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US to Ship Thousands and thousands of Covid-19 Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada

US to Send Millions of Covid-19 Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada

Die Vereinigten Staaten planen, Millionen Dosen des AstraZeneca-Impfstoffs nach Mexiko und Kanada zu schicken, sagte das Weiße Haus am Donnerstag, ein bemerkenswerter Schritt in die Impfstoffdiplomatie, gerade als die Biden-Regierung Mexiko stillschweigend drängt, den Strom von Migranten, die an die Grenze kommen, einzudämmen.

Jen Psaki, Pressesprecherin des Weißen Hauses, sagte, die Vereinigten Staaten planten, 2,5 Millionen Dosen des Impfstoffs mit Mexiko und 1,5 Millionen mit Kanada zu teilen, und fügte hinzu, dass der Impfstoff “noch nicht fertiggestellt, aber das ist unser Ziel”.

Dutzende Millionen Dosen des Impfstoffs wurden in amerikanischen Produktionsstätten eingesetzt. Während ihre Verwendung bereits in Dutzenden von Ländern, einschließlich Mexiko und Kanada, zugelassen wurde, wurde der Impfstoff noch nicht von den amerikanischen Aufsichtsbehörden zugelassen. Frau Psaki sagte, dass die Lieferungen nach Mexiko und Kanada im Wesentlichen ein Darlehen sein würden, wobei die Vereinigten Staaten in Zukunft Dosen von AstraZeneca oder anderen Impfstoffen erhalten würden.

Die Ankündigung der Impfstoffverteilung erfolgte zu einem kritischen Zeitpunkt in den Verhandlungen mit Mexiko. Präsident Biden ist schnell vorgegangen, um einige der von Präsident Trump unterzeichneten Einwanderungsrichtlinien abzubauen, den Bau einer Grenzmauer zu stoppen, die rasche Vertreibung von Kindern an der Grenze zu stoppen und einen Weg zur Staatsbürgerschaft für Millionen von Einwanderern in den Vereinigten Staaten vorzuschlagen.

Aber er hält an einem zentralen Element der Agenda von Herrn Trump fest: sich darauf zu verlassen, dass Mexiko eine Welle von Menschen auf ihrem Weg in die Vereinigten Staaten zurückhält.

In Erwartung eines Anstiegs von Migranten und der größten Besorgnis amerikanischer Agenten an der Grenze seit zwei Jahrzehnten fragte Biden den mexikanischen Präsidenten Andrés Manuel López Obrador in einem Videoanruf in diesem Monat, ob laut Mexikaner mehr getan werden könne, um das Problem zu lösen Beamte und eine andere Person informierten über das Gespräch.

Die beiden Präsidenten diskutierten auch die Möglichkeit, dass die Vereinigten Staaten Mexiko einen Teil ihrer überschüssigen Impfstoffversorgung schicken, sagte ein hochrangiger mexikanischer Beamter. Mexiko hat die Biden-Regierung öffentlich gebeten, ihm Dosen des AstraZeneca-Impfstoffs zuzusenden.

Bei einer Pressekonferenz am Donnerstag sagte Frau Psaki, dass die Diskussionen über Impfstoffe und Grenzsicherheit zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und Mexiko “nicht miteinander verbunden”, aber auch “überlappend” seien.

Auf die Frage eines Reporters, ob die Vereinigten Staaten mit ihrem Angebot, Mexiko Impfstoffe zu verleihen, „Bedingungen“ verbunden hätten, antwortete Frau Psaki, dass in den Diskussionen „mehrere diplomatische Gespräche – parallele Gespräche – viele Gesprächsebenen“ im Spiel seien.

“Es gibt selten nur ein Thema, das Sie mit einem Land gleichzeitig besprechen”, sagte Frau Psaki. „Sicher ist das in Mexiko nicht der Fall. Dies ist in keinem Land der Welt der Fall. Und deshalb würde ich nicht mehr darüber lesen als über unsere Fähigkeit, Impfstoffdosen bereitzustellen – zu verleihen -. “

Mexikanische Beamte sagen auch, dass die Bemühungen um die Sicherung von Impfstoffen von den Verhandlungen über Migration getrennt sind, und lehnten die Vorstellung ab, dass es sich um eine Gegenleistung handele.

“Dies sind zwei getrennte Themen”, sagte Roberto Velasco, Generaldirektor für die Region Nordamerika im mexikanischen Außenministerium, in einer Erklärung, in der er sich auf das Engagement der beiden Länder in Bezug auf Migration und Impfstoffe bezog.

Aber mexikanische Beamte erkennen an, dass die Beziehungen zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und Mexiko, das eine der tödlichsten Coronavirus-Epidemien der Welt erlitten hat, durch eine Lieferung von Dosen nach Süden gestärkt würden.

“Wir suchen nach einem humaneren Migrationssystem und einer verstärkten Zusammenarbeit gegen COVID-19 zum Nutzen unserer beiden Länder und der Region”, fügte Velasco hinzu.

Mehrere europäische Länder haben diese Woche die Verwendung des AstraZeneca-Impfstoffs ausgesetzt, eine Vorsichtsmaßnahme, da einige Personen, die den Schuss erhalten hatten, später Blutgerinnsel und starke Blutungen entwickelten. Am Donnerstag erklärte die europäische Arzneimittelbehörde den Impfstoff für sicher. AstraZeneca sagte auch, dass eine Überprüfung von 17 Millionen Menschen, die den Impfstoff erhielten, ergab, dass sie weniger wahrscheinlich als andere gefährliche Gerinnsel entwickeln.

