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The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines don't appear to pose any serious risks during pregnancy, a new study found.
The post Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines Appear Safe, Effective for Pregnant Women: Study appeared first on The Washington Informer.
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
Police yesterday nabbed five men suspected of being part of a vehicle theft and smuggling syndicate. BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE The thieves were caught after they allegedly smuggled a stolen white Toyota Hilux single cab vehicle from South Africa and drove it to Zimbabwe, but they ran out of fuel along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday confirmed the arrest. “A white Toyota Hilux single cab was stolen in South Africa on December 3 and it was driven to Zimbabwe. Police managed to arrest five suspects in Mazunga area,” Nyathi said without naming them. “The area where they were arrested is 255km along Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road, after the vehicle had run out of fuel. Investigations are still in progress.” Nyathi said they had received a report from the South African side that a hired car had gone missing. “We received a report that a white Hilux which belonged to a car rental company had been hired on December 3 and was supposed to be returned on December 4. The car was not returned and on December 5 a report was made to the Beitbridge Police that a vehicle was missing. “The five were caught when they tried to refuel the car after they had run out of fuel. Investigations are still ongoing.” In 2018, a 63-year-old South African national Willem Schalk Janzen-Root was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe over vehicle smuggling charges. Janzen-Root was believed to be part of a vehicle trafficking syndicate which uses Zimbabwe as a transit route for luxury cars from South Africa for resale in other countries. Follow Praisemore on Twitter @TPraisemore
ZIMBABWE’s year-on-year inflation rate dropped to 401,66% in November, from 471% the previous month, data released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) yesterday shows. BY FIDELITY MHLANGA This means prices, as measured by the all items consumer price index (CPI), increased by an average of 401,66% between November last year and November 2020. Data on pricing trends was collected between November 12 and 18, according to a statement by ZimStat. The agency did not state the reasons behind the slowdown. Year-on-year inflation reached a post-dollarisation zenith of 837,53% in July, much to the chagrin of authorities who then instituted a raft of measures to douse the flame. In August, inflation eased to 761,02% after one of the sources of growing inflation, the forex exchange parallel market was tamed when the central bank intensified a clampdown on mobile money agents and other digital money transfer platforms. Government also suspended trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in June, accusing the bourse of fuelling inflation, before reopening it in August. However, there has been debate about the accuracy of inflation data. Government has been saying the inflation rate has been slowing down, while the cost of living has generally been increasing. Last month, ZimStat said the monthly cost of living rose by 4,4% to $18 750 in October, from $17 956,87 in September. So steep were price hikes during the period that in Matabeleland North, consumers required up to $20 679 for a family of five to pull through. There has been no let up on price hikes across the country since then. Normally an inflationary slide means that prices are stabilising. Escalating living expenses exert pressure on thousands of Zimbabweans who have been thrown out of jobs after an intensification of de-industrialisation in the past year. Over one million more Zimbabweans joined the jobless ranks this year after blanket firm shutdowns were effected by government to prevent contagion as the deadly COVID-19 pandemic tore through provinces. But even those formally employed will feel the heat. Very few workers currently earn over $14 500 because companies are struggling to stay afloat due to diminished demand precipitated by a gruelling economic crisis. The least paid civil servant earns about $14 500. Experts say millions of Zimbabweans living in rural areas will sink into abject poverty as steep rises in basic commodity prices erode their already over-stretched buying power following the prolonged economic crisis. “The TCPL (total consumption poverty line) for an average of five persons stood at $18 750,35 in October 2020,” ZimStat said in November. “This means that an average household required that much to purchase both food and non-food items for them not to be deemed poor. This represents an increase of 4,4% when compared to the September 2020 figure of $17 956,87. In September, a family of five needed $17 956,87 not to be deemed poor,” ZimStat said, adding that the TCPL for Zimbabwe stood at $3 750,07 per person in October 2020. This me
The best inventors often have a knack for turning problems into profits with an innovative, market-shattering product.
