Researchers at Britain’s Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca published a study Tuesday showing their COVID-19 vaccine candidate to be “safe and effective” at fighting the virus.The peer-reviewed study was published Tuesday in the British medical journal The Lancet. The data showed the drug had an overall efficacy rate of 70.4%, higher than the 50% minimum set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, Andrew Pollard speaks during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street in London on Nov. 23, 2020.In an interview with reporters, Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the difference in efficacy rates among the vaccines currently being reviewed will make little difference in the long term. He said what is important is getting vaccines to people and that they are protected.Pollard said the best way to do that is to have multiple vaccines available.“I think we have to not worry about these individual percentages. The important thing is who’s vaccinated, not people who are unvaccinated and waiting for a particular product. Personally, I’d be happy with any of these in my arm.”Pollard said that is why accessibility is a priority for Oxford/AstraZeneca. Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, their vaccine does not need to be kept at sub-freezing temperatures.He said even as regulators scrutinize the data concerning the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, it is already in production.“Manufacturing is happening in all corners of the world, and to make sure that if we do have products which can be used, that they can then be distributed where they’re needed using fridge temperatures to get them to the most vulnerable people in our societies.”
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Month: December 2020
Texas Asks US Supreme Court to Help Trump Upend Election
The state of Texas, aiming to help President Donald Trump upend the results of the U.S. election, said on Tuesday it has filed suit against the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the Supreme Court, calling changes they made to election procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic unlawful.
The lawsuit, announced by the Republican attorney general of Texas Ken Paxton, was filed directly with the Supreme Court, as is permitted for certain litigation between states. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices appointed by Trump.
The lawsuit represents the latest legal effort intended to reverse the Republican president’s loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election.
Republican-governed Texas in the lawsuit accused election officials in the four states of failing to protect mail-in voting from fraud, thus diminishing “the weight of votes cast in states that lawfully abide by the election structure set forth in the Constitution.”
State election officials have said they have found no evidence of such fraud that would change the results. There was a surge in voting by mail in the election due to the pandemic, as many Americans stayed away from polling places to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Texas is asking the Supreme Court to block the Electoral College votes in the four states – a total of 62 votes – from being counted. Biden has amassed 306 electoral votes – exceeding the necessary 270 – compared to 232 for Trump in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the election’s outcome, while also winning the national popular vote by more than 7 million votes.
Texas also is asking the Supreme Court to delay the Dec. 14 deadline for Electoral College votes to be cast.
Paul Smith, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school, said Texas did not have a legitimate basis to bring the suit.
“There is no possible way that the state of Texas has standing to complain about how other states counted the votes and how they are about to cast their electoral votes,” Smith said.
Trump’s campaign and his allies have pursued unsuccessful lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states, making unfounded claims of widespread election fraud. Trump lost those four states after winning them in 2016.
The Supreme Court is not obligated to hear the case and has said in previous decisions that its “original jurisdiction” that allows litigation between states to be filed directly with the nine justices should be invoked sparingly.
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Biden Introduces Top Health Care Officials as US COVID Cases Soar
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is introducing his top health care officials on Tuesday, all of whom will quickly face the country’s grim world-leading coronavirus statistics: nearly 15 million infections and more than 283,000 deaths.Biden, FILE – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks during a news conference in Sacramento, California, March 5, 2019.Outgoing President Donald Trump, defeated for re-election by Biden in last month’s national vote, is delivering remarks at Tuesday’s Operation Warp Speed summit on the government’s effort to produce several vaccines against the coronavirus.Although Biden has promised to get inoculated when a vaccine is approved as safe, polls show about four in 10 Americans are wary of getting the shots or will refuse to be vaccinated.In this file photo, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci speaks during an unscheduled briefing after a Coronavirus Task Force meeting at the White House on April 5, 2020, in Washington.Biden picked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, as his chief medical adviser on COVID-19, which is caused by the coronavirus. Fauci will also continue in his longtime role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Fauci, 79, has served as a medical adviser to six U.S. presidents and for months was the face of the U.S. government’s response to the pandemic. But in the months before the presidential election, Trump grew increasingly angered at Fauci’s grim assessments of the spread of the infection and sidelined him in favor of more upbeat commentary.Biden has also decided to nominate retired four-star Army General Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to numerous news accounts.Austin, 67, a career officer, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1975 and served 41 years. He would need a congressional waiver to become defense secretary because he has not been out of uniform for at least seven years. If confirmed, he would be the Pentagon’s first Black leader.Throughout his campaign, Biden said he will pay close attention to scientific findings about the coronavirus from Fauci and other medical experts. Aside from reviewing the Pfizer vaccine, U.S. health regulators are to review another produced by the Moderna biotechnology firm next week. Millions of doses of the vaccines could be available later this month, with millions more in early 2021. In this image from video, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speaks during the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 20, 2020. (Democratic National Convention via AP)Biden named Dr. Vivek Murthy as surgeon general, a position he held from 2014 to 2017 during the administration of former President Barack Obama, when Biden was second-in-command.The president-elect picked Dr. Rochelle Walensky, a top expert on virus testing, prevention and treatment in the eastern state of Massachusetts, as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.Biden chose Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, an expert on health care disparities among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., as chair of his COVID-19 equity task force. She is an associate professor of medicine, public health and management at the Yale School of Medicine.The president-elect picked business executive Jeffrey Zients, a former director of the National Economic Council under Obama, as a coordinator of his COVID-19 response team and a counselor to him. Biden named former White House and Pentagon senior adviser Natalie Quillian as deputy coordinator of the government’s response to the pandemic.The Biden transition team said the health officials “will help fulfill the president-elect’s vision of making health care a right, not a privilege, for all Americans — building on the Affordable Care Act to lower health care costs and tackle prescription drug costs.”In a statement, Biden said, “This trusted and accomplished team of leaders will bring the highest level of integrity, scientific rigor, and crisis-management experience to one of the toughest challenges America has ever faced — getting the pandemic under control so that the American people can get back to work, back to their lives, and back to their loved ones.”He said that after his inauguration next month, the government would “expand testing and masking, (and) oversee the safe, equitable and free distribution of treatments and vaccines.”Biden said his administration would “rally the country and restore the belief that there is nothing beyond America’s capacity if we do it together.”
