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Politics

Biden administration turns focus to Iran as Blinken meets with allies

Biden administration turns focus to Iran as Blinken meets with allies

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to State Department officials during U.S. President Joe Biden’s first visit to Washington, DC on February 4, 2021.

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold a virtual meeting with America’s key European allies on Friday evening to discuss strategy toward Iran, Western diplomats and senior US officials told NBC News.

Blinken will discuss Iran with the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Great Britain. The diplomats will also discuss the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the situation in Myanmar. The last time the Secretary of State held a call in this format was in 2018, when the US pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal, according to NBC.

The meeting will take place after President Joe Biden’s National Security Council meets on Friday afternoon to discuss the government’s stance on Iran. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the NSC meeting was part of an ongoing policy review and no announcements would be made.

The developments are the strongest indication so far of Biden’s intention to turn the page of former President Donald Trump’s independent approach to Iran and diplomacy in general, and to return the US to a multilateral foreign policy.

An Iranian flag is pictured near a missile during a military exercise involving the Iranian Air Defense Forces Iran on October 19, 2020.

WANA News Agency | Reuters

The White House plans to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal, but insists that Iran return to full compliance first. The Biden administration has promised to consult closely with US allies on their stance on Iran.

Trump withdrew the US from the deal because it did not restrict Iran’s ballistic missile program or address Tehran’s support for militant groups.

Iran withdrew its obligations under the deal when the Trump administration pursued a “maximum pressure” policy by imposing crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif suggested on Monday that Washington and Tehran should return to the deal at the same time, with diplomatic support from the European Union.

However, the Biden administration rejected this proposal.

“As President Biden said, the proposal is on the table that we will be ready when Iran fully complies with the JCPOA again,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday.

The US has not yet had talks with Iran over the nuclear deal, Price said.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the official name of the agreement negotiated under former President Barack Obama to try to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK were also parties.

Last week, Biden named Robert Malley as US envoy to Iran. Malley helped draft the original 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. The move is seen as a diplomatic effort to move forward in the Middle East.

In his first foreign policy address on Thursday, Biden vowed to repair alliances through diplomacy and restore Washington’s leadership position on the global stage.

While not addressing the Iranian nuclear deal, he announced that the US would no longer support Saudi Arabia’s offensive operations in Yemen. The Saudis are fighting there against an armed movement known as the Houthis. Washington and Riyadh accuse Iran of supporting the Houthis.

Biden said the US would continue to help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, a statement that aims to reassure Riyadh and warn Iran. The Saudis accused Iran of planning an attack on its oil factories in 2019, which forced Riyadh to cut its oil production in half for a short time.

Amanda Macias of CNBC contributed to this article.

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Health

Biden administration to ship troops to California to assist employees Covid vaccine websites

Biden administration to send troops to California to help staff Covid vaccine sites

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits National Guard forces stationed in the U.S. Capitol and its vicinity on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2021.

Manuel Balce Ceneta | Getty Images

The Secretary of Defense has approved the deployment of more than 1,000 active troops to deliver Covid-19 vaccines in the United States, a member of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team said Friday.

Some of the troops will arrive in California next week within the next ten days and begin operations by February 15. Other states will follow. Andy Slavitt, a senior advisor to Biden’s Covid-19 response team who previously worked in the Obama administration, is told reporters.

“The vital role of the military in supporting sites will help vaccinate thousands of people every day and ensure that every American who wants a vaccine receives it,” he said during the White House news conference.

The Pentagon is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expedite delivery of the shots, which were slower than expected.

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Business

How the Biden Administration Can Assist Resolve Our Actuality Disaster

How the Biden Administration Can Help Solve Our Reality Crisis

It sounds a little dystopian, I’ll admit that. But let’s listen to it.

Currently, according to these experts, the federal government’s response to disinformation and domestic extremism is arbitrary, spread across multiple agencies, and there is a lot of unnecessary overlap.

Renée DiResta, disinformation researcher at Stanford Internet Observatory, identified two seemingly unrelated problems: misinformation about Covid-19 and misinformation about election fraud.

Often times, she said, the same people and groups are responsible for spreading both types. Instead of two parallel processes – one in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which aims to contain conspiracy theories related to Covid, and one in the federal election commission, which seeks to correct misinformation during voting – a centralized task force could do one only coordinate. strategic answer.

