Politics

• Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:31 UTC

  Biden claims US security agencies have been “hollowed out” under Trump and calls it a major irresponsibility

  

  President-elect Joe Biden said on Monday many of America's security agencies had been “hollowed out” under President Donald Trump and the lack of information being provided to his transition team by the outgoing administration was an “irresponsibility.”

• Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:30 UTC

  “Nobody pressures me for anything”, blasts Bolsonaro when asked about Covid-19 vaccines

  

  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, one of the world's most prominent coronavirus skeptics, said over the weekend he was not worried about criticism over the speed of Brazil's vaccine rollout, saying he felt no pressure.

• Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:22 UTC

  Maduro calls on Judiciary to act against “unconstitutional” opposition controlled National Assembly

  

  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday said a move by the opposition-controlled National Assembly to extend its term into next year was “unconstitutional,” and called on the country's justice system to “do its work.”

• Tuesday, December 29th 2020 - 09:20 UTC

  Spain trying to prevent a hard border with Gibraltar; commuters will have a special document

  

  Cross-border workers who commute between Gibraltar and Spain will be exempt from border controls after Brexit even if no agreement on free movement is reached with Britain, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Monday.

• 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.