International
EU prosecutor opens probe into Covid jabs procurement
AFP
The EU prosecutor’s office on Friday said it had opened an active investigation into the acquisition of Covid-19 vaccines in the European Union but gave no details.
The European Commission has served as the centralised pre-purchaser of coronavirus vaccines for the EU’s 27 members but those countries were then responsible for buying supplies from that centralised stock.
“This exceptional confirmation comes after the extremely high public interest. No further details will be made public at this stage,” the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) tweeted.
It was not clear what the possible target of the investigation was.
Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is in hot water with the EU Ombudsman’s office for refusing to hand over mobile phone SMS messages she exchanged with the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, as her EU executive was arranging contracts.
After the commission said it did not identify any text messages relating to a formal request on the matter, and considered such messages too short-lived to warrant archiving, the Ombudsman, Emma O’Reilly, in July said “this constituted maladministration”.
The commission secured up to 4.2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to respond to the initial waves of the coronavirus and future ones.
Most of the doses are of the mRNA type, particularly from the tie-up between German company BioNTech and US giant Pfizer.
So far, 83 percent of the EU’s population is fully vaccinated.
Contacted by AFP for comment on the EPPO investigation, a commission spokesman said any questions should be referred to the EPPO, as it is an independent prosecutor.
The spokesman added: “With regard to the SMS topic, I would like to stress that the president (von der Leyen) did not negotiate the contracts.”
Some 10 eastern EU countries found they had a vaccine oversupply compared to the jabs uptake in their territories.
Some, such as Poland, refused to pay for their allotted supply ordered via the commission, prompting the EU to push for renegotiation of the contracts with the relevant companies.
At the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, the EU also imposed short-lived export controls on supplies of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 viral vector vaccine which ended up finding much lower uptake than the mRNA ones.
International
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
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