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UN Renews Appeal for Humanitarian Access to Civilians Inside Tigray
The United Nations is renewing its appeal for humanitarian access to civilians in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. Hundreds of thousands are believed to be in dire need of assistance after more than a month of conflict in the area. It has been nearly one week since the Ethiopian government agreed to allow “We have reports of refugees looking for food and safety in Mekelle and other areas inside Tigray. We also have reports of Eritrean refugees reaching a location called Gondar in Amhara region. And we also are assisting some of those who have reached Addis Ababa,” he said. Many of the Eritreans fled to Ethiopia a decade ago seeking refuge from persecution and forcible conscription in the Eritrean military. The U.N. estimates two million people in and around Tigray need humanitarian assistance and some one million people have been displaced by the fighting. Tigrayans who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, start wood fires to prepare dinner, in front of their temporary shelters at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Dec. 7, 2020.The UNHCR reports nearly 50,000 refugees have fled to eastern Sudan since Ethiopian troops began their assault on Tigray November 4. Baloch says the number of refugees arriving in Sudan recently has gone down to an average of 400 to 600 every day, down from a high of thousands per day a few weeks ago. “There are concerns about refugees who want to leave and flee and seek safety in Sudan and may have been prevented. Refugees who are arriving are reporting an increasing number of checkpoints, very hard for them to reach. But they are still making it to Sudan,” he said. Baloch notes the Ethiopian government’s telecommunications blackout since fighting began in Tigray continues, making it very hard to know what is happening there.
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Australia Introducing Bill to Make Facebook and Google Pay Media Groups for Content
Legislation to make Facebook and Google pay media organizations for news content will be introduced in the Australian parliament on Wednesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Tuesday.
Frydenberg said the measure would be reviewed by a parliamentary committee after its introduction and before legislators vote on it next year.
If the measure becomes law, Frydenberg said the internet giants must negotiate payments for content with local publishers and broadcasters. A government-appointed mediator would decide the payment terms if a deal is not reached.
Facebook has said it may block Australian news content instead of paying for it.
Google has warned the legislation would lead to “dramatically worse” search results on Google and YouTube and jeopardize free services.
Until recently, most countries watched companies shift advertising money to the world’s largest social media website and search engine, depriving news outlets of their primary revenue source. The dramatic decline in advertising revenue sparked a wave of closures and job losses.
Regulators, however, are beginning to rein in the two corporate giants, which Frydenberg said receive 80% of Australia’s online advertising spending.
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China, Nepal Agree on Mt. Everest’s Height
China and Nepal jointly announced a revised official height for Mount Everest on Tuesday, ending a discrepancy between the two nations and adding height to the world’s tallest peak.In a joint news conference Tuesday, officials from the two nations Tuesday announced the new height of the world’s highest peak is 8,848.86 meters which is slightly more than Nepal’s previous measurement and about four meters higher than China’s.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Nepalese counterpart, Pradeep Gyawali, simultaneously pressed buttons during a virtual news conference and the new height flashed on the screen.In 1999, a National Geographic Society team using GPS technology came up with a height of 8,850 meters. A Chinese team in 2005 said it was 8,844.43 meters because it did not include the snow cap. But the most widely accepted height has been 8,848 meters which was determined by the Survey of India in 1954.The debate regarding the actual height of the peak grew murkier after a major earthquake in 2015 raised concern that Mount Everest might have sunk. The quake killed 9,000 people, damaged about 1 million structures in Nepal and triggered an avalanche on Everest that killed 19 people at the base camp.There was no doubt that Everest would remain the highest peak because the second highest, Mount K2, is 8,611 meters tall.The height of Everest, on the border between China and Nepal, was agreed on after surveyors from Nepal scaled the peak in 2019 and a Chinese team did the same in 2020.Everest’s height was first measured by a British team around 1856 at 8,842 meters.
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Morocco to Kick Off Mass Vaccination Plan with Chinese Drug
Morocco is gearing up for an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate 80% of its adults in an operation starting this month that’s relying initially on a Chinese vaccine that has not yet completed advanced trials to prove it is safe and effective.
The first injections could come within days, a Health Ministry official told The Associated Press. Facing a public skeptical about the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness, medical experts and health officials have appeared on television in recent weeks to promote the COVID-19 vaccines and encourage Moroccans to get immunized.
While Britain began its vaccination program Tuesday with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the U.S. and European Union are racing to approve a series of Western-made vaccines, other governments are looking to use vaccines from China and Russia.
The World Health Organization has said new vaccines should first be tested in tens of thousands of people to prove they work and don’t cause worrisome side effects before being rolled out broadly. But the U.N. health agency also says it’s is up to individual countries to decide whether there is an urgent domestic need to use a vaccine shot, even without such data.Morocco is battling a resurgence in virus infections, with the number of recorded deaths from the virus surpassing 6,000. The North African kingdom is pinning its hopes on two vaccine candidates, one developed by China’s Sinopharm and the other by Britain’s Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
The Sinopharm vaccine has been approved for emergency use in a few countries and the company is still conducting late-stage clinical trials in 10 countries. The AstraZeneca vaccine is still in advanced trials in countries including Britain and the U.S. and hasn’t been approved yet.
Morocco’s government seeks to vaccinate 80% of its adults, or 25 million people, as soon as the vaccines are approved by domestic regulators. Priority will go to medical staff and other front-line workers, as well as the elderly.
It will start with the Sinopharm vaccine, which was tested on 600 Moroccans as part of clinical trials this autumn. Morocco has ordered 10 million doses of the vaccine.
The initial deliveries will come from China, but Morocco also plans to produce the vaccine locally, Abdelhakim Yahyan, a senior official at the Ministry of Health, told the state-owned news agency MAP.
Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb said Morocco is seeking vaccines from several sources because COVID vaccines are such a scarce commodity and a single manufacturer’s production capacity is too limited to meet the needs of the whole world.
