to institutional processes”, Biden will probably make policy decisions based on “careful deliberations using expert knowledge”, Bhaskaran writes.Biden will probably hear out the views of Asian leaders too, the CEO adds. The new U.S. government “can take a more proactive step in engaging ASEAN as a whole more in terms of its Indo-Pacific and various other strategies,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. 

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Boko Haram Landmines Kill 11 Nigerian Security Personnel

Landmines planted by Boko Haram jihadists have killed 11 security personnel, including four soldiers in northeast Nigeria, security sources said Tuesday.Seven hunters recruited to help the military fight the Islamist insurgents were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a landmine in the village of Kayamla, outside Borno State’s capital Maiduguri.”Seven hunters died in the explosion and nine others are badly injured,” Babakura Kolo, the head of a local anti-jihadist militia, told AFP.”Their vehicle hit a landmine as they were pursuing Boko Haram insurgents,” he added.Another local militiaman confirmed the incident.Four Nigerian soldiers were killed on Monday when their vehicle hit a landmine planted by Boko Haram fighters in Logomani village near the border with Cameroon, two security sources told AFP.There has been a sharp increase in attacks in northeast Nigeria since the start of the month.Last week 40 loggers were kidnapped and three killed near the Cameroonian border.On Christmas Eve, Boko Haram killed 11 people, burnt a church and seized a priest in a village near Chibok, where it notoriously kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls six years ago.Boko Haram and a splinter group known as ISWAP have killed 36,000 people in the northeast and forced roughly two million to flee since 2009, according to the United Nations.

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US ‘Stands Ready’ to Try Militant Behind Daniel Pearl Murder

The U.S. Attorney General said Tuesday the United States “stands ready” to try a militant convicted of murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl whose release was ordered by a Pakistani court. The decision by Sindh High Court to release the accused comes months after it sparked outrage for overturning the murder conviction and death sentence of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and acquitted three other men connected to the case. The four are being held under the emergency orders of the local government while an ongoing appeal against their acquittals is heard in the Supreme Court, but defense lawyers argued against their continued detention in the south of the country. “We remain grateful for the Pakistani government’s actions to appeal such rulings to ensure that (Sheikh) and his co-defendants are held accountable,” acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement, calling the acquittals “an affront to terrorism victims everywhere.” FILE – Pakistani police escort Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted in the 2002 killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl, as he exits a court in Karachi, Pakistan, March 29, 2002.”If, however, those efforts do not succeed, the United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here,” the statement said. “We cannot allow him to evade justice for his role in Daniel Pearl’s abduction and murder.” Sheikh, a British-born jihadist who once studied at the London School of Economics and had been involved in previous kidnappings of foreigners, was arrested days after Pearl’s abduction and later sentenced to death by hanging. In January 2011, a report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University following an investigation into his death made chilling revelations and said that the wrong men had been convicted for Pearl’s murder. The investigation, led by Pearl’s friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Asra Nomani and a Georgetown University professor, claimed the reporter was murdered by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, not Sheikh. Pearl was South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story about Islamist militants.  A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the U.S. consulate nearly a month later.  

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Biden Vows to Ramp Up COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