Ein Beamter der Biden-Regierung lehnte es ab, sich weiter zu den Verhandlungen mit Mexiko zu äußern, stellte jedoch fest, dass beide Länder ein gemeinsames Ziel hatten, die Migration durch die Bekämpfung ihrer Grundursachen zu verringern, und sagte, sie arbeiteten eng zusammen, um den Zustrom von Menschen zur Grenze einzudämmen.

Die Regierung von Biden steht unter starkem Druck und bemüht sich, Schutz für eine wachsende Anzahl von Migrantenkindern und -jugendlichen zu finden, die in amerikanischen Haftanstalten entlang der Grenze festgehalten werden.

Mehr als 4.500 von ihnen saßen am Donnerstag in Haftanstalten fest. Die Regierung von Biden arbeitete daran, sie in ein Kongresszentrum in Dallas, ein ehemaliges Lager für Ölarbeiter in Midland, Texas, und möglicherweise einen NASA-Standort in Kalifornien zu bringen.

Die Regierung hat außerdem fast ein Dutzend anderer Standorte identifiziert, einschließlich Einrichtungen des Verteidigungsministeriums, an denen Kinder und Jugendliche möglicherweise untergebracht werden können, bis sie bei einem Sponsor untergebracht werden können. Dies geht aus einem Regierungsdokument der New York Times vom März hervor. Einer der Standorte – in Pecos, Texas – könnte 2.000 Betten aufnehmen.

Aktualisiert

18. März 2021, 15:22 Uhr ET

Mexiko hat sich bereit erklärt, seine Präsenz an der südlichen Grenze zu Guatemala zu erhöhen, um die Migration aus Mittelamerika zu verhindern, sagte einer der Regierungsbeamten, und lokale mexikanische Beamte sagten, ihr Land habe kürzlich seine Bemühungen verstärkt, Migranten an der Nordgrenze zu den Vereinigten Staaten zu stoppen auch.

Es gibt aber auch Anzeichen dafür, dass Mexikos Engagement für die Überwachung der Migration – eine zentrale Forderung von Herrn Trump, der die Drohung von Zöllen auf alle mexikanischen Waren ausübte, sofern die Migration nicht gebremst wurde – in den schwindenden Monaten der Trump-Regierung nachgelassen haben könnte.

Von Oktober bis Dezember letzten Jahres ging die Zahl der von Mexiko festgenommenen Zentralamerikaner zurück, während die Inhaftierungen amerikanischer Agenten nach Angaben der mexikanischen Regierung und Daten des Washington Office on Latin America, einer Forschungsorganisation, die sich für Menschenrechte einsetzt, zunahmen.

“Die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass die scheidende Trump-Regierung erneut Zölle droht, war gering, so dass Mexiko einen Anreiz hatte, zu seinem Standardzustand geringer Besorgnis zurückzukehren”, sagte Adam Isacson, Experte für Grenzsicherheit im Washingtoner Büro für Lateinamerika.

Der Appell der Biden-Regierung, mehr gegen die Migration zu tun, hat Mexiko in eine schwierige Lage gebracht. Während Herr Trump Mexiko stark bewaffnet hat, um die Grenze zu militarisieren, argumentieren einige mexikanische Beamte, dass seine strenge Politik zuweilen dazu beigetragen haben könnte, ihre Last zu verringern, indem sie Migranten davon abhielten, die Reise nach Norden anzutreten.

Es ist weniger wahrscheinlich, dass Herr Biden auf Zolldrohungen zurückgreift, um sich durchzusetzen, sagen Beamte und Analysten. Aber jetzt wird Mexiko gebeten, die Linie gegen einen Anstieg von Migranten zu halten – während die Biden-Regierung signalisiert, dass die Vereinigten Staaten Migranten willkommener sind.

“Sie sehen aus wie die Guten und die Mexikaner wie die Bösen”, sagte Cris Ramón, ein Einwanderungsberater aus Washington, DC

“Alle positiven humanitären Maßnahmen werden von der Biden-Regierung durchgeführt.” Herr Ramón fügte hinzu: “Und dann bleiben die Mexikaner mit der Drecksarbeit zurück.”

In Bezug auf Kanada drängten ihn mehrere politische Gegner von Premierminister Justin Trudeau wiederholt, sich bei der neuen Biden-Regierung für die Freigabe von Impfstoffen einzusetzen. Viele Kanadier haben Bestürzung darüber zum Ausdruck gebracht, dass die Vereinigten Staaten keine Lieferungen mit Kanada geteilt haben, wo keine Coronavirus-Impfstoffe hergestellt werden.

Bis Donnerstag stammte die gesamte kanadische Impfstoffversorgung aus Europa oder Indien, und die Einführung Kanadas verlief im Vergleich zu den USA und vielen anderen Ländern nur schleppend.

“Gott segne Amerika, sie kommen zu unserer Rettung”, sagte Doug Ford, der Premierminister von Ontario, Kanadas bevölkerungsreichster Provinz, einer Pressekonferenz.