In the Moroccan trial of the Sinopharm vaccine, carried out in Casablanca and the capital Rabat from August through November, healthy volunteers received two separate doses of the vaccine. In the advanced trial, volunteers either received the vaccine or a placebo. According to the health minister, early results have proven the vaccine to be “safe and effective” with no severe side effects reported.
However, some Moroccans have taken to social media to question the safety of the vaccine, with some noting that China was the original epicenter of the pandemic or questioning how effective it will be.
Sinopharm’s shot relies on a tested technology, using a killed virus to deliver the vaccine, similar to how polio immunizations are made. Leading Western competitors, like the vaccine made by Oxford and AstraZeneca, use newer, less-proven technology to target the coronavirus’ spike protein.
In China, the state-owned Sinopharm subsidiary CNBG has given the vaccine to 350,000 people outside its clinical trials, a top CNBG executive has said.
Critics in Morocco have also expressed concerns that citizens might be forced to take the vaccine, but the health minister insisted that COVID-19 vaccinations will not be mandatory but will be free.
Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani has sought to reassure the vaccine-hesitant about the robustness of the country’s regulatory process for vaccine approval, saying that no corners have been cut in making sure the drug is safe to administer.
Morocco’s mass immunization operation will include 2,888 vaccination stations and the deployment of mobile units to vaccinate people at factories, offices, campuses and prisons. The health ministry said it would mobilize over 12,000 health professionals as well as the military to ensure rapid distribution.
The vaccine will be available in a first phase to those at highest risk of contracting the virus: health professionals, security personnel, essential workers at vital sectors and people suffering from chronic diseases.
No exact date has been set for the rollout, but the health minister said “we are doing our best to get it started in mid-December.”
Separately, Morocco is expected to be among 92 low- and middle-income countries supported by Covax, an international effort to ensure that vaccine supplies reach developing countries, if the group meets its funding targets, according to the World Health Organization.
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China Condemns New US Hong Kong Sanctions, Taiwan Arms Sale
China on Tuesday lashed out at the U.S. over new sanctions against Chinese officials and the sale of more military equipment to Taiwan.
The U.S. actions are part of what critics see as an effort by the Trump administration to put in place high-pressure tactics toward Beijing that could make it more difficult for President-elect Joe Biden to steady relations.
The Cabinet’s office for Hong Kong affairs expressed “strong outrage and condemnation” over the sanctions leveled against 14 members of the standing committee of China’s legislature, which passed a sweeping Hong Kong National Security Law earlier this year.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, meanwhile, demanded the U.S. cancel its latest arms sale to Taiwan and said China would make a “proper and necessary response.”
Hua also condemned the new sanctions, saying China would “take resolute and forceful countermeasures and resolutely defend its sovereignty, security and development interests.”
“The Chinese government and people have expressed strong indignation and strongly condemned the U.S.’s arrogant, unreasonable and insane behavior,” Hua said at a daily briefing.
The State Department on Monday said the sanctioned officials would be banned from traveling to the U.S. or accessing the U.S. financial system over the crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong.
It also announced the approval of a $280 million sale of advanced military communications equipment to Taiwan.
President Donald Trump’s administration has incensed Beijing with 11 separate arms sales and closer military and political ties with the self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.
China has stepped up military flights near the island and pledged to punish U.S. companies involved in the arms deals in response.
Taiwan’s government welcomed the announcement, saying it showed Washington was honoring its commitment to help strengthen the island’s defenses.
“Taiwan has been at the receiving end of such military threats on a daily basis,” President Tsai Ing-wen told reporters Tuesday. “Only through engagement and by working together can we tackle the threats and challenges that beset our region and the world.”
The U.S. earlier imposed sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials over the passage of the National Security Law, which is seen as rolling back civil liberties in the territory, as well as over abuses against Muslim minority groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
This year it forced the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston and last week cut the duration of U.S. visas for members of the ruling Communist Party and their family members from 10 years to one month.
The Trump administration appears to be using Taiwan, Hong Kong and other issues to heighten the level of confrontation in China-U.S. relations, said Su Hao, professor of international relations at China Foreign Affairs University.
“Trump would like to see a formation of a solidified structure of China-U.S. relations that will make it difficult for Biden to make changes,” Su said.
Trump may view the increased toughness toward China as a legacy of his time in office, said Diao Daming, associate professor in the School of International Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University.
“This is hurting bilateral relations, harming the interests of the countries and their citizens, and failing to meet the expectations of international society,” Diao said.
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8 Hong Pro-Democracy Activists Arrested for Taking Part in July Anti-Government Protest
Eight Hong Kong democracy activists were arrested Tuesday for taking part in a demonstration earlier this year against the national security law imposed on the city by China.
The eight activists include former pro-democracy lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, also known as “Long Hair,” Wu Chi-wa and Eddie Chu.
Hong Kong police issued a statement saying eight men between the ages of 24 and 64 had been arrested and charged with inciting, organizing and taking part in an unauthorized assembly. The statement did not reveal the identities of the men arrested.
More than 370 people were arrested on July 1, the day after Beijing approved a sweeping national security law in response to months of huge and often violent protests that engulfed the semi-autonomous financial hub in the last half of 2019. Under the law, anyone in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted.
