Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis tests positive for COVID-19 ahead of season opener
Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, making him the third major college basketball coach to do so ahead of the start of the season later this month.
Davis, the school announced, tested positive during a regularly-scheduled test on Monday. He retested on Tuesday, but is now in quarantine at home. He will remain there in isolation while the program conducts contact tracing and waits for his secondary test to return.
He will miss their first two games of the season assuming that the second test confirms his coronavirus diagnosis, and will be replaced by assistant Ronnie Hamilton until he can return.
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— Ole Miss Men's Basketball (@OleMissMBB) November 17, 2020
The Rebels are set to open their season next week when they host Clemson on Nov. 25, and then Texas State on Nov. 30. The university is planning to allow 25 percent seating capacity for games.
Davis, 60, is preparing to start his third season with Ole Miss this fall. He's compiled a 35-30 overall record in the past two seasons, and led them to the NCAA Tournament in his first year in Oxford. He landed there after a 16-year stint at Middle Tennessee, where he won six conference titles and reached the NCAA tournament three times.
Kermit Davis latest coach to test positive for COVID-19
Davis is just the latest prominent college basketball coach to contract the coronavirus.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, 65, tested positive himself earlier this month and said he was experiencing minor symptoms. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim announced his positive test on Sunday, but was asymptomatic.
According to ESPN, more than 20 men's basketball programs across the country have suspended team activities due to coronavirus outbreaks, too.
There have been more than 11.3 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Tuesday night, according to The New York Times, and nearly 248,000 deaths attributed to it. The country recorded more than 166,000 new cases on Monday alone, and is averaging more than 155,000 new cases a day over the past week — an all-time record. Mississippi has had more than 135,000 cases, and nearly 1,100 over the past week.
Ole Miss Rebels head coach Kermit Davis has tested positive for the coronavirus. (Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON — Hours from inauguration, President-elect Joe Biden paused on what might have been his triumphal entrance to Washington Tuesday evening to mark instead the national tragedy of the coronavirus pandemic with a moment of collective grief for Americans lost. His arrival coincided with the awful news that the U.S. death toll had surpassed 400,000 in the worst public health crisis in more than a century — a crisis Biden will now be charged with controlling. "To heal we must remember," the incoming president told the nation at a sunset ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial. Four hundred lights representing the pandemic's victims were illuminated behind him around the monument's Reflecting Pool. "Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights into the darkness ... and remember all who we lost," Biden said. The sober moment on the eve of Biden's inauguration — typically a celebratory time in Washington when the nation marks the democratic tradition of a peaceful transfer of power — was a measure of the enormity of loss for the nation. During his brief remarks, Biden faced the larger-than life statue of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War president who served as more than 600,000 Americans died. As he turned to walk away at the conclusion of the vigil, he faced the black granite wall listing the 58,000-plus Americans who perished in Vietnam. Biden was joined by Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, who spoke of the collective anguish of the nation, a not-so-subtle admonishment of outgoing President Donald Trump, who has spoken sparingly about the pandemic in recent months. "For many months we have grieved by ourselves," said Harris, who will make history as the first woman to serve as vice-president when she's sworn in. "Tonight, we grieve and begin healing together." Beyond the pandemic, Biden faces no shortage of problems when he takes the reins at the White House. The nation is also on its economic heels because of soaring unemployment, there is deep political division and immediate concern about more violence following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Biden, an avid fan of Amtrak who took the train thousands of times between his home in Delaware and Washington during his decades in the Senate, had planned to take a train into Washington ahead of Wednesday's Inauguration Day but scratched that plan in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. He instead flew into Joint Base Andrews just outside the capital and then motorcaded into fortress D.C. — a city that's been flooded by some 25,000 National Guard troops guarding a Capitol, White House and National Mall that are wrapped in a maze of barricades and tall fencing. "These are dark times," Biden told supporters in an emotional sendoff in Delaware. "But there's always light." Biden, who ran for the presidency as a cool head who could get things done, plans to issue a series of executive orders on Day One — including reversing Trump's effort to leave the Paris climate accord, cancelling Trump's travel ban on visitors from several predominantly Muslim countries, and extending pandemic-era limits on evictions and student loan payments. Trump won't be on hand as Biden is sworn in, the first outgoing president to entirely skip inaugural festivities since Andrew Johnson more than a century and a half ago. The White House released a farewell video from Trump just as Biden landed at Joint Base Andrews. Trump, who has repeatedly and falsely claimed widespread fraud led to his election loss, extended "best wishes" to the incoming administration in his nearly 20-minute address but did not utter Biden's name. Trump also spent some of his last time in the White House huddled with advisers weighing final-hour pardons and grants of clemency. He planned to depart from Washington Wednesday morning in a grand airbase ceremony that he helped plan himself. Biden at his Delaware farewell, held at the National Guard/Reserve Center named after his late son Beau Biden, paid tribute to his home state. After his remarks, he stopped and chatted with friends and well-wishers in the crowd, much as he had at Iowa rope lines at the start of his long campaign journey. "I'll always be a proud son of the state of Delaware," said Biden, who struggled to hold back tears as he delivered brief remarks. Inaugural organizers this week finished installing some 200,000 U.S., state and territorial flags on the National Mall, a display representing the American people who couldn't come to the inauguration, which is tightly limited under security and Covid restrictions. The display was also a reminder of all the president-elect faces as he looks to steer the nation through the pandemic with infections and deaths soaring. Out of the starting gate, Biden and his team are intent on moving quickly to speed distribution of vaccinations to anxious Americans and pass his $1.9 trillion virus relief package, which includes quick payments to many people and an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Biden also plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on the first day of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal status. That would be a major reversal from the Trump administration's tight immigration policies. Some leading Republican have already balked at Biden's immigration plan. "There are many issues I think we can work co-operatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn't going to be one of them," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is often a central player in Senate immigration battles. Many of Biden's legislative ambitions could be tempered by the hard numbers he faces on Capitol Hill, where Democrats hold narrow majorities in both the Senate and House. His hopes to press forward with an avalanche of legislation in his first 100 days could also be slowed by an impeachment trial of Trump. As Biden made his way to Washington, five of his Cabinet picks were appearing Tuesday before Senate committees to begin confirmation hearings. Treasury nominee Janet Yellen, Defence nominee Lloyd Austin, Homeland Security nominee Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken and Director of National Intelligence nominee Avril Haines were being questioned. Yellen urged lawmakers to embrace Biden's virus relief package, arguing that "the smartest thing we can do is act big." Aides say Biden will use Wednesday's inaugural address — one that will be delivered in front of an unusually small in-person group because of virus protocols and security concerns and is expected to run 20 to 30 minutes — to call for American unity and offer an optimistic message that Americans can get past the dark moment by working together. To that end, he extended invitations to Congress' top four Republican and Democratic leaders to attend Mass with him at St. Matthew's Cathedral ahead of the