Ted Cruz Is Getting Destroyed Online For Going To Cancún During The Texas Weather Disaster

While pundits debate and Texas residents fume about Cruz's behavior, other people have been, of course, memeing it.

Best Tweets On Ted Cruz Going To Cancun (buzzfeednews.com)

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  Literally Just Photos Of Ted Cruz Flying Back To The US After Getting Caught Vacationing In Cancún

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  Ted Cruz Flew To Cancún While Millions In Texas Suffered Without Power 

• And Water In A Freezing Winter Storm       

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Here’s How COVID Vaccines Are Made — And Why We Can’t Just Start Making A Lot More Of Them

“It’s more complicated than hitting a button and turning on a machine somewhere,” said one industry expert.

Dan Vergano BuzzFeed News Reporter


Last updated on February 12, 2021

President Joe Biden last Thursday announced that the federal government has secured another 200 million doses of vaccines to be delivered by the summer, a boost in supply that will eventually be enough to inoculate every American adult.

But, facing a shortage of vaccines and the threat of dangerous coronavirus mutants, some are calling for drug makers to band together immediately to churn out more shots.

As of Friday, almost two months into the vaccine rollout, about 11 million people in the US have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That leaves more than 300 million people still waiting, with demand for shots now far outpacing supply.


“It is time to directly compel Pfizer or Moderna to license their vaccine to any pharmaceutical company that can help produce doses,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week. “We need wartime mass production here in America.”

But such calls ignore reality, vaccine industry veterans told BuzzFeed News. Quick fixes by the White House, or any government, to drive up vaccine production right now may mean fewer shots if those interventions interfere with the supply chain. Accelerating production could also cause shortages of other vital medicines if factories are retooled to produce vaccines.

The problem is that vaccines are biological products, not tires or beer bottles that can be made by switching out molds on an assembly line. Making most vaccines requires first growing viruses, typically in cells or chicken eggs, and then harvesting them. The newer approaches used to create Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines require specialized machines that aren’t found in every factory, even for large, established manufacturers. As a result, competitors can’t be much help until the FDA authorizes vaccines that can be more easily produced.

“You can scale up, but it’s more complicated than hitting a button and turning on a machine somewhere,” said Jim Robinson, a retired industry consultant who worked for pharmaceutical giants Sanofi and Merck. “Money isn’t the constraint here, it’s everything else.”

Still, some steps — such as allowing a competitor’s factories to take over the final steps of bottling, capping, and labeling the finished products — could help alleviate bottlenecks as Pfizer and Moderna struggle to get out more of their vaccines.

“Americans are eager to get vaccinated, and we’re working with manufacturers to increase the supply of vaccines as quickly as possible,” Jeff Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 czar, said on Wednesday. He argued that supply was already ramping up, with 11 million doses now being shipped nationwide each week, a 28% increase from when Biden took office.

In response to questions about whether the White House would step in to help boost manufacturing sooner, Andy Slavitt, a White House COVID-19 response adviser, said last week that “everything is on the table.” The administration is reportedly considering whether to partner competing manufacturers that are normally barred from working together because of antitrust laws. And last week, Biden invoked the wartime Defense Production Act to prioritize manufacturing pumps and filters that Pfizer needs to make its vaccine.

The vaccine makers are also taking some shortcuts to speed production on their own, rather than handing over the wholesale manufacturing, like de Blasio called for. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Merck, the world’s second-largest vaccine maker, might assist Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson. The drugmakers Sanofi and Novartis have agreed to bottle hundreds of millions of doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech mRNA vaccine in Europe. On Friday, the FDA allowed Moderna to fill its vials with 14 doses instead of 10, a simple way to deliver more vaccines without major manufacturing changes.

Pfizer and Moderna declined to respond to questions from BuzzFeed News about the bottlenecks they face in ramping up production of their vaccines. But in a statement on Thursday confirming Biden’s purchase of extra doses by this summer, Moderna chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel said, “We continue to scale up our manufacturing capability, both in and outside of the United States. Our goal is to bring our vaccine to as many people as possible.”


With vaccines, the process is the product.

Courtesy Pfizer
Construction of a freezer farm at Pfizer’s Kalamazoo plant, in October 2020

The difficulty in scaling up production led Operation Warp Speed to steadily lower its projections for vaccine output last year. The $18 billion public-private partnership initially pledged to deliver 600 million US doses by December, a promise that eventually slid down to 40 million, a target it also missed.

OWS spent billions setting up vaccine factories to start production last year, before the shots were even shown to work. That bet paid off as vaccines started to be shipped out to states days after the FDA’s authorization. But getting those factories working hasn’t been easy. Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccine candidate will soon up for FDA authorization, revealed last month that manufacturing troubles led the company to fall two months behind schedule. The company is now promising fewer than 10 million doses by February.


“The process is the product” is the pharmaceutical industry saying about vaccines. That’s because when you get a vaccine, you aren’t just getting a shot. That 0.3 milliliter dose (about a hundredth of an ounce) is the final product of a vast integrated machine, distributed across many states and nations. A factory can cost around $600 million, each a giant tool with one job: making a specific vaccine.





In St. Louis, MO, the DNA of the spike protein is extracted and multiplied over the course of approximately four days.

The DNA is shipped to Andover, MA, where it is converted to mRNA, then frozen, and packed into bags.

The bags of mRNA are shipped to Kalamazoo, MI

Lipids are manufactured and shipped from Alabaster, AL

The mRNA is defrosted and mixed with lipids in a highly specialized machine to make nanoparticles.