“If each of them does this on their own and independently, there is a risk of missing links, both in terms of content and in terms of the tactics used to run the campaigns,” Ms. DiResta said.

This task force could also meet regularly with technology platforms and push for structural changes that could help these companies address their own extremism and misinformation problems. (For example, it could formulate “safe haven” exceptions that would allow platforms to share data on QAnon and other conspiracy theory communities with researchers and government agencies without violating privacy laws.) And it could be the tip of the spear for them Response of the Federal Government to the Reality Crisis.

Several experts recommended the Biden administration to bring much more transparency into the inner workings of the black box algorithms that Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other major platforms use to rate feeds, recommend content and introduce users to private groups, many of whom do doing was responsible for reinforcing conspiracy theories and extremist views.

“We need to open the hood on social media to allow civil rights lawyers and real surveillance organizations to investigate human rights abuses that technology is enabling or exacerbating,” said Dr. Donovan.

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Health

Cuomo administration underreported Covid deaths in nursing houses, report says

Cuomo administration underreported Covid deaths in nursing homes, report says

A view of a patient being rolled out of a nursing home in Flushing Queens New York USA during the coronavirus pandemic on April 22, 2020.

John Nacion | NurPhoto | Getty Images

The New York Department of Health reported Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes by up to 50%, according to a new report released Thursday by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The 76-page report comes from a month-long investigation by the Attorney General’s office into allegations that nursing homes have failed to follow coronavirus safety protocols. Her office also investigated discrepancies between the number of deaths reported by the state Department of Health in nursing homes and the number of deaths reported by the facilities themselves.

The investigation found that the number of Covid deaths among nursing home residents in some facilities has increased by more than 50% after counting residents who died in the hospital. The official Covid-19 state death toll in nursing homes excludes patients who have died after being transported to hospital.

Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo has been criticized for failing to disclose the total number of nursing home residents who have died from Covid-19. In her comprehensive report, James, also a Democrat, noted that “many nursing home residents in hospitals died of Covid-19 after being transferred from their nursing homes, which is not reflected in the overall data on nursing home deaths published by DOH . “

Cuomo representatives did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on the results. Representatives from the state Department of Health also did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The attorney general’s findings put them directly in conflict with the governor, who often boasted of the state’s response to the coronavirus. Cuomo has also dismissed criticism of a policy by the Ministry of Health that directed nursing homes to accept residents who tested positive for the coronavirus. The governor has repeatedly defended his government’s response to the pandemic, stating that the state was poorly supported by an inept federal government that was caught by surprise by importing the virus.

In May, the federal government asked nursing homes to provide weekly data on deaths from the coronavirus, including those who died at the facility and in hospitals. However, that guideline came after the first peak of the New York outbreak, making the data available from the state nursing homes barely available. An Associated Press analysis of federal data released in August found the state could underestimate deaths by up to 65%.

James’ results are based on a survey of 62 nursing homes, or approximately 10% of nursing homes in the state. She said her law firm is continuing to investigate inconsistencies in the data reported by the Ministry of Health and the numbers reported to the Attorney General.

The investigation also found that a number of nursing homes did not adhere to “Critical Infection Control Guidelines”; B. Failing to isolate residents who test positive for the virus.

“As the pandemic and our investigation continue, it is imperative that we understand why New York nursing home residents have suffered needlessly so alarmingly,” James said in a statement. “While we cannot bring back the people we lost to this crisis, this report aims to provide transparency the public deserves and encourage increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents.”

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Politics

Trump Administration Quietly Eased Sanctions on Israeli Billionaire

Trump Administration Quietly Eased Sanctions on Israeli Billionaire

It was found that Mr. Gertler used his friendship with Mr. Kabila to act as an intermediary for the mining industry in the Congo. Other companies had to turn to Mr. Gertler to do business with the Congolese state, which cost the country more than $ 1.36 billion in revenue, the finance department said in 2017.

“Gertler is an international businessman and billionaire who amassed his fortune through opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the Treasury Department said in 2018 as it increased sanctions against him .

The application for a new license to allow US companies to do business with Mr. Gertler was processed by the Arnold & Porter law firm. Baruch Weiss, a lawyer for the firm who handled the matter, declined to comment on Sunday, as did Mr Dershowitz.