inauguration ceremony. ___ Madhani reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Alan Fram and Alexandra Jaffe contributed reporting. ___ This story has been corrected to show that flags on the National Mall represent people who couldn't come, not COVID deaths. Bill Barrow And Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey on Tuesday slapped advertising bans on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest over their non-compliance with a controversial new law that requires social media platforms to appoint legal representatives in the country. The law — which human rights and media freedom groups say amounts to censorship — forces social media companies to maintain representatives in Turkey to deal with complaints about content on their platforms. Companies that refuse to designate an official representative are subjected to fines, followed by advertising bans and could face bandwidth reductions that would make their platforms too slow to use. Facebook avoided the advertising ban after it announced Monday that it had begun the process of assigning a legal entity in Turkey, joining LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Dailymotion and the Russian social media site VKontakte, which have agreed to set up legal entities in Turkey. "We hope that Twitter and Pinterest which have still not announced their representatives will rapidly take the necessary steps," said Omer Fatih Sayan, the deputy minister in charge of communications and infrastructure, after the advertising bans for Twitter, it's live video-streaming app, Periscope and on the image sharing network, Pinterest, were announced on Turkey's Official Gazette. Sayan added: "It is our last wish to impose bandwidth reductions for social networks that insist on not complying with their obligations." There was no immediate comment from Twitter and Pinterest over the advertising ban. Under the law that came into effect in October, the local representative of social media companies would be tasked with responding to individual requests to take down content violating privacy and personal rights within 48 hours or to provide grounds for rejection. The company would be held liable for damages if the content is not removed or blocked within 24 hours. The law also requires social media data to be stored in Turkey, raising concerns in a country where the government has a track record of clamping down on free speech. Rights groups have said the decision by international tech companies to bow to Turkish pressure and appoint representatives would lead to censorship and violations of the right to privacy and access to information in a country where independent media is severely curtailed. The Freedom of Expression Association says more than 450,000 domains and 42,000 tweets have been blocked in Turkey since October. Facebook said Monday it remained committed to maintaining free expression and other human rights in Turkey. The Associated Press
Dartmouth real estate agent fined, suspended for taking dog
A Dartmouth, N.S., real estate agent has been fined $2,500 and had her professional licence suspended for a month after taking a man's dog and failing to return the pet. Mike Smaggus said real estate agent Sarah Sullivan took his bichon frise, Snoopy, under the pretense of dog-sitting for a night last June, but instead rehomed the animal. "This conduct is dishonourable, unprofessional, harmful to the best interests of the public and to the reputation of the industry at large," the Nova Scotia Real Estate Commission said in its decision. At the time, Smaggus and Snoopy were living in a rented north-end Dartmouth house that was listed for sale. Though Sullivan was not the listing agent, she had been to the home. Smaggus said Sullivan offered to buy Snoopy, but he told her the dog was not for sale. She then offered to take the dog for a night while Smaggus moved out and found a new, pet-friendly place to live. Dog rehomed Smaggus said Sullivan gave him $200, either to help pay for the move or for Snoopy's care. When he tried to get the dog back, Sullivan told him that Snoopy was no longer with her and that he had been rehomed. When Smaggus tried to get Snoopy back, Sullivan used or threatened "to use information acquired only as a result of her access to the property as a real estate licensee," the real estate commission said in its decision. The commission also accused Sullivan of providing false or misleading information to investigators on several occasions. The board also noted a prior disciplinary action against Sullivan in 2014 when she provided false information to the commission. Not a theft Smaggus said he called police but was told it was a civil matter, not a theft, since money had changed hands. "I'm pretty sure I won't get the dog back," he told CBC News. "It's left a pretty bad taste in my mouth, the whole thing." Smaggus put out an appeal on social media, but has not heard anything. He said he doesn't think there's much he can do. "Whoever has my dog has had him since last June, so I don't think it's really fair for me to take the dog back," he said. "I'd like to see him, make sure he's just doing alright." Sullivan told CBC News she is unable to tell her side of the story on the advice of her lawyer. The suspension on her licence is expected to be lifted in mid-February. MORE TOP STORIES
OTTAWA — Almost two-thirds of Canadians would support a nightly curfew if necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19 — even though they're not convinced it would be effective, a new poll suggests. Sixty-five per cent of respondents to a poll by Léger and the Association for Canadian Studies said they would support temporary curfews in their provinces if recommended by public health officials. In Quebec, where the government imposed a month-long curfew 10 days ago, 74 per cent said they support the move. Nevertheless, only 57 per cent of Quebecers and just 39 per cent of respondents in the rest of the country said they think curfews are an effective way to reduce the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The poll of 1,516 Canadians was conducted Jan. 15 to 18. Léger executive vice-president Christian Bourque said the results suggest Canadians "want to do their part and will stand by their governments" in efforts to reduce the spread of the virus. But it also suggests provinces "need to sell this thing (curfews) if they want to make it work." The poll also suggests that Canadians' mental health has suffered as the pandemic drags on. Twenty-one per cent rated their mental health as bad or very bad, up eight points since last April, when the first wave of COVID-19 rolled over Canada. Thirty-two per cent rated their mental health as excellent or very good, a 10-point drop since April. Another 45 per cent described their mental health as good, down three points since April. Bourque said mental health experts do not consider "good" to be a particularly positive rating, akin to someone saying they feel OK. The poll suggests 59 per cent remain somewhat or very afraid of contracting COVID-19, virtually unchanged since April. Seventy-one per cent of respondents said they intend to get vaccinated against the coronavirus when a vaccine becomes available to them. Two vaccines have been approved for use in Canada so far and provinces have begun immunizing front line health care workers, long-term care home workers and residents and some others considered among the most vulnerable. Forty-seven per cent of respondents said they'll take the first vaccine available to them, while 27 per cent said they'll wait for other vaccines to become available. Another 11 per cent said they won't take any vaccine and 15 per cent didn't know what they'll do. The online poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2021. Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press
BEIJING — Profit at state-owned companies that dominate China's banking, oil and most other industries rose by as much as 25% last year as the country recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, the government said Tuesday. Total revenue for national-level companies rose 2.2% over 2019 to 30.3 trillion yuan ($4.7 trillion), according to Peng Huagang, secretary general of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Speaking at a news conference, Peng said profit rose 2.1% to 1.4 trillion yuan ($215 billion). The ruling Communist Party has built up such "national champions" over the past two decades, but their monopolies and multibillion-dollar subsidies prompt complaints by the public that they are a waste of money and gouge consumers with high prices. Peng's agency oversees 97 companies directly under the Cabinet including PetroChina Ltd., Asia's biggest oil producer; China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone carrier by number of subscribers, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world's biggest bank by assets. SASAC companies also dominate air travel, insurance, securities, shipping, internet access, power generation, construction, nuclear power technology and coal and steel production. Chinese industries benefited from the economy's relatively early reopening starting in March after the ruling party declared victory over the virus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. Total economic activity rose 2.3% in 2020, possibly making China the only major economy to grow while the United States, Europe and Japan struggled with rising infections. Growth accelerated to a two-year high of 6.5% over a year earlier in the three months ending in December. Profit at 24 national-level state companies rose by more than 25% over 2019 and two had profit of more than 100 billion yuan ($15.4 billion), Peng said, without identifying them or giving other details. Total profit at top state-owned companies grew by at least double digits over a year earlier in each month after June, according to Peng. Revenue growth accelerated to 11.7% over a year earlier in December as China's economy rebounded, reaching a record 3.7 trillion yuan ($570 billion), Peng said. State-owned companies stepped up investment as part of the ruling party's effort to support flagging economic activity. Telecom carriers spent 373.1 billion yuan ($57.5 billion) on next-generation networks and other investments, according to Peng. He said spending by power suppliers on hydro, wind and solar technology rose 27.4% over 2019 to 481.5 billion yuan ($74 billion). ___ State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission: http://en.sasac.gov.cn/ Joe McDonald, The Associated Press