BOTTLENECK

Other companies can’t currently help with this step

The result of that process is mixed with the remaining ingredients, which stabilize the vaccine for shipment and defrosting.

BOTTLENECK

Other companies are starting to help with this step

In the “fill and finish” process, the vaccine is then bottled, capped, and labeled.

Vials are packaged for shipment, then loaded onto trucks and airplanes.
This diagram outlines the manufacturing process for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
BuzzFeed News; Getty Images


The currently authorized mRNA vaccines inject genetic instructions to make spike proteins, the part of the coronavirus that latches onto human cells. These proteins trigger the immune system to build up antibodies and other immune defenses against an actual infection. Crafting the shots is a multistep process that begins with mass-producing the mRNA molecules and then adding them to precisely designed lipids, or fat molecules, made at another facility.

The seemingly simple step of combining these two ingredients is seen as a major bottleneck in our current vaccine production: They have to be mixed together precisely as nanoparticles that are not much bigger than molecules. Not enough care with this step breaks up the mRNA, making it useless.

Aside from Moderna and Pfizer, few in the drug business can do this mixing, because nobody else has made an authorized mRNA vaccine before.

“I believe that you can count on one hand the number of facilities who can make the critical lipid nanoparticles,” pharmaceutical industry researcher Derek Lowe wrote in a blog post last week. He added, “This is the single biggest reason why you cannot simply call up those ‘dozens’ of other companies and ask them to shift their existing production over to making the mRNA vaccines.” Notably, the recent Defense Production Act prioritization of filters for Pfizer seems aimed at aiding this step in production.

This bulk vaccine has to then be combined with stabilizing ingredients, poured into vials under sterile conditions, packaged, and shipped. This “fill and finish” stage has emerged as another bottleneck.

Designing an assembly line to fill and finish takes a long time for any new vaccine factory, former industry managers told BuzzFeed News, because it requires extensive safety testing for each step. Introducing any changes to the line, or adding lines at other facilities, requires that same lengthy testing. Moderna's move to pack more doses into the same number of vials on its filling lines, rather than just filling more vials with the original number of doses at somebody else’s factory, is a way around this problem.

We can open up some of the bottlenecks — but need to be careful.

Pool / Getty Images
UPS employees move shipping containers with the first cases of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a UPS sorting facility in Louisville, Kentucky, in December 2020.

Between April and June last year, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, based in Norway, conducted a survey of vaccine manufacturers, finding a worldwide capacity to make 2 billion to 4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021. Industries have mobilized to produce more doses since then, but that will fall far short of what’s needed to vaccinate the world’s 7.7 billion people.

For decades, vaccines didn’t bring the profits that other drugs did, driving the pharmaceutical industry to shutter factories and exit the business. In the last decade, there has been a revival, but industrial expertise is still lagging. “We can’t be harsh on the industry and their profits but also expect them to turn on the dime on their own time to have lots of extra capacity available,” said Robinson.

For this reason, it may make more sense to augment existing factories to boost production of mRNA vaccines while looking for outside facilities to shore up the supply of more traditional shots still being tested against the coronavirus.

But worldwide shortages of raw materials and specialized equipment should make Biden’s White House ultracautious about stepping in with the Defense Production Act to prioritize materials that other countries need to make their vaccines, Robinson said. They might retaliate by blocking US imports of other supplies made in their country, with the end result that fewer vaccines are made everywhere.

“Nobody’s supply chain is 100% domestic for vaccine raw materials,” Robinson said. Muscling one’s way into pharmaceutical supply chains to prioritize raw materials for vaccines could also mean that other vital medicines go unmade.

Any move to upgrade production in manufacturing has to be checked for unintended consequences downstream or upstream. The US might prioritize Pfizer or Moderna getting first dibs on lipids, for example, but that could slow production of other drugs that use them, like those for multiple sclerosis or cancer. Adding more machines to combine the lipids with the mRNA might require halting production at a factory while they are installed, causing a temporary dip in supply.

For those reasons, vaccines that will arrive later and don’t rely on mRNA, such as Johnson & Johnson’s, might benefit from using outside manufacturers to scale up production. That vaccine is based on an approach more manufacturers have experience with, using a harmless cold virus that is equipped with the genes for coronavirus spikes. The vaccine showed 66% effectiveness in reducing COVID-19 cases in worldwide trials, according to clinical trial data announced last month. Last week, Johnson & Johnson applied for authorization from the FDA, which would make it the third vaccine available in the US.

“These first vaccines aren’t going to be the answer for everyone,” Robinson said.

On top of all this, Anthony Fauci, chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Wednesday that vaccine makers are weighing how to change their shots to address dangerous new coronavirus mutants. A variant found in South Africa, which has been seen in a few US cases, is of particular concern, he said, although vaccines still show efficacy against the virus in limiting severe disease. Changing existing vaccines could add an extra level of complexity if manufacturers decide to collaborate.

In a January interview with BuzzFeed News, Pfizer vaccine chief scientist Philip Dormitzer expressed confidence in the company’s ability to swiftly retool RNA vaccines if a coronavirus variant resistant to current vaccines emerged. Rather than undergoing exhaustive clinical trials for brand-new shots, Dormitzer was hopeful that those retrofitted vaccines could be released more like seasonal flu shots.