In October 2018, Mr Gertler hired Mr Dershowitz and Mr Freeh as well as Gregory A. Paw, a former federal prosecutor, to work on the matter. The team then targeted the Treasury Department and the State Department in an attempt to achieve the changes made show lobbying disclosure reports. Also registered in the lobby is Gary Apfel, an attorney who, like Mr. Dershowitz, has been involved in several successful pardons on Mr. Trump in the past few months.

Erich C. Ferrari, an attorney who represents U.S. and overseas corporations on sanctions issues, reviewed the license issued by the Treasury Department on Jan. 15 and said he was surprised at how general U.S. corporations appeared to be allowed to do so to work with Mr. Gertler. despite the sanctions in 2017 and 2018.

“As difficult as it is for me to believe that such a broad license has been granted and exists, I have to say that it is actually a license that directly or indirectly entitles Gertler and companies that own 50 percent or more to with and do business through US banks, ”Ferrari said.

The guard in a statement on Sunday recommended that US banks not unblock Mr. Gertler’s money or “open accounts or otherwise transact for or on behalf of Gertler and his network until this matter is fully investigated and resolved” .

Kenneth P. Vogel contributed to the coverage.

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World News

China sanctions Pompeo, O’Brien, Azar and different Trump administration officers

China sanctions Pompeo, O'Brien, Azar and other Trump administration officials

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the Great Hall of the People on June 14, 2018 in Beijing, China.

Lintao Zhang | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – The Chinese government, along with other members of the Trump administration, imposed sanctions on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and former Trade Advisor Peter Navarro on Wednesday.

“In recent years, out of selfish political interests, prejudice and hatred of China, and regardless of the interests of the Chinese and American people, some anti-China politicians in the United States have planned, promoted, and carried out a series of insane moves that are have been heavily involved in China’s internal affairs, undermined China’s interests, insulted the Chinese people and seriously disrupted China-US relations, “the State Department wrote in a statement.

“China has decided to sanction 28 people who have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and who were primarily responsible for such US actions against China,” the statement also said.

The Chinese government also appointed Former Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger, Former Secretary for Health and Human Services Alex Azar, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, Deputy Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell, and Secretary of State for Economic growth, energy and the environment Keith Krach.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Stephen Bannon were also sanctioned on Wednesday.

“These people and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. They and their affiliated companies and institutions are also prohibited from doing business with China,” the State Department said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump (L) and China’s President Xi Jinping shake hands at a press conference after their meeting outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Artyom Ivanov | TASS | Getty Images

The crumbling relationship between Washington and Beijing deepened under the Trump administration after the world’s two largest economies attempted to improve trade ties.

Chinese State Department spokeswoman Hua previously said the Trump administration was “pushing the accelerator to destroy China-US relations”.

“Certain US politicians are so irresponsible that they say whatever has to be said to target China,” she added last summer.

Their comments followed a glowing speech by then-US Attorney General Bill Barr, in which he accused the Chinese government of human rights abuses, espionage and economic blitzkrieg.

“The People’s Republic of China is now in an economic blitzkrieg – an aggressive, orchestrated campaign by the entire government to conquer the dominant heights of the world economy and surpass the United States as the pre-eminent superpower in the world,” Barr said during a speech on Nov. July.

In June, O’Brien slammed China on a list of criminal offenses before saying that “the days of American passivity and naivete about the People’s Republic of China are over”.

Pompeo, who previously referred to Huawei and other state-backed Chinese companies as “Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence”. In July, Pompeo announced that the US was considering banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps, citing national security concerns.

The Trump administration has also blamed China for the deadly health crisis caused by the coronavirus.

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Health

Biden’s incoming CDC director says Trump administration ‘muzzled’ scientists

Biden's incoming CDC director says Trump administration 'muzzled' scientists

Rochelle Walensky, who was nominated as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden started his team dealing with the Covid-19 on December 8 at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware. Pandemic commissioned, 2020.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, banned by the Trump administration during the Covid-19 pandemic, will be “heard again,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Joe Biden’s election to head the agency, on Tuesday.

Last year, the CDC went months without addressing the US public after Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the CDC, warned in February that schools and businesses may have to close to contain the coronavirus.

“We urge the American public to work with us to prepare for expectation that this could be bad,” Messonnier said in forward-looking remarks that upset markets and allegedly angered President Donald Trump.

During the pandemic, Trump continued to work with the best scientists in the country, including current CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, got into conflict and publicly contradicted him on issues like the schedule for the Covid-19 vaccine.