MDC-T president Thokozani Khupe has recalled the mayors of Chinhoyi, Chegutu and Bindura and several councillors for refusing to cross over to her party after they continued to align themselves to the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa. BY RICHARD MUPONDE/NHAU MANGIRAZI/SIMBA SITHOLE The recalls were announced through a letter which was written by MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora to Local Government minister July Moyo. Bindura mayor Carlos Tokyo was recalled yesterday and immediately an election was held which replaced him with Brian Kembo, another Chamisa loyalist. Chinhoyi mayor Dyke Makumbi was recalled together with councillors Patricia Chibaya (ward 2), Richard Vhitirinyu (ward 3), Brighton Mhizha (ward 4), and Chipotle Mlotshwa (ward 14). Chegutu mayor Mukudzei Chigumbura was also recalled together with three councillors Alice Kudhlande (ward 11), Edward Dzeka (ward nine) and Rhydes Machekera (ward 2). Mashonaland West MDC Alliance spokesperson Blessing Mandava yesterday confirmed the recall of his party’s councillors. “Mwonzora the embattled and conflicted MDC-T secretary-general has recalled three Chegutu West and six Chinhoyi councillors after failing to arm-twist them to dump the MDC Alliance and join his band of praise singers. The councillors chose to stand with the people who voted for them as they are not in politics for money or positions but to serve and save the people,” Mandava said. He said Khupe’s MDC-T had been using the carrot and stick approach to lure legislators and city fathers to their party, as well as punish those who were not dancing to their tune. “The recalled councillors chose to stand with the people than to bask in the MDC-T’s short honeymoon. As a province, we are quite aware of the Zanu PF shenanigans to destabilise not only our councils but also the MDC Alliance through its proxies. We will not lose sleep over these recalls neither shall we retreat nor surrender,” he said. The party also recalled four councillors in Masvingo namely, Tarusenga Vhembo (ward 3), Godfrey Kurauone (ward 4), Daniel Mberikunashe (ward 5) and Richard Musekiwa (ward 7) for siding with Chamisa in the on-going fight for control of the opposition party. The dismissal of the four means by-elections will have to be held and the MDC Alliance majority in council reduced from seven to three. Zanu PF has three councillors in Masvingo City Council. Follow us on Twitter @NewsDayZimbabwe
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has officially announced his re-election campaign for four more years in the 2021 Mayor’s race. During a virtual announcement, Duggan, 62, spoke after a video played featuring residents and leaders [including Governor Gretchen Whitmer] showing their support for him. “It’s been quite a journey we’ve been on the last eight years,” … Continued
The post ‘We Can Rebuild This City:’ Mayor Mike Duggan Announces Re-Election Campaign appeared first on The Michigan Chronicle.
Carolyn Wright named Interim Director of Solid Waste Management Division and Kenneth Allen named Interim…
The post Mayor Sylvester Turner Appoints Two Interim Directors appeared first on Houston Forward Times.
[Thomson Reuters Foundation] New York -- Many shipping and transport workers have been at sea as long as 17 months or longer, due to COVID-19-related restrictions
There is virtually nowhere that COVID-19 has not touched this year, and the music industry is no exception. On Instagram... View Article
The post Jeremih speaks out for the first time after being released from the hospital appeared first on TheGrio.
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf revealed today that he tested positive for coronavirus but will continue to work remotely. The governor... View Article
The post Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf tests positive for coronavirus appeared first on TheGrio.
An Anti-Jihadist Military Operation in Egypt
The Egyptian army said Tuesday its air force had \"managed to eliminate 25 takfiri elements” i.e. jihadists and that another 15 suspected Islamist militants had been killed \"in special operations\" since September with combined ground operations in the northeastern Sinai region, the site of an Islamist insurgency in the country. In addition, the army said the operations also \"resulted in the arrest of 12 other\" suspected extremist fighters and that it had destroyed 437 weapons caches, defused 159 improvised explosive devices, and confiscated dozens of other types of weapons.
The statement also mentioned that its own army personnel had been either wounded or killed, without specifications.
Background
Egyptian forces have fought the jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula for years. A problematic presence led mainly by the local branch of the Islamic State group.
Terrorist attacks have multiplied in the region since the army ousted President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.
Egyptian authorities have been conducting a nationwide operation against Islamist militants - mainly focused on the northern Sinai and the Western Desert, since February 2018.
About 970 suspected militants and dozens of security personnel have been killed in the Sinai, according to official figures. However, as North Sinai is off-limits to journalists n o independently-sourced death toll is as yet publicly available.
Since the D.C. Council approved legislation allowing the vaccination of children under the age of 11 without parental consent, parents in the District and beyond have pivoted their attention to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who must sign Bill 23-0171 before it enters the congressional review process.
The coronavirus COVID-19 is surging in the U.S., which has reported more than 15 million cases and 286,000 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. President-elect Joe Biden has said the incoming administration will ensure the country will have 100 million doses available during his first […]
Many Remember Their British Pop Star
Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of the death of John Lennon — a quarter of the internationally celebrated English band The Beatles, who was fatally shot outside his New York City apartment building on the evening of December 8, 1980, at coincidentally just 40 years old. His former bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, his surviving widow Yoko — as well as other family members, took to social media to post messages in remembrance of the singer-songwriter.