Während sich die Biden-Regierung verpflichtet hat, einem großen Impfstoffhersteller in Indien zu helfen, sind die Vereinigten Staaten im Wettlauf um die Verwendung von Impfstoffen als diplomatisches Instrument weit hinter China, Indien und Russland zurückgefallen.

Peking liefert Impfstoffe in Dutzende von Ländern, darunter einige in Afrika und Lateinamerika. Russland hat seinen Impfstoff nach Ungarn und in die Slowakei geliefert. Herr Biden hat auch Kritik daran geübt, dass es ärmeren Ländern nicht leichter fällt, Zugang zu generischen Versionen von Coronavirus-Impfstoffen und -Behandlungen zu erhalten.

Mit Mexiko hat die Biden-Regierung das Land aufgefordert, mehr von den amerikanischen Behörden vertriebene Familien aufzunehmen und die Durchsetzung an der südlichen Grenze Mexikos zu Guatemala zu verstärken, so zwei mexikanische Beamte und zwei weitere, die über die Diskussionen informiert wurden.

Herr López Obrador versucht auch, einen Weg zu finden, um die Kapazität für die Unterbringung von Migranten in Notunterkünften zu erhöhen, die aus allen Nähten platzen. In einer Erklärung vom Dienstag sagte der Sekretär für innere Sicherheit, Alejandro Mayorkas, er arbeite mit Mexiko zusammen, um dies zu tun.

“Die Unterkünfte stehen kurz vor dem Zusammenbruch”, sagte Enrique Valenzuela, leitender Koordinator der Migrationsbemühungen der Regierung des Bundesstaates Chihuahua.

Lokale Regierungsbeamte in Ciudad Juárez und Betreiber von Notunterkünften sagen, Mexiko wähle Operationen aus, um Migranten entlang der Nordgrenze zu fangen und zu deportieren. Fast täglich, so zwei von ihnen, halten die mexikanischen Behörden mit Familien gefüllte Lieferwagen und Kleintransporter mit Vieh an – zusammen mit Migranten, die auf dem Boden hocken, um nicht entdeckt zu werden.

Ein Grund dafür, dass Mexiko bereit ist, weiter vorzugehen, ist, dass es, obwohl es ein Land ist, das seit langem Menschen nach Norden schickt, viel Ressentiments gegen zentralamerikanische Migranten gibt.

“Die negative Einstellung gegenüber Migrantenströmen ist gestiegen, sodass keine politischen Kosten entstehen”, sagte Tonatiuh Guillén, der im ersten Halbjahr 2019 das mexikanische Nationale Migrationsinstitut leitete. Aber mit Trump haben wir nichts verhandelt – wir haben ihnen viel gegeben und sie haben uns nichts zurückgegeben “, fügte er hinzu und argumentierte, dass die Strategie bei Mr. Biden anders sein sollte.

Trotz der sehr öffentlichen Spannungen mit Mexiko unter Herrn Trump war Herr López Obrador der Biden-Regierung gegenüber besorgt, weil sie eher bereit sein könnte, sich in innerstaatliche Fragen wie Arbeitsrechte oder Umwelt einzumischen.

Stattdessen, so sagen mehrere mexikanische Beamte, hat seine Regierung die Vereinigten Staaten dazu gedrängt, Mittelamerikaner von der Migration abzuhalten, indem sie nach zwei Hurrikanen, die diese Länder verwüsteten, humanitäre Hilfe nach Honduras und Guatemala schickten und nach Ansicht vieler Experten noch mehr Menschen zur Migration drängten .

Mexikanische Beamte haben die Vereinigten Staaten auch gebeten, mehr in den Vereinigten Staaten festgenommene Honduraner und Guatemalteken direkt in ihre Heimatländer zu schicken, anstatt sie nach Mexiko freizulassen, was es für sie noch schwieriger macht, erneut zu versuchen, die Grenze zu überschreiten.

Der Bedarf an Impfstoffen in Mexiko ist klar. Ungefähr 200.000 Menschen sind im Land an dem Virus gestorben – der dritthöchsten Zahl der Todesopfer der Welt – und die Impfung der Bevölkerung war relativ langsam. Dies stellt ein potenzielles politisches Risiko für Herrn López Obrador dar, dessen Partei im Juni vor entscheidenden Wahlen steht, die bestimmen, ob der Präsident an der Kontrolle des Gesetzgebers festhält.

“Mexiko braucht die Zusammenarbeit der USA, um seine Wirtschaft anzukurbeln und Impfstoffe zu erhalten, um aus der Gesundheitskrise herauszukommen”, sagte Andrew Selee, Präsident des Instituts für Migrationspolitik in Washington. “Es gibt also Raum für die beiden Länder, Vereinbarungen zu treffen, die auf abgestimmten Interessen und nicht auf offensichtlichen Bedrohungen beruhen.”

Michael D. Shear, Ian Austen, Noah Weiland, Sharon LaFraniere und Eileen Sullivan trugen zur Berichterstattung bei.

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Politics

The U.S. Is Sitting on Tens of Tens of millions of Vaccine Doses the World Wants

The U.S. Is Sitting on Tens of Millions of Vaccine Doses the World Needs

“If we have a surplus, we’ll share it with the rest of the world,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday, speaking broadly about US vaccine supplies. “We will first make sure that the Americans are taken care of first.”

