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Selasa, 10 November 2020

US Republicans hint at limited time for Trump to make his post-election case - CNA

WASHINGTON: Top Republicans in the US Congress for now are supporting President Donald Trump's attempt to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory, but some senior aides said Trump must soon produce significant evidence or exit the stage.

A handful of Republican senators have said they recognise Biden as last week's winner. Many more have not but are suggesting limits to their patience in giving Trump the benefit of the doubt.

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a state that Trump won handily last week, said in a statement that Biden is leading in enough states to win election "and President Donald Trump's campaign must produce evidence to support allegations of election fraud".

Portman added that he hoped states and courts would move "expeditiously" to resolve the matter.

READ: Biden tells world leaders 'America is back' but Pompeo digs in

Behind the scenes, some were more explicit.

"I think the goal here is to give the president and his campaign team some space to demonstrate there is real evidence to support any claims of voter fraud. If there is, then they will be litigated quickly. If not, we’ll all move on," said one senior Senate Republican aide.

A second such aide, while noting that most Republican senators support Trump's right to refuse to concede, added that failing any surprise revelations, "At some point this has to give. And I give it a week or two."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Congress's top Republican, delivered a stinging speech that sounded more like a continuation of 2020 campaign rhetoric than a post-election call for getting down to business.

READ: As Trump challenges Biden victory, attorney-general gives go ahead for fraud probes

While defending Trump's challenge of the election result, McConnell took time to chastise "far-left mobs" that engaged in "summertime rioting" following the death of George Floyd while in police custody.

McConnell also hinted at something far less than prolonged litigation, such as was seen in the 2000 contest between George W Bush and Al Gore: "Suffice to say a few legal inquiries from the president do not exactly spell the end of the Republic."

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Marco Rubio late on Monday refused to recognise Biden as the president-elect yet.

But responding to reporters' questions about unsubstantiated fraud allegations in hotly contested states such as Pennsylvania, Rubio said he was in no position to know what was going on anywhere outside his home state of Florida.

Another matter was higher in some senators' minds - a pair of runoff elections in Georgia on Jan 5 that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of the Senate next year or must turn it over to Democrats.

Asked about the battle Trump is waging against Biden, Republican Senator Mike Rounds said, "No 1, we have to focus on Georgia and how critical that is as a backstop right now for limiting the amount of major changes that a number of our Democratic colleagues have suggested."

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2020-11-10 21:40:11Z
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Biden tells world leaders 'America is back' but Pompeo digs in - CNA

WASHINGTON: The leaders of close US allies on Tuesday (Nov 10) telephoned President-elect Joe Biden and pledged to work together but in an extraordinary break, America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo insisted that Donald Trump would remain in power.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all offered congratulations in calls to Biden, who a week earlier edged out Trump in the presidential election.

"I'm letting them know that America is back. We're going to be back in the game. It's not America alone," Biden told reporters in his home state of Delaware.

The transition team said Biden planned to work with the Europeans on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic as well as climate change - one of many areas on which Trump sharply differed with the allies.

On the call with Merkel, who has been savaged by Trump over her welcome to migrants and Germany's modest defence expenditure, Biden in a statement "praised her leadership" and called for "revitalising the trans-Atlantic relationship, including through NATO and the EU".

Johnson, who had a warm relationship with Trump, spoke for 20 minutes with Biden and wrote later on Twitter that he hoped to work with him on climate change, "promoting democracy and building back better from the pandemic," employing the slogan from the Democrat's campaign.

All fellow leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised democracies have congratulated Biden as have some of Trump's closest allies, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

US media outlets concluded Saturday that Biden enjoyed unassailable leads in major states as well as a commanding edge in the nationwide popular vote.

READ: As Trump challenges Biden victory, attorney-general gives go ahead for fraud probes

But Trump has refused to concede and has vowed legal challenges, saying without evidence that there was massive electoral fraud.

Pompeo, Trump's secretary of state, made clear that Trump's stance was official government policy as he brushed aside a question on whether he was cooperating with the Biden transition team.

"There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration," Pompeo said in a sometimes testy news conference.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has insisted that President Donald Trump will remain in power but promised a "smooth transition". (Photo: AFP/Darko Bandic)

He said that "the world should have every confidence" in the functioning of the US government in the run-up and after the Jan 20 inauguration.

Asked if the United States can still be issuing statements seeking free elections around the world, Pompeo called the question "ridiculous" and said the United States was following standard procedures.

