Frances Biden to pick ex-Fed chair Yellen as first female US Treasury chief
easing Covid-19 lockdown rules in coming weeks, carrying out the process in three stages so as to avoid a new flareup in the pandemic, according to senior officials.
In his speech Tuesday, Macron is expected to announce an adjustment of restrictions that have been in place since October 30.
"Emmanuel Macron will give prospects over several weeks, especially on how we adjust our strategy. What is at stake is adapting lockdown rules as the health situation improves while avoiding a new flare-up in the epidemic," government spokesman Gabriel Attal told the French weekly, Le Journal Du Dimanche.
"There will be three steps to (lockdown) easing in view of the health situation and of risks tied to some businesses: a first step around December 1, then before the year-end holidays, and then from January 2021," Attal added.
Macron had said France's second national lockdown would last at least four weeks. Curbs include the closure of non-essential stores, restaurants and bars.
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But with recent data showing France on track to rein in a surge in coronavirus infections, the government is under pressure from shops and businesses to ease restrictions in time for the Christmas shopping season, when many retailers make the bulk of their annual turnover.
"We had committed to allow them (shopkeepers) to reopen around December 1 if the health situation improved, which seems to be the case," Attal said.
Bars and restaurants, however, "will continue to experience restrictions," he added.
The calculations were based on preliminary data obtained 42 days after the first dose, Russia's health ministry, the state-run Gamaleya research centre and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.
They did not note the number of cases used to make the calculation, however.
The two-shot Sputnik V vaccine will cost less than $20 per person on international markets and will be free of charge for Russian citizens, according to a statement on the official Sputnik V Twitter account.
The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev said earlier on Tuesday that the vaccine would be priced significantly lower than other rivals with similar efficacy levels. Mr Dmitriev added Moscow aims to produce more than 1 billion doses at home and abroad next year.
Moscow has been criticised by some scientists in the West who have accused it of cutting corners in an effort to try to rush out the Sputnik V vaccine.
The government is already facing a storm of criticism over a new security law that opponents say will erode the accountability of the police.
Officers used tear gas to dismantle the Paris camp, which was set up to protest against earlier forced evacuations of hundreds of migrants from other camps.
Trump acknowledged it was time for the General Services Administration to "do what needs to be done."
In the same tweet he insisted that he was still refusing to concede, saying: "Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good fight, and I believe we will prevail!"
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But for the Republican to sign off on the GSA's decision to work with the Biden transition team signaled that even he sees the writing on the wall after three weeks of evidence-free claims that the November 3 election was stolen from him.
This means that Biden's team will now have access to funds, office space and the ability to meet with federal officials.
Biden's office, which hours earlier announced a highly experienced group to be nominated for top US foreign policy and security posts, said the GSA would now allow "support necessary to carry out a smooth and peaceful transfer of power."
Abiy launched a military campaign against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on November 4, accusing it of attacking two federal military camps in the northern region, as well as defying and seeking to destabilise his government.
The federal army says its forces are within 60 kilometres (37 miles) of Mekele, the Tigrayan capital and seat of the TPLF, ahead of a threatened all-out bombardment of the city of half a million people.
Abiy -- last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner -- on Sunday called on the TPLF to surrender peacefully within three days, saying they were "at a point of no return".
But the TPLF's leader Debretsion Gebremichael said Abiy was trying to cover for setbacks his army had suffered against Tigrayan forces, and was issuing threats to buy time.
"He doesn't understand who we are. We are people of principle and ready to die in defence of our right to administer our region," Debretsion told AFP via WhatsApp on Monday.
A communications blackout in the region has made claims from both sides difficult to verify.
Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew, as quoted by state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate on Monday, said that federal troops were "marching into Mekele" having captured key towns to the north and south.
The army has threatened a "no mercy" tank assault on the TPLF leadership in Mekele, warning civilians to leave while they still can, raising concerns among rights activists.
"Treating a whole city as a military target would not only (be) unlawful, it could also be considered a form of collective punishment," Human Rights Watch researcher Laetitia Bader wrote on Twitter.
Abiy has urged the people of Mekele to side with the national army against the TPLF, "in bringing this treasonous group to justice".
Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in nearly three weeks of fighting which has seen warplanes bomb the region and tanks enter the fray.
Amnesty International also documented a gruesome massacre in which "scores and likely hundreds" of people were stabbed and hacked to death in the southwest town of Mai-Kadra.
Over 40,000 Ethiopians have meanwhile fled west into Sudan and rockets have hit Eritrea to the north, spurring fears the internal conflict risks instability beyond its borders.
The UN Security Council will hold its first meeting on the conflict in Tigray, diplomatic sources said late Monday.
Tuesday's virtual meeting will not be open to the public, they said, and it was not yet clear if a statement would be issued afterward.
Rocket attack
In Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region south of Tigray, two witnesses told AFP on Monday that rockets had hit the city, the third time it has endured shelling since the fighting began.
"Three rockets fell on the city near the airport area. We don't know about casualties or damages," said one witness, who asked not be named.
There was no immediate response from the government, nor any claim of responsibility.
The TPLF claimed responsibility for earlier rocket strikes on Bahir Dar and Gondar, another city in Amhara, as well as Eritrea's capital Asmara.
Abiy in a statement late Sunday accused Tigrayan forces of destroying key infrastructure in their retreat from fighting, including the airport in the town of Axum and schools, bridges, medical centres and roads.
Images broadcast by Ethiopian authorities on Monday showed what appeared to be deep gouges and damage to the tarmac at Axum.
Abiy has resisted international pressure to halt the fighting, including from the African Union (AU), describing the campaign as a "law enforcement operation" against a "treasonous group" that is now entering its final phase.
Redwan Hussein, spokesman for an Ethiopian committee handling the conflict, said the government would meet envoys sent by the AU "as a matter of respect" but flatly ruled out any talks with the TPLF.
"Facts on the ground have changed, and we've come to the very end," he told reporters on Monday.
The TPLF led the armed struggle that toppled the brutal Derg regime in 1991 and controlled the coalition that took over, ruling Ethiopia for nearly three decades until Abiy was appointed in 2018.
https://yadiman1409.medium.com/vvn-intervie-eu-strikes-deal-with-moderna-for-up-to-160-million-vaccine-doses-583131e5466d?postPublishedType=initial
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https://udienekemalu.medium.com/cmde-intter-national-eu-strikes-deal-with-moderna-for-up-to-160-million-vaccine-doses-d2b6fed475eb
Since then, Tigrayan leaders have complained of being unfairly targeted in corruption prosecutions, removed from top positions and broadly scapegoated for the country's woes.
Biden to pick ex-Fed chair Yellen as first female US Treasury chief