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U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and President-elect Joe Biden both voiced new alarm Thursday about a wide intrusion into computer systems around the world that officials suspect was carried out by Russia.The cybersecurity unit of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the hack “poses a grave risk to the federal government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations.”The assessment by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency was the most pointed yet since news of the intrusion first emerged last weekend. Both the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments were among the agencies whose secure data and emails were penetrated by the hack.US Says Recent Hacking Campaign Hit Government NetworksThe hackers are believed to be working for RussiaThe cybersecurity unit warned that removing the malware inserted in the network software will be “highly complex and challenging.”Biden, set to become the 46th U.S. president after his January 20 inauguration, said, “There’s a lot we don’t yet know, but what we do know is a matter of great concern.”Biden said he had “instructed my team to learn as much as we can about this breach” and praised career government civil servants “who are working around-the-clock to respond to this attack.”He vowed that after he assumes power, “my administration will make cybersecurity a top priority at every level of government, and we will make dealing with this breach a top priority from the moment we take office.”Biden said he would strengthen the government’s cybersecurity partnerships with the private sector.“But a good defense isn’t enough,” he said. “We need to disrupt and deter our adversaries from undertaking significant cyberattacks in the first place.”“We will do that by, among other things, imposing substantial costs on those responsible for such malicious attacks, including in coordination with our allies and partners,” Biden said. “Our adversaries should know that, as president, I will not stand idly by in the face of cyber assaults on our nation.”
 
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Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf says his country has “failed” in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Swedish people have suffered “enormously” as a result.In pre-recorded comments released Thursday, the king said many people have died in Sweden from the virus, and “that is horrible.” The 74-old king, whose son and daughter-in-law tested positive for the virus last month, was asked if he was fearful of getting COVID-19 himself. “Lately, it has felt more obvious,” he said. “It has crept closer and closer. That is not what you want.”The king made the comments as part of a year-end holiday broadcast scheduled to air Monday on Swedish television. The monarch plays a ceremonial role and holds no political power.Sweden initially took a different approach to the pandemic than its Nordic neighbors, Norway and Denmark, as well as other nations in Europe. The government never imposed lockdowns or mandated face masks, allowed restaurants and businesses to remain open, and relied mainly on voluntary social distancing and hygiene recommendations to slow the spread.But the nation saw a rising death toll, particularly among elderly residents of care facilities, and its per capita death rate far exceeded that of Norway and Demark. In a preliminary report released Tuesday, an independent commission appointed by the Swedish government said the government failed to sufficiently protect the elderly in care homes from the virus.In recent weeks, the government has imposed tighter COVID-19 restrictions, mandating remote learning for schools, limiting the size of public gatherings and banning the sale of alcohol after 10 p.m. in bars and restaurants.Sweden’s total COVID-19-related deaths stand at 7,667, much higher than its regional neighbors, but still lower than other European nations such as Britain, Spain, Italy and France, all of whom imposed lockdowns.
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Student medics, retired doctors, pharmacists and soldiers are being drafted into a European COVID-19 vaccination campaign of unprecedented scale, beginning just after Christmas. As coronavirus cases continue to rise in a pandemic that has killed nearly half a million Europeans, the EU announced on Thursday that a bloc-wide inoculation campaign would begin on Dec. 27, four days after European authorities are expected to give approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Beyond hospitals and care homes, sports halls and convention centers emptied by lockdown measures will become venues for mass inoculations. In Italy, temporary solar-powered healthcare pavilions will spring up in town squares around the country, designed to look like five-petalled primrose flowers, a symbol of spring. Vaccines begin deployment as COVID-19 cases surgeAs more countries approve a coronavirus vaccine, the urgent need for inoculation continues to grow with COVID-19 cases and deaths spiking to record highs in several countries. Plus, British and European Union leaders vow to go the “extra mile” to reach a deal. Plus, what does the Electoral College vote mean for President Trump?Faced with a shortage of health professionals able to give the shot, many countries are on a recruitment drive. German states are calling on retired medics and company doctors to join the push, in some cases offering up to 140 euros ($170) an hour. “This will probably be the biggest mass vaccination campaign in history, certainly of our century and our generation,” Domenico Arcuri, Italy’s special commissioner for the COVID emergency, told reporters at a