POMPEO TO VISIT ALLIES

Trump's failure to concede has no legal force in itself. But the General Services Administration, the usually low-key agency that manages the Washington bureaucracy, has refused to sign off on the transition, holding up funding and security briefings that would have let Biden get going on setting up the next administration.

A US commission that investigated the Sep 11, 2001 attacks had warned that presidential transitions pose security risks, after the shortened period for George W Bush to prepare following a disputed election.

READ: Biden camp considers legal action over agency's delay in recognising transition

READ: Senate's McConnell says Trump has right to probe election 'irregularities'

Pompeo was making his first public comment on the election outcome. One day earlier, Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper whom he had long seen as insufficiently loyal.

Pompeo's stance will be put to the test as he leaves Friday for a seven-nation tour of allies that have congratulated Biden.

He will head first to Paris and then Istanbul followed by the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He will then head to Jerusalem and three Gulf Arab allies - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday became the latest leader to congratulate Biden and urged closer ties despite the president-elect's vows to step up pressure on Erdogan, whom he has described as an "autocrat".

Russia, China, Mexico and Brazil are among the only nations that have not congratulated Biden.

Biden, an Irish-American long passionate about peace in Northern Ireland, also spoke Tuesday to Irish leader Michael Martin and a day earlier held telephone talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is expected to be a close ally of the incoming president.

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2020-11-10 21:21:39Z
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'Technical error' leaves Trump in background of UK's Biden congratulatory tweet - CNA

LONDON: A "technical error" led to parts of a message congratulating U.S. President Donald Trump being left visible in an official tweet congratulating Joe Biden from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

He said the government had prepared two different statements because the contest was so close, but that a technical error meant parts of the alternative message were embedded in the background of the graphic congratulating Biden.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Guido Fawkes website published a picture of the tweet after it had adjusted the contrast and brightness levels of the image. It appeared to show Trump's name, the words "second term" and "on the future of this" in the background of the tweet congratulating Biden.

"As you'd expect, two statements were prepared in advance for the outcome of this closely contested election. A technical error meant that parts of the alternative message were embedded in the background of the graphic," a government spokesman said.

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2020-11-10 13:41:59Z
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COVID-19 tests to be available to anyone in Singapore who needs it | Full news conference - CNA

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2020-11-10 12:12:40Z
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How Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine could be cold comfort for some Asian nations - CNA

MANILA: With tropical heat, remote island communities and a dearth of ultra-cold freezers, many Asian countries aren't betting on Pfizer's experimental vaccine solving their COVID-19 crisis any time soon.

The world cheered on Monday (Nov 9) when Pfizer announced its shot, jointly developed with BioNTech SE, was more than 90 per cent effective based on initial trial results.

Yet health experts cautioned that the vaccine, should it be approved, was no silver bullet - not least because the genetic material it's made from needs to be stored at temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius or below.

Such requirements pose a particularly daunting challenge for countries in Asia, as well as in places like Africa and Latin America, where intense heat is often compounded by poor infrastructure that will make it difficult to keep the "cold chain" intact during deliveries to rural areas and islands.

That is a problem for everyone in the world, given the World Health Organization estimates about 70 per cent of people must be inoculated to end the pandemic, and Asia alone is home to more than 4.6 billion - or three-fifths of the global population.

READ: Vaccine progress injects optimism into global stocks

Some Asian countries are prioritising containing the novel coronavirus rather than looking to stockpile vaccines, while others are looking for alternatives to the messenger RNA technology used by Pfizer that requires such ultra-cold storage.

"On the cold chain requirement of minus 70 degrees Celsius, that is a hefty requirement. We do not have such facility," Philippines' Health Secretary Francisco Duque told Reuters.

"We will have to wait and see for now," he added. "The technology Pfizer is using is new technology. We don't have experience with that, so risks can be high."

Pfizer told Reuters that it had developed detailed logistical plans and tools to support vaccine transport, storage and continuous temperature monitoring.

"We have also developed packaging and storage innovations to be fit for purpose for the range of locations where we believe vaccinations will take place," it said.

READ: Explainer: Where are we in the COVID-19 vaccine race?

"VACCINE IS STORY FOR FUTURE"

Yet even wealthier nations like South Korea and Japan are managing expectations.

"Storage is going to be a big challenge for us," said Fumie Sakamoto, infection control manager at St Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo.