Four friends from Liverpool, England, formed a music group that would become a worldwide phenomenon in the early 1960s, The Beatles.
The Black-American Influenced Beatles
The rock and roll musical style they adopted had its roots in Black American music and Lennon, in particular, was outspoken on the impact black artists had on the group’s sound and songs. Music stars like Elvis Presley were never known to publicly admit to the imitation and — in several occasions, the alleged outright stealing of musical styles and songs from black American artists who typically did not have access to the same platforms and production technology. A symptom of a structurally and historically racist and segregated society at the time in the USA.
The Beatles, however, were more open and honest about the musical and artistic influences on their songs — even naming highly innovative and legendary black American talents such as Chuck Berry, Arthur Alexander, and Barrett Strong.
Following the band’s breakup, Lennon sent a handwritten response to a piece published by the New York Times entitled 'So in the End, the Beatles Have Proved False Prophets,' accusing the band, among other things, of making off with black music for their own benefit.
Lennon’s reply read, \"We didn’t sing our own songs in the early days — they weren’t good enough. The one thing we always did was to make it known that there were black originals, we loved the music and wanted to spread it in any way we could.”
A sentiment apparently shared by bandmate McCartney who has also admitted, “We were the biggest nickers in town. Plagiarists extraordinaires.”
Nevertheless, both The Beatles and John Lennon were beloved worldwide by many of their fans, who continue to remember him on the anniversary of his passing.
Five people have been killed in election-linked violence in Ghana, police said on Wednesday in what it described as separate incidents that occurred since the morning of Monday's presidential and parliamentary vote.
The Ghanaian Police Service said it recorded over 60 incidents. \"Twenty-one of the incidents are true cases of electoral violence, six of which involve gunshots resulting in the death of five,\" it said.
President Nana Akufo-Addo ran for re-election against main rival, former President John Mahama, and 10 other candidates.
On Tuesday, opposition leader John Mahama warned President Nana Akufo-Addo against any attempt to steal this week's election, as both sides claimed they were winning ahead of official results of the vote.
The elections have largely been deemed free and fair by observers but t he strong statement by John Mahama raised the temperature after Monday's presidential and parliamentary polls in a country known for stability in a troubled region.
\"Some of what is happening is unacceptable and Nana Akudo-Addo continues to show credentials that are very undemocratic,\" Mahama told a hastily convened press conference in the capital Accra Tuesday evening.
\"You cannot use the military to try and overturn some of the results in constituencies that we have won. We will resist any attempts to subvert the sovereign will of the Ghanaian people,\" the 62-year-old former president said.
Information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told a press conference -- convened just minutes after Mahama spoke -- that allegations of intimation by soldiers were false.
The electoral commission has yet to announce the final official results but the race was expected to be close between Mahama and Akufo-Addo, 76, of the centre-right New Patriotic Party (NPP), with recent polls putting the incumbent narrowly ahead.
The presidency released an unofficial tally on Tuesday claiming that results from 91 percent of polling stations showed the president with 52.25 percent of votes and Mahama with 46.44 percent.
Mahama, the leader of the centre-left National Democratic Congress (NDC), meanwhile claimed that his party had won a majority -- 140 -- of the 275 seats in parliament.
\"We thank the Ghanaian people for the confidence they've expressed in us. It's clear, the Ghanaian people want change in this country,\" Mahama said.
The government strongly rejected the opposition's claim that it had won a parliamentary majority, saying the announcement \"could endanger the peace of this country.\"
Oppong Nkrumah said \"this dog whistle to supporters by the candidate to jubilate, to get out on the streets\" was \"categorically irresponsible and it flies in the face of good conduct.\"
- 'Isolated challenges' -
The electoral commission has urged the public to wait, saying it was \"working round the clock to ensure that the collated results are accurate and a true refection of the will of the people\".
\"The commission will release all the certified results as soon as they are received,\" it said in a statement on Tuesday aftern
Marcia Fudge will be nominated as the next Housing and Urban Development Secretary.
(Partner Content) This past weekend saw tensions heighten as a possible Brexit outcome was on the table. When Monday rolled around, however, Boris Johnson was ready to walk away from everything and continue with a no-deal Brexit come the end of the year. The three main issues of fisheries, dispute resolution and a level playing field remain unresolved.
A bodybuilder from Kazakhstan legally married a sex doll and shared the happy news on Instagram after going viral over the globe.
Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland are emerging as the leading contenders to be nominated... View Article
The post Biden’s attorney general search is focused on Jones, Garland appeared first on TheGrio.
