Liberty Case

Canada 10 Dec(DT): Canadian health officials on Wednesday approved a COVID-19 vaccine made by U.S. drug company Pfizer for general use, becoming the second country worldwide to give it the go-ahead.

With the decision, Canada joined Britain in determining the vaccine is sufficiently safe and effective for general use. The U.K. and Bahrain approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine within the past week. Canadian officials said Wednesday they expected to soon issue a decision regarding the Moderna vaccine.

Pfizer and BioNTech said that they would manufacture 50 million doses by the end of this year—a goal they have already hit, according to people familiar with the matter—and up to 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.

Lebanon/Dec 10 Source(DT) : A judge in Lebanon on Thursday charged outgoing Prime Minister  Hassan Diab and three former department ministers with negligence in connection with the explosions that killed hundreds at the Port of Beirut four months ago.

Judge Fadi Sawan charged Diab, former public works ministers Ghazi Zaeiter and Youssef Fenianos and former finance minister  Ali Hassan Khalil in the blasts.

The explosions and resulting fires at the port on Aug. 4 killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and left 300,000 homeless. Investigators say 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been warehoused at the port for years set off the explosions.

The blasts, coupled with the country’s ongoing economic crisis, led many in Lebanon to demand government accountability. Critics say leaders knew about the ammonium nitrate being stored at the port.

Diab said Thursday he was surprised by the charges, but added that his “conscience is clear.”

Khalil and Zaieter are both longtime Lebanon government leaders Fenianos is a senior official in the Marada Movement of Christian leader Suleiman Frangieh. They were charged because they were in office when the ammonium nitrate originally arrived at the Port of Beirut almost a decade ago.

Abdel-Hafiz al-Kaissy, the director of land and maritime transport in charge of the port, has also been charged in the case.

Washington DC (DT) 08, Dec 2020 | 10:45 AM

Biden picks retired General Lloyd Austin to run Pentagon
If confirmed, the retired General would become the first Black defense secretary in America’s history. according to three people with knowledge of the decision. In picking Austin, Biden has chosen a barrier-breaking former four-star officer who was the first Black general to command an Army division in combat and the first to oversee an entire theater of operations. Austin’s announcement could come as soon as Tuesday morning, people familiar with the plans said Monday. Austin’s emergence as a potential choice came amid growing calls from national civil rights organizations and Democratic Asian, Black and Latino caucuses to ensure that Mr. Biden nominated minorities and women to senior Cabinet posts. Mr. Austin faces a couple of hurdles, including his position in recent years as a member of the board of directors of defense contractor Raytheon. Mr. Austin’s full name is Lloyd James Austin |||, born in 1953 he is comes from Alabama district, US.|

London — U.K (DT) health authorities began rolling out the first doses of a widely tested and independently reviewed Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, starting a global immunization program that is expected to gain momentum as more serums win approval. The first shot came early in the morning at one of a network of hospital hubs around the country where the initial phase of the U.K. program will be rolled out on what has been dubbed “V-Day.”

Public health officials are asking the public to be patient because only those who are most at risk from the new coronavirus will be vaccinated in the early stages. Medical staff will contact people to arrange appointments, and most will have to wait until next year before there is enough vaccine to expand the program.

The first 800,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the U.K. are going to people over 80 who are either hospitalized or already have outpatient appointments scheduled, along with nursing home workers. Others will have to wait their turn, but all vaccinations will be provided free of charge via Britain’s National Health Service.
 
Among those older Britons scheduled to get vaccinated is Hari Shukla, of Newcastle.
 
“When I received the telephone call, I was very excited I got the opportunity of joining in and taking part in that,″ he said. “So we are very very pleased and happy and excited as well.″

Buckingham Palace refused to comment on reports that Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and her 99-year-old husband, Prince Philip, would be vaccinated as a public example of its safety.