launch of national plans. A phased-in approach means frontline healthcare workers and elderly residents of care homes are being prioritized, with most national schemes not reaching the general public until the end of the first quarter of 2021 at the earliest. The goal of the 27-member European Union is nonetheless to reach coverage of 70% of its 450 million people. The European Commission, which struggled in the early months of the crisis to persuade national capitals to work together, is calling for the inoculation drive to be coordinated across borders. “This is a huge task. So let’s start rapidly with the vaccination together, as 27, on the same day,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week. On Thursday she confirmed the start date for the whole bloc would be Dec. 27. In a sign of the impatience of some member states, Germany had already announced that date on Wednesday. Bottleneck concerns  Britain, which quit the EU this year, was the first country to deploy the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine outside of clinical trials, giving it emergency approval two weeks ago. It said nearly 140,000 people received their first shots in the first week of roll-out. It is introducing a new national protocol allowing midwives, physiotherapists, pharmacists and others to give the shot.  “This will help ensure we have the workforce needed to deliver a mass COVID-19 vaccination program, in addition to delivery of an upscaled influenza program, in the autumn,” a government consultation document said. National rules vary by country. In France the injection must take place in the presence of a doctor. In Germany it can be administered by someone else as long as the patient can consult a doctor first. There is a concern social distancing rules and paperwork could create bottlenecks at inoculation venues such as Berlin’s Velodrom sports hall or the Hamburg trade hall. Some countries face extra hurdles. Portugal is establishing separate cold storage units for its Atlantic archipelagos of Azores and Madeira; non-EU member Norway is buying doses from neighboring Sweden. Armies in countries including Switzerland and Italy are set to help secure vaccine supplies, while in Germany the Bundeswehr – already involved in contact-tracing – is on standby to help with injections if local regions need it. With surveys showing many Europeans remain wary of taking a vaccine developed in record time, authorities are accompanying the push with information campaigns. Stefano Boeri, the architect behind Italy’s primrose-themed pavilions, said the spring flower was picked to “convey a sign of serenity and regeneration.” “If the virus has locked us in hospitals and homes, the vaccine will finally bring us back into contact with social life and the nature that surrounds us.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed a media investigation that identified those responsible for poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny as state security assassins. Speaking during his annual news conference, Putin called the report a “trick” and said Navalny was not important enough to be the target of such an attack. Putin added an accusation that Navalny received support from U.S. intelligence agencies. Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Trailed for Years Before Poisoning, Report Says An elite Russian intelligence chemical weapons unit tracked opposition figure Alexei Navalny for the past three years, according to investigative website BellingcatNavalny fell ill during a flight in Russia in August and was later flown to Germany for treatment.  Labs in Germany, France and Sweden said he was poisoned with Novichok, the same class of Soviet-era agent that Britain said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. Putin spoke about a range of topics during his appearance Thursday, including the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden. Putin said he hopes the change in president in January will help resolve some difficult issues in U.S.-Russian relations. In 2017, the U.S. intelligence community assessed Putin ordered an influence campaign targeting the 2016 U.S. presidential election with a goal of helping President Donald Trump’s chances of winning.  A later investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller detailed “sweeping and systemic” Russian government interference. Putin on Thursday reiterated Russia’s denial of the U.S. accusations. 
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The Czech Republic Wednesday launched nationwide COVID-19 testing in hopes of slowing the spread of virus in the country, which, like much of Europe, has seen a surge of infections in recent weeks.The Czech Health Ministry is offering the free antigen tests at about 170 testing sites around the country. The antigen tests are cheaper and faster but somewhat less accurate than standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory tests with results taking about 15 minutes. If someone tests positive, the ministry will administer a PCR test.The Health Ministry hopes to conduct 60,000 tests per day. The ministry’s web site says people can get tested repeatedly, every five days. Thousands registered for the first day of tests Wednesday.The Czech Republic experienced Europe’s biggest per-capita spikes in cases in October and November, and nearly 10,000 deaths in the country of 10.7 million. Criticized for its slow response to the pandemic, the government recently implemented COVID-19 restrictions, closing bars, restaurants and hotels, and imposing an overnight curfew.The country reported 5,315 new cases a day on average in the past week using the standard PCR tests, while the number of hospitalized patients grew to 4,632 from 4,475 a week ago.  