“The bottom line is that we have vaccines that work well,” Fauci said. ”Obviously what we're going to be planning, if necessary, is to upgrade vaccines in the future.” ●

UPDATE
February 12, 2021, at 11:27 a.m.


This story has been updated to include the FDA's decision on Friday to allow Moderna to fill its vials with 14 doses instead of 10.

Serena Williams Leaves Press Conference In Tears After Questions About Retirement (buzzfeednews.com)

This wasn't helped by the fact that a clearly emotional Serena choked up in a press conference following the match and, after being asked about retirement, left the room in tears.

"The Aussie crowd is so amazing, so it was nice to see," she said of the reaction to her leaving the court. When asked if it was a farewell, Serena gave a wry laugh and added, "I don't know – if I ever say farewell, I wouldn't tell anyone."

However, despite seeming in good spirits when she gave the answer, seconds later Serena fought back tears and quickly put an end to the questions, tearfully saying: "I'm done."

Williams exits in tears as Osaka halts record bid

Issued on: 18/02/2021

Serena Williams's last Grand Slam title win was in Melbourne in 2017

 William WEST AFP


Melbourne (AFP)

Japan's Naomi Osaka brutally halted Serena Williams's latest bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title as she set up an Australian Open final with Jennifer Brady on Thursday.

Three-time major-winner Osaka once again proved the American's nemesis with a one-sided 6-3, 6-4 win which heightened questions about whether Williams, 39, will ever match Margaret Court's all-time record.

Williams put her hand on her heart as she acknowledged a standing ovation on Rod Laver Arena, and later cut short her post-match press conference in tears, saying: "I'm done."

The American has lost four Grand Slam finals since winning her 23rd in Melbourne in 2017, and victory over Osaka would have given her a golden opportunity against Brady, who will be playing first major decider.

But US Open champion Osaka has never lost a Slam semi-final and after going 0-2 down in the first set, she reeled off five straight games to take charge against a despairing Williams.

"I hit a lot of unforced errors in the first few games, I was just really nervous and scared," said Osaka.

"But then I sort of eased my way into it and the biggest thing for me was having fun."

Williams lamented a "big error day" and refused to discuss whether it might have been her last Australian Open.

"I don't know," she said, when asked if her salute to the crowd was a farewell.

"If I ever say farewell, I wouldn't tell anyone."

Williams's exit was watched by thousands of fans returning after a state-wide snap coronavirus lockdown, a welcome sight in Rod Laver Arena after five days of matches in front of empty seats.

- 'My legs are shaking' -

The Australian Open is the first Covid-era Grand Slam to welcome large numbers of fans after last year's Wimbledon was cancelled, the US Open took place behind closed doors and the French Open was limited to 1,000 a day.

The returning spectators then witnessed more fireworks in Brady's victory over Karolina Muchova, where the American needed five match points before subduing the Czech 25th seed.

America's Brady eventually prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in 1hr 55min to reach her debut major final against the formidable Osaka.

"My legs are shaking, my heart is racing," said Brady, 25, who has admitted she hated watching and playing tennis as a child.

"My legs felt fresh but they weren't moving. They felt stuck in mud."

In the night match, world number one Novak Djokovic faces an unlikely foe in the men's semi-finals -- Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev, who is enjoying one of the greatest Grand Slam debuts in history.

Exemplifying the gulf between them, Karatsev, 27, has won 18 Grand Slam sets in his career, while Djokovic, 33, is going for his 18th major title.

Vladikavkaz native Karatsev is bidding to become the first player to reach the final on his Grand Slam debut, in just his 19th Tour-level match.

"I try to believe what I'm doing on the court, and it's helped me to win matches," said Karatsev.

"I arrive on the court and say, 'Okay, I try to do my best with more belief.'

Djokovic, who is carrying an abdominal injury, has won 13 of his last 14 Grand Slam semi-finals, and is going for a record-extending ninth Australian Open crown.

"He doesn't have anything to lose, really," said the Serb of his Russian rival. "He's motivated."

© 2021 AFP

When Naomi met Serena: tantrums and tears

Issued on: 17/02/2021 - 

Naomi Osaka hides her tears during the presentation after beating Serena Williams to win the 2019 US Open

 TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP



Melbourne (AFP)

Tennis superstars Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams will play each other for just the fourth time on Thursday with a place in the Australian Open final at stake.

Here, AFP Sport recalls their three previous meetings, including a US Open final remembered for all the wrong reasons:

- Miami Open 2018: Rd 1

ADVERTISING


Osaka won 6-3, 6-2

A 20-year-old Osaka, fresh from her breakthrough title win at Indian Wells, was superior throughout in the pair's first meeting and took just one hour and 17 minutes to end Williams's fourth match after maternity leave.

The American clearly lacked movement in just her second tournament after 13 months out as she slumped to her first defeat in an opening match at an American hardcourt championship for 21 years.

Williams was fined for skipping her post-match media duties and instead issued a brief statement that read: "Every tournament is an opportunity for me to better understand the areas I need to improve to be my best.

"Naomi played a great match and I look forward to continuing my return by progressing every day."

- US Open 2018: Final -

Osaka won 6-2, 6-4

Osaka became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title but was left in tears after an infamous Williams implosion.

The astonishing second-set tantrum was sparked by umpire Carlos Ramos warning Williams for receiving coaching from her player's box.

A second code violation for racquet abuse, along with a point penalty, then caused Williams to erupt.

She tearfully accused him of being a "thief" and demanded an apology.

