Stories for December 2020

Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:20 UTC
Spain creates registry of people refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19

Spain will set up a registry of people who refuse to be vaccinated against the new coronavirus and share it with other European Union member states, although it will not be made public, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Monday.
Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:08 UTC
Pfizer delay in shipments affects eight European countries

Pfizer has postponed the delivery of new batches of its coronavirus vaccine to eight European nations including Spain, the Spanish health ministry said on Monday, a day after the European Union began its immunization campaign.
Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:04 UTC
Mexican president plays a “Fools' Day” prank on the “conservative media”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday played a trick on the media, pretending he was going to end the daily news conferences that he has used to pillory critics and dominate the national news cycle.
Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:01 UTC
China censorship: four-year jail term for journalist who reported on the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan

A Chinese court handed a four-year jail term on Monday to a citizen-journalist who reported from the central city of Wuhan at the peak of last year's coronavirus outbreak, on grounds of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” her lawyer said.
Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:00 UTC
With Trump debilitated and Republicans divided, Congress running the US

The Democratic-led US House of Representatives voted 275-134 to meet President Donald Trump’s demand for US$2,000 Covid-19 relief checks on Monday, sending the measure on to an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 08:00 UTC
Poisoned dissident Navalny, “Blockhead”, underpants, beards and consonants

By Gwynne Dyer – Surely you don’t want to read about the new, faster-spreading variant of the coronavirus today, or the fourth Israeli election in two years, and I certainly don’t want to write about them. So here are a few matters of lesser import, culled from yesterday’s media.
Monday, December 28th 2020 - 09:39 UTC
Malvinas Veteran in tears after his Argentine military ID was sold on the UK eBay website

By Heather Briley for MercoPress

LONDON, UK – Almost forty years after the Falklands conflict the identity document of an Argentine soldier has been sold on the UK eBay website. It belongs to the director of the Malvinas Museum in Buenos Aires, Edgardo Esteban, 58. He expressed his dismay at the sale and was moved to tears that it had surfaced after all this time.
Monday, December 28th 2020 - 09:26 UTC
Argentina will begin inoculation with the Russian vaccine on Tuesday

Argentina will begin vaccinating its citizens against coronavirus on Tuesday using the recently delivered Russian Sputnik V vaccine, the government said on Saturday, following its approval by health authorities for emergency use.
Monday, December 28th 2020 - 09:20 UTC
Falklands fishing companies first reaction to the UK/EU post Brexit agreement

The Falklands Islands Fishing Companies Association have made public a first reaction to the post Brexit agreement announced by the UK and the European Union, in which they assess the impact of the deal which excludes any consideration of exports from the Falklands to the EU:
Monday, December 28th 2020 - 09:15 UTC
Argentine Senate debates abortion bill on Tuesday; tight vote but with good chances of passing

The Argentine Senate will on Tuesday debate a Bill that, if it passes into law, would make the country by far the largest in Latin America to legalize abortion. The proposed legislation would allow women to terminate pregnancies up until the 14th week. Currently, abortion is allowed only in cases of rape and when there is a threat to the life of the mother.