President-elect Joe Biden said he plans to be aggressive in fighting COVID-19 upon taking office, pushing for 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days. Biden also criticized the outgoing administration Tuesday, saying it was falling short in needed vaccinations. “The Trump administration’s plan to distribute vaccines is falling far behind,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. He vowed “to move Heaven and Earth to get us going in the right direction” once he takes office on January 20. President-elect Joe Biden speaks at The Queen theater, in Wilmington, Del., Dec. 29, 2020.Biden, after being briefed by experts, said he would undertake the “greatest operational challenge we’ve ever faced as a nation” to inoculate against the coronavirus, which has claimed more than 1.7 million lives globally. COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has killed more than 335,000 Americans and infected 19.3 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Drive had predicted that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by the end of December. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said as of Tuesday, with three days left in 2020, about 2.1 million had received the first shot of the two-shot vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert and Biden’s chief medical adviser, told CNN, “We certainly are not at the numbers that we wanted to be at the end of December. We are below where we want to be.” EMT Christian Ventura receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Chester County Government Services Center, in West Chester, Pa., Dec. 29, 2020.President-elect Biden said with the availability of the vaccine, he was confident the country could return to normality, but not immediately, in 2021. “The next few weeks and months are going to be very tough — a very tough period for our nation, maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic,” Biden said. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that with tens of thousands of new coronavirus cases being recorded in the United States every day, the disease “has just gotten out of control in many respects.” He said January’s caseload could exceed that of December. “You just have to assume it’s going to get worse,” Fauci said, because millions of Americans traveled to visit relatives and friends over the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays, quite likely spreading the virus. Harris vaccinatedEarlier Tuesday, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, received their first doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Harris pulled up the left sleeve of her blouse at a community health care center in Washington and told a nurse, “OK, let’s do it.” Harris, who is Black and Indian American, received the first of her two required shots at a facility that primarily serves African Americans, a televised reminder to minorities, who have been disproportionately hard hit by the coronavirus, to get vaccinated in the coming months. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Patricia Cummings, at United Medical Center in southeast Washington, Dec. 29, 2020.Biden received his first vaccination shot last week. President Donald Trump has been advised to postpone getting vaccinated because he was treated with monoclonal antibodies during his recent hospitalization with COVID-19. Fauci said Biden, by “showing leadership from the top,” could make an impact in fighting the virus — a comment that appeared to be implicit criticism of outgoing Trump, who has often belittled the impact of the virus and said little publicly about it since losing reelection to Biden last month.  “What he’s saying is that let’s take at least 100 days and everybody, every single person put aside this nonsense of making masks be a political statement or not,” Fauci said of Biden. “We know what works. We know social distancing works. We know avoiding congregant settings works. For goodness sakes, let’s all do it, and you will see that curve will come down.”  Biden has pledged to distribute 100 million vaccine shots in his first 100 days in office and said he wants to secure money for measures to safely open as many schools as possible. He said he will sign an executive order requiring masks to be worn on federal property.  New variantAlso, the Mountain state of Colorado reported the first U.S. case of the COVID-19 variant that had been found in Britain, state Governor Jared Polis said Tuesday. A state health official said a man in his 20s, who had no travel history, tested positive for the virus and was being isolated southeast of Denver, the state capital. British scientists said the new COVID-19 variant is more contagious than previously identified strains of the coronavirus. The discovery of the new variant led the CDC to issue new rules on Christmas Day for travelers arriving to the U.S. from Britain, requiring they show proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.
 

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North Korea Prepares for Major Party Congress Amid Growing Challenges

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a politburo meeting on preparations for a rare Congress that is expected to set new economic and political goals as the country faces growing challenges, state media said Wednesday. The Eighth Congress comes amid the presidential transition in the United States, which North Korea has yet to comment on. President Donald Trump had engaged in a number of historic meetings with the leader of the reclusive state during his administration, and it is not yet clear what Joe Biden’s presidency will mean for relations between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea has faced a number of challenges in 2020 with COVID-19 and a series of typhoons putting more pressure on an economy already battered by international sanctions aimed at stopping its nuclear program. The politburo meeting on Tuesday approved agendas and proposals to be presented at the congress and adopted a decision on holding it early in January next year, state news agency KCNA reported, without specifying an exact date. In October, Kim called on his country to embark on an 80-day campaign to achieve its goals in every economic sector before the congress in January. The politburo meeting appreciated that innovative achievements and progress had been made in all fields during the 80-day campaign, KCNA said. “All the preparations for the Party Congress are going off smoothly,” KCNA reported. The congress last met in 2016, where Kim announced the first five-year economic plan since the 1980s and vowed to not use nuclear weapons unless the country’s sovereignty was violated by others with nuclear arms. It was also when Kim was officially elected to the position of chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party. North Korea has not reported any coronavirus cases, but the economy took a further hit when the country closed its borders to nearly all traffic in a bid to prevent coronavirus outbreak. 