"I'm not sure how well prepared our government is with regards to maintaining the cold chain. Hospitals in Japan usually do not have ultra-cold freezers, but I think it's high time we started thinking about the logistics for the vaccine."

Japan is among three countries in Asia Pacific that have announced supply deals for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It has signed a deal for 120 million doses, while Australia has secured 10 million doses and China's Fosun has secured 10 million doses for Hong Kong and Macau.

Japan's PHC Corp, which supplies medical freezers, told Reuters that demand had shot up 150 per cent this year and that they were increasing production to meet demand.

Kwon Jun-wook, an official at South Korea's Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said it wanted to see how vaccination progressed in other countries first and would thoroughly review its supply chain.

The country had recently experienced the problems of cold storage when it had to discard about 5 million doses of flu vaccines because they were not stored at recommended temperatures.

A 2018 study commissioned by the agency found that only a quarter of 2,200 private clinics it surveyed had medical refrigerators, with 40 per cent using household refrigerators.

READ: COVID-19 vaccine could fundamentally change pandemic direction: WHO

For some countries, it's still very early days.

Indonesia, whose 273 million people are scattered over more than 17,000 islands, is considering a variety of vaccines, but the Pfizer one is not yet among them, said Airlangga Hartarto, who heads the country's COVID-19 response team.

READ: One in five COVID-19 patients develop mental illness within 90 days: US study

Vietnam, which successfully contained its outbreak through aggressive mass testing and strict border controls, said it would continue to focus on containment efforts.

"The vaccine is a story for the future," Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, told a government meeting on Friday.

"Demand is far higher than supply, and we have to pay large deposits to secure our position, which I see as very high risk and a waste of money and time."

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2020-11-10 11:28:33Z
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Singapore may get COVID-19 vaccine in 1Q 2021, EDB providing almost $300m support - Yahoo News Singapore

Cropped hand wearing a nitrile glove holding a Covid-19 vaccine vial and a syringe — COVID-19 vaccine vial. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — A COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by a US pharmaceutical company and Duke-NUS Medical School is expected to be ready and supplied to Singapore in the first quarter of next year.

The company, Arcturus Therapeutics, said in a press release on Monday (9 November) that the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has committed US$45 million (S$60 million) to fund the manufacture of the ARCT-021 vaccine candidate and up to an additional US$175 million (S$235 million) to buy the vaccine.

The ongoing Phase 1/2 development is being conducted in Singapore and has yielded “positive interim clinical study results”, Arcturus said.

The study involved 106 subjects, including older adult subjects. To date, 78 subjects have received at least one injection of the vaccine candidate, 36 subjects have received two injections, and 28 subjects have received placebo.

“No subjects have withdrawn from the study and there have been no serious adverse events deemed to be treatment related,” Arcturus said.

The company is in discussions with the Singapore Health Sciences Authority to advance the vaccine candidate into later stage clinical studies. It is expected to hold discussions with more agencies within the next few weeks.

“The promising Phase 1/2 study results indicate that ARCT-021 could be effective as a single administration, which differentiates this investigational vaccine from many other COVID-19 vaccines in development,” said Professor Ooi Eng Eong, Deputy Director of Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School.

“ARCT-021 has the potential to provide important public health benefits by greatly facilitating broad administration across multiple populations worldwide,” added Prof Ooi, who is also a member of Arcturus’ Vaccine Platform Scientific Advisory Board.

Andy Sassine, Chief Financial Officer of Arcturus, said, “Along with our global manufacturing partners, we have laid the foundation to produce hundreds of millions of doses of ARCT-021 over the next 18 months.”

News of the vaccine candidate came on the same day of the announcement by drug giant Pfizer that its experimental vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data from a study. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are the first drugmakers to announce successful data based on a large clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine.

On 20 October, the Ministry of Health said Singapore plans to vaccinate parts of its population against COVID-19 from next year following the completion of Phase 3 clinical trials into the leading vaccine candidates.

MOH director of medical services Kenneth Mak said many of the vaccine candidates around the world would only complete Phase 3 studies some time next year.

Singapore authorities had earlier assured that if and when an effective vaccine becomes available, every Singaporean who needs it can get it at an affordable price.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

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2020-11-10 09:33:00Z
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Joe Biden's visit to Singapore in 2013 included a hawker centre stop | ST News Night - The Straits Times

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2020-11-10 08:35:22Z
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