Johnson & Johnson, which has US approval for its vaccine but has missed its production targets in both the US and Europe, recently asked the US to loan 10 million doses to the European Union, but the Biden administration this also denied this request to American and European officials.

What you need to know about the vaccine rollout

The European Union has been heavily criticized for “vaccine nationalism” and protectionism, which escalated last week when Italy blocked a small dose delivery to Australia and intensified a tug-of-war over much-needed shots. Still, the European Union has exported 34 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to dozens of countries in the past few weeks despite shortages at home.

As frustrations subside, some European officials blame the United States. European Council President Charles Michel said the United States and Britain had “imposed a total ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components made on their territory”. Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, was asked Thursday about American delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine and told reporters that vaccine makers are free to export their US-made products while fulfilling the terms of their contracts with the government .

Since the vaccine was manufactured by AstraZeneca under the Defense Production Act, Mr Biden must authorize the shipment of cans overseas. Such a move could have a huge negative political impact while Americans are still calling for gunfire.

AstraZeneca is also likely to want liability protection for cans shipped overseas, as it would in the US if the vaccine were approved.

In the meantime, regulators in the US have been waiting for new AstraZeneca data, which is expected in the next few weeks from a phase 3 study that enrolled 32,000 participants, mostly in the US. AstraZeneca is unlikely to report results from an early look at its data like other vaccine manufacturers have. Instead, it will wait for more statistically significant results after study participants have been monitored for side effects longer and potentially more people in the vaccine and placebo groups have gotten sick, federal officials said. Experts believe the vaccine is unlikely to be any more potent than the Johnson & Johnson shot, which uses similar technology and only requires one dose.

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Politics

Biden declares catastrophe, thousands and thousands boil water after energy outages

Biden declares disaster, millions boil water after power outages

City workers and volunteers will hand out bottled water at Delmar Stadium in Houston, Texas, USA on Wednesday, February 19, 2021.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Joe Biden has endorsed a statement of major disaster for Texas as the state grapples with widespread power outages and water shortages in freezing winter conditions, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Saturday.

The move unlocks federal funding for individuals in Texas, grants for temporary home and home repairs, and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property damage.

Millions of Texans are grappling with power outages and more than half of the state are suffering from disrupted water supplies as the boiling water reports are effective.

The statement also provides funding for cost-sharing with state and local governments, as well as some private nonprofits, for emergency response and risk reduction measures. Help is available in dozens of counties.

More than 15.1 million people faced water disruptions in Texas on Saturday after freezing conditions disrupted more than 1,300 public water systems and led to boiling water reports, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said Saturday.

The federal government has already approved emergency statements for Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and shipped supplies such as generators, blankets, water, and meals to Texas last week.

“This is great news for the people of Dallas after a terrible week,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson wrote in a tweet. “The damage caused by this storm is great and the declaration of the disaster will help our city to recover.”

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Biden plans to visit Texas as early as next week to assess the federal response. The president said he will make a final decision after making sure his presence does not hamper recovery efforts. The government has worked closely with Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott on disaster relief.

“I thank President Biden for his assistance in responding to the effects of winter weather on our state,” Abbott said in a statement. “While this partial approval is an important first step, Texas will continue to work with our federal partners to ensure that all eligible Texans have access to the relief they need.”

Texas’s Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT) announced Friday that it has returned to normal conditions, restoring power for millions of customers. More than 60,000 people in Texas were still without power at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us.

A shopper walks past a bare shelf as people stock up on essentials at the HEB grocery store in Austin, Texas on February 18, 2021.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Texas Division of Emergency Management’s chief Nim Kidd said at a news conference Saturday that distributing bottled water is still the number one priority.

The state has ordered 9.9 million water bottles and received a total of 5.5 million bottles. The military provides water and food by air while the state utilities work to restore water supplies.

Around 156,000 people still have no water at all, said Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “I understand the public is extremely frustrated right now,” said Baker.

In addition to the declaration of the major disaster, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency waiver for Texas on Friday. The immediate exemption enables the state to temporarily waive certain fuel standards in order to address the gas shortage in the affected areas.

Texas refineries had disrupted about a fifth of the country’s oil production during the outages and freezing temperatures. Oil prices fell from recent highs on Friday as companies were ready to resume production as soon as electricity services resumed.

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Health

As Hundreds of thousands Get Covid Vaccine Pictures, F.D.A. Struggles With Security Monitoring

As Millions Get Covid Vaccine Shots, F.D.A. Struggles With Safety Monitoring

“It’s great for routine activities, but when it comes to security surveillance, size is all,” said Dr. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University and former federal vaccine officer. “The bigger it is, the faster you get an answer. At some point the VSD is going to get a really good answer – probably one of the best answers out there because they are so good at it. But in a pandemic, time is not on our side. “

Few serious problems have been reported through these channels to date and no deaths have been clearly linked to the vaccines. The 30-year initiative, known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), relies on self-reported cases from patients and health care providers.

Health officials say the two vaccines already approved for use appear to be reasonably safe so far. There have been some serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, but they are treatable and are considered rare. The rate at which anaphylaxis has occurred to date – 4.7 cases per million doses for the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech and 2.5 cases per million for the vaccine from Moderna – is in line with other widely used vaccines.

