Only 15% of AstraZeneca vaccine available in Germany has been used

Germany has administered only 15% of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shots it has available, the health ministry said, as the vaccine faces public resistance after trials showed it to be less effective than alternatives. The ministry said the vaccine would be offered to people that are in other priority groups after saying earlier this week state workers such as teachers and police would get priority access. Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman on Wednesday urged people to trust the vaccine which was developed at Britain's Oxford University, saying it was safe and effective.

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  Bulgaria accuses AstraZeneca of taking country's vaccine 'hope' away

  Reuters
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  Ukraine: Health workers welcome COVID-19 vaccination drive

  Associated Press

Adam Kinzinger says the battle with Trumpism has to be fought in public

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., has been the most outspoken Republican critic of former President Trump over the past few months because he believes that in the modern political age, open confrontation is the primary way political parties are steered in one direction or another. A few Republican officeholders have taken a public stand against Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., joined Kinzinger and eight other House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump a week after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of the then president's supporters.

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  Former Trump Aide to Run Primary Challenge against Kinzinger

  National Review
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  Congressman whose family said he was in ‘devil’s army’ for opposing Trump says it shows divides former president caused

  The Independent

Exclusive: Northern Ireland Protocol must be abolished, demands European Research Group

The Northern Ireland Protocol must be abolished rather than tweaked, the European Research Group will urge the Government on Thursday. The hardline Tory Brexiteers will publish a report, seen by The Telegraph, urging Boris Johnson to overhaul the problematic protocol rather than work with the EU to amend it. It comes amid a growing outcry over bureaucracy and checks, required under the protocol, hampering the inward flow of some goods to Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

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  Tory Brexit hardliners call on Boris Johnson to tear up Northern Ireland arrangements

  The Independent
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  UK Government urged to ‘act unilaterally’ over Northern Ireland Protocol

  Evening Standard

Imran Khan invites Sri Lankan Buddhists to visit Pakistan

Visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has proclaimed his Muslim-majority nation a choice destination for religious tourism by Sri Lankans, most of whom are Buddhists. In talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday, Khan highlighted Buddhist heritage sites in Pakistan and stressed the building of cultural ties, the Pakistan Embassy said in a statement. “Pakistan probably has one of the greatest Buddhist heritages in the world and we invite people from Sri Lanka to visit them,” Khan said a day earlier after meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Hyundai to replace 82,000 electric-vehicle batteries over fire risk

Hyundai is to replace the electric batteries in nearly 82,000 of its electric vehicles worldwide because of a fire risk. Most of the affected vehicles are Kona cars built between 2018 and 2020, thousands of which have been sold in the UK, vehicle-registration data suggests. The recall is expected to cost Hyundai about £640m ($900m).

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  Hyundai will use SK Innovation battery cells for the Ioniq 5

  Autoblog
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  Hyundai will replace 75,680 Kona EV batteries over potential fire risks

  Engadget

Biden nominates postal board slate that could oust Louis DeJoy after DeJoy vows to stay put

The nominations would fill vacant seats on the board and allow Biden to indirectly assert control over an independent agency beset by service delays and rumored cuts by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major Republican donor appointed last year under former President Donald Trump. Biden nominated Ron Stronman, the recently retired deputy postmaster general; Amber McReynolds, a vote-by-mail advocate who heads the National Vote at Home Institute; and Anton Hajjar, former general counsel of the American Postal Workers Union. If confirmed to the nine-member board, "the new slate would create a Democratic advantage and potentially the votes to oust DeJoy, whose summer overhaul led to precipitous service declines that snarled up untold numbers of Americans' bills, prescriptions, and paychecks," The Washington Post reports.

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  Biden nominates 3 to postal board as delays persist

  Associated Press
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  'We will do better' -Postmaster General DeJoy

  Reuters Videos

Hungary extends lockdown, sees 'exceptionally difficult' two weeks ahead as infections rise

Hungary is to extend a partial lockdown until March 15 with coronavirus infections expected to rise in the next two weeks, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said on Thursday. The next two weeks would be "exceptionally difficult", Gergely Gulyas told a government briefing, adding that the pace of vaccinations would accelerate after Hungary started to roll out China's Sinopharm vaccine on Wednesday. He said Orban was expected to receive a Sinopharm shot next week.