"You're attacking my character," she fumed. "You will never, ever be on another court of mine. You are the liar," she ranted before Ramos handed her a game penalty for a third code breach -- verbal abuse.

That put Osaka one game from victory and the 20-year-old displayed remarkable poise to serve out for a historic win despite the furore.

The pro-Williams New York crowd booed the trophy ceremony announcer, leaving Osaka in tears and trying to hide her face. She was consoled by a subdued Williams.

"It doesn't really feel that real right now. Maybe in a few days I'll realise what I've done," said Osaka, who had the gloss taken off her first taste of Grand Slam glory.

Williams was later fined $17,000 by tournament organisers for her behaviour.

- Toronto 2019: QF -

Williams won 6-3, 6-4

Williams achieved her maiden win against Osaka at the third time of asking to reach the Rogers Cup semi-final in the the pair's first meeting since the Flushing Meadows meltdown.

Williams this time was on her best behaviour in a solid performance with pin-point serving helping her to a straight-sets victory against a lacklustre Osaka.

"I knew her game a little bit more, so that's a little easier. I'm just overall a little bit better," Williams said.

© 2021 AFP


Record-chasing Williams wary of 'cool cat' Osaka

Serena Williams faces a blockbuster semi-final against Naomi Osaka 

Issued on: 17/02/2021 - 

Melbourne (AFP)

Serena Williams knows she must raise another level against "cool cat" Naomi Osaka to keep alive her dream of a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam crown, wary of again falling victim to the Japanese superstar.

The pair meet in a blockbuster Australian Open semi-final on Thursday with the winner facing either Czech 25th seed Karolina Muchova or American 22nd seed Jennifer Brady in Saturday's decider.

Williams, 39, continues to chase Margaret Court's elusive all-time mark of 24 major titles, after losing four Slam finals since her 2017 victory at Melbourne Park while pregnant.

One of those was her controversial 2018 US Open final defeat to Osaka, where the American star was docked a point and a game after losing her temper when warned about coaching.

Osaka was booed by some fans and was in tears during the awards ceremony, later calling what should have been her moment of glory "a little bittersweet".

Williams said both players had reached "closure" on the painful moment, which has seen them inextricably linked ever since.

"Well, I think we both have had closure, and we have reached out to each other," said Williams, after overpowering second seed Simona Halep in the quarter-finals.

"I have definitely reached out, and she's -- yeah. So off the court, it's hard. I think she's a great competitor and she's a cool cat."

They have played each other just once since that New York meeting, in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Canadian Open which Williams won in straight sets.

If she can get past third seed Osaka, Williams may never have a better chance to finally seal her 24th title after world number one Ashleigh Barty was upset by Muchova in the last eight on the other side of the draw.

Instead, she would face either the Czech or Brady, neither of whom have made a Slam final -- in comparison with the 33 played by Williams, who has been in vintage form so far this year.

- 'She's Serena' -

But first up is Osaka, and 10th seed Williams is taking nothing for granted.

"Obviously I have an incredible opponent to play, so it would be nice to hopefully keep raising the level of my game. I'm going to have to," she said.

"She's a very strong player. I feel like she does everything well. She has a good serve, she has a great return, she's strong on both sides."

Osaka, who swept past Taiwanese veteran Hsieh Su-wei to set up the meeting, is eager to add to her three Grand Slam titles after her wins at Flushing Meadows in 2018 and last year, and Melbourne in 2019.

"I always watch Serena's matches," she admitted when asked if she planned to do any homework on her opponent.

"I grew up watching Serena, Federer, Nadal. It's just more of a habit than anything. But I feel like everyone in the tournament watches her."

And despite beating Williams in the 2018 US Open final, the 23-year-old admitted to still feeling "really intimidated when I see her on the other side of the court".

"She's Serena," she explained.

Brady will face Muchova in the other semi-final, with a maiden Slam final guaranteed for one of them.

Muchova, fresh from her upset of Barty, said she had noted her "very big strokes, fast ones" in their one previous meeting, when she beat the American in Prague in 2019.

"So definitely going to be a tough battle," she said of Brady, who toppled compatriot Jessica Pegula to make her second major semi-final, after last year's US Open.

"I think I will have to bring my A-game to play with her because she is really playing amazing matches, having a good season."

© 2021 AFP

Osaka hails Hashimoto appointment as boost for equality


Issued on: 18/02/2021 - 

Naomi Osaka has welcomed Seiko Hashimoto's appointment as Tokyo Olympics chief 

ROB PREZIOSO TENNIS AUSTRALIA/AFP

Melbourne (AFP)

Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka Thursday welcomed the resignation of gaffe-prone Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori and his replacement by a woman as a big boost in the drive for equality.

Mori, 83, quit last week over widely condemned sexist remarks after saying that women "have difficulty" speaking concisely, "which is annoying".

It sparked a chorus of criticism from sports stars and politicians, including three-time Grand Slam winner Osaka who condemned the remarks as "ignorant".

Japan's Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto was named as his replacement Thursday, barely five months before the virus-postponed Games, with public opinion in Japan still largely against holding the massive event.

Osaka, a leading face of the Games in her home nation, said the appointment of the seven-time Olympian, who was also minister for gender equality and women's empowerment, was a positive move.

"I think for me, what it means is that there's a lot of things I think people used to accept, the things that used to be said, but you're seeing the newer generation not tolerate a lot of things," she said in Melbourne.

