Month: May 2021

Pro-independence parties won a majority in Scotland’s parliament on Saturday, paving the way to a high-stakes political, legal and constitutional battle with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the future of the United Kingdom.Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the result meant she would push ahead with plans for a second independence referendum once the COVID-19 pandemic was over, adding that it would be absurd and outrageous if Johnson were to try to ignore the democratic will of the people.”There is simply no democratic justification whatsoever for Boris Johnson, or indeed for anyone else, seeking to block the right of …

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Seven people died Saturday in two avalanches in the French Alps, according to authorities who had warned Friday of the instability of the snowpack because of warmer temperatures.The first fatal slide was triggered late in the morning in the town of Valloire in the sector of the Col du Galibier at 2,642 meters above sea level. Four people, aged 42 to 76 and from the surroundings of Grenoble, were killed.Two groups of hikers, composed of three and two people, were swept away and only one of them survived, found in good health by the emergency services.Six soldiers from the High …

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The European Union cemented its support for Pfizer-BioNTech and its novel COVID-19 vaccine technology Saturday by agreeing to a massive contract extension for a potential 1.8 billion doses through 2023.EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that her office “has just approved a contract for a guaranteed 900 million doses” with the same amount of doses as a future option.The new contract, which has the unanimous backing of the EU member states, will entail not only the production of the vaccines, but also making sure that all the essential components should be sourced from the EU.The European Commission currently …

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The fight to make the French language kinder to women took steps forward, and back, this week.   Warning that the well-being of France and its future are at stake, the government banned the use in schools of a method increasingly used by some French speakers to make the language more inclusive by feminizing some words.     Specifically, the education minister’s decree targets what is arguably the most contested and politicized letter in the French language — “e.” Simply put, “e” is the language’s feminine letter, used in feminine nouns and their adjectives and, sometimes, when conjugating verbs.   …

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The European Commission called on the United States and other major COVID-19 vaccine producers Friday to export what they make, as the European Union does, rather than talk about waiving intellectual property (IP) rights to the shots.Commission head Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference on the sidelines of a summit of EU leaders that discussions about the waiver would not produce a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the short and medium term.”We should be open to lead this discussion. But when we lead this discussion, there needs to be a 360-degree view on it because we need …

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The top diplomats from the United States, China and Russia urged strengthened global cooperation Friday, recognizing the need to tackle growing global challenges and an unprecedented pandemic but sparring over their different worldviews and who’s to blame for threats to multilateralism.The high-level U.N. Security Council meeting marked the first joint appearance, albeit virtually, by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Wang Yi of China. Wang chaired the session as this month’s council president.Despite major differences, especially on human rights and democracy, all three said they were ready to cooperate with all countries …

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Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and her ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) made early gains Friday as the first returns from the nation’s parliamentary election were reported. While full results are not expected until Saturday, and Sturgeon cautioned the results remained too close to call, at last count the SNP had won at least 32 seats in the 129-seat parliament, “devolved” from the British parliament in 1999. If the early trend continues, and the pro-independence party holds on to power, it could have an impact on all of Britain. If the SNP retains power, and there is a pro-independence majority, the party …

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The World Health Organization Friday approved for emergency use a COVID-19 vaccine created by China’s state-owned drug maker Sinopharm, the sixth vaccine approved by the organization, and the first produced by a non-Western drug maker. At the agency’s regular briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) reviewed the available data and recommended the vaccine for adults 18 years and older, with a two-dose schedule. Emergency use listing by the WHO is a signal to nations worldwide the vaccine can be quickly approved and imported for distribution, especially those without an …

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservatives appeared on course Friday to pull off a historic election victory against the country’s main opposition Labour Party, making deep inroads into Labour’s traditional heartlands in northern England after 48 million Britons voted Thursday for devolved, regional and town governments.      Early results painted a gloomy electoral picture for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party — which lost a parliamentary by-election in the northern town of Hartlepool to the Conservatives for the first time in the constituency’s 57-year history.     As ballots continued to be tallied in England, Scotland and Wales following so-called …

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