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Britain Officially Launches COVID-19 Vaccination Drive
Britain has vaccinated its first citizen against the COVID-19 virus.Ninety-year-old nursing home resident Margaret Keenan received the first of two doses of a vaccine jointly developed by U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. The vaccination campaign, dubbed “V-Day” by Health Secretary Mark Hancock, began nearly a week after the government’s medical regulatory agency granted emergency approval for the vaccine, making Britain the first western nation ready to begin mass inoculations.The approval came weeks after Pfizer announced the vaccine had been shown to be more than 90% effective after its final clinical trial.Keenan, who will turn 91 next week, is among the thousands of nursing home residents and their caregivers, along with staffers with Britain’s National Health Service, that have been prioritized by officials to receive the first shots.Britain Makes Final Preparations for First Round of COVID-19 VaccinationsInitial batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrived in Britain Sunday, ahead of Tuesday’s first round of inoculations for health care workers and the elderly Britain received 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Sunday, the first of a total of 40 million it purchased from Pfizer. Great Britain has a population of more than 66 million people. Delivery of the vaccine is complicated by the fact that it must be stored in super-cold refrigerators at temperatures below 70 degrees Celsius.Britain has recorded more than 61,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, one of the world’s hardest-hit countries and the worst affected country in Europe.The start of the coronavirus vaccination campaign in Britain comes as many other nations inch closer and closer to beginning their own inoculation efforts.The South Korean government announced Tuesday that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is one of a handful it has secured for its 44 million people. The Health Ministry says it has pre-ordered 64 million doses of vaccines under development by Pfizer, British-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, and U.S.-based drug makers Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, for 34 million South Koreans.Seoul says another 10 million people will receive vaccines developed by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and secured through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, the joint project between the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries.Feds Passed Up Chance to Lock in More Pfizer Vaccine Doses Pfizer’s vaccine is expected to be endorsed as soon as this week, with delivery of 100 million doses — enough for 50 million Americans — expected in coming monthsCanada announced Monday it would receive its first doses of the same vaccine by the end of December.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine would arrive this month, and 3 million are slated to be delivered early next year. Canada has a population of more than 37 million people.But as many countries prepare to inoculate their populations, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against mandatory vaccinations.While WHO officials are urging governments to persuade their citizens to get vaccinated, public health experts warn that a mandate may not be the right approach.”I think all of us who work in public health would rather avoid that as a means for getting people vaccinated,” WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press conference Monday. The world has more than 67.6 million total COVID-19 cases, including more than 1.5 million deaths. The United States leads the world in both categories, with 14.9 million total cases and more than 283,700 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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Planning for a Pandemic Inauguration
Plans are underway for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. VOA’s Steve Redisch looks at the pandemic’s impact on the planning.CAMERA: Carolyn Presutti, Aleksandr Bergan
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Chuck Yeager, First Person to Break the Sound Barrier, Dies at Age 97
Chuck Yeager, the U.S. military pilot who became the first person to break the sound barrier in 1947, has died at the age of 97. His death was announced late Monday night on his official Twitter page by his second wife, Victoria. “An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever,” she wrote.Fr @VictoriaYeage11 It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever.— Chuck Yeager (@GenChuckYeager) December 8, 2020 Yeager and his orange, bullet-shaped Bell Aircraft X-1 — which he dubbed “Glamorous Glennis” after his first wife — was carried into the sky on October 14, 1947 attached to a B-29 bomber over California’s Mojave Desert. Yeager fired the plane’s liquid oxygen-fueled rocket engine after it was released by the B-29 and eventually reached the speed of 1,100 kilometers per hour, or Mach 1. The historic flight proved that aircraft could survive at supersonic speed, and laid the foundation for aviation’s next step into supersonic flight, military jets and manned spaceflight. The West Virginia-born Yeager began his aviation career in 1941 at age 18, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force, as a mechanic. He would go on to shoot down 13 German planes over 64 missions as a combat pilot in the European theater during World War Two. Yeager broke the sound barrier while assigned as a test pilot at what eventually became Edwards Air Force Base in California. His exploits were immortalized in the best-selling book The Right Stuff by journalist Tom Wolfe, which explored the early days of the U.S. space program. Yeager would go on to run a program at Edwards Air Force Base that trained Air Force pilots as prospective astronauts, and later flew dozens of combat missions during the Vietnam War.
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Vote Counting Underway in Ghana’s National Election
Vote counting is underway in the West African nation of Ghana following its national election that ended Monday evening. The poll represents a tight battle between President Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party and his rival John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress party. The race marks the third time they have faced off against each other. People gather to watch the count of ballots at a polling station after the vote for the presidential and parliamentary election in Jamestown neighborhood, in Accra on Dec. 7, 2020.Ghanian voters are choosing between 12 presidential candidates and members of parliament for residents in 275 districts.Key issues among voters include education, health, unemployment and the country’s infrastructure. Election authorities are aiming to have the results of voting by Tuesday evening.
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Biden Nominee for US Defense Secretary is Veteran Commander of Iraq, Afghanistan Wars
Retired U.S. Army General Lloyd Austin is poised to return to the Pentagon as President-elect Joe Biden’s pick as defense secretary, becoming the first African American to hold the post if he is confirmed by the Senate. Born in 1953 in the southeastern state of Alabama and raised in neighboring Georgia, Austin graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point in 1975 and rose through the ranks during his four-decade career, beginning as a commander of a combat support company with the legendary 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant general and assumed command of Fort Bragg, before becoming commander of U.S troops in Iraq from 2010 to 2011, where he oversaw the end of the U.S.-led invasion of the country and the withdrawal of all American forces. Austin ended his military career in 2016 as commander of the military’s vital U.S Central Command, which covers operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the Middle East and South Asia. He earned praise for both his intellect and strong leadership skills among both civilian and military leaders, with then-President Barack Obama saying his “character and competence exemplify what America demands of its military leaders” upon Austin’s retirement. But he came under fire by lawmakers in 2015 for a failed $500 million program to train an army of Syrian fighters. The four-star general’s career also includes two separate roles in the Pentagon, first as director of the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2009 to 2010, then as vice chief of staff of the Army from 2012 to 2013.