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Air pollution has been listed as a contributing factor in the death of a nine-year-old British girl in 2013.After a two-week inquest, coroner Philip Barlow determined that Ella Kissi-Debrah of South London died of acute respiratory failure, severe asthma and exposure to air pollution.It is the first time that air pollution has been listed as a contributing cause of death in Britain, the BBC reported.Kissi-Debrah had been very sick for a long time and was more susceptible to air pollution.According to the BBC, Stephen Holgate, professor of immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton, told Southwark Coroner’s Court that Kissi-Debrah had an “exceptionally rare” heath problem that put her at “exquisite” risk.  Barlow said traffic emissions, particularly nitrogen dioxide from diesel engines, contributed to her death. According to Reuters, Britain has failed to meet EU target levels of nitrogen dioxide.Holgate also told the inquest that there had been a spike in nitrogen dioxide caused by diesel engines.Testifying at the inquest, Dr. Bill Parish, deputy director of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said there had been an “uptick” in diesel vehicles, which were considered a way to combat carbon dioxide emissions.“I understand that it was trying to decrease carbon dioxide emissions … but the effect was to increase nitrogen dioxide emissions,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. “That is what the data starts to tell us when the diesel fleet starts increasing.”In 2001, the Labor government advocated switching to diesel cars to combat climate change.“In 2001, then-Chancellor Gordon Brown introduced a new system of car tax aimed at protecting the environment. In actual reality, it fostered a popular move towards highly polluting diesel cars — a trend, which according to some experts, has been associated with thousands of premature deaths a year,” the BBC reported in 2017.According to the BBC, the number of diesel vehicles in Britain grew from 3 million in 2000 to 12 million in 2017.“There was a recognized failure to reduce the levels of nitrogen dioxide, which possibly contributed to (Kissi-Debrah’s) death, Barlow testified at the inquest, according to the BBC. “There was also a lack of information given to Ella’s mother that possibly contributed to her death.”Barlow said if Kissi-Debrah’s mother, Rosamund, had known about the levels of pollution, she might have been able to take steps to help her daughter.”Today was a landmark case, a 7-year fight has resulted in air pollution being recognized on Ella’s death certificate. Hopefully this will mean many more children’s lives being saved,” Rosamund wrote on Twitter.This was the second inquest into the child’s death. A 2014 case did not consider air pollution as a possible cause, Reuters reported.Activists were happy with the decision, calling it historic and cause for the British government to crack down on air pollution.”The coroner’s unambiguous finding is a legal first and will certainly send a signal to the U.K. government,” said Katie Nield, a lawyer at environmental law charity ClientEarth, which helped Kissi-Debrah’s legal team, Reuters reported.Britain has pledged to ban the sale of gas and diesel cars and vans by 2030. 
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The United States has designated Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators for allegedly meddling in foreign exchange markets, sparking disputes with two trading partners.The countries were labeled as such Wednesday in a U.S. Treasury Department annual report aimed at stopping countries from manipulating their currencies to achieve unfair trade advantages.It is the first time the U.S. has branded another country as a currency manipulator since August 2019, when China was given the label while engaged in tense trade talks with the U.S.Washington dropped the designation in January after the two countries reached trade agreements, but Beijing’s yuan has remained on the Treasury Department’s list of currencies it is watching.China’s Yuan Drops to New Lows After Trump’s Tariff ThreatThe yuan’s drop will surely fuel tension with Washington and signal the possibility of a currency war with the USThe report said Switzerland and Vietnam were the only countries that met all three criteria for being labeled a currency manipulator, a move that leads to negotiations over the next year. If agreements are not reached, the U.S. can impose economic sanctions on the two countries.Other countries on the watchlist are India, Italy, Korea, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand.The report is the last one the Trump administration will produce, leaving it to President-elect Joe Biden’s treasury secretary to decide whether to maintain the designations.But a senior Treasury official said that Biden’s nominee, Janet Yellen, had not yet been informed of the designations and that the decisions rest with the Trump administration, according to The New York Times.The report, which covers market activity from July 2019 to June 2020, was released during a coronavirus pandemic that has weakened the global economy this year and triggered volatility in foreign exchange markets.
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Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other leaders of the country’s democratic opposition were awarded the European Parliament’s 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in a ceremony on December 16 in Brussels. Tsikhanouskaya received the prize from European Parliament President David Sassoli on behalf of the Coordination Council, a body set up by Belarus’s political opposition to facilitate a transfer of power in the country following a presidential election in August that the opposition says was rigged and the West has refused to accept. “An invisible wall of fear had been built around us,” Tsikhanouskaya told European lawmakers in her acceptance speech. “But this year, united, we believe that this wall of fear could be taken down, brick by brick. The dream of a better Belarus keeps us going. “Without a free Belarus, Europe is not truly free,” the opposition leader said. “Long live Europe, long live Belarus!” “Your fight is our fight,” Sassoli told the Belarusian opposition members during his introduction. Tsikhanouskaya has been in Brussels this week for talks with European Union leaders ahead of the ceremony to present the prestigious prize. European Parliament President David Sassoli and others applaud and congratulate Belarus’ opposition figures Veronika Tsepkalo (L) and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during the Sakharov Prize ceremony, at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Dec. 16, 2020. 
Sassoli has said the representatives of the Belarusian opposition were being recognized for the courage, resilience, and determination that they have shown in defense of the freedom of thought and expression. The $59,180 annual human rights prize is named after the Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov and was established in 1988 to honor individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. The award goes to several members of the Coordination Council, including Tsikhanouskaya, Maryya Kalesnikava, Veranika Tsapkala, Volha Kavalkova, and Syarhey Dyleuski; Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich; Tsikhanouskaya’s imprisoned husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski; the founder of the Telegram channel NEXTA, Stsyapan Putsila; Ales Byalyatski from the human rights organization Vyasna; and political prisoner Mikalay Statkevich, who was a presidential candidate in the 2010 election. Protests against longtime ruler Alexander Lukashenko have been ongoing since the disputed presidential election on August 9. FILE – Belarusian opposition supporters attend a rally to reject the presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 22, 2020.Lukashenko, in office since 1994, was officially declared the winner with more than 80 percent of the vote — a vote which the opposition, and many Belarusians, said was rigged and which they believe Tsikhanouskaya actually won. Police have violently cracked down on the protests, with more than 27,000 detentions, according to the United Nations. There have also been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment, and several people have died.   
