Agency Reporter

The highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first detected in England had by on Saturday been documented in several European countries, as well as Canada, Japan, Australia and Lebanon, despite efforts to curb its spread through massive global disruptions in travel and movement.

Washington Post reports that fears over the fast-spreading form of the virus come in sharp contrast to a wave of hope sweeping some countries and communities as vaccination programs are rolled out. Scientists do not think the British variant is more deadly or resistant to the current coronavirus vaccines.

The variant has also been detected in France, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.

In Canada, Ontario’s chief medical officer announced Saturday that they had confirmed two cases, the first detection of the variant in North America. The patient, a couple, had no known travel history, meaning it was probably a case of community spread.

Read Also: Countries must share vaccines, says Pope in Christmas message

While the United States has not yet reported a case, experts say it is probably because of the nation’s very low rate of genetic sequencing of the virus to check for such changes, despite Americans leading the world in coronavirus infections and deaths.

Beginning Monday, the U.S. government will require all travelers flying in from Britain to show proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of the plane’s departure. Early in the pandemic, the United States banned travelers from China and the European Union, among others, though by that point the virus had already been widely spreading undetected because of limited U.S. testing.

Japan on Saturday temporarily banned all foreign nationals except those with residency from entering the country starting Monday through the end of January. Japan reported its first case of the British variant on Friday amid a new surge of coronavirus cases in Tokyo. Japan said five patients detected with the variant had all traveled from the United Kingdom, from which Japan had curbed travel last week.

Countries across Europe and other continents began to block or restrict travelers from the United Kingdom last week in reaction to the variant. Some, like France, have since walked back near total border closures amid widespread disruptions in trade and travel.

Our Reporter

An intensive care unit at an Egyptian hospital caught fire on Saturday, killing seven coronavirus patients, officials said.

Local police said the blaze erupted at a private hospital in Obour, an outlying district of the greater Cairo area.

The fire injured at least five others. The injured and other patients were evacuated to nearby hospitals, the police said.

Firefighters were able to put out the blaze, the cause of which police and prosecutors are investigating.

The state-run al-Ahram daily reported that an initial investigation blamed an electric short-circuit for the fire.

A similar blaze erupted at the coronavirus ward of a private hospital in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in June, leaving seven patients dead and one injured. There was another fire in May in a coronavirus isolation center in Cairo that didn’t cause any casualties.

Read Also; Buhari salutes sacrifices of 20 doctors killed by COVID-19

Egypt has seen a surge in the confirmed cases of the virus, forcing the government to reopen most of its hospitals designated to treat and isolate COVID-19 patients after the first wave of the pandemic subsided.

The Health Ministry reported its highest daily number of confirmed cases on Friday at 1,113, along with 49 deaths.

The new numbers have brought the county’s official tally to more than 130,126 cases, including at least 7,309 deaths.

However, the actual numbers of cases in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous county with over 100 million people, are thought to be far higher, in part due to limited testing.

Another bludgeoned to death in California hospital

Another  COVID-19 patient was bludgeoned to death with an oxygen tank last week by his roommate in a US hospital last week.

The 82-year-old man and his killer were sharing a two-person room at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, California.

The  Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the attack had occurred when the victim began to pray, angering the roommate.

The 37 year old suspect struck the older man with an oxygen tank at about 9:45 a.m., the Sheriff’s Department said.

Martinez was arrested and charged with murder, with a hate crime enhancement, and elder abuse. Bail was set at $1 million, and Martinez is scheduled to appear in Antelope Valley Court tomorrow, the Sheriff’s Department said.

By Simeon Ebulu, Group Business Editor

The long-awaited trade deal between the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK), following Britain’s exit from the EU, came to a successful conclusion on Thursday.

It followed months of long and intense negotiations between the parties.

At a Downing Street news conference, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said: “We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny.” Although the detail of the agreement has yet to be released, the Prime Minister claimed it was a “good deal for the whole of Europe”.

The UK is set to exit EU trading rules on Thursday – a year after officially leaving the 27 nation bloc.

The deal will mean big changes for business, with the UK and EU forming two separate markets and the end of free movement.

Johnson admitted that the agreement reflected what both sides wanted to achieve The trade deal will come as a major relief to many British businesses, already reeling from the impact of coronavirus, who feared disruption at the borders and the imposition of tariffs, or taxes on imports.

As the deal was announced, Johnson – who had repeatedly said the UK would “prosper mightily” without a deal – tweeted a picture of himself smiling with both thumbs lifted in the air, according to Reuters

Read Also: Britain, EU extend post-Brexit trade talks’ deadline

In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “This was a long and winding road but we have got a good deal to show for it,” adding that the deal was “fair” and balanced” adding that it is “time to turn the page and look to the future”. The UK “remains a trusted partner,” she stated.

Boris Johnson said the £668 billion a year agreement would “protect jobs across this country” and “enable UK goods to be sold without tariffs, without quotas in the EU market”. He nevertheless acknowledged that he had been forced to yield ground on his demands on fishing.