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Statue of Freed Slave Kneeling Before Lincoln Is Removed in Boston

A statue of Abraham Lincoln with a freed slave appearing to kneel at his feet — optics that drew objections amid a national reckoning with racial injustice — has been removed from its perch in downtown Boston. Workers removed the Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Emancipation Group and the Freedman’s Memorial, early Tuesday from a park just off Boston Common where it had stood since 1879. City officials agreed in late June to take down the memorial after complaints and a bitter debate over the design. Mayor Marty Walsh acknowledged at the time that the statue made residents and visitors alike “uncomfortable.” The bronze statue is a copy of a monument that was erected in Washington, D.C., three years earlier. The copy was installed in Boston because the city was home to the statue’s white creator, Thomas Ball. It was created to celebrate the freeing of enslaved people in America and was based on Archer Alexander, a Black man who escaped slavery, helped the Union Army and was the last man recaptured under the Fugitive Slave Act. But while some saw the shirtless man rising to his feet while shaking off the broken shackles on his wrists, others perceived him as kneeling before Lincoln, his white emancipator. Freed Black donors paid for the original statue in Washington. White politician and circus showman Moses Kimball financed the copy in Boston. The inscription on both reads: “A race set free and the country at peace. Lincoln rests from his labors.” Petition and voteMore than 12,000 people signed a petition demanding the statue’s removal, and Boston’s public arts commission voted unanimously to take it down. The statue was to be placed in storage until the city decides whether to display it in a museum. “The decision for removal acknowledged the statue’s role in perpetuating harmful prejudices and obscuring the role of Black Americans in shaping the nation’s freedoms,” the commission said in a statement posted on its website. The memorial had been on Boston’s radar at least since 2018, when it launched a comprehensive review of whether public sculptures, monuments and other artworks reflected the city’s diversity and did not offend communities of color. The arts commission said it was paying extra attention to works with “problematic histories.” Last summer, protesters vowed to tear down the original statue in Washington, prompting the National Guard to deploy a detachment to guard it. 
 

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New US Dietary Guidelines: No Candy, Cake for Kids Under 2

