Six In The Morning Friday 20 November 2020

 

Covid vaccine: Pfizer applies for first approval in US

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech are on Friday filing for emergency authorisation in the US of their Covid-19 vaccine.

It will be the job of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to decide if the vaccine is safe to roll out.

It is not clear how long the FDA will take to study the data. However, the US government expects to approve the vaccine in the first half of December.

Data from an advanced trial showed the vaccine protects 94% of adults over 65.

Ethiopia fighting could drive 200,000 to Sudan in coming months, says UN

Officials warn that number of refugees crossing border already surpassing preparations

Kate Hodal and Jason Burke

Fri 20 Nov 2020 13.16 GMT

Violence in northern Ethiopia will probably drive 200,000 people into neighbouring Sudan over the coming months, UN agencies have warned, where food, shelter and medicine are urgently needed.

The number of refugees streaming across the border has already surpassed agency preparations by 11,000 people, a UN refugee agency official said.

“Together with all the agencies, we built a response plan for about 20,000 people and currently we are at about 31,000, so it has already surpassed that figure,” Axel Bisschop told a Geneva briefing. “The new planning figure is around 200,000.”

Macron tells France’s Muslims to adopt ‘republican values’

The French Council of the Muslim Faith has agreed to form a national council of Imams

Mayank Aggarwal@journomayank

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked the country’s Muslim leaders to accept a charter of “republican values” which states that Islam is not a political movement and prohibits “foreign interference” in Muslim groups.

On Wednesday, the French president met eight leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) and asked them to accept the charter within 15 days, following which the latter agreed to form a national council of Imams – which can issue and withdraw official accreditation to Imams, local media reported.

"Two principles will be inscribed in black and white [in the charter]: the rejection of political Islam and any foreign interference," reported Le Parisien newspaper.

What would happen if youth ran international climate talks?

Frustrated that climate talks are not going ahead this month, Licypriya Kangujam and other young activists are taking part in a "Mock COP26." What are they hoping to achieve?

At just nine years old, Licypriya Kangujam is used to being told she is too young to be involved in climate activism. But she disagrees: "Age doesn't matter if you want to make a difference."

And to prove her point, she gave one of the opening speeches at the Mock COP26 — a two-week youth-led online event organized in response to the year-long postponement of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Who is Bobi Wine, one of Uganda's most prominent opposition figures?

At least thirty-seven people died in violent clashes between Ugandan security forces and supporters of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine this week, marking a particularly violent start to the country's election season.

Long a source of national pride, the moral integrity of Australia's military is now at stake

Analysis by Angus Watson, CNN

Updated 0855 GMT (1655 HKT) November 20, 2020

All Australians are taught the ode of remembrance, recited for the nation's fallen soldiers known lovingly as "Diggers."

That nickname evokes the memory of Gallipoli, the Turkish peninsula where, in the trenches of World War I, the young nation's soldiers helped to forge a national identity. So Australian school students are taught.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn."