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England abandons vaccine passport plans

As more countries turn to coronavirus vaccination requirements in a bid to bring the pandemic to heel, England is moving in a different direction.

“I’m pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports,” U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday.

“There’s a lot of defenses . . . that we need to keep in place because this virus hasn’t gone anywhere, there’s still a pandemic, so of course, we need to remain cautious,” he said. “But we just shouldn’t be doing things for the sake of it or because others are doing it.”

The announcement marked a reversal of the government’s plan to require proof of full vaccination to enter nightclubs and other crowded venues in England. Intended to incentivize vaccine uptake, especially among young people, the system had been expected to take effect at the end of the month.

About 65 percent of the population in England is fully immunized. But vaccination rates among young people have lagged behind those of older demographics. Coronavirus cases have dropped since July, though England is still reporting more than 20,000 new cases per day.

“Some of life’s most important pleasures and opportunities are likely to be increasingly dependent on vaccination,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in remarks directed to young people in July.

Officials had previously suggested, however, that the plan would never become reality, and that the government was using the threat of vaccine passports to convince people to get the shots. In late July, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab pointed to the surge in vaccination appointments in France following its government’s announcement that proof of vaccination, a negative coronavirus test or natural immunity would be required to access restaurants, cafes and other places beginning in August.

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A month after the system took effect in France, coronavirus infections have dropped. One public health consultant told Politico that the measures “saved tens of thousands of lives.”

Italy also instituted a “green pass” system in July, requiring people to show proof of vaccination, recovery from covid-19 or a recent negative test to access indoor activities – a move that, to the surprise of some, appears to have helped increase internal tourism. New York City and several Canadian provinces are rolling out similar measures.

Some countries, such as Indonesia and Turkmenistan, have instead opted for blanket vaccine mandates. Russia and the United States, meanwhile, have placed the onus on employers to require that workers get vaccinated – though not without criticism.

In England, the vaccine passport plan encountered fierce opposition from across the political spectrum, with lawmakers in Johnson’s Conservative Party calling it a hindrance to businesses and an infringement on civil liberties. The Liberal Democrats also opposed the measure, as did some venues. Labour leaders raised concerns about the plan and called for a testing component to be added.

Javid on Sunday acknowledged the concerns but defended the government’s consideration of the policy. “I’ve never liked the idea of saying you must show your papers or something to do what is just an everyday activity. But we were right to properly look at it, to look at the evidence,” he told Marr.

He added, however, that the government “should keep it in reserve as a potential option” should the coronavirus situation deteriorate. Some venues have been asking people to show proof of vaccination anyway, the BBC reported.

Just days before, government officials had defended the vaccine passport plan as necessary.

The Labour Party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, on Sunday criticized the swift reversal and called the government’s approach to vaccine passports “shambolic from the start.”

Johnson’s government has come under fire for policy reversals over the course of the pandemic that have eroded the public’s trust. Javid’s remarks Sunday came ahead of Johnson’s announcement of his winter coronavirus plan for England on Tuesday.

Sunday’s announcement applies only to England. Wales is still considering adopting vaccine passports, and people in Scotland will be required to show proof of full vaccination to get into nightclubs and many large events starting in October. Northern Ireland is not currently considering such measures.

Published : September 13, 2021

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With rockets and rhetoric, Hamas seeks to leverage Palestinian prisoner escape

TEL AVIV – Hamas, aiming to capitalize on the public euphoria after Palestinian prisoners escaped from an Israeli prison last week, said it would demand the release of the men who have been rearrested as it remained committed to fighting.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Hamas militant arm, al-Qassam Brigades, spoke during a weekend of rocket fire exchanges with Israel that threatened to shatter a fragile four-month cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.

“An upcoming exchange deal will only take place with the liberation of these heroes,” he said Saturday night. “If the heroes of the Freedom Tunnel have liberated themselves this time from underground, we promise them and our free prisoners that they will be liberated soon, God willing, from above ground.”

The video statement was released after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Overnight Saturday, Israeli fighter jets and helicopters struck three Hamas targets in Gaza. On Sunday night, at least one rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel for a third consecutive night.

The Israeli army said Israel views the “Hamas terrorist organization as responsible for all terror activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.”

“If the situation escalates, Hamas and the Gaza Strip will pay a heavy price,” Israeli army chief of staff Aviv Kochavi said Sunday night.

The cross-border exchange of fire was spurred by developments in the Israeli manhunt for the Palestinian prisoners. The cease-fire halted an 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in May that left 13 dead in Israel and more than 250 people dead in the Gaza Strip.

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On Saturday, Israeli police said they had arrested four of the six Palestinian fugitives: two on Friday near the northern Israeli city of Nazareth and two more on Saturday at a truck stop near the Arab town of Umm el-Ghanem. They said they were tipped in both cases by Arab-Israeli families in the area.

The men were classified as high-profile “security prisoners” for having orchestrated a string of suicide bombings and lethal shootings against Israeli soldiers and civilians during the second intifada, or mass Palestinian uprising, in the early 2000s.

They include Zakaria Zubeidi, a former child theater actor turned militant leader who served as the Jenin chief of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militant offshoot of the West Bank’s Fatah party. He escaped with five members of Islamic Jihad, the Islamist militant group based in Gaza, from the Gilboa detention facility in northern Israel, several miles west of his home in the Jenin refugee camp, by digging a tunnel underneath the walls.

Zubeidi was among the four prisoners who were recaptured. The two others remained at large on Sunday.

Israel’s Prison Service called the incident “a major security and intelligence failure.” Palestinians hailed it as “heroic.”

Pictures of the four Palestinian men that were altered to make them appear as if they were smiling broadly at the time of the arrest have circulated widely on social media.