Bruising and bleeding caused by decreased platelet counts have also been reported, although it is not known whether they are vaccine-related or accidental. A total of 9,000 adverse events were reported, of which 979 were classified as serious and the remainder classified as non-serious according to the latest available CDC report.

In interviews, public health experts, including current and former FDA and CDC officials, expressed the need to improve on the old “passive” surveillance that relies on self-reporting. They said funding shortages, turf wars and bureaucratic hurdles had slowed BEST, officially known as the Biologics Evaluation Safety Initiative, in preparation for monitoring Covid vaccines.

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Politics

Thousands and thousands Meant for Public Well being Threats Had been Diverted Elsewhere, Watchdog Says

Millions Meant for Public Health Threats Were Diverted Elsewhere, Watchdog Says

WASHINGTON – A federal guard has determined that the biomedical advanced research and development agency, which attracted national attention last year when the Trump administration fired its director, has been using as a “slush fund” to cover expenses for 10 years unrelated to its funding, becomes a core task of combating health threats such as Ebola, Zika and the coronavirus.

The 223-page report, issued Wednesday by the Office of Special Counsel, found the Department of Health and Human Services spent millions of taxpayers’ money earmarked for BARDA to fund vaccine research and pandemic preparedness into other government activities diverted and failed to inform Congress – a possible violation of federal law.

Unrelated activities included removal of office furniture, administrative expenses, news subscriptions, legal services, and the salaries of other department employees. According to the investigators, the diversion of funds was so widespread that the employees had a name for it: the “Bank of BARDA”.

The report focuses on the actions of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the official in the Department of Health who oversees and is responsible for the budget of BARDA. The assistant secretary is responsible for leading the federal response to pandemic threats such as the novel coronavirus. Its youngest resident was Dr. Robert Kadlec; President Biden has not named a successor.

“I am deeply concerned about the apparent misuse of millions of dollars in funds by ASPR dedicated to public health emergencies as our country is currently facing the Covid-19 pandemic,” wrote Henry J. Kerner, the special adviser, in a letter to Mr. Biden, using the acronym for the assistant secretary for preparedness and response.

“Equally worrying,” added Kerner, “is how widespread and well-known this practice has appeared to be for nearly a decade.”

The report does not specifically state how much money has been misused. But around $ 25 million was taken from BARDA programs and made available to the assistant secretary’s office only in fiscal 2019. For fiscal years 2007 through 2016, the assistant secretary reported no administrative expenses of $ 517.8 million.

It is also suggested that a Senator, Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, who drafted the legislation that created BARDA and is believed to be its supporter in Congress, has been embroiled in internal funding disputes. The whistleblower informed the investigators that at the behest of Mr Burr and his “pet project”, a “restrictive wording” had been added to the 2016 budget – an obvious reference to BARDA.

A spokesman for the senator had no comment.

BARDA was launched in 2006 by the Congress. Its mission is to fund novel research into vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other “medical countermeasures” to combat natural and biological defense threats. It was relatively dark until Dr. Kadlec in April his director, Dr. Rick Bright, dismissed.

Dr. Bright said at the time that he was removed from his post and reassigned to a closer job at the National Institutes of Health after pushing for a rigorous review of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that President Donald J. Trump adopted as a coronavirus treatment The government had “put politics and cronyism before science”.

The new Washington

Updated

Jan. 28, 2021, 8:48 ET

Days later, he filed a whistleblower complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal surveillance agency. He has since left the federal government and most recently advised Mr Biden about the coronavirus during the transition.

However, the report released on Wednesday is not an answer to Dr. Bright. Rather, it covers both the Obama and Trump administrations and emerged from an investigation into a complaint made by an unnamed whistleblower in 2018, the allegations of which were primarily Dr. Kadlec’s predecessor Dr. Nicole Lurie concerned. The whistleblower accused Dr. Lurie, “reported false information to Congress” in her monthly reports to lawyers.

Both Dr. Kadlec and Dr. Lurie have denied wrongdoing. In a brief interview on Wednesday, Dr. Lurie, she was not interviewed for the investigation. The results were previously reported by the Washington Post.

“We left the country stronger than we found it, including a pandemic playbook,” said Dr. Lurie about her time as head of the agency. “All spending was routinely made and approved through multiple layers of strict budget processes. No expenditure was made unilaterally. “

In a statement, Mr. Kerner urged Congress and the Department of Health “to take immediate action to ensure that public health emergency funding can no longer be used as a slush fund for unrelated expenses.”

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement it would review how the deputy secretary allocated money in fiscal 2015-2019 to see if any law had been broken.

A lawyer for Dr. Bright, Debra S. Katz, described the results as “outrage”. While the special adviser said last spring that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that the removal of Dr. Bright was seeking repayment and was demanding his reinstatement, Ms. Katz said the investigation into his complaint is slow because the Trump administration has not cooperated. This complaint focused on Dr. Kadlec.

“These people used BARDA as their own piggy bank – both to manage contracts with their pals and to carry out any specific projects they wanted to detriment the public health and safety of Americans,” she said.

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Business

Mega Tens of millions jackpot is $1 billion. What to know earlier than shopping for in

Mega Millions jackpot is $1 billion. What to know before buying in

MARK RALSTON | AFP | Getty Images

At some point, Friday night or later, someone will win the Mega Millions jackpot.