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Bullet casings, weapons and unexploded mortars have been found at a military firing range-turned refugee camp in Greece, endangering the lives of thousands of asylum seekers and aid workers. International activists, though, are most concerned about potential lead poisoning which the heavy metals and their residue have left behind.The shocking revelation comes amid calls by Human Rights Watch for authorities on the island of Lesbos to suspend ongoing construction at the Kara Tepe camp and instead survey the soil of the former firing range for ordnance and potentially poisonous concentrations of lead.
 
“Academic research has shown that firing ranges are sites with soil lead contamination, meaning that anyone living or working on a former firing range could be exposed to lead through dust or soil,” said Katarina Rall, a senior researcher at HRW who was involved in an extensive study of the Kara Tepe camp. “So based on the research, we are concerned about the risk of lead poisoning for those living and working there, in particular, small children and pregnant people.”Greece Slams Turkey for Deadly Migrant Vessel SinkingAthens says Ankara is violating EU deal blocking migrant sea crossings to Europe; Ankara has not commentedDozens of pictures of ammunition scattered across the camp have been handed over to the authorities, but Human Rights Watch’s concerns and warnings have been dismissed, according Rall.“The Greek government has dismissed our concerns, but they did not provide any evidence of comprehensive soil testing,” Rall said. “In fact, they told us that they did not test the soil prior to moving the people to the camp.”A Defense Ministry spokesman contacted by VOA said special ordnance crews had cleared the former shooting range and surveyed its ground for poisonous metals when the camp was built in September. The camp is designed to relocate more than 12,500 migrants and refugees left homeless after a fire razed the island’s main encampment in a region nine kilometers north of Kara Tepe.They said the findings of that report would be released in the coming weeks.Human Rights Watch though, is calling for fresh tests to be conducted and blood samples taken from the more than 2,500 children at the refugee camp on Lesbos.Rall says the group also wants ongoing electricity and water works projects at Kara Tepe to be halted until the new surveys are completed.“Lead is toxic and can be extremely harmful to human health, especially young children and during pregnancy,” Rall said. “According to the WHO, there is no safe level of lead and putting thousands of migrants, adults and children along with aid workers on top of a former firing range speaks volumes of the attitude of the Greek government on the importance it attaches to the rights of migrants.”Migration ministry officials refused to comment on the allegations.The allegations though, add to growing criticism of Greece and its handling of a lingering migration crisis which the government in Athens says it can no longer manage alone.More than 100,000 asylum seekers remain stranded in this country, four years after a million mainly Syrian refugees flooded Europe in the biggest migration push since the Second World War.
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The Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act have just been presented in Brussels. These proposed policies aim to revise all the principles that apply to digital services within the 27 member states — from the publication of illegal content on social networks to the sale of products online.Big Tech companies will not be allowed, for example, to stop users from uninstalling preinstalled software or apps, nor will they be able to use data from business users to compete against them.To do so, the European Union governing body would allow fines of up to 10% of annual global revenue. Another part of the European plan is to make sure e-commerce platforms take more responsibility for their goods and services.European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said these new regulations are the right tools to bring “order to chaos” on the internet and to rein in the online “gatekeepers” that dominate the market.“The two proposals, they serve one purpose: to make sure that we, as users, customers, businesses, have access to a wide choice of safe products and services online, just as well as we do in the physical world,” Vestager said. “Whether from our streets or from our screens, we should be able to do our shopping in a safe manner. Whether we turn pages or we just scroll down, we should be able to choose and trust the news that we read. Of course, what is illegal offline is equally illegal online.”After the announcement, some companies criticized the move. A spokesperson for Google said the company was concerned that the measures “seem to specifically target a handful of companies.”Thierry Breton, European commissioner for internal market, denied those allegations.“We respect companies, but we say the bigger they are, the more obligations they may have to fulfill,” Breton said. “What is important to us is that everybody is welcome in Europe, but our responsibility is to decide and give directions and rules to protect what is important to us. These are not two acts where we would say that these companies are too big, and we propose a dismantle. Not here, not on this side of the ocean.”The coming new regulations announced in Brussels echoed the concerns over the world about the influence of big technology companies. In the United States, regulators have increased scrutiny on Google and Facebook, and antitrust cases are looming.  
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