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Feds Passed Up Chance to Lock in More Pfizer Vaccine Doses
The Trump administration opted last summer not to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of one of the leading coronavirus vaccine contenders, a decision that could delay the delivery of a second batch of doses until manufacturer Pfizer fulfills other international contracts. The revelation, confirmed Monday by people familiar with the matter, came a day before President Donald Trump aimed to take credit for the speedy development of forthcoming coronavirus vaccines at a White House summit Tuesday. Pfizer’s vaccine is expected to be endorsed by a panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers as soon as this week, with delivery of 100 million doses — enough for 50 million Americans — expected in coming months. Under its contract with Pfizer, the Trump administration committed to buy an initial 100 million doses, with an option to purchase as many as five times more. This summer, the White House opted not to lock in an additional 100 million doses for delivery in the second quarter of 2021, according to people who spoke about the matter on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. FILE – A customer wearing a mask walks out of a Walgreen’s pharmacy store and past a sign advising that COVID-19 vaccines are not available there yet during the coronavirus outbreak, December 2, 2020.Days ahead of the vaccine’s expected approval, the administration is reversing course, but it is not clear that Pfizer, which has since made commitments to other countries, will be able to meet the latest request on the same timeline. The Pfizer vaccine is one of two on track for emergency FDA authorization this month, the other coming from drugmaker Moderna. The Trump administration insisted late Monday that between those two vaccines and others in the pipeline, the U.S. will be able to accommodate any American who wants to be vaccinated by the end of the second quarter of 2021. The administration’s decision not to lock in additional Pfizer purchases last summer was first reported by The New York Times. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told NBC the administration is “continuing to work across manufacturers to expand the availability of releasable, of FDA-approved vaccine as quickly as possible. … We do still have that option for an additional 500 million doses.” Seeking to tamp down public skepticism over the vaccine and secure a key component of Trump’s legacy, Tuesday’s summit will highlight the administration’s plans to distribute and administer the vaccine. But officials from President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, which will oversee the bulk of the largest vaccination program in the nation’s history once he takes office January 20, were not invited. Officials from the pharmaceutical companies developing the vaccines also were not expected to attend, despite receiving invitations, according to people familiar with the matter. Some expressed concerns about the event contributing to the politicization of the vaccine development process and potentially further inhibiting public confidence in the drugs.
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Trump Summit Aims to Boost Faith in Vaccine; Biden Excluded; Drugmakers Decline
The Trump administration is aiming to instill public confidence as well as claim major credit for the forthcoming coronavirus vaccines with a White House summit Tuesday featuring experts who will outline distribution plans in detail. Officials from President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team are not invited, even though they will oversee the continuation of the largest vaccination program in the nation’s history once he takes office January 20. President Donald Trump is trying to frame vaccine development as a key component of his legacy. The Operation Warp Speed summit will feature Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a host of government experts, state leaders and business executives, as the White House looks to explain that the vaccine is safe and lay out the administration’s plans to bring it to the American people. Senior administration officials provided details on the summit on Monday. An official with the Biden transition confirmed no invitation was extended.FILE – Vials with a sticker reading, “COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only” and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Pfizer logo, October 31, 2020.Officials from the pharmaceutical companies developing the vaccines also were not expected to attend, despite receiving invitations, according to people familiar with the matter. Some expressed concerns about the event contributing to the politicization of the vaccine development process and potentially further inhibiting public confidence in the drugs. Trump is set to kick off the event with remarks aiming to celebrate vaccine development, according to an official who previewed the event. Trump also will sign an executive order to prioritize Americans for coronavirus vaccines procured by the federal government. A second official said the order would restrict the U.S. government from donating doses to other nations until there is excess supply to meet domestic demand. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans for the summit. It was not immediately clear what, if any, impact the order would have on other nations’ abilities to access the vaccines. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday he expects his country to receive about 250,000 doses of a vaccine from Pfizer by the end of the year. The Food and Drug Administration is to meet Thursday to conduct a final review of the Pfizer drug, and it will meet later this month on a vaccine developed by Moderna. Both have been determined to be 95% effective against the virus that causes COVID-19. FILE – A man receives a trial COVID-19 vaccine at the Research Centers of America, in Hollywood, Florida, August 13, 2020.Plans call for distributing and then administering about 40 million doses of the two companies’ vaccines by the end of the year — with the first doses shipping within hours of FDA clearance. But Biden said Friday that “there’s no detailed plan that we’ve seen” for how to get the vaccines out of containers, into syringes and then into people’s arms. Trump administration officials insist that such plans have been developed, with the bulk of the work falling to states and municipal governments to ensure their most vulnerable populations are vaccinated first. The administration says it has leveraged partnerships with manufacturers, distributers and health care providers, so that outside of settings like veterans’ hospitals, “it is highly unlikely that a single federal employee will touch a dose of vaccine before it goes into your arm.” In all, about 50,000 vaccination sites are enrolled in the government’s distribution system, the officials said. Each of the forthcoming vaccines has unique logistical challenges related to distribution and administration. The Pfizer vaccine must be transported at super-cooled temperatures and comes in batches of 975 doses. Each vial contains five doses, requiring careful planning. The administration has prepared detailed videos for providers on how to safely prepare and administer doses, to be posted after the FDA issues its emergency use authorization. One such plan is to be announced Tuesday: Pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens have stood up a “mobile vaccination service” ready to vaccinate people in every nursing home and long-term care facility in the country. The roughly 3 million residents of those facilities are among the most vulnerable for COVID-19 and have been placed at the front of the line to access the vaccine. So far, 80%-85% of the facilities have signed on to the service, the officials said.