Walensky vowed to restore the public voice of the CDC and its scholars.

“They were decreased. I think they became constipated. That science was not heard,” she told Dr. Howard Bauchner of the Journal of the American Medical Association. “This world-class agency, world-famous, hasn’t really been appreciated in the last four years and has really been evident in the last year so I have to fix this.”

Walensky said she intends to revise the CDC’s communications efforts under the Biden administration. This could include regular briefings led by Walensky or subject matter experts to explain the scientific research published in the CDC’s weekly report on morbidity and mortality. She added that this will likely also mean a more concerted plan to engage the public on social media.

“Science is now being delivered on Twitter. Science is delivered on social media, in podcasts, and in a lot of different ways, and I think that’s crucial,” Walensky said. “We need to have a social media plan for the agency.”

She said building the agency’s social media presence will be especially important as the country battles vaccine hesitation. Misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccines is rife on social media, she said, adding that the agency needs to get “the right information” out.

Over the past year, the CDC’s communications have often contradicted those of the White House. The agency revised guidelines for reopening churches and religious sites after Trump urged state officials to allow churches to reopen. Over the summer, Trump installed longtime ally and former campaign official Michael Caputo as top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s mother division, to better tailor the news to the White House.

Caputo and his team sought to undermine CDC scientists, urging them to revise scientific research that violated White House guidelines, internal emails from House lawmakers show. Walensky said Tuesday she would ensure that the CDC communicates transparently with the American people regardless of the political ramifications.

“I have to fix that right away,” she said.

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Health

Democratic governors accuse Trump administration of deceptive them about vaccine stockpile

Democratic governors accuse Trump administration of misleading them about vaccine stockpile

Several Democratic governors have criticized the Trump administration for apparently misleading public health officials for keeping a stash of Covid-19 vaccines in reserve.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday that the government would begin releasing vaccine doses that are being held in “physical reserves” to ensure adequate supplies for second doses.

Both Pfizer and Moderna federally approved vaccines are given in two shots, several weeks apart.

The Washington Post reported Friday that despite Azar’s statements, there is no such nationwide vaccine supply. Quoting state and federal officials, the newspaper said the Trump administration began shipping its available offer back in December.

Democratic leaders say the lack of a Federal Reserve will mess up plans to increase the speed and scope of their vaccination campaigns.

“Last night I received disturbing news backed up straight to me by General Perna of Operation Warp Speed: The states will not receive increased vaccine supplies from national inventory next week because there is no federal reserve dose,” said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown wrote about General Gus Perna, Chief Operating Officer of Operation Warp Speed, in a post on Twitter.

“This is a national deception,” Brown added. “Oregon’s seniors, teachers, and we all had to rely on the promise that Oregon’s share of the Federal Reserve of vaccines would be given to us.”

Washington Democratic Governor Jay Inslee also took to the platform and said the government “must respond immediately for this deception”.

“I am shocked that we have been lied to and that there is no national reserve,” Colorado Democrat Jared Polis wrote on Twitter.

He said the federal inventory release announcement “resulted in us expecting 210,000 cans next week” and that other governors had made similar plans.

“Now we’re finding out we’re only getting 79,000 next week,” Polis wrote.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, said at a press conference that “they lied,” referring to the federal government.

Walz and democratic governments. Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and Wisconsin’s Tony Evers said in a joint statement on Friday: “It has become abundantly clear that not only has the Trump administration botched adoption of the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, but the American people as well was misled by these delays. “

The governors requested permission to buy vaccines directly from the manufacturers.

“Without additional shipping or direct purchase approval, our states could be forced to abandon plans in the coming weeks for public vaccination clinics that are expected to vaccinate tens of thousands. It is time for the Trump administration to do the right thing and help us end this Pandemic, “wrote the governors.

Azar responded to the governors in a thread on Twitter on Saturday, describing their claims as “completely misleading” and “devaluation”.

“We had a supply of reserved second doses as of December. We started releasing these second doses in late December so people could get their second doses. We have progressed this release gradually,” wrote Azar.

The HHS chief said the announcement this week was “that we will be releasing the remaining reserved second doses according to the cadence set – to make sure the second doses are available at the correct interval – and that we have no reserves in the future would. ” second cans. “

“The efforts of some governors to mislead the American people into distraction from their own distribution errors are deplorable,” Azar said, citing data showing that Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin had not yet given the bulk of the vaccines already distributed in those states .