In fortified Washington, residents wonder whether Capitol riot was a one-off or omen of worse to come
In a moment of nation-splintering turmoil, an incoming American president, Abraham Lincoln, travelled by train to his inauguration in Washington, D.C., in a nerve-racking ride cloaked in disguise as he faced threats to his life. Now, 160 years later, an incoming president has cancelled plans for a train ride to Washington. It was supposed to be a symbolic journey highlighting Joe Biden's decades-long habit of riding the rails to D.C. each day from his family home in Delaware. Instead, it has taken on a sad new symbolism, of an American capital clenched shut in fear of political violence at Wednesday's inauguration. The question nagging at residents here, and at security analysts, is whether the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the worst of a passing storm, a one-off, or the start of a dark era of political violence. What's already clear is this will be no normal inauguration. The American capital has transformed into a heavily armed and tightly barricaded fortress. "Clearly, we are in uncharted waters," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told a news conference last week, urging tourists to stay away from her city during the inauguration. Fences are now up around Washington's downtown. Thousands of soldiers are patrolling the streets, bridges are blocked, parking garages are shut, bicycle-sharing services are suspended, Airbnb reservations are cancelled, and residents are being urged on neighbourhood chat groups against renting rooms to tourists. Suspicion strikes Capitol Hill neighbourhood Security concerns are most acute in the neighbourhood near the Capitol. Lawyer Matt Scarlato already has an overnight bag packed in case unrest spills into his neighbourhood and he's forced to flee the city with his family. He lives near one of the new security barriers near Capitol Hill, where police are forcing residents on some streets to show ID if they want to access their home. Scarlato was working from home the day of the riot in the Capitol building, when unexploded bombs were found near political party offices. He received a message from his son's daycare urging parents to immediately come pick up their children. Scarlato grabbed a baseball bat and tossed it in the car for the ride to the daycare. "It was a minute-by-minute escalation," Scarlato said. "We were all just sitting in the house saying, 'What the hell is going on?'" A longtime resident of the area, he compared the recent panic to a smaller-scale version of what he witnessed during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On the day of the Capitol riot, he was concerned by the sight of an unfamiliar RV on his street given the reports of bombs in Washington and the recent explosion in Nashville. For her part, Monica Ingram, a retired health-care administrator, was rattled yesterday morning by the sound of helicopters hovering over the same Capitol Hill neighbourhood. Around that same time, the congressional precinct was ordered evacuated. The panic was the result of an explosion and fire nearby, caused by a propane tank in a homeless encampment. Ingram said people now look at each other differently, warily. Ingram saw a man taking pictures of streets near the Capitol the other day and she worried whether he was up to something nefarious. "We're suspicious of each other now. It's sad," she said. "It's very disheartening, upsetting. It's like I don't even know this country anymore." WATCH | Staff and media scramble as a blast goes off during inauguration rehearsal: Some call for indoor inauguration She's among the many people with mixed feelings about whether this inauguration should even be happening in public. Ultimately, she prefers it going forward, as opposed to moving to a makeshift indoor location, in order to deliver a message: that this country won't buckle in fear. There is, however, a part of her that hopes Biden might throw another inaugural party, a year from now, a real festive party, after this pandemic, and this panic. Biden should have a "redo" inauguration, she said. "It's so sad that president-elect Biden has to be sworn in like this. It should be a day of joy for this country." There's no guarantee this place will feel safer in a year. Mark Hertling, a retired lieutenant-general who led U.S. soldiers in Europe, said he worries about whether the United States is now entering an era of political insurgency. And he's not alone. One-time riot or preview of insurgency? Some analysts who study domestic political violence have warned for years (in thesis papers and books and government reports) that the conditions existed for an American insurgency on the right. Those conditions include a proliferation of guns, a surge in ex-military joining militia groups, two increasingly hostile political parties, and a split along racial and cultural lines in a rapidly diversifying country. A 2018 book, Alt-America, charts how membership in armed militia groups skyrocketed after the election of a first Black president, Barack Obama, in 2008, and these fringe groups began showing up at political protests. Alleged members of such militias are now accused of participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, where numerous people were dressed in paramilitary-themed clothing and several could be heard in the crowd warning they'd be back with weapons. "Welcome to the reality of other countries," said Greg Ehrie, who led FBI domestic terrorism units and is now vice-president of law enforcement and analysis at the Anti-Defamation League. "There is sort of an underlying belief that if we can get through Wednesday, this stops and then it moves on. And that's just not true.… This is going to be something we're going to be living with for several years — this heightened sense of security." Details released since the siege of the Capitol suggest things could have been worse. Jan. 6 could have been worse One man arrested that day allegedly had two guns and enough materials to make 11 Molotov cocktails, and another allegedly had a loaded gun, spare bullets and a gas mask. A federal prosecutor said one air force veteran who carried plastic handcuffs intended to take hostages. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City said in a YouTube video she believed she was going to die during the riot in the Capitol and that she experienced a traumatic event she declined to discuss: "Many, many, many members of Congress were almost murdered," she said in the video. "We were very lucky [to escape]." One police officer died as a result of injuries sustained during the riot. Another said he narrowly survived the angry mob and described how he was Tasered while some wanted to take his gun and kill him with it. Joseph Young, a professor at American University in D.C. who studies the factors that drive political violence, usually in other countries, said he is bothered by the trends he sees. "More and more, my work has been applicable to the United States," he said in an interview. "[And that's] troubling." A word of historical caution He said it's wrong, however, to conclude this is a more violent political era than the 1960s and 1970s. The U.S. experienced hundreds of terrorist attacks back then, from white-supremacist church bombings to political assassinations to the activities of the left-wing group Weather Underground, which bombed the Capitol, the State Department and other government buildings. But he's still worried about the current U.S. situation. As are the authorities preparing for inauguration day. The Pentagon has authorized the Washington, D.C., National Guard to carry weapons on domestic soil amid ongoing worries about the possible use of explosives. About 25,000 National Guard troops from D.C. and several states were expected to be part of the security operation. National Guard members are being screened themselves for any extremist affiliations. On Tuesday, Pentagon officials said 12 National Guard members were removed from securing Biden's inauguration after vetting by the FBI, including two who posted and texted extremist views about