"I feel like it's really good because you're pushing forward, barriers are being broken down, especially for females.

"We've had to fight for so many things just to be equal. Even a lot of things, we still aren't equal. Yeah, I thought that was a good thing," added the 23-year-old after blasting past Serena Williams and into the Australian Open final Thursday.

Osaka, the world's top-earning female athlete, emerged as a potent voice on social issues last year when she wore facemasks highlighting victims of racism and police brutality at the US Open.

She remains keen to compete at the Olympics, which start in July, but has said public approval was crucial for them to go ahead.

© 2021 AFP

Virus delay, sexism row: Tokyo's turbulent Olympic timeline

Issued on: 18/02/2021 -

The Tokyo Games have had a rocky ride, and there's still no guarantee they will go ahead

 CHARLY TRIBALLEAU AFP

Tokyo (AFP)

From a historic coronavirus postponement, to a sexism row prompting its top organiser to resign, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have faced many hurdles.

As the pandemic rages, with just over five months until the Games begin, it's still uncertain what this summer's event will look like -- if it happens at all.

Here, AFP chronicles Tokyo's Olympic journey:

- 2013: Tears of joy -

News presenters shed tears and crowds erupt in delight in September as the International Olympic Committee names Tokyo host of the 2020 Games.

Thoughts turn to the victims of Japan's devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, with the Olympics seen by some as a chance to rebuild.

- 2015-16: New stadium, new logo -

Proposals for a new national stadium go back to the drawing board in July 2015 following public anger over the $2 billion price tag.

The following year, a new "snake-eye" logo is unveiled following a plagiarism scandal and immediately derided as "dull".

The original logo by designer Kenjiro Sano had to be ditched eight months earlier following allegations it too closely resembled that of a theatre in the Belgian city of Liege. Sano denied plagiarism.

- 2019: Payments probe -

French magistrates charge the head of Japan's Olympic committee, Tsunekazu Takeda, as they probe payments totalling $2.3 million made before and after Tokyo's nomination.

Takeda protests his innocence but later steps down from the role.

In October, the IOC shifts the Olympic marathon to northern Sapporo to avoid the capital's sweltering summer heat -- a surprise move that infuriates Tokyo officials.

- March 24, 2020: Historic postponement -

With Covid-19 spreading rapidly worldwide, Japan and the IOC postpone the Olympics in a historic decision.

A new date is announced for the opening ceremony -- July 23, 2021 -- but the event will still be called Tokyo 2020.

Organisers say in April there is "absolutely no" chance of postponing the Games a second time.

- September 2020: Games to happen 'with or without Covid' -

IOC vice-president John Coates tells AFP the Olympics will go ahead, regardless of the pandemic, as the "Games that conquered Covid".

Preparations continue as top athletes put the new 60,000-seat stadium through its paces behind closed doors.

- December 2020: Extra costs, new rules -

Anti-virus measures and other delay-related costs add 294 billion yen ($2.8 billion) to the price tag, which has ballooned to at least 1.64 trillion yen ($15.8 billion) -- making Tokyo 2020 potentially the most expensive Summer Olympics in history.

Organisers outline plans for holding the event safely, with athletes facing regular testing and restrictions on mingling, and spectators spared quarantine but banned from cheering.

The IOC says it will try to ensure as many participants and spectators as possible are vaccinated, but jabs will not be obligatory.

- January 2021: Virus surges, support drops -

Japan declares a virus state of emergency in the Tokyo region just over six months before the Olympics are due to open, with other parts of Japan later added and the measures extended for a second month.

Polls show around 80 percent of people in Japan say the event should be cancelled or postponed again.

But organisers and the IOC insist the Games will be held, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says they will be "proof of mankind's victory over the virus".

- February 2021: Sexism furore -

Yoshiro Mori, chief of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, resigns after his claims that women talk too much in meetings spark a firestorm of criticism.

"When you increase the number of female executive members, if their speaking time isn't restricted to a certain extent, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying," the gaffe-prone 83-year-old said.

He is replaced by Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto, 56, a seven-time Olympian who is one of just two women in Japan's cabinet.

© 2021 AFP

Swan song nears for 'unacceptable' Paris bird market

Issued on: 09/02/2021

A person carries a parakeet at the bird market in Paris on the Île de la Cité on May 6, 2018. 

© Gerard Julien, AFP

The chirp-chirping of budgies on Sundays under the glassy ironwork canopies of Paris's Île de la Cité will soon be no more. The city decided last week to shut down the iconic weekly bird market, a stone's throw from Notre-Dame Cathedral in the heart of the French capital, citing animal rights' concerns and chronic irregularities.

Held alongside the island's daily flower market on the Place Louis Lépine, the bird market has similarly been a mainstay for generations of Parisians dating back to the 19th century. The City Hall decision to shutter the bird sellers comes as the adjoining market – officially the Queen Elizabeth II Flower Market since it was renamed in tribute during the British monarch's visit in 2014 – looks forward to a €5 million renovation from 2023 to 2025.

For some, the cacophonous stalls of birds, burlap sacks of seed, stacks of cages, fish tanks and a miscellany of other small animals exude the charm of old Paris. But for animal rights activists, the site is a callous relic, a "vestige of another time", and has to go.