You probably won’t be.

With the odds against players matching all six numbers required to reach the mother lode, the lottery game grand prize for the Friday night drawing has reached an estimated value of $ 1 billion. The cash option – which most winners prefer to annuity – is $ 739.6 million (pre-tax). The jackpot is also the third largest in US lottery history.

The Friday night draw comes just days after another huge amount of money was won on another lottery game: a ticket purchased in Maryland hit the Powerball jackpot of $ 731.1 million ($ 546.8 million in bar), making it the sixth largest prize of all time.

“We know that players love big jackpots and when the numbers are that big it becomes a national phenomenon,” said Gordon Medenica, Maryland lottery director and chief executive officer of Mega Millions.

“Everyone wants to dream about what they would do if they won.”

The Mega Millions jackpot has been rising since mid-September when someone hit $ 120 million ($ 95.4 million in cash) and the grand prize was reset to $ 20 million. That’s 37 weeks with no one matching all six numbers in twice weekly drawings. This is the longest run ever without a winner, according to lottery officials.

Each Mega Millions ticket has a 1 in 302 million chance of winning the jackpot. It’s a little better for Powerball: 1 in 292 million.

Even if you bought multiple tickets, you wouldn’t move the needle much. To give yourself a 50:50 chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot – that is, the same odds if you toss a coin once – you would have to buy over 151 million different combinations of numbers. Even then, you couldn’t guarantee that you would be the only winner.

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The biggest jackpot in US history – a Powerball prize of $ 1.59 billion in 2016 – was split into three types.

For the drawing on Friday evening, the lottery officials estimate that 40% of all possible number combinations will be played.

Of course you can win the game without hitting the jackpot. The last Mega Millions raffle, held on Tuesday evening, produced nearly 5.2 million winning tickets, according to lottery data. These included two winners of $ 2 million each, eleven winners of $ 1 million each, and 139 winners who won at least $ 10,000.

Once the Mega Millions jackpot is won, it will reset to $ 20 million.

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Business

The $1 billion Mega Hundreds of thousands jackpot has a winner

How to protect your privacy if you win Mega Millions or Powerball

MARK RALSTON | AFP | Getty Images

Someone in Michigan starts their weekend a lot richer.

A single ticket sold in Wolverine State hit all six numbers drawn on Friday night to win the $ 1 billion Mega Millions jackpot. The prize had risen through twice weekly drawings for 37 weeks with no winners. It has now been reset to $ 20 million.

When you have this precious piece of paper in hand, you should be aware that your life is about to change dramatically, experts say. And while you may be eager to claim your winnings, there is no need to rush to headquarters right away.

In other words, take a deep breath.

Protect your ticket and yourself

Put together a team of professionals

Before you go to the lottery headquarters, you should assemble a team of seasoned professionals: a lawyer, an accountant, and a financial advisor.

“You want to be thoughtful [experts] Walk you through the emotional side of winning, but also the commitment that comes with that kind of wealth, “said CPA Mark Alaimo, a member of the American Institute of CPAs’ Personal Financial Specialist Committee.

Someone on the team should also serve as the gatekeeper. That said, they can answer queries from moochers or scammers, or even friends and family members who want a piece of your godsend in the end.

The tax bill

You can choose to take your winnings either as a lump sum or as a 30 year pension. For the $ 1 billion Mega Millions jackpot, the cash option – which most winners choose – is $ 739.6 million.

However, before it reaches you, 24% – $ 177.5 million – is withheld for federal taxes. With the highest marginal tax rate of 37%, you can expect more to be due at tax time. Michigan state taxes of 4.5% would also be due or withheld.

Think philanthropically

One way to lower your tax burden is to think in a nonprofit way.

You can donate up to 60% of your Adjusted Gross Income in cash to a nonprofit or a donor-recommended fund and receive a tax deduction for the amount in the year you donate.

They can also set up a private foundation, donate their income, and then choose how to use it over time.

“A private foundation can run programs,” said Alaimo. “You could open and run a soup kitchen owned by the foundation.

“With a fund recommended by donors, you can only donate [an existing] Soup kitchen.”

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Business

Mega Hundreds of thousands jackpot soars to $850 million. How one can deal with a windfall

Mega Millions jackpot soars to $850 million. How to handle a windfall

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

Once again the Mega Millions jackpot has catapulted higher.

The grand prize now stands at a staggering $ 850 million – the third largest in lottery history – after no ticket matched all of the numbers drawn on Friday night. Then there is Powerball: the jackpot is estimated at $ 640 million for the Saturday night drawing.

Of course, the odds of winning either game aren’t in your favor: the chance that a single ticket will match all six numbers is 1 in 302 million for Mega Millions and 1 in 292 million for Powerball.

Even so, it is still worth thinking about how you would deal with such a stroke of luck if you passed the odds.

Jackpot winners are typically given six months to a year to claim their prize, depending on which state it was purchased in. This generally means there is no need to rush to the lottery headquarters.

In other words, the winners should take a deep breath.

Big money means big emotions

Whoever cracks one of the jackpots at the end should be prepared for a roller coaster ride of emotions.

Experts say the extent of their windfall can level off once the initial excitement of winning the jackpot subsides.