No Need to Call an Architect—These 9 Room Dividers Elegantly Get the Job Done

From ornate to subtle, these beautiful screens double as functional art Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Nissan ex-CEO tells Japanese court Ghosn's pay was too low

Former Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa told a Japanese court Wednesday he believed the compensation for his predecessor Carlos Ghosn was too low “by international standards,” and so he supported Ghosn's retirement packages to prevent him from leaving. “Mr. Ghosn had outstanding abilities and achievements,” Saikawa said, testifying in Tokyo District Court in the criminal trial of Greg Kelly, a former senior executive at Nissan Motor Co. “We needed to prepare for Mr. Ghosn's eventual retirement to keep him motivated and to have him continue to work for Nissan,” he said in answer to a prosecutor's questioning.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s race for reelection in 2022 will be a ‘bloodbath’

Marjorie Taylor Greene will encounter a “bloodbath” reelection contest against candidates from both parties, according to interviews with local political leaders' about 2022. David Boyle, a Democratic Party chairman, said the 2022 Republican primary for Georgia's 14th congressional district seat, which Ms Greene won in November, was going to be a “bloodbath”. "The middle-of-the-road traditional Republicans are tired of all of this craziness,” Mr Boyle told Insider of recent controversies.

Vietnam's first batch of COVID-19 vaccine arrives from South Korea

Vietnam received the first batch of 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday ahead of the planned rollout of the Southeast Asian country's immunisation programme from next month. The vaccines, which arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on a flight from South Korea, will be used to inoculate more than 50,000 people who are seen as high risk, the government said in a statement. Deputy health minister, Truong Quoc Cuong, was at the airport to meet the consignment of vaccines flown in from Seoul, according to media.

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  Oxford COVID vaccine 'has better protection the longer second dose is delayed'

  Yahoo News UK
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  South Korea hails arrival of virus vaccines as first step in 'return to normal'

  Reuters

Bahrain: crown prince calls Israel PM on Iran nuclear talks

Bahrain's crown prince spoke with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday about the return to nuclear talks with Iran, Bahrain's state-run news agency reported, as the U.S. administration tries to revive the tattered 2015 nuclear accord. Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, also the country's prime minister, stressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the importance of the participation of regional countries in any negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file” to support “security and stability in the region,” according to the official Bahrain News Agency.

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  Israel, Bahrain leaders discuss Iran, possible vaccine plant

  Reuters
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  U.S. and Israel to reconvene Iran working group ahead of potential nuclear talks

  Axios

Recent drone attack on Saudi royal palace launched from Iraq

Explosive-laden drones that targeted Saudi Arabia's royal palace in the kingdom's capital last month were launched from inside Iraq, a senior Iran-backed militia official in Baghdad and a U.S. official said. Speaking to The Associated Press this week, the militia official said three drones were launched from Iraqi-Saudi border areas by a relatively unknown Iran-backed faction in Iraq and crashed into the royal complex in Riyadh on Jan. 23, exacerbating regional tensions. Attacks on the Saudi capital have been sporadic amid the kingdom's yearslong war against neighboring Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Republican-backed voting curbs set for U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny

Fresh off an election in which former President Donald Trump made false claims of fraud, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to ponder the legality of a restriction on early voting in Arizona that his fellow Republicans argued was needed to combat fraud. The Republican-backed law, spurred in part by a video purportedly showing voter fraud that courts later deemed misleading, made it a crime to provide another person's completed early ballot to election officials, with the exception of family members or caregivers. Community activists sometimes engage in ballot collection to facilitate voting and increase voter turnout.