Parents now have an extra reason to say no to candy, cake and ice cream for young children. The first U.S. government dietary guidelines for infants and toddlers, released Tuesday, recommend feeding only breast milk for at least six months and no added sugar for children under age 2. “It’s never too early to start,” said Barbara Schneeman, a nutritionist at University of California, Davis. “You have to make every bite count in those early years.” The guidelines stop short of two key recommendations from scientists advising the government. Those advisers said in July that everyone should limit their added sugar intake to less than 6% of calories and men should limit alcohol to one drink per day. Instead, the guidelines stick with previous advice: Limit added sugar to less than 10% of calories per day after age 2. And men should limit alcohol to no more than two drinks per day, twice as much as advised for women. “I don’t think we’re finished with alcohol,” said Schneeman, who chaired a committee advising the government on the guidelines. “There’s more we need to learn.” The dietary guidelines are issued every five years by the Agriculture Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. The government uses them to set standards for school lunches and other programs. Some highlights: Infants, toddlers and moms Babies should have only breast milk at least until they reach 6 months, the guidelines say. If breast milk isn’t available, they should get iron-fortified infant formula during the first year. Babies should get supplemental vitamin D beginning soon after birth. Babies can start eating other food at about 6 months and should be introduced to potential allergenic foods along with other foods. “Introducing peanut-containing foods in the first year reduces the risk that an infant will develop a food allergy to peanuts,” the guidelines say. There’s more advice than in prior guidelines for pregnant and breastfeeding women. To promote healthy brain development in their babies, these women should eat 8 to 12 ounces of seafood per week. They should be sure to choose fish — such as cod, salmon, sardines and tilapia — with lower levels of mercury, which can harm children’s nervous systems. Pregnant women should not drink alcohol, according to the guidelines, and breastfeeding women should be cautious. Caffeine in modest amounts appears safe, and women can discuss that with their doctors. Alcohol and men In July, the science advisers suggested men who drink alcohol should limit themselves to one serving per day — a 12-ounce can of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or a shot of liquor. Tuesday’s official guidelines ignored that, keeping the advice for men at two drinks per day. Dr. Westley Clark of Santa Clara University said that’s appropriate. Heavy drinking and binge drinking are harmful, he said, but the evidence isn’t as clear for moderate drinking.  Lowering the limit for men would likely be socially, religiously or culturally unacceptable to many, Clark said, which could have ripple effects for the rest of the guidelines. “They need to be acceptable to people, otherwise they’ll reject it outright and we’ll be worse off,” he said. “If you lose the public, these guidelines have no merit whatsoever.” More careful scientific research into the long-term effects of low or moderate levels of drinking is needed, he said. What’s on your plate? Most Americans fall short of following the best advice on nutrition, contributing to obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Much of the new advice sounds familiar: Load your plate with fruits and vegetables, and cut back on sweets, saturated fats and sodium.  The guidelines suggest making small changes that add up: Substitute plain shredded wheat for frosted cereal. Choose low-sodium canned black beans. Drink sparkling water instead of soda. “It is really important to make healthier choices, every meal, every day, to develop a pattern of healthy eating,” said Pam Miller of the Agriculture Department’s food and nutrition service. There’s an app to help people follow the guidelines available through the government’s My Plate website. Read labels The biggest sources of added sugars in the typical U.S. diet are soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, desserts, snacks, candy and sweetened coffee and tea. These foods contribute very little nutrition, so the guidelines advise limits. There’s information on added sugar on the “Nutrition Facts” label on packaged foods. Information on saturated fats and sodium is on the label too. 
 

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Earthquake in Croatia Kills 5

Five people, including a 12-year-old girl, died after a magnitude-6.4 earthquake swept through central Croatia Tuesday, destroying several buildings, injuring at least 20 people and causing tremors in neighboring countries, according to officials.
 
The epicenter of the quake, Petrinja, a town of about 25,000 people, sustained the worst damage. On Monday it was hit by a 5.2 quake. Tuesday’s quake saw people run out onto rubble-covered streets for safety.
 
“The biggest part of central Petrinja is in a red zone, which means that most of the buildings are not usable,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said when he and other government ministers arrived in Petrinja after the earthquake.
 
State television reports four people were killed In Glina. The prime minister confirmed the fifth casualty was a young girl in Petrinja.
 
The army has been dispatched to the area to help rescue people from the rubble. At least two people are seriously injured. Rescue operations also are underway in Sisak, a neighboring town.
 
Some injured people have been treated for “fractures, concussions and some have had to be operated on,” said Tomislav Fabijanic, head of emergency medical services in Sisak.
 
Plenkovic said people will have to be moved from Petrinja “because it was unsafe” to be here.”
 
The government says it also has made arrangements for people displaced by the quake to find accommodations. The Croatian army is providing about 500 places for victims, while others will be housed in hotels and other habitable places, according to the government.
 
Twelve countries including Serbia, Slovenia, Austria and Bosnia also felt tremors, according to Hina, Croatia’s news agency.
 
Buildings shook for a couple of minutes in the city of Graz and the Carinthia province in Austria. Local news media report residents said their furniture and furnishings shook for several minutes.
 
In Slovenia, the STA news agency reports authorities shut down its nuclear power plant as a precautionary measure.
 
Croatia’s Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said the country has sought help from the European Union and is awaiting assistance.
 
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter she spoke with Plenkovic and instructed an envoy to travel to Croatia as soon as possible.
 