The UK Chief Trade negotiator Lord Frost said the full text of the free trade agreement would be published soon. The UK Parliament will be recalled on 30 December to vote on the deal – it will also need to be ratified by the European Parliament.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – who campaigned against Brexit – said his party would vote for the deal in the Commons, ensuring it will pass, saying it was “a thin agreement” that “does not provide adequate protections” for jobs, manufacturing, financial services or workplace rights and “is not the deal the government promised.

“But with no time left to renegotiate, the only choice was between “this deal or no deal,” he added. No deal would have “terrible consequences for this country and the Labour Party cannot allow that to happen”.

Agency Reporter

Syrian air defenses responded to an Israeli missile attack that targeted the western Masyaf area in Hama Governorate after midnight Thursday.

Syrian state TV broadcast images of the air defenses intercepting Israeli missiles in the sky over Masyaf.

The Syrian army said that the Israeli missile attack was launched from the Libyan capital city of Tripoli, adding that the Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles.

While the military statement did not name the exact target, Sham FM radio said the attack targeted the vicinity of a scientific research center in Masyaf. Explosions were heard in Syria’s central region, state TV reported earlier.

The Israeli action caused at least six deaths and an unknown number of injuries, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Israel often bombs targets of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, Lebanese or Iranian Shiite militias. However, the authorship of these attacks has rarely been officially confirmed.

Lebanon has staged border clashes, many times by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which fought with Israel in a war about 14 years ago.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

Bola Olajuwon

 

 

The United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) have agreed to a post-Brexit free trade deal, sealing the Britain’s exit from the bloc.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference yesterday that “it was a long and winding road, but we have a good deal to show for it”.

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted an image of himself in front of a British flag with his thumbs up. The picture was accompanied by the text: “The deal is done.”

The deal is “the biggest bilateral trade deal signed by either side, covering trade worth €747 billion (£668 billion, $909 billion) in 2019,” according to a British source.

The deal concludes talks on future terms of trade and competition that took place during the 11-month transition period that began when Britain formally left the EU on January 31.

By reaching a deal, the EU and UK have avoided resorting to potentially damaging World Trade Organisation trading terms.

The text of the deal, said to be some 2,000 pages long, has yet to be released. However, leaders referred to various aspects of the deal in Thursday’s press conference.

Britain claimed the deal protected its goals of regaining control of its money, borders, laws and fishing waters. Following the end of the transition period, the UK will no longer be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Von der Leyen said it protects the EU’s single market and contains safeguards to ensure Britain does not unfairly undercut the bloc’s standards.

On the key sticking point of fisheries, the EU is giving up a quarter of the quota it catches in UK waters. This is far less than the 80% Britain initially demanded. The system will be in place for 5.5 years, after which the quotas will be reassessed.

UK government would support fishing communities with £100 million (€111 million, $135 million) investment boost to modernize fishing industries. “We will be able to catch and eat prodigious amounts of fish,” Johnson said.

The French politician and chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said that the EU “will be alongside European fishermen to support them,” and promised that the deal provides ” a basis for reciprocal access to water and resources, with a new distribution of quotas and fishing opportunities.”

Barnier said that: “there will be some real changes ahead from January 1 for a lot of citizens and a lot of businesses. That is the consequence of Brexit.”

There will be free trade without tariffs between the UK and the EU. A new set of rules named “the level playing field” will “be the mark for the EU for all agreements regarding free trade,” Barnier told the press conference.

Von der Leyen said that the UK and the EU will continue cooperating on areas of mutual interest, naming climate, energy, security and intelligence and transport.

Read Also: EU threatens to pull out of Brexit talks

Johnson said that the deal protects police cooperation and shared intelligence. Both politicians, however, stayed notably vague on details. The UK prime minister said was “absolutely confident this is a deal that protects our police cooperation that protects our ability to catch criminals and share intelligence across the European continent in a way that we have done for many years.”

It emerged the UK would no longer participate in the Erasmus program that enables EU university students to spend time at a different European university and practice language skills.

Johnson said the UK plans on replacing Erasmus with a Turing program, named after mathematician Alan Turing, where students will be able to spend time at universities around the world.

Von der Leyen said she felt “relief” after long and exhausting negotiations. She added that “parting is such sweet sorrow”  – a line from the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet.

She quoted the American-British poet T.S Eliot: “What we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is often the beginning.”

“It is time to leave Brexit behind, our future is made in Europe,” she said in closing.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator said “the clock is no longer ticking” — a reversal of his warning in August after a round of trade talks left the two sides exasperated.

He said he regrets that the agreement reached on free movement was not a reflection of historically close ties.

Johnson called the deal “a jumbo, Canada-style free trade deal.”

He recast Britain as “an independent coastal state.”

“We’ve taken back control of our laws and our destiny,” said Johnson, adding that the UK would now be “unfettered.”

He said the EU was “a very noble enterprise” but that the UK had always had a difficult relationship with the bloc.

Under the new deal, the UK had now become the EU’s “flying buttress,” an architectural metaphor to describe a structure of stone, built against a wall to strengthen or support it.

“This deal expresses what the people of the country wanted in 2016,” he added.