Hungary rolls out China's Sinopharm jab amid lagging trust

Doctors in Hungary on Wednesday began administering a COVID-19 vaccine developed in China, making the country the first European Union nation to use a Chinese jab as officials aim to bolster trust in its safety and effectiveness. General practitioners around the Central European country were instructed to administer the shots, developed by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm, to elderly patients. The Sinopharm jab brings the number of vaccines currently in use in Hungary to five including the Russian-developed Sputnik V, more than in any other country in the 27-nation EU.

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  Mexico starts administering Russian Sputnik V vaccine

  Associated Press
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  Too early to ease COVID-19 restrictions, Hungary PM Orban says

  Reuters

Sanctions prompt Venezuela to expel head of EU delegation

Venezuela's government on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of the chief European Union diplomat in the South American nation following the bloc's decision to impose sanctions on several Venezuelan officials accused of undermining democracy or violating human rights. Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa was given 72 hours to leave the troubled country. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Brilhante Pedrosa was declared persona non grata by decision of President Nicolás Maduro.

In boost for COVID-19 battle, Pfizer vaccine found 94% effective in real world

The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing COVID-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies. Up until now, most data on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables. The research in Israel - two months into one of the world's fastest rollouts, providing a rich source of data - showed two doses of the Pfizer shot cut symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much.

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  Pfizer vaccine is 94% effective in real-world study

  Reuters Videos
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  Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine works well in big 'real world' test

  Associated Press

Biden news - live: Trump Jr deposed over inaugural funds as White House defends migrant camp after AOC attack

President Joe Biden has backed his Office of Management and Budget director nominee Neera Tanden after a vote confirming her appointment has been delayed. Ms Tanden - who previously worked for President Barack Obama - has faced criticism from Republicans over her previous comments on social media and statements about Mitch McConnell. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration didn't see it as a setback, and that they were continuing to fight for her nomination.

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  Joe Biden's Nominees Of Color Are Facing Outsize Opposition

  HuffPost
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  White House: No 'Plan B' on Neera Tanden nomination

  Associated Press Videos

China's Mars craft enters parking orbit before landing rover

China says its Tianwen-1 spacecraft has entered a temporary parking orbit around Mars in anticipation of landing a rover on the red planet in the coming months. The China National Space Administration said the spacecraft executed a maneuver to adjust its orbit early Wednesday morning Beijing time and will remain in the new orbit for about the next three months before attempting to land. During that time, it will be mapping the surface of Mars and using its cameras and other sensors to collect further data, particularly about its prospective landing site.

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  NASA scientists show new videos from the Perseverance rover's landing

  AFP Videographics
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  For the first time, we have an audio recording from the surface of Mars - take a listen

  Business Insider

Pakistan, India agree to halt cross-border firing in Kashmir

Pakistan and India pledged Thursday to halt cross-border firing in the disputed region of Kashmir, promising to adhere to a 2003 accord that has been largely ignored, officials from both sides said. If implemented, the move would be a major step in defusing tensions in the highly militarized Himalayan region, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety, and opens the possibility of a broader detente between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

GOP rallies solidly against Democrats' virus relief package

Republicans rallied solidly against Democrats' proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill as lawmakers awaited a decision by the Senate's parliamentarian that could bolster or potentially kill a pivotal provision hiking the federal minimum wage. Despite their paper-thin congressional majorities, Democratic leaders were poised to push the sweeping package through the House on Friday. They were hoping the Senate, where changes seem likely, would follow quickly enough to have legislation on President Joe Biden's desk by mid-March.

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  U.S. senators weigh paring back Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid plan

  Reuters
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  GOP Senate leaders sound off on COVID relief bill

  Associated Press Videos

Secretive Israeli nuclear facility undergoes major project

A secretive Israeli nuclear facility at the center of the nation's undeclared atomic weapons program is undergoing what appears to be its biggest construction project in decades, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show. A dig about the size of a soccer field and likely several stories deep now sits just meters (yards) from the aging reactor at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona. The facility is already home to decades-old underground laboratories that reprocess the reactor's spent rods to obtain weapons-grade plutonium for Israel's nuclear bomb program.