[Centre 4s] Nouakchott -- In the Sahel, with Covid 19, 2020 will be a pivotal year in the fight against armed groups, some of which are supported from outside. Moreover, a year of Partnerships and quest for coherence in cooperative policies. Finally, a year of thinking on the responsibility to deliver, and thus to putting an end to conflicts. Despite Covid19 perverse effects and an increasing internationalisation. Covid 19, terrorism and humanitarian crises
It’s the news we have all been fearing - if not expecting. Zweli Mkhize has revealed a second wave of COVID-19 is now sweeping across South Africa.
A HUMAN rights group has urged authorities in Bulawayo to immediately activate disaster response mechanisms as flash floods continue to pound parts of the city, destroying infrastructure and property. By NQOBANI NDLOVU/PATRICIA SIBANDA Flash floods hit Bulawayo on Monday, leaving several houses waterlogged and in the process destroying household property. Some of the affected areas include Pumula, Nketa, Emganwini, Nkulumane and Cowdray Park, among others. The Matabeleland Institute of Human Rights (MIHR) said the damage caused meant that the authority should immediately activate disaster response measures to prevent loss of lives and property. “MIHR urges responsible authorities to immediately start instituting climate crisis disaster response measures to avert loss of lives and human rights violations due to floods,” the MIHR said in a statement. “We need climate resilient infrastructure and to partly solve this there is a need to localise disaster response mechanisms. Most of our urban local authorities are not doing disaster planning, and at the local level there are no disaster response committees.” Bulawayo deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube said the local authority had deployed disaster management teams in the western suburbs to rescue residents in the event of flooding. 'Our fire rescue team is ready to work in case floods occur. We do not usually have serious floods but what we have done is to dispatch our teams to the western areas to attend to any emergencies,” Ncube said. Last year, the State’s disaster management agency, Civil Protection Unit (CPU) was blamed for poor response mechanisms after failing to take measures to prepare for, and reduce the effects of Cyclone Idai which killed hundreds and displaced thousands in the country. In April 2019, human rights activist Khumbulani Maphosa petitioned the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to investigate the CPU after accusing the disaster management agency of incompetence; omission and failure after Cyclone Idai hit the country. Zimbabwe is not spared the effects of climate change disasters such as drought and flash floods, which have become commonplace, destroying property and other infrastructure.
THE adage that misfortunes never come single has proven correct for the people of Chipinge and Chimanimani who now suffer the double blow of fighting COVID-19, while at the same time they are also licking the wounds caused by Cyclone Idai which severely damaged their infrastructure. BY MAURICE DUNDU Sadly, most of the victims of this double tragedy are married women whose husbands work in South Africa, while they are left to bear the painful burden of taking care of their children alone. To add to their problems, in most cases their husbands have second wives or concubines in the neighbouring countries where they work. Chipinge has always experienced problems of young men, especially those that fail to make it educationally, and who then opt to travel to South Africa to look for work while leaving behind their families in Zimbabwe. Most of the families that are left behind suffer in times of natural disasters such as Cyclone Idai and during pandemics such as COVID-19. Their situation is further worsened by the fact that most Ndau men from Chipinge take long to return from South Africa as they want to first accumulate money and goods before coming back. Coming home empty handed is considered an insult to the women and children who would have endured the pain of missing them for a long time, only for them to return empty handed. The COVID-19 lockdown bailout package for workers in foreign countries also does not consider the plight of the poor women and children in Zimbabwe. The workers also have been struggling to survive during the lockdown period in that country, which means that after the relaxation of the lockdown period they have to work first to get more money before dreaming of coming back. A Ndau man who works in South Africa known as Baba aKali said coming back home after the relaxation of the COVID-19 lockdown will take long as he needs to work to make up for the time and money lost during lockdown. “Coming home will take long for many workers here as they need to recover the money lost during the lockdown period. Life here is not that rosy. It is difficult with this COVID-19,” aKali said. Audience Zondwayo from Chipinge West said the COVID-19 pandemic has further worsened the situation in Chipinge where people are still struggling to recover from the effects of Cyclone Idai. Zondwayo said some women whose husbands work in South Africa have started small businesses like vending, and market gardening as they tried to recover from the effects of Cyclone Idai. “After Cyclone Idai people resorted to vending to ameliorate hunger, but during the COVID-19 lockdown period their wares like vegetables got rotten as they could not go out to sell them,” Zondwayo said. He said this deprived the women from income to support their children given that their husbands were either also struggling or supporting other women in foreign lands. The women whose husbands work in foreign lands end up suffering materially, emotionally and they are also sex starved. Unfortunately for them, while their husbands can have concubines or sec
