Six In The Morning Wednesday 24 February 2021

 

Fight over top Biden pick highlights battles that will shape his presidency

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN

Updated 1449 GMT (2249 HKT) February 24, 2021

The reeling nomination of Neera Tanden as White House budget director is highlighting the crucial early battles on Capitol Hill that will shape the future of the Biden presidency, the terrain of the midterm elections and the fate of the Republican Party.

Two Senate committees overseeing Tanden's nomination postponed votes on Wednesday on whether to move her candidacy to the full chamber. The White House insisted it would not fold on trying to get her confirmed but her path forward -- amid controversy about her past tweets slamming Republicans -- is looking increasingly impossible. Aides to Joe Biden know this first big fight over a key nominee will help set the terms of the new President's relationship with Congress.

Jamal Khashoggi: US report expected to name Saudi crown prince as complicit in murder

President Biden to call King Salman as his administration prepare to release intelligence report in ‘long awaited step’

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington

@skirchy

Wed 24 Feb 2021 15.58 GMT

Joe Biden is expected to call Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Wednesday, as his administration prepares to release an unclassified intelligence report that many experts expect will name the royal’s son and heir as complicit in the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Biden’s plan to call to the 85-year-old ruler was reported on Tuesday night by Axios.

The decision comes as the White House is facing calls by human rights activists and Saudi dissidents to “strike a blow” against Saudi human rights violations with new sanctions that they say could help rein in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s crackdown on dissidents and turn the page on the Trump administration’s “embrace of despots”.

Greece mulls legal reforms amid high-profile sex abuse case

The former director of Greece’s National Theatre has appeared before a public prosecutor to respond to child abuse allegations in a case that has triggered a debate on legal reforms needed to prosecute sex crimes

Via AP news wire

The former director of Greece’s National Theatre appeared Wednesday before a public prosecutor to respond to child abuse allegations in a case that has triggered a major political dispute and a debate on reforms needed to prosecute sex crimes.

The 56-year-old suspect was taken into police custody on Saturday and resigned his position as the theatre's artistic director earlier this month.

Defense lawyer Alexis Kougias denied the charges on behalf of his client and formally requested that the case be dismissed. He said the court granted a 24-hour extension to present a defense.

How a Syrian torture victim found justice in Germany

Luna Watfa was imprisoned by Syria's secret service. Now in Germany, she has closely followed the trial of regime torturers in a Koblenz court.

Luna Watfa spent more than 60 days in the courtroom, hoping for answers, for justice — and reliving painful experiences. "I remember what happened to me," she says. "When I have to hear the same details about torture from witnesses, it is very difficult for me."

On the opposite bank of the Rhine from her home in Koblenz is the courthouse that Watfa, who has two children, knows so well. Two former members of Syria's secret service went on trial there for crimes against humanity in April 2020. The trial was the first of its kind: an effort to illuminate Syria's brutal repressive system by holding its agents accountable abroad.

First vaccines delivered under global Covax scheme

Ghana became the first country to receive vaccines from the global Covax scheme on Wednesday, paving the way for poorer nations to catch up with inoculation drives in wealthier parts of the world to stamp out the coronavirus pandemic.

But Europe's vaccine rollout faced fresh woes after AstraZeneca said it would only be able to deliver half its promised doses to the EU, deepening ongoing tensions with the bloc over supply shortfalls.

More than 217 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, according to an AFP tally Wednesday, though the vast majority have been given in high-income countries.

Turkey sentences pilots, airline official over Ghosn escape

Former Nissan chief was flown from Osaka to Istanbul on a private plane and then transferred onto another plane to Beirut.

A Turkish court has convicted two pilots and an official from a private airline over their involvement in former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn’s dramatic escape out of Japan in 2019.

The court in Istanbul sentenced each of them to four years and two months in prison on Wednesday.

It acquitted two other pilots of the charge of “illegally smuggling a migrant”. Two flight attendants were also acquitted of failing to report a crime.