"Imprisoning birds is cruel and archaic," one such group, PAZ (Paris Animaux Zoopolis), said in a petition it drew up against the bird market that collected more than 2,500 signatures. "It deprives them of their liberty and their most elementary behaviour, that of flying. Moreover, the vast majority of birds sold on the Île de la Cité are exotic. They aren't used to our climates and are very vulnerable to outdoor exposure (draughts)," PAZ contended. It said the market's presence also encourages "breeding and in some cases the illegal capture" of birds.

City Hall argued that the market, which stands across a cobbled forecourt from Paris police headquarters, had become a hotbed for illegal trade in the feathered creatures despite repeated efforts to put a stop to it.

An investigation by France's National Office for Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS) in 2013 led to the arrest of seven people at the market. Forty-six goldfinches were seized during that operation. The birds are prized for the beauty of their song and were selling for up to €150 each.

"It had been known for several years that this market had become the epicentre of a bird-trafficking racket" in the region, Paris Deputy Mayor Christophe Najdovski said during the debate at City Hall. "And yet, despite a number of actions taken, that trafficking persists today."

Najdovski, whose portfolio includes animal welfare, said the birds are put on display at the market in a manner that is "unacceptable in view of the animal welfare standards required today". His Europe Ecologie Les Verts – the Green Party, which is allied with Mayor Anne Hidalgo's Socialists – had lobbied for the ban. The city seized on the opportunity of the flower market renovation to amend the regulations that govern the site.

For the moment, 13 businesses are authorised to operate at the bird market, although the city says only seven of those still sell birds. The market also attracted unregistered street peddlers who would regularly set up shop on the site despite a 2004 city bylaw that banned them from selling birds. The city has pledged to provide support to the established merchants who will be affected when the market closes.

Some bird fans had bristled at the prospect of the shutdown. "These activists and ecologists describe us as poachers and talk about animal abuse, but we're enthusiasts. We take care of our birds, we love them. And we do not raise protected species!," Issam Akrouti, who heads the Cercle Ornithologique Lutétien, a Paris-area bird enthusiast group, told Le Parisien newspaper in January.

"Of course you shouldn't shut away wild birds in cages, but our canaries and budgies wouldn't survive two days if we released them into nature," Akrouti told the daily. "This is a battle the Parisian bobos [a slang term referring to urban “bourgeois-bohemians”] are waging against rural life: They want to cut humans off from contact with animals." The entrepreneur explained that, while the birds are displayed in cages when they are at the market, they generally live in aviaries or fly free inside people's homes, with their cages serving only as "bedrooms" for them to use.

Kittens, puppies, dolphins, minks

The bird market's closure is the latest effort by the city of Paris, and France generally, to improve their animal rights record.

During the same Paris City Hall assembly that greenlighted the bird market closure, the city called on the French government to ban the sale of kittens and puppies under the age of six months in pet shops from 2022. It also asked city police to put a stop to angling with live bait or barbed fishhooks in the French capital's waterways.

In January, France's lower-house National Assembly passed a bill to put an end to the use of wild animals in circuses across the country and to ban the captivity of dolphins and orca whales in marine parks. While lawmakers were debating that legislation, Parc Astérix, an amusement park northeast of Paris, announced it was closing its 32-year-old dolphin aquarium and dispatching its eight animals elsewhere in Europe, leaving only two marine parks with such creatures in France. The new legislation also aims to ban the raising of minks for fur and reinforce rules on pet sales and the penalties for animal abuse.

The City of Paris had already decided to quit authorising circuses that feature entertainment using live animals from 2020 onwards.

Meanwhile, the fight continues for Paris Animaux Zoopolis. The group's active campaigns include lobbying for a France-wide ban on fishing with live bait. It also wants angling forbidden entirely in Paris, "to avoid gratuitously inflicting great suffering and agony on many fish". PAZ argues that since consuming the fish caught from the city's polluted waterways isn't allowed, fishing allows the creatures to be cruelly treated like toys.

Cambodia sets up China-style internet firewall

STALINIST STATE NEO LIBERAL ECONOMY

Issued on: 17/02/2021 -

Cambodian Premier Hun Sen's government has intensified a crackdown on online dissent 

TANG CHHIN Sothy AFP/File

Phnom Penh (AFP)

Cambodia's government moved to exert near-total control over the country's online life Wednesday, setting up a national internet gateway which activists say will stifle freedom of expression and block content via a China-style firewall.

Cambodia has seen a rapid increase in internet use in recent years, and Premier Hun Sen's government -- which dissolved the main opposition party in 2017 -- has intensified a crackdown on online dissent.

A government spokesman dismissed concerns over the gateway (NIG), a system which will funnel all international internet connections through a single entry point, saying it would prevent online crime and promote "national interests".


But Phay Siphan also told AFP the authorities "will destroy those (internet) users who want to create rebellion" against the government.

A sub-decree signed by Hun Sen and obtained by AFP on Wednesday stated that the NIG would control web connections in order to enhance "national revenue collection, to protect national security and preserve social order".

It instructed the gateway's operator to work with Cambodian authorities "to take actions in blocking and disconnecting any network connections" that were deemed to contravene these goals, or to violate "morality, culture, traditions and customs".

The operator will be required to submit reports about internet traffic regularly to authorities.

Chak Sopheap, executive director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the NIG would facilitate mass surveillance, through the interception and censorship of digital communications and the collection of personal data.

"The establishment of the NIG is of grave concern for the future of fundamental human rights in Cambodia," she said, adding that "it will become another instrument for the Royal Government of Cambodia to control and monitor the flow of information in Cambodia".

Ith Sothoeuth, director of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said the vague language in the document bestowed the power to block comments critical of the government.