Wednesday's event. A Secret Service member was reportedly under investigation over political comments related to the Capitol riot posted on Facebook. Jared Holt, an expert who monitors extremist chatter online, said it has gotten quieter lately. He said he was extremely worried before Jan. 6 about the heated and violent rhetoric he saw in online platforms. People were posting tips for smuggling guns into Washington and maps of the underground tunnels connecting the Capitol to lawmakers' offices. Those same forums erupted in joy after the attack. "It was initially jubilation," said Holt, of the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Washington-based Atlantic Council think-tank. "They were thrilled. They felt incredibly accomplished. [Now], the cohesion between groups has eroded." It became clear within hours of the riot that it might backfire — against those involved and against Donald Trump. It failed to stop the vote to certify Biden's election win. Then it led to Trump's swift impeachment in the House. WATCH | Preparations underway to fortify U.S. capital ahead of inauguration day: Has the threat already receded? Some rioters in the Capitol who posted triumphant images of themselves on social media have been arrested or fired from their jobs, with their posts used as evidence against them. Social media platforms are either limiting extremist rhetoric and shutting out Trump, are offline altogether (Parler), or are unusually slow (Gab). Holt now worries that violent rhetoric is moving to tighter channels that are harder to monitor publicly, such as Telegram and other private messaging apps. So residents of Washington, D.C., and the country as a whole, enter this historic transition week in a fog of uncertainty, about whether they've just witnessed a dark passing moment in the life of the American republic or a sombre omen. "It looks like a police state down here. We've never seen it like this," Emilie Frank, a communications professional, said in an interview a few days ago, referring to the imposing concrete-and-metal labyrinth being erected downtown. "It would normally be bustling, everybody's excited [for the inauguration]. But it's silent, blocked off, police cars everywhere." She doesn't know if any of this will be necessary. But she'd rather have this than the under-preparation by authorities that the city witnessed on Jan. 6, she said. "So, even if it's just [for] show, it's better than nothing, I guess," she said. "If some people will be convinced they should stay away after seeing all this stuff in place, then that's good." WATCH | Ex-FBI agent on the new domestic terrorism:
CBSA to begin tracking family separation
Weeks after Radio-Canada told the story of an asylum seeker who was separated from his two children after crossing the Canada-U.S. border, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says it will monitor the practice. In December, Radio-Canada reported that at least 182 children had been separated from a parent detained at an immigration holding facility in Laval, Que., in 2019 alone, despite a CBSA directive prohibiting family separation in most cases. The story also revealed CBSA doesn't collect its own data on family separation, but CBSA says that gap is about to be fixed. "The Agency intends to capture statistics nationally on minors being separated from at least one parent," a CBSA spokesperson confirmed in an email. The decision was made in light of revelations in the Radio-Canada story. If the government is separating children from their parents, I think it has to at least keep a close eye on its own practices. - Jenny Jeanes, Action Réfugiés Montréal The advocacy group Action Réfugiés Montréal started keeping its own tally when it realized the CBSA wasn't always following a 2017 national directive for the detention or housing of minors, which forbids agents from separating or detaining families except in extremely rare circumstances. Action Réfugiés Montréal's research is limited to the Montreal area but CBSA has two other immigration holding centres in Toronto and Surrey, B.C. CBSA said it intends to start collecting national data this spring, and will make the results available on its website. "It is very good news," said Jenny Jeanes of Action Réfugiés Montréal. "To have numbers, to have greater transparency, is fundamental. If the government is separating children from their parents, I think it has to at least keep a close eye on its own practices." But for Jeanes, it's only a first step. Above all, she wants the national directive, which emphasizes children's well-being and family unity, to be respected. But Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who's responsible for CBSA, said the agency is already doing that. "There are instances in which individuals must be detained for legitimate reasons, including, for example, while their identity is being determined or verified," wrote the minister's office in an email to Radio-Canada. "In an instance in which an individual must be detained, it is often in the best interest of the child to be out of detention with one parent instead of being placed in immigration detention with both parents." In some cases, children can also be handed over to relatives, friends or youth protection services.
Workers trapped week in China mine ask for pickles, porridge
BEIJING — Workers trapped for more than a week in a Chinese gold mine asked for pickles and porridge to be dropped to them while they wait to be rescued, state media reported Tuesday. The website of the People's Daily said the request came after a telephone line was dropped to the group of 11 inside the mine's No. 6 chamber. Another survivor of the mine explosion a week ago is inside an adjoining chamber while the fate of 10 others remains unknown, according to officials in the city of Yantai in the eastern province of Shandong. People's Daily said two of the miners were recovering from exhaustion and another was injured by the explosion that ripped through the mine on Jan. 10. Medicine, food and liquids have twice been delivered to the workers, enough to last at least two days, Yantai mayor Chen Fei told reporters at a briefing Tuesday morning. "Their overall physical condition seems to be pretty good," Chen said. The porridge requested, also known as millet congee, is a nourishing breakfast staple common throughout northeastern China. Pickles and chilies are often added for flavour and vitamins. A brief video clip released by the city government Tuesday morning showed rescuers cutting through metal cages used to transport miners and ore that were blocking the shaft. Hundreds of rescuers were drilling six shafts in an attempt to reach the different sections of the mine. Workers passed a note to the surface on Monday saying they were suffering from toxic fumes and rising water levels but calling on rescuers not to give up. Mine managers have been detained for waiting more than 24 hours before reporting the accident, the cause of which has not been announced. The mine in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai, had been under construction at the time of the blast. Increased supervision has improved safety in China's mining industry, which used to post an average of 5,000 deaths per year. Yet demand for coal and precious metals continues to prompt corner-cutting and two accidents in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing last year killed 39 miners. The Associated Press
MILAN — European car sales plunged by nearly a quarter last year as the pandemic provoked the worst crisis ever to hit the capital-intensive industry. New car registrations sank by 23.7%, or 3 million vehicles, to 9.9 million units, according to new figures released Tuesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. It said lockdowns and other restrictions "had an unprecedented impact on car sales across Europe." All major markets recorded double-digit declines, down 32.3% in Spain, 28% in Italy and 25% in France. Germany suffered a more contained 19% drop. December sales were just 3.3% lower than the previous year, but performance varied drastically between markets. Italy and Spain both had double-digit dips, Germany gained 10% while Spain was flat. Germany's Volkswagen shed 3% in market share, while gains were posted by PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler -- which on Monday officially launched as a new merged entity -- as well as Toyota. The Associated Press