Earthquakes are not uncommon in Croatia, but ones as strong as this have not been felt since the 1990s, when the village of Ston was destroyed.    

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Security Experts Dispute Authorities Claims Over Nigerian Schoolboy Abductions

Nigerian security experts are casting doubt on the claim by authorities that tensions between farmers and cattle herders led to the recent wave of kidnappings in the northwestern state of Katsina.  More than 300 schoolboys were abducted earlier this month but later released.  Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.Authorities in Katsina initially blamed the mass abduction of 344 schoolboys on gangs of bandits who have kidnapped other people for ransom in the northwestern Nigerian state.Then officials reversed course, tying the abductions to cattle herders at odds with farmers about how to use the land.  Fresh Kidnapping of 80 Students in Nigeria Shows Worsening Insecurities Experts say security chiefs incompetent to handle the situation But retired police commissioner and security analyst Lawrence Alobi disagrees with the idea that herders carried out the attack.”The herdsmen don’t have any problem with the school authorities or the students,” said Alobi. “Their problem is with farmers, where they can graze their cattle. So, I don’t know the relationship between the abduction of those students and the farmers clash.”Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the abduction of the schoolboys and released a video footage showing some of the abducted boys before their release.The claim, if verified, would mark a turning point for the group, which to date has been active almost exclusively in the northeast of the country.Security expert Kabir Adamu says he believes the abductions were carried out by bandits acting on orders from Boko Haram sect leader Abubakar Shekau.”The call may have been placed at his direction. What is more important is who makes the calls,” Adamu said. “So, if the bandit groups that carried out the attacks have subjected themselves to the authority of Shekau, then it means he’s the one who finally made the call.”Conflicts between cattle herders and crop farmers have lingered in Nigeria for many years, and thousands of been killed during violent clashes over grazing land.The Miyetti Allah cattle herders association did not speak about the accusations from police, but the group played a role in negotiating the release of the schoolboys.Alobi says blaming farmers and herders clashes for abductions may be downplaying or dismissing the possibility of expanding extremism in other regions of the country.”The government is trying to play on the psychology of the people to allay fears, but I think the government should be sincere to the people so that everything will be based on facts,” said Alobi.Nigerian authorities in 2016 declared that Boko Haram was technically defeated and recently refuted the group’s claims over the kidnapping, describing it as whimpers from a dying horse.But security experts will be monitoring the situation closely to see what happens next.

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Vietnam, Britain Sign Free Trade Deal, to Take Effect Dec. 31

Britain and Vietnam signed a free trade agreement on Tuesday, Vietnam’s trade ministry said, days before Britain completes its transition out of the European Union.The deal, which will for Britain replace the existing EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), will take effect on Dec. 31, the ministry said in a statement.Trade between Vietnam and Britain has risen by an average of 12% a year over the past decade to reach $6.6 billion last year, and the deal will help boost Vietnam’s exports of garments, footwear products, rice, seafood and wooden furniture, it said.Since leaving the EU in January, Britain has been striking out alone and negotiating new trade deals with countries to replace those the bloc had negotiated.Tuesday’s deal will ensure Britain does not lose access to preferential tariffs in one of the fastest growing and most open economies in Asia.The free trade agreement with Britain has the same provisions as those of EVFTA, the ministry said. EVFTA came into effect in August and was due to cut or eliminate 99% of tariffs on goods traded between Vietnam and the EU.”The agreement will create a framework for comprehensive, long-term and sustainable economic cooperation between the two countries,” the ministry said. 

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South Sudan Concert Draws Tens of Thousands in Defiance of COVID-19 Protocols

Health experts in South Sudan are criticizing organizers of a weekend concert in Juba where tens of thousands of people gathered in clear violation of the health ministry’s COVID-19 protocols.Tanzanian music star Diamond Platnumz attracted all kinds of fans to the outdoor event at the Doctor John Garang Mausoleum, including President Salva Kiir.The vast majority of concert goers ignored health ministry and World Health Organization directives to social distance or wear masks, although President Kiir wore a face covering.Dr. Angelo Guop Kouch, director of South Sudan’s Public Health Emergency Operation Center, which manages COVID-19 cases in the country, said the gathering was not advisable, saying “health authorities should be involved when there are such activities in the country because of the crowd.”A World Health Organization epidemiologist in South Sudan, Dr. Joseph Wamala, said new strains of COVID-19 have emerged that can spread more easily in South Sudan.“The identification of this new strain is really a reason for countries to reinforce measures to limit spread through the recommended measures; using the mask, observing respiratory etiquette,” Dr. Wamala told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.To date, COVID-19 has had a relatively light impact on South Sudan, with just 3,511 confirmed cases and only 63 deaths.But that situation could quickly change, says Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Thuou Loi Cingoth. “People are dying of COVID-19 and right now we have people who are in critical condition in our facility affected by COVID-19. Now, whether we are going to go to the stage of asking the law enforcement agencies to ensure that measures against COVID-19 are adhered to by the public, I still don’t know. But it is our appeal that the public listen,” Dr. Loi told South Sudan in Focus.Saturday’s concert was an “absolute violation of our declared and official position as the Ministry of health,” Dr. Loi added.One of the concert organizers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the concert was organized by the K2 company belonging to the brother of South Sudanese businesswoman Achai Wiir, and that it was difficult to maintain protective measures because turnout was far more than organizers had anticipated.

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Prison Terms Double in Malawi Rape, Sexual Abuses Cases, Say Local Media 

Courts in Malawi have started imposing stiffer penalties on perpetrators of rape and sexual abuse. The move is seen as a response to calls from various rights campaigners who have been lamenting lenient sentences given to offenders. Though excited, rights campaigners say more needs to be done.Statistics from the Malawi Police Service show that recorded cases of rape in the country have more than doubled since 2018.Figures from the National Statistics Office show that for the last three months of this year alone, sexual abuse cases have been 35 percent higher than the same period last year.Rights campaigners blame the rise on lenient penalties given to the perpetrators.Now, local media are noting a sudden trend toward longer prison terms for those convicted of rape and sexual abuse. They say the average sentence has jumped from 10 years to 20, with some perpetrators getting life imprisonment.For example, a high court in Lilongwe last week sentenced a 30-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping a 10-year-old girl and infecting her with HIV. This came a week after a court in Blantyre sentenced 42-year old man to 20 years in jail for raping his stepdaughter. She too was infected with HIV. Barbara Banda is head of the Gender Coordination Network, an NGO which has been holding protests against rising cases of gender-based violence.“We are happy that we have gotten into this level where we can see the biggest punishment that can be given by the courts. But what is worrying is that we continue to see the cases surface every day which means that these sentences are not a complete deterrent to addressing increased GBV and defilement,” she said.Banda said the focus on should be changing mindsets that can cause sexual abuses. Some Malawians falsely believe that having sex with a minor can cure HIV or will somehow bring great wealth.Justice Zione Ntaba is a judge at the High Court of Malawi and the national program coordinator for the Women Judges Association of Malawi or WOJAM.WOJAM has partnered with other organizations to sponsor traveling courts, so people can see justice being carried out with their own eyes.She believes this is important to deterring sexual crimes.“Apart from stiffer sentences, the biggest issue for us in terms of crime reduction is ensuring that justice is seen when the crime is done, because that is what actually changes people’s mindset. It is the aspect of seeing a person who has committed a crime go through the system and get convicted, and that will bring mindset change,” she said.Justice Ntaba said she also thinks rising cases of sexual abuse can also be reduced by investing in crime prevention measures.Malawi’s Ministry of Gender said it has partnered with various organizations including Malawi Police Service in a national awareness campaign against sexual abuse and gender based violence. 

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