International

World News. 10^th December
United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the first country to register a Chinese Covid vaccine.  Sinopharm (the Chinese company) claim 86% effective in phase-3 trial. But we don’t know about the 31,000 people who tried it.   We cannot tell if this is less successful than the Pfizer-BioNTech we use in UK
Brazil’s Gol is the first airline to start flights yesterday with the Boeing 737 Max planes. They trained 140 pilots in USA. The planes were grounded since March 2019 after 2 crashes killed 346 people.  Boeing had to fix the computer automatic flight controls and prove the plane is safe.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) report on the Iraq war said hundreds of Iraqis, mainly individuals, were held in custody.  British soldiers abused their human rights. Detectives collected the evidence.  But ICC says it will not take action against the UK; is the Government protecting the soldiers?
Australia courts ordered Rio Tinto Mining Company to rebuild a 46,000 year old Aboriginal cave system at its own expense.  It was blown up during an iron ore exploration project. The company has apologised to the natives and promises to change its practices.
Trump wants to keep the vaccines in the USA for the US people… first.  Then he will let other people have it.  The truth is that it is already being used in other countries.  But important to realise – it will take a long time to reach millions of people.  First they give you the vaccine, then wait for 3 weeks (keep safe); then a second dose; then wait another week and you can be immune.  The people who started yesterday will not be immune until the second week in January.  Even then they may be protected but they could still give the virus to other people.  There is still a lot to sort out.