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US Adds Nigeria to Religious Freedom Blacklist
The United States on Monday placed Nigeria on a religious freedom blacklist, paving the way for potential sanctions if it does not improve its record. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated the U.S. ally — for the first time — as a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious freedom, alongside nations that include China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Pompeo did not elaborate on the reasons for including Nigeria, which has a delicate balance between Muslims and Christians. FILE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media at the State Department, in Washington, Nov. 24, 2020.But U.S. law requires such designations for nations that either engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.” Pompeo notably did not include India, which has a growing relationship with Washington, and was infuriated by a recommendation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to include the secular but Hindu-majority nation over what it called a sharp downward turn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Other nations on the blacklist are Eritrea, Myanmar, North Korea, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Areas of concern Pompeo removed from a second tier watchlist both Uzbekistan and Sudan, whose relations with the United States have rapidly warmed after the ousting of dictator Omar al-Bashir and its recent agreement to recognize Israel. On Nigeria, an annual State Department report published earlier this year took note of concerns both at the federal and state levels. It pointed to the mass detention of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, a Shi’ite Muslim group that has been at loggerheads with the government for decades and was banned by a court. FILE – Nigerian police officers patrol in the streets of Abuja during clashes with members of the Shi’ite Islamic Movement of Nigeria, July 22, 2019.The group has taken inspiration from Iran, ordinarily a major target of President Donald Trump’s administration. However, Nigeria has been widely criticized for its treatment of the movement, including in a 2015 clash in which hundreds were said to have died. The State Department report highlighted the arrests of Muslims for eating in public in Kano state during Ramadan, when Muslims are supposed to fast during daylight hours. It also took note of the approval of a bill in Kaduna state to regulate religious preaching. Improve or face sanctions While the designations relate to government actions, the State Department has already listed Nigeria’s Boko Haram as a terrorist group. The militants began an insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria that has since spread to neighboring countries, killing more than 36,000 people and forcing 3 million to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Under U.S. law, nations on the blacklist must make improvements or face sanctions, including losses of U.S. government assistance, although the administration can waive actions.
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US Hits China With Hong Kong Sanctions, OKs Taiwan Arms Sale
The Trump administration on Monday approved a new major arms sale to Taiwan and levied new sanctions on Chinese officials over the crackdown on pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong.The moves are sure to draw a firm rebuke from China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has rejected Hong Kong-related measures as interference in its internal affairs.The State Department said it had approved a $280 million sale to Taiwan of advanced military communications equipment. Earlier, it said it had hit 14 members of the Chinese Parliament’s standing committee with sanctions that come as the administration steps up punitive measures against China as it winds down its time in office.In a statement, the department said it had approved the communications sale to “help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, economic progress in the region” and to “contribute to the recipient’s goal to modernize its military communication’s capability in support of their mission and operational needs.”The approval is just the latest in a series of such steps the Trump administration has taken to boost Taiwan’s defenses over the course of the last several months.Also Monday, the State and Treasury departments said they were acting against the 14 members of standing committee to freeze any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar them and their families from traveling to the United States.Just last week, the administration further restricted visa access for Chinese Communist Party officials as part of the campaign, which has also seen penalties imposed on China for its actions in western Xinjiang province, Tibet, Taiwan and the South China Sea.”Beijing’s unrelenting assault against Hong Kong’s democratic processes has gutted its Legislative Council, rendering the body a rubber stamp devoid of meaningful opposition,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that repeated condemnations of China’s violations of the agreement with Britain that returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997.”These actions demonstrate once again Beijing’s complete disregard for its international commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a U.N.-registered treaty,” he said.The 14 officials are Wang Chen, Cao Jianming, Zhang Chunxian, Shen Yueyue, Ji Bingxuan, Arken Imirbaki, Wan Exiang, Chen Du, Wang Dongming, Padma Choling, Ding Zhongli, Hao Mingjin, Cai Dafeng, and Wu Weihua.”Our actions today underscore that the United States will continue to work with our allies and partners to hold Beijing accountable for undermining Hong Kong’s promised autonomy,” Pompeo said. “The United States again urges Beijing to abide by its international commitments and to heed the voices of many countries, which have condemned its actions.”
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US Extends Temporary Protected Status for 6 Disaster-Hit Countries
Washington has agreed to prolong a set of temporary migration protections that allow immigrants from six countries to live in the United States, officials said Monday. The so-called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some citizens of El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras and Nepal was extended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until at least October 2021. TPS allows some foreigners whose home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event to remain in the United States and apply for work permits. The status must be renewed periodically in six- to 18-month intervals by the secretary of Homeland Security. TPS has been in the crosshairs of Republican President Donald Trump’s administration in recent months as it seeks to scale back humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were scheduled to be expelled from the United States in early March after a wind-down period. The extension is part of an agreement between the administration and plaintiffs in related lawsuits not to terminate the protections as the lawsuits filter through the U.S. court system. Democratic President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to protect enrollees from being returned to unsafe countries. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. FILE – Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez answers questions from the Associated Press, August 13, 2019, as he leaves a meeting of the Organization of American States, in Washington.Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said the extension would cover about 44,000 of the storm-ravaged Central American country’s citizens living in the United States. He said he discussed the extension on a visit to Washington last week. “In the United States, during the meeting with the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (Chad Wolf), they told us that the TPS that was going to end in January will be extended,” Hernandez said on national television. Hondurans living in the United States have had access to TPS since the accord was brokered after Hurricane Mitch wreaked havoc on the impoverished Central American country in 1998. Guatemala has also requested extended TPS protection for its citizens.