"It's worrisome," he said.

Comparisons have been drawn to China's "Great Firewall", which deploys a vast and sophisticated surveillance state to scrub the internet of dissent, and prevents citizens from accessing international social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Internet subscriptions in Cambodia have soared over the last decade, from 5 million in 2014 to 20.3 million last year, according to government statistics.

Facebook is the most popular social media platform in Cambodia with nearly 11 million users.

Hun Sen is one of the world's longest-serving leaders, maintaining a 36-year grip on power with methods that critics say include jailing political opponents and activists.

© 2021 AFP

New WTO chief's pile of problems


Issued on: 17/02/2021 - 

New World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will have a full inbox to deal with when she starts her job next month 

Bastien INZAURRALDE AFP


Geneva (AFP)

The coronavirus pandemic, log-jammed trade talks and a long-delayed meeting of member states are just a few of the crises awaiting Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as she takes the helm of the World Trade Organization next month.

The WTO needs a kiss of life -- and fast -- and the first female and first African director-general of the global trade body will have to hit the ground running as she takes on the job in the middle of a major global recession.

Here are the four main challenges the former Nigerian finance minister will face when she starts in Geneva on March 1:

- Revive the ministerial conference -

The WTO's top decision-making body meets once every two years, usually at the end of the year.

Many countries use it as a deadline to get trade negotiations moving forward.

After the December 2017 conference in Buenos Aires, the next meeting should have taken place in Nur-Sultan in June 2020 -- having been put back six months to avoid the bitter winter in Kazakhstan's capital.

But the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to be postponed indefinitely.

Okonjo-Iweala wants the meeting held before the end of the year, but the WTO's 164 member states will have to reach a consensus on the date and location, most likely during the WTO general council meeting on March 1 and 2.

- Reboot stalled trade talks -

For years, the WTO has made virtually no progress on major international trade agreements.

Negotiations on cotton and fishing subsidies are stalling, while others such as electronic commerce, launched in January 2019, are struggling to take off -- all of which risks leaving the WTO looking like an institution stuck in yesteryear's problems.

"I think the WTO is too important to allow it to be slowed down, paralysed and moribund," she told AFP in an interview. "That's not right."

Okonjo-Iweala, 66, has raised environmental issues and has made the fishing subsidies talks one of her immediate priorities, to show that the WTO can still produce results.

Her predecessor Roberto Azevedo watched on helplessly as trade hostilities brewed between the United States, China and the European Union.

Washington and Brussels are urging the WTO to revise China's status in the organisation, with the United States accusing Beijing of taking advantage of its developing economy classification to motor ahead.

Some hope Okonjo-Iweala's more political interpersonal skills rather than trade background can help inject some confidence back into the system.

"She can contribute to strengthening multilateralism by using her influence," Peter Ungphakorn, a former WTO secretariat staff member, told AFP.

- Fix the dispute settlement system -

Azevedo could not stop the United States bringing the Appellate Body, the WTO's dispute settlement system, to a grinding halt.

The seven-member body can uphold, modify or reverse a panel's legal findings.

But it has been out of action since December 2019 because Washington blocked the appointment of any new judges.

Okonjo-Iweala hopes to get the problem resolved before the next ministerial conference.

US criticism of the appeal court predates former president Donald Trump, although he cranked up hostilities to new levels.

His administration accused the body of exceeding its powers by issuing judgements it thought violated national sovereignty.

"It was a common mistake to identify WTO problems with president Trump," Hector Torres, a former legal counsel at the Appellate Body secretariat, told AFP.

"It would be equally wrong to believe that if President Joe Biden unblocked the selection of new appellate body members, this would reinstate confidence in WTO's current set of trade rules."

- Tackle the pandemic -

The coronavirus crisis has exposed divisions at the WTO, with members split over a proposed intellectual property rights exemption for Covid vaccines and treatments, which was put forward by India and South Africa and supported by a hundred countries.

Okonjo-Iweala aims to resolve the issue quickly.

More generally, she hopes to give the WTO a role in the pandemic fightback, in particular by lending support to Covax, the global vaccine programme that ensures access for poorer countries.

Drawing on her 25 years of experience as a development economist at the World Bank, and as chair of the Gavi vaccine alliance from 2016, she also wants to see developing countries produce more anti-Covid jabs themselves to overcome the shortage.

Her background "makes her uniquely positioned to steer the WTO through the gravest sanitary crisis in its history", said Pablo Bentes, a former legal officer at the Appellate Body secretariat.

© 2021 AFP

Myanmar youth sound off against military coup


Issued on: 17/02/2021 

Dance troupes and orchestras have joined Myanmar's anti-coup protests, bringing a creative flare to the popular dissent

 Ye Aung THU AFP

Yangon (AFP)

From a classical orchestra playing a revolutionary song to viral breakdancers performing Michael Jackson anthems -- young Myanmar anti-coup protesters are using music as a weapon against the country's generals.

Since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, big cities and isolated villages alike have mounted a revolt.

Across the country, people have chanted and drummed pots and pans in a daily chorus of dissent, while young composers, choreographers and musicians have expressed their junta resistance creatively.

In downtown Yangon this week, a large rebel youth orchestra of violin, cello, trombone, percussion players and an arched Myanmar harp, calling themselves "Generation Z MM", debuted a new protest song called "Revolution".

For 25-year-old vocalist Pan, performing with the orchestra is cathartic at a time of high stress and anxiety over her country's future.