The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. There are 715,072 confirmed cases in Canada. _ Canada: 715,072 confirmed cases (73,919 active, 623,033 resolved, 18,120 deaths).*The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers. There were 5,225 new cases Monday from 55,172 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 9.5 per cent. The rate of active cases is 196.65 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 46,889 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 6,698. There were 80 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 990 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 141. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.38 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 48.21 per 100,000 people. There have been 16,612,155 tests completed. _ Newfoundland and Labrador: 396 confirmed cases (nine active, 383 resolved, four deaths). There were zero new cases Monday from 122 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 1.73 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of three new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is zero. There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 0.77 per 100,000 people. There have been 76,491 tests completed. _ Prince Edward Island: 108 confirmed cases (10 active, 98 resolved, zero deaths). There were four new cases Monday from 251 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 1.6 per cent. The rate of active cases is 6.37 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of six new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one. There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people. There have been 86,471 tests completed. _ Nova Scotia: 1,557 confirmed cases (25 active, 1,467 resolved, 65 deaths). There were zero new cases Monday from 909 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. The rate of active cases is 2.57 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 24 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is three. There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 6.69 per 100,000 people. There have been 196,719 tests completed. _ New Brunswick: 973 confirmed cases (305 active, 656 resolved, 12 deaths). There were 26 new cases Monday from 719 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 3.6 per cent. The rate of active cases is 39.26 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 173 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 25. There were zero new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of three new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is zero. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.06 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 1.54 per 100,000 people. There have been 128,996 tests completed. _ Quebec: 244,348 confirmed cases (19,936 active, 215,325 resolved, 9,087 deaths). There were 1,434 new cases Monday from 7,600 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 19 per cent. The rate of active cases is 234.96 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 13,658 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 1,951. There were 32 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 352 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 50. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.59 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 107.1 per 100,000 people. There have been 2,664,134 tests completed. _ Ontario: 240,364 confirmed cases (28,621 active, 206,310 resolved, 5,433 deaths). There were 2,578 new cases Monday from 38,983 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 6.6 per cent. The rate of active cases is 196.48 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 21,244 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 3,035. There were 24 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 375 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 54. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.37 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 37.3 per 100,000 people. There have been 8,672,567 tests completed. _ Manitoba: 27,629 confirmed cases (3,108 active, 23,748 resolved, 773 deaths). There were 118 new cases Monday from 5,188 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 2.3 per cent. The rate of active cases is 226.95 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 1,181 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 169. There were four new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 32 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is five. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.33 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 56.45 per 100,000 people. There have been 441,424 tests completed. _ Saskatchewan: 20,562 confirmed cases (4,265 active, 16,078 resolved, 219 deaths). There were 290 new cases Monday from 1,165 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 25 per cent. The rate of active cases is 363.14 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 2,036 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 291. There were four new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 20 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is three. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.24 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 18.65 per 100,000 people. There have been 322,431 tests completed. _ Alberta: 117,311 confirmed cases (11,923 active, 103,941 resolved, 1,447 deaths). There were 474 new cases Monday. The rate of active cases is 272.76 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 5,220 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 746. There were 11 new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 140 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 20. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.46 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 33.1 per 100,000 people. There have been 2,979,663 tests completed. _ British Columbia: 61,447 confirmed cases (5,713 active, 54,656 resolved, 1,078 deaths). There were 301 new cases Monday. The rate of active cases is 112.65 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of 3,340 new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 477. There were five new reported deaths Monday. Over the past seven days there have been a total of 68 new reported deaths. The seven-day rolling average of new reported deaths is 10. The seven-day rolling average of the death rate is 0.19 per 100,000 people. The overall death rate is 21.26 per 100,000 people. There have been 1,021,911 tests completed. _ Yukon: 70 confirmed cases (zero active, 69 resolved, one deaths). There were zero new cases Monday from 19 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of zero new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is zero. There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 2.45 per 100,000 people. There have been 6,175 tests completed. _ Northwest Territories: 28 confirmed cases (four active, 24 resolved, zero deaths). There were zero new cases Monday. The rate of active cases is 8.92 per 100,000 people. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of four new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is one. There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is zero per 100,000 people. There have been 8,323 tests completed. _ Nunavut: 266 confirmed cases (zero active, 265 resolved, one deaths). There were zero new cases Monday from 216 completed tests, for a positivity rate of 0.0 per cent. Over the past seven days, there have been a total of zero new cases. The seven-day rolling average of new cases is zero. There have been no deaths reported over the past week. The overall death rate is 2.58 per 100,000 people. There have been 6,774 tests completed. This report was automatically generated by The Canadian Press Digital Data Desk and was first published Jan. 19, 2021. The Canadian Press
Joe Biden's hefty to-do list starts with a flurry of orders
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden has given himself an imposing to-do list for his earliest days as president and many promises to keep over the longer haul. Overshadowing everything at the very start is Biden's effort to win congressional approval of a $1.9 trillion plan to combat the coronavirus and the economic misery it has caused. But climate change, immigration, health care and more will be competing for attention — and dollars. Altogether Biden has laid out an ambitious if not always detailed set of plans and promises across the range of public policy. Drawn from a review of his campaign statements and a recent memo from Ron Klain, who'll be his chief of staff, here's a sampling of measures to expect right away, around the corner and beyond: WEDNESDAY, after the inauguration, mostly by executive action: — Declaration that the U.S. is rejoining Paris climate accord. — Declaration that the U.S. is rejoining World Health Organization. — Ethical standards for his administration and an order prohibiting interference in the operations of the Justice Department from other parts of government. — Start of a process to restore 100 public health and environmental rules that the Obama administration created and President Donald Trump eliminated or weakened. — Start of a process to rejoin the deal restraining Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. — Executive action to end travel restrictions on people from a variety of Muslim-majority countries. — Executive action to protect from deportation people who came to the country illegally as children. — Executive action to make masks mandatory on federal property and when travelling out of state. Others will be asked to wear masks for 100 days. — Steps to extend pandemic-era restrictions on evictions and foreclosures. — Legislation to go to Congress proposing to repeal liability protections for gun manufacturers and tightening some other aspects of gun control. — Immigration legislation to go to Congress as part of an effort to offer a path to citizenship for 11 million people in the U.S. illegally and to codify protections for people who came illegally as children. — Education Department to be asked to extend the existing pause on