The Trump administration has grappled with Democratic civil servants since the Covid-19 crisis began, initially for delivering tests and other medical equipment and more recently for distributing vaccines.

President-elect Joe Biden, who will be inaugurated on Wednesday, has pledged to strengthen the federal government’s role in vaccine delivery. Biden has pledged to give 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office.

So far, vaccination efforts have lagged far behind official predictions. About 12 million doses have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials had hoped to bring that number to 20 million by January.

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Business

Hospital group presses Trump administration for ongoing federal assist with vaccine distribution

Hospital group presses Trump administration for ongoing federal help with vaccine distribution

Seniors 65 years and older wait in line at the Sarasota Department of Health’s COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic in Sarasota, Florida, the United States, Jan. 4, 2021.

Octavio Jones | Reuters

The American Hospital Association on Thursday urged Health Secretary Alex Azar to provide more support and coordination for the federal distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. The slow rollout has raised questions about how quickly they can vaccinate the public.

The group, which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals and health systems across the country, said the rollout “raised concerns about whether the task of vaccinating everyone who is able to take the vaccine will come as soon as it can it was suggested by the federal leaders “. According to a letter sent Thursday to Azar, the secretary of the Ministry of Health and Human Services.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 17.2 million doses of vaccine had been distributed as of Wednesday, but in fact just over 5.3 million doses had been given. This is nowhere near the targets previously set by federal officials to vaccinate 20 million people in December.

Richard Pollack, CEO of the AHA, said in the letter to Azar that the vaccine’s slow initial rollout casts doubt on whether the country will be able to vaccinate enough Americans to achieve herd immunity by the summer. In the first few weeks of the rollout, unforeseen issues arose, he added, calling on Azar to provide more leadership and coordination between states to address the issues.

Representatives from HHS have not returned CNBC’s request for comment.

According to Pollack, some hospitals have received fewer doses than requested, while others have received more than they need “with no explanation for this mismatch”. Pollack added that other differences between the state’s plans are also creating headaches for hospitals and adding to the complexity of the massive vaccination campaign.

“We hear from hospitals and health systems that serve more than one state that it is difficult to manage vaccine distribution when their patients live in jurisdictions with different rules about which patients are prioritized and who have different levels of priority,” wrote Pollack . “As this rollout is evolving rapidly, it is absolutely essential that effective situational real-time guidance is provided at the national level.”

He urged Azar and HHS to communicate more frequently and clearly with state, local, and hospital officials.

And many hospitals across the country are currently overwhelmed with treating Covid-19 patients. Pollack says hospitals cannot vaccinate the public without help. He said hospitals suffer from staff shortages and limited protective equipment such as masks and gloves. Pollack asked for more details about the government’s plan to include pharmacy chains in the wider vaccine rollout.

Pollack stressed that the aim of the vaccination campaign is to achieve herd immunity and bring the outbreak under control. By some estimates, that could be around 246 million Americans, or around 75% of the population.

“That would mean vaccinating 1.8 million people a day between January 15 and May 31, including weekends and holidays,” wrote Pollack of the attempt to vaccinate 246 million Americans by the summer. “There are currently 64 different micro-plans being developed by states, some major cities, and other jurisdictions [HHS] assess whether these plans are overall able to achieve this level of vaccination? “

Categories
Politics

Mick Mulvaney resigns from Trump administration, expects others to comply with

Mick Mulvaney resigns from Trump administration, expects others to follow

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff and current Special Envoy for Northern Ireland said Thursday that he is stepping down from his diplomatic post.

“I called [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo last night to let him know I’ve resigned from it. I can’t do it, I can’t stay, “Mick Mulvaney told CNBC in an exclusive interview.

“Those who choose to stay, and I’ve spoken to some of them, choose to stay because they fear the president might make someone worse,” said Mulvaney. But he said other officials couldn’t stay.

Trump encouraged thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol during a rally outside the White House Wednesday to protest the historically ceremonial practices. Trump returned to the White House after his speech and later said in a tweet video to supporters, “You have to go home now,” but he did not condemn the violence.

On Wednesday, members of Trump’s cabinet in the US Capitol issued tough reprimands of chaos, forcing Congress to halt the process of declaring Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. However, officials stopped criticizing the president, who urged his supporters to take action.

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