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      Debt relief scheme extended for a final time, but only ‘empty words’ on private creditors  

-       Campaigners say debt relief will continue to flow into the coffers of the richest banks on earth 

 

Debt campaigners have slammed “empty words” in today’s G20 communique over lower-income country debt held by private banks like BlackRock and HSBC. While G20 ministers have called for private banks to participate in debt relief, they have not committed to legislation forcing banks to join relief efforts.

 

Global Justice Now, a campaign group calling for debt cancellation, said the communique lets private banks “off the hook” and called for the UK government to introduce legislation preventing speculators from suing countries in their courts.

 

Debt owed to private creditors from African governments alone could pay to vaccinate the continent three times over, the group warned. 

Global Justice Now also said it was “very nice” for G20 countries to call Covid-19 vaccination “a global public good”, but that signatory countries were in reality privatising the medical knowledge behind vaccines, withholding them from much of the world.

 

On lower-income country debt, Daniel Willis of Global Justice Now said: 

"It's welcome that the G20 has called on private banks to participate in debt relief, but we need more than empty words from the world’s richest countries. Private banks will only stop holding low and middle income countries to ransom if G20 governments force them through legislation - but today’s communique lets them off the hook. 

"Private creditors like BlackRock and HSBC are demanding $23 billion from African governments this year alone - three times the cost of vaccinating the entire continent against Covid-19. While debtor countries struggle to protect their populations from the pandemic, banks have refused to cancel debts, putting sky-high profits ahead of people’s lives. 

“We are calling on the British government to introduce legislation to prevent speculators from suing countries in their courts. The UK has a central role to play in all of this - Chad, Zambia, and Ethiopia have all been denied requests for debt relief - and 33% of their debt is held by UK-based companies. " 

On vaccine rollouts, Daniel Willis of Global Justice Now said: 

“It’s very nice that the G20 see COVID-19 immunisation ‘as a global public good’, but the reality is that G20 countries have privatised the medical knowledge behind Covid vaccines, artificially limiting supply and preventing most of the world producing the vaccines we so desperately need. They should have taken this moment to commit to putting the health of people across the world ahead of Big Pharma’s profits.”

 

 

AstraZeneca has been embroiled in controversy over its failure to deliver promised doses to the European Union, and over the jab's efficacy and safety profile [File: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters]

The university, which helped develop the embattled vaccine, said in a statement that there were “no safety concerns” in the trial, but acknowledged fears over a potential link to clots by saying that it was awaiting additional data from Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before restarting the study.

 

“Parents and children should continue to attend all scheduled visits and can contact the trial sites if they have any questions,” it added.

It is the latest drama to hit AstraZeneca, which has been embroiled in controversy over its failure to deliver promised doses to the European Union, and over the jab’s efficacy and safety profile.

The MHRA is one of many bodies across the globe analysing real world data from the AstraZeneca rollout to see if there is a definitive link between the jab and a rare form of blood clot, after cases were initially reported in Norway and continental Europe.

The MHRA reported over the weekend that there had been 30 blood clotting cases, seven fatal, out of the 18 million doses administered in Britain. 

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Tuesday it “has not yet reached a conclusion and the review is currently ongoing”.

EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides later said that the agency was expected to make its decision “late Wednesday”, adding that she was in “close contact” with the EMA.

 

The trial disruption is the latest blow to the vaccine, once hailed as a milestone in the fight against the pandemic, after several countries restricted its use in light of reports of medical issues after inoculations [File: Kai Pfaffenbach/REUTERS]
Germany and France have both restricted use of the vaccine to older people over fears that younger recipients are potentially more at risk from clots. 

‘Benefits outweigh risks’

Britain and the vaccine’s developers have until now resisted any restrictions in its use, saying that there was no proof of any link.

Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at Britain’s University of Bristol, said that the benefits continued to outweigh the risks. 

“We need to know more about the people affected and we need to understand exactly how the illnesses came about,” he said. 

“If you are currently being offered a dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, your chances of remaining alive and well will go up if you take the vaccine and will go down if you don’t,” he added.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said there was no reason to change its assessment that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 outweigh any risks.

Spats with governments across Europe about production, supplies, possible side effects and the vaccine’s merits have dogged the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker for months. SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES/Al Jazeera

Greg Kelly, the right-wing host of Newsmax, says he smoked weed and ended up in Kenya. Naturally, people are laughing at how absurd that is. 

Marijuana is being legalised all across the US. With New York’s recently signed bill allowing for recreational use among adults, and criminal records for possession set to be expunged, 15 states and the District of Columbia now permit cannabis use. 

Generally, Republicans and other right-wing supporters tend to oppose legalising weed, whether it’s out of health concerns or stubbornness rooting from the ‘war on drugs’ mentality. However, if anything’s going to ward people off marijuana, it’s not the Newsmax anchor’s tale of being so high he woke up in Africa. 

Kelly tweeted: ‘SMOKING WEED (aka GRASS) is NOT a good idea. I’ve tried it (back in the day) and it was WORSE than anything that happened to HUNTER BIDEN. I ‘toked up’ with some buddies in Kentucky and woke up 4 days later in Nairobi, Kenya. With no idea what happened. DON’T DO DRUGS.’

Unless you’re completely oblivious to the effects of drugs, going on an out-of-body, blackout crusade to another country nearly 8,000 miles away and also suffering short-term amnesia is not something associated with cannabis. Really, it’s not the end-result of any drug, though there are others that would make more sense in this (blatant fallacy of a) scenario, like Rohypnol or even alcohol. 

Considering Newsmax has given airtime to nonsense merchants like Marjorie Taylor Greene in the past, the host’s claims should be taken with a pinch of salt. One Twitter user even wrote: ‘I read like 20 of this guy’s tweets and still not sure it’s a real guy.’ Another wrote: ‘Greg Kelly is performance art. I am convinced of it.’

He also previously tried to shift the blame of the US Capitol riots to ANTIFA, and used his platform to complain about McDonald’s refusing to serving him a McFish – because no such item has ever existed and he tried to order it during breakfast hours. 

The mockery has stretched far and wide. Former congresswoman Katie Hill tweeted: ‘Cheers to all who have ‘toked up’ in Kentucky and ended up in Kenya because that’s definitely a thing that happens when you smoke weed.’

Speculating there may have been other factors in Kelly’s trip to Kenya, another user joked: ‘Greg I don’t know how to break it to you but those weren’t ‘buddies’ and that wasn’t ‘weed’… it may have been ‘kidnappers’ and ‘a lead pipe’.’ Unilad

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