"The meaning of the song we were playing is 'With the flesh and blood of our young people, we will try to end the military dictatorship'," she told AFP.

"Music can pierce through everybody's heart at any time. I believe that everyone who was listening to our performance will be inspired."

Myanmar has a long history of protest songs, which often feature in satirical folk art called "thangyat" in Burmese. While typically humorous, these performances expressed political commentary and vented against injustices small and large.

But most protest songs were banned following the 1988 uprising, which the military quelled by gunning down thousands of protesters on the streets.

The song, "Kabar Ma Kyay Bu", or "We Won't Forget Until the End of the World" became emblematic of those protests, and has recently made a comeback.

Adapted from Kansas' 1977 classic "Dust in the Wind", Myanmar's version calls for revolution and is once again being sung in defiance of the junta.

In the commercial district of Yangon, dancers have dabbed and stomped to the beat.

After a group routine under a busy flyover, b-boys spun, flipped and froze. Another dancer twerked.

"People are asking: 'Are you guys happy dancing?'," one male dancer told AFP. "No, we're not happy. We're just venting our boiling emotions and just letting our compulsion take control while we dance."

A YouTube video clip of a Yangon flash-mob performing to Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us" has garnered nearly 40,000 views in five days.

Another musical protest clip shows a performance by punk rockers "Rebel Riot" showing off their mohawks and tattoos, interspersed with footage from mass protests.

They sing: "Are you ready everybody, fight for your right, fight for your life."

© 2021 AFP

Ecuador suspends recount in presidential election

Issued on: 17/02/2021 

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Yaku Perez, pictured February 12, 2021 greeting his supporters during a demonstration in front of the National Electoral Council in Quito, has alleged electoral fraud in the first round of voting 

Cristina Vega RHOR AFP/File

Quito (AFP)

Ecuador's National Electoral Council has suspended the recount in the first round of the presidential election requested by left-wing indigenous candidate Yaku Perez, who has alleged fraud denied him a place in the run-off.

The count was put on hold after the five-member council could not reach a majority in favor of Perez's request after holding a vote late Tuesday, with two for, one against, one abstention and another absent.

"This plenary session of the National Electoral Council, unfortunately, does not respond to the request, nor does it approve or deny the report presented in the technical area" on the request for a recount, council head Diana Atamaint said.

Perez, a 51-year-old environmental lawyer, had formally submitted the request for a recount in 17 of the country's 24 provinces.

The recount would involve about six million ballots, representing about 45 percent of Ecuador's registered voters.

Perez won 19.38 percent of the vote in the February 7 election, just 33,000 votes behind his second-placed rival, right-wing former banker Guillermo Lasso, 65, who has also called for a recount.

Economist Andres Arauz, a 36-year-old protege of former socialist president Rafael Correa, won 32.7 percent, which was not enough to win outright, and the race is now on to see who will face him in the April 11 run-off.

Perez alleges there was fraud to keep him out of the run-off after he was narrowly displaced by Lasso from second to third place in the middle of the count.

"They are not going to defeat us, they are not going to annihilate us, the resistance continues. Today (the electoral council) has just made a decision that is left in limbo," Perez, the son of farmworkers, said after the council's announcement.

Indigenous groups supporting Perez have called for rallies on Wednesday and a march to Quito to denounce alleged electoral fraud against their candidate.

Incumbent President Lenin Moreno's term in office ends on May 24.

DESPITE HIS NAME HE WAS A NEO LIBERAL REACTIONARY

The Organization of American States has urged the council to "guarantee compliance with the electoral calendar" to ensure that the April run-off takes place as scheduled.

© 2021 AFP

OAS expresses concern, calls for transparency over Ecuador's electoral process

Issued on: 16/02/2021 -

Quito (AFP)

The Organization of American States expressed "concern" Monday over Ecuador's election, and urged the country's top electoral body to "provide guarantees of certainty and transparency" to the political parties involved.

It comes after Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced Friday it would conduct a partial recount of the February 7 presidential vote, which finished with the candidates for second place tied neck-and-neck.

One, environmental lawyer Yaku Perez, has since alleged wrongdoing.

"The Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Ecuador expresses its concern about the lack of definition by the electoral authority and is paying close attention to the latest developments in the electoral process," the OAS said in a statement on Twitter.

The recount was requested by Perez and his rival, right-wing ex-banker Guillermo Lasso, after the former received 19.38 percent of the vote, with Lasso on 19.74 percent.

The result means it is unclear who will face leftist economist Andres Arauz in a runoff election -- the 36-year-old protege of former socialist president Rafael Correa got 32.7 percent, which is not enough to win outright.

Pre-election polls had placed Lasso comfortably in second place, but Perez performed far better than expected: he initially appeared in second place as votes were first being counted, only to fall to third behind Lasso.

Since the first round of presidential and legislative elections, indigenous and leftist groups have held several peaceful rallies supporting Perez, who is indigenous, in front of the electoral authority headquarters in capital city Quito and Guayaquil, a large port city in the southwest.

On Monday, two indigenous groups called for a march on Quito to denounce alleged electoral fraud against their candidate.

In its statement, the OAS called for "public demonstrations to be carried out in a peaceful manner and for political parties to settle their differences via institutional channels."

Incumbent President Lenin Moreno's term in office ends on May 24.

The OAS also urged the CNE to "guarantee compliance with the electoral calendar" for the April run-off vote.

© 2021 AFP