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Vaccine Passports
More than 80 countries have no vaccines, and vaccine skepticism is roughly 50% Worldwide, although much less in developed nations and dwindling as the vaccines continue to be rolled out. Even in my own family there are those who have reservations about vaccine safety, despite millions of people being vaccinated with a few serious side effects, such as blood clotting in very rare cases. 30 blood clots in 18 million vaccines in the UK for instance, as of March 24.
So no doubt there will be cries of discrimination when countries begin rolling out different forms of vaccine passports as Britain is doing today. In fact on morning TV one guest called it “fascism” and an attempt to divide the nation.
Monday, the British P.M. Boris Johnson, will announce pilot projects involving football venues, a comedy club, and a cinema where people using apps on their phones and/or paper certificates gain access to public events only after showing they have been vaccinated.
News of the trial events comes as senior Government Ministers among a cross-party group have declared they will oppose the use of vaccine certificates, with 72 MPs signing a pledge to oppose the “divisive and discriminatory” scheme. Some have described their use as the creation of “checkpoint Britain”.
There will also be vaccine passports for international travel, with airlines asking at the minimum for Covid tests before flying, and giving better access to vaccinated travellers.
Vaccine passports and testing are seen as a way to reopen live event venues and get society back to some form of normality. It’s not just about how you feel getting a vaccine, but ask yourself how much better do you feel knowing the person next to you in a restaurant or theatre was vaccinated too?
In New York vaccine proof is needed to attend weddings of 100 people or more and you need the jab to go on a cruise. The British Gov will also announce everyone in England will have two lateral flow testing kits sent to then weekly. But, of course tests have a high degree of false negatives.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/03/boris-johnson-to-give-go-ahead-for-trials-of-covid-passports
Hockey Covid
In Canada the newspapers are carrying the news the Canadian NHL hockey club the Vancouver Canucks are ill with Covid, at least 20 players who had no vaccine. But here’s the real headline; Dangerous P1 Brazil Variant Spreading in Canada. This variant which is largely vaccine resistant has been found in large clusters in the province of British Columbia including in the hockey rink of the Canucks. Other NHL clubs will be effected by this, but more seriously is the fact the variant is spreading in Canada and needs to be contained while vaccines are still being rolled out too slowly there.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1419004/Canada-covid-news-cases-deaths-brazil-variant-Justin-trudeau-Vancouver-Canucks-outbreak
Europe Covid Wave
France has imposed a new lockdown and curfew from 7pm to 6am for four weeks, as the country faces a new wave of Covid, and less restrictive measures failed to stop the virus spread, and vaccines are arriving too slowly.
Germany is also imposing some measures to restrict social mixing as is Italy, and other European countries are facing increased hospital admissions and deaths.
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) criticised Europe's "unacceptably slow" vaccine rollout, and said the situation in the region is now worse than it has been for several months.
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210404-france-enters-four-week-covid-19-light-lockdown
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56622471
Jordan Arrests
Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, the half-brother of King Abdullah, accuses the country's leaders of corruption, incompetence and harassment after he is placed under house arrest and many others were arrested over the weekend for an attempted coup.
Jordan is run by King Abdullah, who ordered his security services to make the arrests after a political fracture in the Royal family. The oldest son of the late King Hussein and his favourite wife Queen Noor, Prince Hamzah is a graduate of the UK's Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He also attended Harvard University in the US and has served in the Jordanian armed forces.
He was named crown prince of Jordan in 1999 and was a favourite of King Hussein, who often described him in public as the "delight of my eye".
However, he was seen as too young and inexperienced to be named successor at the time of King Hussein's death.
Instead his older half-brother, Abdullah, ascended the throne and stripped Hamzah of his title in 2004.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/3/jordan-arrests-ex-top-aide-royal-family-member-in-crackdown
Taiwan Train
Two Americans and one French national are among 50 dead in the weekend crash of a Taiwan train with a truck near Hualien. Taiwan’s Transport Minister has promised to resign over the crash caused by when the truck slid down a hill coming to rest at the entrance of the tunnel as the train carrying 500 passengers approached.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/taiwan-rescuers-work-to-bring-out-last-body-from-wrecked-train/ar-BB1fiXdN?ocid=uxbndlbing
Ukraine/Russia
Is Russia about to attack Ukraine and push deeper into the Eastern part of the Country? It has built up tanks and helicopters and troops along the Ukraine border over the easter weekend and seems poised to do something. NATO is on high alert and Ukraine has been sending tanks of its own to the area of conflict which Russia has stirred since the EuroMaidan revolution in 2014, which forced Russia’s backed President to flee the country.
The Russia Parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin blamed Ukrainian politicians who deny they are doing nothing but holding the line in the conflict.
"If Ukrainian radical-minded politicians think they will get away with everything they do in the LPR and DPR (Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics), they are wrong. They won’t get away with their decisions to ban opposition television channels and political parties," said Volodin.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/04/02/explainer-why-are-tensions-between-russia-and-ukraine-ratcheting-up-a73457
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Dana