“Anyone experiencing newly created wealth … there is a sense of confusion and a sense of being overwhelmed,” said Valerie Galinskaya, executive director and director of the Merrill Center for Family Wealth.

Of course, you don’t have to do it alone.

Given the size of these jackpots, winners should assemble a team of seasoned professionals – including a lawyer, CPA, and financial advisor – to help them tackle the windfall.

“You want to hire the right consultants who can provide not only good advice but also advice tailored to your needs and desires,” said Galinskaya.

Protect your ticket and your identity

You should make a copy of your ticket, keep it in a safe place, i.e. in a safe deposit box or deposit with a bank, and defy the urge to share your messages with everyone in your life.

“Don’t immediately discuss it with anyone other than your immediate and trusted family,” said certified financial planner Jim Shagawat, a New Jersey-based partner advisor at AdvicePeriod of Los Angeles.

Also, if possible, you should protect your identity when you claim the jackpot. While the standard recommendation is to sign the back of the ticket, if, under state law, you set up a trust or limited liability company to claim the windfall, rather than doing it on your own behalf, it can compromise anonymity .

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If your state laws require your name to be publicly known, then it pays to prepare how to respond when others bring up your roundtable, Galinskaya said.

“They say, ‘I’m really grateful and we’re still working on what it means to us,'” she said.

Prepare for the tax bill

For the $ 850 million Mega Millions jackpot, the cash option that most winners choose instead of an annuity is $ 628.2 million.

However, before that gets to you, 24% – or $ 150.8 million – will be withheld for federal taxes. You can also rest assured that you owe much more to Uncle Sam, as the maximum marginal rate of 37% applies to income over $ 523,600 for individual taxpayers and $ 628,300 for married couples filing together. As a rule, state taxes are also due.

Powerball’s $ 640 million jackpot has a flat-rate option of $ 478.7 million. The 24% withholding tax would be approximately $ 114.9 million. And again more would be due.

Think philanthropically

One way to lower your tax burden is to think in a nonprofit way. Basically, the government gives you a tax break if you use private money for public purposes.

“It’s not just about what you want to do for yourself and your family, it’s also philanthropic,” Galinskaya said.

You can donate up to 60% of your Adjusted Gross Income in cash to a nonprofit or a donor-recommended fund and receive a tax deduction for the amount in the year you donate. They can also set up a private foundation, donate their income, and then choose how to use it over time.

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World News

Hundreds of thousands Flock to Telegram and Sign as Fears Develop Over Large Tech

Millions Flock to Telegram and Signal as Fears Grow Over Big Tech

Neeraj Agrawal, a spokesperson for a think tank for cryptocurrency, has typically used the encrypted messaging app Signal to chat with privacy-conscious colleagues and colleagues. He was surprised on Monday when the app drew his attention to two new users: mom and dad.

“Signal still had a subversive glow,” said Mr. Agrawal, 32. “Now my parents are in.”

Gavin McInnes, founder of the far-right Proud Boys group, had just announced his return on Telegram. “Man, I haven’t posted anything here in a while,” he wrote on Sunday. “I will post regularly.”

And on Twitter, Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, also weighed in two words last week: “Use Signal”.

In the past week, tens of millions of people downloaded Signal and Telegram, making them the two hottest apps in the world. With Signal, messages can be sent with “end-to-end encryption”, ie only the sender and recipient can read the content. Telegram offers some encrypted messaging options, but is mostly popular for its group-based chat rooms where users can discuss a wide variety of topics.

Their sudden surge in popularity was fueled by a series of events over the past week that raised concerns about some of the big tech companies and their communication apps, like WhatsApp, which Facebook owns. Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter removed thousands of far-right accounts – including President Trump’s – after the Capitol storm. Amazon, Apple, and Google have also dropped support for Parler, a social network popular with Mr. Trump’s fans. In response, conservatives looked for new apps to communicate with.

At the same time, privacy concerns about WhatsApp were mounting, which last week a pop-up notification reminded users that some of their data will be shared with the parent company. The notification sparked a wave of fear fueled by viral chain messages falsely claiming Facebook could read WhatsApp messages.

The result has been mass migration that, if it continues, could weaken the power of Facebook and other big tech companies. On Tuesday, Telegram announced that it had added more than 25 million users in the past three days, which equates to more than 500 million users. According to estimates by Apptopia, an app data company, Signal added nearly 1.3 million users on Monday alone, after an average of just 50,000 downloads per day last year.

“We already had a lot of downloads,” said Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, in a message on the app on Tuesday. “But this time it’s different.”

Carl Woog, a spokesman for WhatsApp, said that users’ privacy settings have not changed and that rumors about what data is being shared are largely unfounded.

“What doesn’t change is that private messages to friends and family, including group chats, are protected with end-to-end encryption so that we can’t see them,” he said.

The rise of Telegram and Signal could spark the debate about encryption, which helps protect the privacy of people’s digital communications, but can hinder authorities in criminal investigations as conversations are hidden.

In particular, the move to apps by far-right groups has worried US authorities, some of whom are trying to track plans for potentially violent rallies at or before the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. next week.

“The proliferation of encrypted platforms where law enforcement can’t even monitor rhetoric enables groups with bad intent to plan behind the curtain,” said Louis Grever, director of the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies.