student loan payments and interest for millions with student debt. ___ THURSDAY — Executive action laying out new steps to expand virus testing, protect workers and set new public health standards. ___ FRIDAY — Directive to agencies to take unspecified immediate action to deliver economic relief from the pandemic. ___ BY FEB. 1 — Executive actions to strengthen "buy American" provisions. — Executive actions to address climate change. — First steps to expand access to health care, for low-income women, women of colour and other segments of the population. — First steps to reunite families still separated at the Mexican border. ___ BEYOND (some may be tried sooner) — Ensure 100 million vaccines have been given before the end of his first 100 days. — Ensure 100 federally supported vaccination centres are up and running in his first month. — Expand use of the Defence Production Act to direct the manufacture of critical pandemic supplies. — Win passage of a $2 trillion climate package to get the U.S. to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. — Seek passage of a "Medicare-like public option" to compete alongside private insurance markets for working-age Americans; increase existing premium subsidies. — Eliminate certain corporate tax cuts where possible, by executive action, while doubling the levies U.S. firms pay on foreign profits. — Make a plan within 100 days to end homelessness. — Expand legal immigration slots. — Freeze deportations for 100 days, then restore the Obama-era principle of deporting foreigners who are seen as posing a national security threat or who have committed crimes in addition to the crime of illegal entry, thereby pulling back the broad deportation policy of the Trump years. — Halt financing of further construction of the wall along the Mexican border. — Within 100 days, establish a police oversight commission to combat institutional racism by then. — Reinstate federal guidance, issued by Obama and revoked by Trump, to protect transgender students' access to sports, bathrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity. — Ensure taxes are not raised on anyone making under $400,000. — Restore Obama-era rules on campus sexual misconduct and a policy that aimed to cut federal money to for-profit colleges that left students with heavy debt they can't pay back. — Support legislation to make two years of community college free and to make public colleges free for families with incomes below $125,000, with no repayment of student loans required for people who make less than $25,000 a year and, for others, no repayment rate above 5% of discretionary income. — Support increasing the national minimum wage to $15. — Try to win passage of a plan to spend $700 billion boosting manufacturing and research and development. — Establish a commission to study expanding the Supreme Court. Darlene Superville And Will Weissert, The Associated Press
Spain's rising cases give pandemic hospital a second chance
MADRID — As soon as the lifeless body is silently pushed away on a stretcher, a cleaning battalion moves into the intensive care box. In a matter of minutes, the bed where the 72-year-old woman fought for over two weeks for another breath gets rubbed clean, the walls of glass isolating it disinfected with a squeegee. There is little time to reflect on what has just happened, as death gives way to the possibility of saving another life. "Our biggest source of joy is obviously emptying a bed, but because somebody is discharged and not because they have passed away," said Ignacio Pujol, the head of this Madrid ICU. "That's a little space there for somebody else to get another chance." As a surge of infections is once again putting Spain's public health system against the ropes, the Nurse Isabel Zendal Hospital that employs Pujol, a project seen by many as an extravagant vanity enterprise, is getting a fresh opportunity to prove its usefulness. Named after the 19th-century Spanish nurse who took smallpox vaccination across the Atlantic Ocean, the facility was built in 100 days at a cost of 130 million euros ($157 million), more than twice the original budget. It boasts three pavilions and support buildings over an area the size of 10 soccer fields, looking somewhere between a small airport terminal and an industrial warehouse, with ventilation air ducts, medical beds and state-of-the-art equipment. The original project was for 1,000 beds, of which roughly half have been installed so far. The Zendal opened to a roar of competing fanfare and criticism on Dec. 1, just as Spain seemed to dampen a post-summer surge of coronavirus infections. By mid-December, it had only received a handful of patients. But Spain on Monday recorded over 84,000 new COVID-19 infections, the highest increase over a single weekend since the pandemic began. The country's overall tally is heading to 2.5 million cases with 53,000 confirmed virus deaths, although excess mortality statistics add over 30,000 deaths to that. As the curve of contagion steepened after Christmas and New Year's, the Zendal has gotten busy. On Monday, 392 patients were being treated, more than in any other hospital in the region of 6.6 million. Spain's surge follows similar infection increases in other European countries, most notably in the U.K. following the discovery of a new virus variant that experts say is more infectious. The London Nightingale, one of the temporary hospitals across Britain designed to ease pressure on the country's overwhelmed health care system, has also reopened for patients and as a vaccination centre. Spain's top health officials insist they have found no evidence that new variants wreaking havoc elsewhere are contributing in any way to its own rocketing infections. Some experts dispute that, claiming the country's limited ability to sequence coronavirus cases is distorting reality and that a new stay-at-home order is necessary. On the ground, increasing hospitalizations for the virus already surpass the peak of the second resurgence. Nearly one out of every five hospital beds has a patient with COVID-19. The new illness is also taking up one-third of the country's ICU capacity and non-urgent surgeries are already being called off. Joined by some medical experts, left-wing politicians and workers' unions accuse Madrid's conservative government of spending on vote-attracting hardware instead of reinforcing a public health system they have underfunded for years. Investing in contact tracing and primary care previously, they say, could have averted the need for a Zendal altogether. "Rather than the success they boast, the filling up of this makeshift hospital represents a tremendous failure of those at the helm of the pandemic's response, and also a failure of all of us as a society that could have done better," said Ángela Hernández, a spokeswoman for Madrid's main medical workers' union, AMYTS. The last straw for the unions, she said, has been the regional government laying off medical staff who refuse to abandon their positions in regular hospitals when they are reassigned to the Zendal. "The project has been nonsense from beginning to end," Hernández said. "A few beds without adequate personnel don't make a hospital." Fernando Prados, Zendal's manager, says he doesn't mind the debate but the 750 patients treated over the last month and a half have already taken significant pressure off other hospitals. "We have already contributed in one way or another," Prados said. "We know that we will continue to have COVID patients and once the pandemic is over this infrastructure will be here for any other emergency." Past automatic glass doors, patients recover in modules of 8 beds, leaving little space for privacy but providing better monitoring of possible complications in their recovery, said Verónica Real, whose challenge as the head nurse has been to organize staff teams drawn from other hospitals. "Some of the sanitary workers arrive with a degree of anger for all the noise out there about our hospital," Real said. "But once here, the attitude completely changes." The Zendal's managers say a modern ventilation system renews the entire facility's air every 5 minutes, which contributes to a safer work environment. But they are most proud of the expansion of the intermediate respiratory care unit, where patients receive varying types of assisted respiration to overcome lung inflammation. The unit's chief, Pedro Landete, says by admitting potentially worsening patients in one of its 50 highly-equipped beds, they are reducing the number of people who later require the more demanding intensive care. José Andrés Armada arrived with mild symptoms at the facility after all his family was infected despite what he said was a very careful approach to the pandemic. But the 63-year-old's health quickly deteriorated and last week he was on the brink of being intubated in one of the Zendal's dozen ICU boxes. "I know that the economy is something to safeguard, but health is more important. We should be in lockdown by now. You can't have bars and other places open," the former entrepreneur said. "I never imagined it could attack you in such a way." ___ AP reporter Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak Aritz Parra, The Associated Press
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Has Eurostar 'fallen through the cracks' of the transport bailout safety net?
The company that operates the Eurostar rail service between the UK and mainland Europe has called for a UK government bailout following a collapse in travel. The train operator runs daily services through the Channel Tunnel between London, Paris and Brussels.View on euronews
GENEVA — A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. In a report issued Monday, the panel led by former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said there were "lost opportunities to apply basic public health measures at the earliest opportunity" and that Chinese authorities could have applied their efforts "more forcefully" in January shortly after the coronavirus began sickening clusters of people. "The reality is that only a minority of countries took full advantage of the information available to them to respond to the evidence of an emerging pandemic," the panel said. The experts also wondered why WHO did not declare a global public health emergency sooner. The U.N. health agency convened its emergency committee on Jan. 22, but did not characterize the emerging pandemic as an international emergency until a week later. At the time, WHO said its expert committee was divided on whether a global emergency should be declared. "One more question is whether it would have helped if WHO used the word pandemic earlier than it did," the panel said. WHO did not describe the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic until March 11, weeks after the virus had begun causing explosive outbreaks in numerous continents, meeting WHO's own definition for a flu pandemic. As the coronavirus began spreading across the globe, WHO's top experts disputed how infectious the virus was, saying it was not as contagious as flu and that people without symptoms only rarely spread the virus. Scientists have since concluded that COVID-19 transmits even quicker than the flu and that a significant proportion of spread is from people who don't appear to be sick. Over the past year, WHO has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the response to COVID-19. U.S. President Trump slammed the U.N. health agency for "colluding" with China to cover up the extent of the initial outbreak before halting U.S. funding for WHO and pulling the country out of the organization. An Associated Press investigation in June found WHO repeatedly lauded China in public while officials privately complained that Chinese officials stalled on sharing critical epidemic information with them. Although the panel concluded that "many countries took minimal action to prevent the spread (of COVID-19) internally and internationally," it did not name specific countries. It also declined to call out WHO for its failure to more sharply criticize countries for their missteps instead of lauding countries for their response efforts. Last month, the author of a withdrawn WHO report into Italy's pandemic response warned his bosses in May that people could die and the agency could suffer "catastrophic" reputational damage if it allowed political concerns to suppress the document, according to emails obtained by the AP. ___ Follow all of AP's pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak The Associated Press
A look at COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021
The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. In Canada, the provinces are reporting 42,543 new vaccinations administered for a total of 613,285 doses given. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 1,618.197 per 100,000. There were 31,065 new vaccines delivered to the provinces and territories for a total of 848,565 doses delivered so far. The provinces and territories have used 72.27 per cent of their available vaccine supply. Please note that Newfoundland, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the territories typically do not report on a daily basis. Newfoundland is reporting 1,531 new vaccinations administered over the past seven days for a total of 5,291 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 10.104 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Newfoundland for a total of 11,175 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 2.1 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 47.35 per cent of its available vaccine supply. P.E.I. is reporting 1,502 new vaccinations administered over the past seven days for a total of 5,102 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 32.163 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to P.E.I. for a total of 8,250 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 5.2 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 61.84 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Nova Scotia is reporting 3,769 new vaccinations administered over the past seven days for a total of 7,600 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 7.788 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Nova Scotia for a total of 23,000 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 2.4 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 33.04 per cent of its available vaccine supply. New Brunswick is reporting 2,704 new vaccinations administered over the past seven days for a total of 10,436 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 13.379 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to New Brunswick for a total of 17,775 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 2.3 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 58.71 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Quebec is reporting 6,845 new vaccinations administered for a total of 153,539 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 17.944 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Quebec for a total of 196,175 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 2.3 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 78.27 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Ontario is reporting 9,691 new vaccinations administered for a total of 209,788 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 14.282 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Ontario for a total of 277,050 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 1.9 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 75.72 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Manitoba is reporting 4,212 new vaccinations administered for a total of 17,751 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 12.891 per 1,000. There were 12,665 new vaccines delivered to Manitoba for a total of 46,290 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 3.4 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 38.35 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Saskatchewan is reporting 2,459 new vaccinations administered for a total of 22,618 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 19.182 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Saskatchewan for a total of 29,300 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 2.5 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 77.19 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Alberta is reporting 3,879 new vaccinations administered for a total of 89,814 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 20.403 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Alberta for a total of 101,275 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 2.3 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 88.68 per cent of its available vaccine supply. British Columbia is reporting 11,432 new vaccinations administered for a total of 87,346 doses given. The province has administered doses at a rate of 17.021 per 1,000. There were 18,400 new vaccines delivered to British Columbia for a total of 117,875 doses delivered so far. The province has received enough of the vaccine to give 2.3 per cent of its population a single dose. The province has used 74.1 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Yukon is reporting 163 new vaccinations administered for a total of 1,347 doses given. The territory has administered doses at a rate of 32.278 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Yukon for a total of 7,200 doses delivered so far. The territory has received enough of the vaccine to give 17 per cent of its population a single dose. The territory has used 18.71 per cent of its available vaccine supply. The Northwest Territories are reporting zero new vaccinations administered for a total of 512 doses given. The territory has administered doses at a rate of 11.348 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to the Northwest Territories for a total of 7,200 doses delivered so far. The territory has received enough of the vaccine to give 16 per cent of its population a single dose. The territory has used 7.111 per cent of its available vaccine supply. Nunavut is reporting 1,158 new vaccinations administered for a total of 2,141 doses given. The territory has administered doses at a rate of 55.286 per 1,000. There were zero new vaccines delivered to Nunavut for a total of 6,000 doses delivered so far. The territory has received enough of the vaccine to give 15 per cent of its population a single dose. The territory has used 35.68 per cent of its available vaccine supply. *Notes on data: The figures are compiled by the COVID-19 Open Data Working Group based on the latest publicly available data and are subject to change. Note that some provinces report weekly, while others report same-day or figures from the previous day. Vaccine doses administered is not equivalent to the number of people inoculated as the approved vaccines require two doses per person. The vaccines are currently not being administered to children under 18 and those with certain health conditions. This report was automatically generated by The Canadian Press Digital Data Desk and was first published Jan. 19, 2021. The Canadian Press
BANGKOK — A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a former civil servant to a record prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country's strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy, lawyers said. The Bangkok Criminal Court found the woman guilty on 29 counts of violating the country's lese majeste law for posting audio clips to Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy, the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said. The sentence, which comes amid an ongoing protest movement that has seen unprecedented public criticism of the monarchy, was swiftly condemned by rights groups. "Today's court verdict is shocking and sends a spine-chilling signal that not only criticisms of the monarchy won't be tolerated, but they will also be severely punished," said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for the group Human Rights Watch. Violating Thailand's lese majeste law — known widely as Article 112 — is punishable by three to 15 years' imprisonment per count. The law is controversial not only because it has been used to punish things as simple as liking a post on Facebook but also because anyone — not just royals or authorities — can lodge a complaint that can tie the person accused up in legal proceedings for years. During Thailand's last 15 years of political unrest, the law has frequently been as a political weapon as well as in personal vendettas. Actual public criticism of the monarchy, however, had until recently been extremely rare. That changed during the past year, when young protesters calling for democratic reforms also issued calls for the reform of the monarchy, which has long been regarded as an almost sacred institution by many Thais. The protesters have said the institution is unaccountable and holds too much power in what is supposed to be a democratic constitutional monarchy. Authorities at first let much of the commentary and criticism go without charge, but since November has arrested about 50 people and charged them with lese majeste. Sunai said Tuesday's sentence was likely meant to send a message. "It can be seen that Thai authorities are using lese majeste prosecution as their last resort measure in response to the youth-led democracy uprising that seeks to curb the king's powers and keep him within the bound of constitutional rule. Thailand's political tensions will now go from bad to worse," he said. After King Maha Vajralongkorn took the throne in 2016 following his father's death, he informed the government that he did not wish to see the lese majeste law used. But as the protests grew last year, and the criticism of the monarchy got harsher, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned a line had been crossed and the law would be used. The protest movement has lost steam since the arrests and a new restrictions on public gatherings that followed a surge in coronavirus cases. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights identified the woman sentenced Tuesday only by her first name Anchan and said she was in her mid-sixties. The court initially announced her sentence as 87 years, but reduced it by half because she pleaded guilty to the offences. Her case dates back six years, when anti-establishment sentiment was growing after a 2014 military coup led by Prayuth. She was held in jail from January 2015 to November 2018. She denied the charges when her case was first heard in military court, where lese majeste offences were prosecuted for a period after the coup. When her case was transferred to criminal court, she pleaded guilty with the hope that the court would have sympathy for her actions, because she had only shared the audio, not posted or commented on it, she told local media Tuesday on her arrival at court. "I thought it was nothing. There were so many people who shared this content and listened to it. The guy (who made the content) had done it for so many years," Anchan said. "So I didn't really think this through and was too confident and not being careful enough to realize at the time that it wasn't appropriate." She said she had worked as a civil servant for 40 years and was arrested one year before retirement, and with a conviction would lose her pension. What is believed to have previously been the longest lese majeste sentence was issued in 2017, when a military court sentenced a man to 35 years in prison for social media posts deemed defamatory to the monarchy. The man, a salesman, had initially been sentenced to 70 years, but had his sentence halved after pleading guilty. ___ Associated Press video journalist Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report. Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul, The Associated Press
Two N.B. reactor developers defend use of Liberal-connected lobbyists
The two companies developing small modular nuclear reactors in New Brunswick are defending their use of Liberal-connected lobbyists. ARC Nuclear has former premier Shawn Graham working on their behalf, while Moltex Energy is using Jordan O'Brien, the one-time chief of staff to another Liberal premier, Brian Gallant. O'Brien has lobbied several federal government departments and ministerial staffers, along with Liberal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc, Saint John-Rothesay Liberal MP Wayne Long and Conservative Senator Percy Mockler. Moltex's Canadian CEO, Rory O'Sullivan, said they need the government relations expertise lobbyists can provide. "We are experts in nuclear energy, clean nuclear power," O'Sullivan said. "We are not experts in government relations, but it's almost as difficult. "So we are hiring lobbyists because we need to know who to go to in government, how government works. … We would love to not have any need for government at all." Public registrations show who's being lobbied Graham's public registrations show him lobbying NB Power and the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, and contacting Louis Leger, the chief of staff to Premier Blaine Higgs. He has not recently lobbied his federal Liberal allies in Ottawa. Susan O'Donnell of the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development, which opposes small modular nuclear reactors, says the lobbying shows how political connections are driving support for a technology she calls questionable. "It's a club," she says. O'Brien would not comment on his work for Moltex, instead deferring to O'Sullivan. Graham also declined to comment, saying answers from ARC Canada CEO Norm Sawyer would suffice. Sawyer said Graham is "a bit of an ambassador for us, really." The former power utility executive, who is from New Brunswick, said Graham has advised ARC on which parts of the province could be part of its supply chain. "He knows where some areas of the province would need more help than others from an economic perspective," Sawyer said. "We use him for that piece and because of that he does talk to government a little bit, so he had to register." Sawyer said he's been able to arrange his own meetings with NB Power. Lobbyists dealing with government must register publicly Consultants and in-house lobbyists dealing with the provincial government have been required to register publicly since 2017. Graham's registration to lobby the federal government for ARC Nuclear lists him as "inactive." Until last year, Moltex was also using Moncton-based consultant Chad Peters, who has Progressive Conservative connections, as a provincial lobbyist. His registration showed he lobbied or arranged meetings with several cabinet ministers and NB Power executives. O'Brien lobbied the federal departments of Innovation, Science and Economic Development; Finance; Indigenous Services; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Foreign Affairs and Infrastructure Canada. One of the Finance Department contacts he listed on his registration was Matt DeCourcey, the former Fredericton Liberal MP who was a senior advisor to the minister of finance at the time. O'Brien also lobbied the Prime Minister's Office. "It's government relations we're buying," O'Sullivan said. we're doing the meetings and presenting. They're not doing the lobbying. - Rory O'Sullivan, CEO of Moltex Energy Canada "We're buying to know who to go to, what conversations to have, and that's been very valuable. And we're going to continue with that." He said the consultants were making introductions but "we're doing the meetings and presenting. They're not doing the lobbying." ARC Nuclear and Moltex Energy have been waiting for word of federal funding to support their development work. During last year's provincial election campaign, Higgs said a federal announcement would happen soon after voting day. Four months later, there's still no sign of it. Ottawa announced an SMR strategy in December, but with no money attached. O'Sullivan says his team was disappointed. "Of course, yeah. We were hopeful there were going to be some announcements in there." He said SMRs are "a very complicated file" that takes time for anyone to understand. Sawyer says he didn't assume that the December announcement of a federal strategy would necessarily involve immediate funding. "I didn't see that link," he said. "That was an intermediate step, hopefully, to the next step."
China's Geely teams up with Tencent on smart car tech
China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which owns Volvo Cars and holds 9.7% of Daimler, said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd to develop smart vehicle cockpit and autonomous driving. In the latest such partnership in the fast-evolving sector, the companies will jointly develop smart car cockpits to have more mobile and mobility service applications, and explore testing of autonomous driving, Geely said in a statement.
India's technology ministry has asked WhatsApp to withdraw changes to its privacy policy the messaging platform announced earlier this month, saying the new terms take away choice from Indian users. The demand creates a new headache for WhatsApp and its U.S. parent Facebook, which have placed big bets on the South Asian nation to expand their payments and other businesses. "The proposed changes raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens," the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology wrote in an email to WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart dated Jan. 18.
Germany's Merkel, state leaders ponder tougher virus rules
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel is holding a virtual meeting Tuesday with the governors of Germany's 16 states to discuss the country's pandemic measures amid concerns that new mutations of the coronavirus could trigger a fresh surge in cases. The country's infection rate has stabilized in recent days, indicating that existing restrictions may have been effective in bringing down the numbers. On Tuesday, the country's disease control centre reported 11,369 new virus infections and 891 new deaths, for an overall death toll of 47,622. The government tightened the country's lockdown in early January until the end of this month. However, surging infections in Britain and Ireland, said to be caused by a more contagious virus variant, have experts worried that the mutation could also spread quickly in Germany if measures are not extended or even toughened. Therefore, Merkel and the state governments are meeting earlier than planned to considered stricter rules. While restaurants, most stores and schools have already been closed and those shutdowns are likely to be extended, there's also talk about possible nightly curfews, an obligation to wear the more effective FFP2 or KN95 masks on public transportation, and a push to get more people to work at home to avoid office-driven infections. Medical workers have been demanding an extension or toughening of the lockdown since many hospitals are still on edge, with intensive care wards overflowing in some areas. "The current measures on limiting social contacts seem to be showing an effect," Susanne Johna, the head of the physicians' association Marburger Bund, told the dpa news agency, adding that the measures should continue to be upheld to further reduce new infections. "We urgently need further relief," Johna said. ___ __Follow all of AP's pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic,https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak Kirsten Grieshaber, The Associated Press