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Retired Spanish Officers Say Socialist-led Government Threat to National Unity
Former members of Spain’s armed forces have published an open letter accusing the country’s Socialist-led minority government of threatening national unity. The letter signed by 271 officers, including two former lieutenant generals and an admiral, coincided Sunday with the country’s Constitution Day, which marked the 42nd anniversary of a 1978 referendum and was seen as an important step in Spain’s transition to democracy following the end of the longtime rule of Gen. Francisco Franco, who died in 1975. The letter’s publication came just days after dozens of retired air force officers were discovered to have discussed fomenting a coup. In a private chat forum on WhatsApp, they bemoaned the death of Franco, who they dubbed “the irreplaceable one.” The plotters agreed the only remedy for Spain would be “to shoot 26 million” people, but they decided eventually it was not viable. Defense Minister Margarita Robles asked prosecutors to launch a criminal investigation into the WhatsApp group. FILE – Former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, center, is seen at a ceremony in Burgos, Spain, November 20, 1938.Officers who signed Sunday’s letter distanced themselves from the social media conspirators but echoed many of their complaints about the political direction being taken by Spain. They warned of the “deterioration of our democracy.” They upbraided the government led by Pedro Sánchez for making concessions to jailed Catalan separatists, saying that the “unity of Spain is in danger.” They accused the government of “granting favors” to unnamed “terrorists,” showing “a lack of respect for the victims.” The signatories, led by Lt. Gen. Emilio Pérez Alamán, emphasized their fealty to the monarchy and noted that despite being retired, the oath they took while on active duty to defend the territorial integrity of Spain remains alive for them. Spanish politicians have been downplaying the dissent from retired military officers. Before Sunday’s letter, and in reference to the WhatsApp group, Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias dismissed their discussions as nostalgia for Franco’s dictatorship. “What these already retired gentlemen of a certain age say doesn’t represent a threat of any kind,” he told Spanish TV. He added that the officers are failing to understand that they are “making more Spaniards feel republican.” FILE – A man holds a depiction of the late Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco as people gather outside Mingorrubio’s cemetery, on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, October 24, 2019.Iglesias is the leader of the leftist Podemos Party, a member of the Socialist-led government that has had to rely on the support of Basque and Catalan separatist lawmakers. Many officers and those on Spain’s far right have been increasingly infuriated by the Sánchez government. They were angered by ministers’ decision last year to remove Franco’s body from the Valley of the Fallen, a Catholic basilica and monumental memorial built by the late dictator, to a nondescript cemetery. During a brief reburial ceremony, Franco’s grandson draped his grandfather’s coffin in the nationalist flag, despite being barred from doing so by the government. In September, the government announced plans to ban organizations that glorify the dictator’s legacy, saying the prohibition is necessary to help the country come to terms with its past and the Spanish civil war of the 1930s, that was triggered by a military coup. Sunday’s letter is the third from military quarters criticizing the government. Two previous letters — the first signed by 39 retired air force officers, and the second by 73 former members of the army — were addressed to King Felipe and to the European Parliament, respectively. Two years ago, 1,000 retired members of Spain’s armed forces signed a document expressing their support for Franco and the 1936 coup he led. FILE – Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s far-right party Vox, walks to give his speech as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez looks on during a no-confidence motion against the government at parliament in Madrid, Spain, October 22, 2020.Spain’s chief of the defense staff, Gen. Miguel Villarroya Vilalta, said last week that the WhatsApp group of conspirators and the frequent complaints of retired officers are “damaging the image of the armed forces.” “The opinions of these individuals cannot be construed as representative of the community that they were once a part of but should be viewed as the opinions of private citizens who have the right to express their views, but not to award themselves representation rights that they do not possess,” he said in a press statement issued last week. “As military personnel,” he added, “we take an oath promising to defend the constitution, which guides all our actions. One of the consequences of that commitment is the political neutrality of our armed forces.” Legal experts say that the request by Spain’s defense minister for prosecutors to open an investigation into the WhatsApp group is unlikely to get far, as the remarks were part of private conversations, albeit online. If the officers were still on active duty, they could have been discharged for inappropriate conduct. Lt. Col. José Ignacio Domínguez, one of the participants in the WhatsApp chat group, told a radio network last week that “there began to be talk (in the chat group) about the possibility of a military uprising supported by the king.” But the group members finally concluded it was not feasible.
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DR Congo Crisis Deepens as President Moves to Sack Government
A political crisis in the perennially restive Democratic Republic of Congo deepened Monday, as lawmakers trashed Parliament after President Felix Tshisekedi moved to scrap the shaky ruling coalition.Tshisekedi’s government has been in tatters, with members of Parliament loyal to his powerful predecessor Joseph Kabila, who command more than 300 seats in the 500-member Parliament, increasingly at odds with supporters of the president.On Sunday, Tshisekedi said he planned to form a new coalition and warned he might be forced to dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections in a country wracked for decades by conflict and corruption.”The present majority has crumbled, and a new majority is required,” he said, adding that if he failed to form a new coalition, fresh elections would be the solution “using the constitutional prerogatives that have been invested in me to come back to you, a sovereign people, and ask for a majority.”The announcement sparked violence in Parliament Monday, with sources close to the assembly’s pro-Kabila speaker charging that lawmakers of Tshisekedi’s party went on the rampage, destroying desks and chairs.Video footage showing individuals overturning desks went viral on social media. An Agence France-Presse journalist said all the furniture on the podium was wrecked.”The plenary session has been deferred to another date,” Parliament said, denouncing the destruction of furniture and “the presence of armed bodyguards inside the assembly.”Supporters of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress and Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, gather near party headquarters in Kinshasa on Dec. 6, 2020, to hear a speech from the President.Tshisekedi, meanwhile, held emergency talks with pro-Kabila Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Monday afternoon, Ilunga’s office said.The growing tensions have sparked international alarm. The African Union called on the country’s leaders to “work resolutely and sincerely for national harmony and to preserve peace and stability.”The United Nations envoy to DR Congo warned Monday of the security threat posed by the political deadlock, saying the country “cannot afford a serious institutional crisis.””(If) this delicate political situation persists, it could have serious repercussions on the economic and security situation of the country,” Leila Zerrougui told the Security Council via video link.The session was called to discuss the U.N.’S MONUSCO mission of about 15,000 peacekeepers whose mandate is to expire on December 20.”The political situation that DR Congo is experiencing is very uncertain,” Zerrougui said, calling on the Security Council to “play an important role in encouraging a negotiated resolution of this political crisis.”She called for “stable and functional institutions” to be allowed to return to work as soon as possible.Tshisekedi took over from Kabila in January 2019 in the mineral-rich DRC’s first peaceful transition since independence from Belgium in 1960.But the president’s room for implementing much-trumpeted reforms was hampered by the need to forge a coalition with the pro-Kabila Common Front for the Congo (FCC), overwhelmingly dominant in the legislature.Kabila ruled the DRC for 18 years until he stepped down after long-delayed elections in December 2018.He retains considerable clout through political allies and officers he appointed to the armed forces and is also a senator for life.