Capitol Riot Fallout

Updated

Jan. 13, 2021, 6:09 p.m. ET

Telegram is particularly popular with right-wing extremists as it mimics social media. After Facebook and Twitter limited Mr Trump to their services last week and other companies enlisted their assistance from Parler, right-wing groups on Parler and other fringe social networks posted links to new Telegram channels and encouraged people to join them.

In the four hours after Parler went offline on Monday, a Proud Boys group on Telegram gained over 4,000 new followers.

“Don’t trust Big Tech,” read a message in a Proud Boys group on Parler. “We need to find safer rooms.”

On Signal, a Florida-based militia group said Monday that it is organizing its chats in small city-to-city chats, limited to a few dozen people each, according to the New York Times. They warned each other not to let in anyone they did not know personally to avoid police officers spying on their chats.

The deluge of users of Telegram, based in Dubai, and Signal, based in Silicon Valley, goes well beyond American right. Mr Durov said 94 percent of Telegram’s 25 million new users were from Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. Data from Apptopia showed that while the US was the main source of Signal’s new users, downloads of both apps increased in India, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere.

Concerns about WhatsApp’s privacy policy have increased Telegram and Signal’s popularity. While there haven’t been any significant changes to the way WhatsApp handles user data, users immediately interpreted the app’s privacy notice last week as infiltrating and infiltrating all kinds of personal information – such as personal chat logs and voice calls passes this data on to companies.

WhatsApp was quick to say that people were wrong and that it couldn’t see anything in encrypted chats and calls. But it was too late.

“The whole world now seems to understand that Facebook doesn’t create apps for them, Facebook apps for their data,” said Moxie Marlinspike, Founder and CEO of Signal. “It took this one little catalyst to get everyone over the edge of change.”

The passion was so great that Moses Tsali, a rapper from Los Angeles, released a music video for his song “Hit Me On Signal” on Tuesday. And Mr. Musk’s endorsement of Signal last week drove publicly traded shares of Signal Advance Inc., a small medical device maker, from a market value of around $ 50 million to over $ 3 billion. (The company has no relationship with the messaging app.)

Some world leaders have also urged people to join them on the apps. On Sunday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Twitter account from Mexico spoke about his new telegram group. As of Wednesday, it had nearly 100,000 members.

Eli Sapir, executive director of Apptopia, said that while WhatsApp has fairer concerns about data collection on Facebook, WhatsApp actually uses more secure encryption than Telegram. “It’s like switching from something high in sugar to corn syrup,” he said, adding that Signal was the safest of the three.

Meyi Alabi, 18, a student in Ibadan, Nigeria, said she was surprised this week when her mother invited her to join Signal. Her mother downloaded the app at the urging of a friend who was worried about WhatsApp.

“I was shocked because she got it before me,” she said. “We usually tell our parents about the new apps. Now we are suddenly informed. “

Mr Agrawal, the cryptocurrency worker, said his parents had long been active in several WhatsApp group chats with college friends and relatives in India. He said they told him they joined Signal to follow many of the chats that moved there because some of the attendees were concerned about WhatsApp’s new policy.

He said he knew the dangers of the WhatsApp policy were overstated, but that much of the public did not understand how their data was being handled.

“They hear these important things – data sharing, Facebook, data protection,” said Agrawal, “and that’s enough for them to say I have to get away from it.”

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Business

Mega Hundreds of thousands jackpot leaps to $600 million. Right here’s the tax invoice

Mega Millions jackpot leaps to $600 million. Here’s the tax bill

Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images

No, you did not hit the Mega Millions jackpot of $ 520 million.

The lottery game’s grand prize rose to a whopping $ 600 million for Tuesday night’s drawing after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Friday night. The amount marks the eighth largest jackpot in the history of the lottery. Powerball’s jackpot is an estimated $ 470 million for the Saturday night draw.

Of course, the amounts shown are not what the winners would end up with. Lottery officials must withhold 24% of large winnings for federal taxes. And that’s just the beginning of what you would pay Uncle Sam and usually state coffers.

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For the $ 600 million Mega Millions jackpot, the cash option that most winners choose instead of an annuity is $ 442.4 million. The 24% retention would save approximately $ 106.2 million before the price hits you.

However, you can be rest assured that you owe more to the IRS.

The highest marginal tax rate is 37%. If the winner’s taxable income were not reduced – such as B. large donations for charity – would be another 13% or 57.5 million at the tax time. USD to pay the IRS (this would be April 2022 for jackpots claimed in 2021).

That would be a total of $ 163.7 million that would go to the IRS.

There are also state taxes. Depending on where you live, this hit can be more than 8%.

The cash option for the $ 470 million Powerball jackpot is $ 362.7 million. If there is a winner, the 24% withholding tax would cut $ 87 million off the top. Another 13% would be $ 47.2 million, for the tax officer a total of $ 134.2 million.

Despite handing over a substantial amount to federal and state coffers, the post-tax amount would be life changing. Experts say jackpot winners should assemble a team of seasoned professionals – including a lawyer, tax advisor, and financial advisor – to help manage their sudden fortune.

Most gamers don’t need to worry, however. The chance of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot with a single ticket is tiny: 1 in 302 million. For Powerball, the odds are slightly better: 1 in 292 million.