Six In The Morning Monday 30 November 2020

 

Moderna Covid vaccine has 94% efficacy, final results confirm

US company submits data to start approval process with regulators around the world

Sarah Boseley Global health editor

Mon 30 Nov 2020 12.00 GMT

Final results from the trials of Moderna’s vaccine against Covid-19 confirm it has 94% efficacy and nobody who was vaccinated with it developed severe disease, said the company, kickstarting the approval process with regulators around the world.

The US company is submitting the data to the regulators in the US, Europe and the UK for an emergency licence. It expects the Food and Drug Administration in the US to consider it at its meeting on 17 December, Moderna said.

The UK has bought 7m doses of the vaccine, 5m on the day Moderna announced its interim result of 94.5% efficacy, and a further 2m last week. But supplies of the vaccine to the UK are not expected until March. Moderna, based in Massachusetts, has received $2.48bn in US federal funds and was a key part of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed.

Iran says weapon used to kill top nuclear scientist was ‘made in Israel’

The UAE has issued a statement calling it a ‘heinous assassination’

Mayank Aggarwal@journomayank

Iran has claimed that the weapon used to kill their top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who founded its military nuclear programme two decades ago, was made in Israel.

Ali Shamkhani, a member of Iran’s national security council, said the attack was “carried out using electronic devices”. He was speaking at a funeral service for Fakhrizadeh that took place outdoors at Iran's defence ministry in Tehran on Monday.

“No individual was present at the site” of the killing said Mr Shamkhani, according to Iran‘s state-controlled English-language Press TV. He also blamed an Iranian exile group, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, of "having a role” in the incident but did not elaborate on the claim.

France: Police face charges over beating of Black music producer

Four officers are reported to have been charged in connection with the beating of music producer Michel Zecler. Fresh police brutality accusations arose after arrests were made at security law protests over the weekend.

Four officers were reported to have been charged on Monday over the arrest of Black music producer Michel Zecler, who was shown being beaten for several minutes in video footage.

An examining magistrate in Paris charged three officers with "willful violence by a person holding public authority" and "forgery," a judicial source told news agency AFP. 

Video footage showed how music producer Zecler was repeatedly beaten by three officers and subjected to racial abuse as he tried to enter his music studio earlier this month.

Australia demands China apologise after 'repugnant' fake image posted on Twitter

Australia demanded an apology after a senior Chinese official posted a fake image of an Australian soldier holding a knife with blood on it to the throat of an Afghan child, calling it "truly repugnant" and demanding it be taken down.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison called a media briefing to condemn the posting of the image, marking another downturn in deteriorating relations between the two countries.

The Australian government has asked Twitter to remove the image, posted on Monday by China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on his official Twitter account, Morrison said.

Ethiopia: PM Abiy rejects claims army killed civilians in Tigray

Abiy Ahmed also told Parliament army would not destroy Tigrayan capital Mekelle after capturing it recently.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said federal troops had not killed a single civilian in their nearly month-long offensive against regional forces in Tigray.

Abiy also assured Parliament on Monday that the army would not destroy Mekelle, capital of Tigray, after announcing its capture yesterday.

The Ethiopian government has been trying to quell a rebellion by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a powerful ethnically based party that dominated the central government for nearly three decades until Abiy came to power in 2018.

'Firehose of falsehood:' How Trump is trying to confuse the public about the election outcome

By Brian Stelter, CNN Business

Updated 1539 GMT (2339 HKT) November 30, 2020

Trump is Trump. There's nothing new to say about the outgoing president. But there is still lots to learn about his enablers. So many people, from GOP functionaries to Fox News hosts, are helping him to undermine democracy by denying the election and attacking reality. So many people are complicit.

People like Maria Bartiromo. Formerly an acclaimed journalist, known around the world for making CEOs tell the truth, she now tees up Trump to recite lie after lie. Her Sunday morning call with Trump on Fox News was his first "interview" since he lost the election, but it wasn't a real interview at all. He wasn't ready to acknowledge that he lost, and neither was she. He displayed delusional weakness. She was complicit. And she's far from the only one.