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House Votes to Open US Doors to Hong Kong Residents
The House of Representatives voted Monday to welcome Hong Kong residents to live temporarily in the United States, vowing to be a beacon for rights as China clamps down in the territory. The House moved by consensus to issue so-called Temporary Protected Status for five years to Hong Kong residents, meaning that people from the financial hub will have the right to work in the United States and will not be subject to deportation. The initiative must still be approved by the Senate, but it enjoys support across party lines, unlike a previous bid by Democrats to extend the status to Venezuelans that was effectively blocked by President Donald Trump and his Republican Party. Congressman Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey who sponsored the Hong Kong bill, said the decision to “self-confidently open our doors” was more powerful than moving to “slap a few sanctions” on Chinese officials, as the State Department again did Monday. “The best way to win against a dictatorship is to pit the strength of our system against the weakness of theirs, to hold up the glaring contrast between our free, open and self-confident democracy against the weakness of the oppressive, closed and fearful system that the Communist Party has imposed on the Chinese people, including now in Hong Kong,” Malinowski said on the House floor. “It’s actually much more than a humanitarian gesture. It’s one of the best ways to deter China from crushing Hong Kong,” he added. China in June imposed a tough new security law that criminalizes dissent in Hong Kong. Since then, authorities have arrested and jailed young activists who expressed their views and disqualified pro-democracy lawmakers in the city’s legislature. In recent months, former colonial power Britain has offered a pathway for Hong Kong residents to become citizens, and Canada has made immigration easier. If the Senate approves, Hong Kong would be the only wealthy place to enjoy Temporary Protected Status, which has been issued by Congress or the White House to protect hundreds of thousands of people from war-ravaged nations such as Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The Trump administration has moved to end the status for people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal and Sudan, leading to legal challenges and accusations that the outgoing president cares more about keeping out non-white immigrants than ensuring they are out of harm’s way.
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Boris Johnson to Head to Brussels for Crucial Brexit Talks
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the European Commission plan to meet in person to see whether a last-minute trade deal can be reached, officials said Monday.Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after a lengthy phone call that “significant differences” remained on three key issues.They said they were planning to discuss the differences “in a physical meeting in Brussels in the coming days.”The two leaders spoke for the second time in 48 hours as their trade teams remained locked in stalled negotiations in Brussels.EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, left, speaks with France’s Permanent Representative to the EU Philippe Leglise-Costa during a meeting of ambassadors of European Union governments in Brussels, Dec. 7, 2020.Early Monday, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier had no news of a breakthrough when be briefed ambassadors of the 27 member states on the chances of a deal with London before the Dec. 31 deadline.One official from an EU nation said “the difficulties persist” over the legal oversight of any trade deal and standards of fair play that the U.K. needs to meet to be able to export in the EU. A lot of work also remains on fisheries, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.Penny Mordaunt, a junior minister for Brexit planning, told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the “level playing field” — competition rules that Britain must agree on to gain access to the EU market — was the most difficult unresolved issue.Britain’s pound currency fell more than 1% against the dollar to less than $1.33 amid the uncertainty.Johnson’s spokesman, Jamie Davies, declined to offer odds on a deal being struck.”I’m not going to put a percentage on it,” he said. “We are prepared to negotiate for as long as we have time available if we think an agreement is still possible.”At his early morning meeting with EU ambassadors, Barnier faced some anxious member states that feared too much might have been yielded already to London. If talks continue after Monday, they will be closing in on a two-day EU summit starting Thursday, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will be major players.Germany wants a deal partly because its massive car industry has always found a welcome export market in Britain. France — seen by Britain as the “bad cop” in trade negotiations — has taken the lead in demanding that U.K. companies closely align themselves with EU rules and environmental and social standards if they still want to export to the lucrative market of 450 million people.The politically charged issue of fisheries also continues to play an outsized role. The EU has demanded widespread access to U.K. fishing grounds that historically have been open to foreign trawlers. Britain insists it must control its own waters, doling out quotas annually.In a further complication, Johnson’s government plans Monday to revive legislation that breaches the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement it struck with the EU last year.The U.K. government acknowledges that the Internal Market Bill breaks international law, and the legislation has been condemned by the EU, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and scores of British lawmakers, including many from Johnson’s Conservative Party.Britain says the bill, which gives the government power to override parts of the withdrawal agreement relating to trade with Northern Ireland, is needed as an “insurance policy” to protect the flow of goods within the U.K. in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The EU sees it as an act of bad faith that could imperil Northern Ireland’s peace settlement.On Wednesday the U.K. plans to introduce a Taxation Bill that contains more measures along the same lines and would further irritate the EU.But the British government offered the bloc an olive branch on the issue, saying it would remove the lawbreaking clauses if a joint U.K.-EU committee on Northern Ireland found solutions in the coming days. It said talks in the committee, which continued Monday, had been constructive.
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Human Rights Issues Cloud France’s Dealings With Egypt
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday to boost economic and military ties with France. The dealings present a dilemma for the French government in light of Egypt’s poor human rights record. In January 2019, el-Sissi and Macron met in Cairo, where the French president said that Egypt was not headed in “the right direction” on human rights. Ahead of Monday’s meeting, several NGOs issued a statement pressing Macron to take a strong stand on the issue. Their statement said that France had – in the groups’ words – “long indulged President el-Sissi’s brutal repression of any form of dissent.” Katia Roux, in charge of advocacy with Amnesty International France, says there has been an unprecedented repression against civil society in Egypt since el-Sissi became president in 2014. Roux says the international community is not doing enough to ensure Egypt respects human rights.In a joint press conference at the French presidential palace, Macron rebuked the critics and vowed to continue the sale of weapons to Egypt.Macron said he opposes any condition on matters of defense and economic cooperation because of what he describes as disagreements over human rights. Macron says it is more effective to have a policy of demanding dialogue than a boycott which – he says – would only reduce the effectiveness of a partner in the fight against terrorism and for the region’s stability. The French president’s office said topping the agenda in el-Sissi’s meeting with Macron was Libya and Syria.To counter Turkey’s push to expand its influence in the region, France and Egypt stress the need for the Eastern Mediterranean to remain “as a space for cooperation which respects all sovereignties,” the French presidency said in a statement. Egypt has become a strategic partner for France in the Middle East amid growing tensions with Turkey. The Egyptian government is a major weapons client for French fighter jets and warships. However, no major contracts were expected to be signed during this visit.
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