One Palestinian news site, Shehab Agency, tweeted the doctored photos superimposed on an image of al-Aqsa Mosque, a flash point for Israeli-Palestinian tensions, with the hashtag #freedom_tunnel.

In the last week, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in the streets in support of the prisoners. They held up spoons, the tool that the men reportedly used to dig out of a hole in the shower area and into a dirt road.

Riots have erupted in Israeli prisons, and Palestinian inmates have set fire to their cells. On Friday, as Hamas called for a “day of rage,” a Palestinian was shot to death by Israeli police in Jerusalem’s Old City after reportedly attempting to stab the Israeli officers.

Israeli security forces remained on high alert and increased their presence near prisons, throughout the West Bank and at the border near Jordan, which initially was believed to be the Palestinian escapees’ preferred destination.

Nafez Azzam, a member of the political bureau of the Islamic Jihad, said the prisoners’ escape “sent a clear message to all those calling for normalization and coexistence with the occupation, that the Palestinian cause is alive in the hearts of peoples.”

“The operation achieved its goals,” he said in a statement. “The heroes crossed barriers and fortresses and struck the enemy’s concept of its own security, and they wrested their freedom to bring the issue of prisoners back to the spotlight.”

Published : September 13, 2021

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Texas wanted to be the nations tech haven, but new measures on abortion and voting cause workers to rethink their move

On Sept. 3, just two days after Texas banned abortions, Vivek Bhaskaran, the chief executive of an Austin-based online survey software company, quickly assembled the handful of female employees that are based in the city.

In a virtual town hall that lasted about 15 minutes, he told the women that regardless of insurance, the company would cover out-of-state abortion services.

“I’m not a politician; I can’t change anything. But I’m still responsible for my employees in Texas, and I have a moral responsibility to them,” said Bhaskaran, CEO of QuestionPro.

For the past several years, Texas has been selling itself as a tech haven attracting start-ups and tech companies such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard Enterprises, and even Elon Musk, Tesla’s billionaire co-founder and CEO, who has moved to the state. Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Apple all have grown their presence in the state, opening new warehouses, data centers, and production facilities.

But Texas’s recent swerve to the right on abortion, voting restrictions as well as a ban on coronavirus vaccine mandates has many workers and industry leaders like Bhaskaran worried about retaining workers and recruiting top tech talent to the state. In August, Texas had 33,843 tech job openings – the second highest in the U.S. after California – according to a report from the Computing Technology Industry Association. That’s up 56% from a year earlier.

“We already find it extremely challenging to attract tech workers,” said Bhaskaran, noting there are more jobs than talent in the industry. “This seems like an extremely unnecessary conversation we’re going to have to have” with potential recruits.

The new abortion law in Texas, which went into effect earlier this month, bans abortions at six weeks and allows private citizens to sue people or services that perform or aid in an abortion. Reporting parties could receive at least $10,000 as well as recover legal fees if they win their cases. In response, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state over the law, trying to block it.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, on Thursday also signed a bill that would prohibit large tech companies from blocking or restricting people or their posts based on their viewpoint, setting the stage for a legal battle with the tech industry. Abbott also slammed President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for private companies, calling it a “power grab.”

Texas led the nation in population growth in 2020 attracting 373,965 residents, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. While experts say it’s too early to tell whether the new laws will cause any massive change in worker migration, they note that right-wing measures could lead to a pause of left-leaning tech workers considering moving to the state.

“You might see a slow down,” said Richard Alm, a writer in residence at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in Dallas who studies Texas’ economy. “This has potential to impact the supply of labor if workers are less willing to relocate to Texas.”

After Abbott signed the abortion bill into law, many tech workers were quick to react on social media platforms such as Twitter to air their concerns, frustration, and fears. For some tech industry workers who recently relocated to the state, the abortion law is making them consider moving elsewhere.

That’s the case for Valerie Veteto, a copywriter, who has freelanced for San Francisco tech companies including Salesforce, Patreon and Lyft. She moved to Austin from San Francisco in September 2020, drawn by the city’s vibe, creativity, live music scene and the low cost of living.

But a few months later, when Texas’ power grid failed during a winter storm, leaving millions without power, heat and water, Veteto began questioning her choice.

“That was a moment that chipped away at my confidence of living here. Then obviously what’s going on currently, it sealed the deal,” she said. She and her boyfriend are now planning to relocate to New York City.

Some professionals in the tech industry say they’re worried about what the passage of the abortion law says about the direction Texas is headed in terms of other major social issues.

“It scares the living daylights out of me,” said Deep Barot, a Texas native and San Francisco-based angel investor in biotech, software and cryptocurrency companies. “This is an abortion law, but what’s next?”

The issue boils down to one question, said Alm from SMU: Can employers retain and attract top tech talent despite the state’s new restrictive laws?

David Panarelli, a user experience designer for an e-commerce company in San Diego, said he and his wife had considered moving to Texas but both are concerned with how officials have handled issues like immigration, the pandemic, and masking guidelines. The abortion law reaffirmed their fears, he said.

“If I’m in a situation where I have to make an extremely irreversible decision, I don’t want anyone making that decision for me,” he said. “It’s not about women. It’s about human rights.”

Crystal Wiese, QuestionPro’s director of marketing, said the reaction from the people on the virtual town hall was mostly silence.

“There was a reassuring feeling, but it’s not the kind of conversation you expect to have with your CEO.”

Some Texas-based tech companies were quick to respond to what essentially is an abortion ban, recognizing that it could have significant repercussions on recruitment and retention of talent in the future.

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said in a tweet on Friday that he would be willing to move his employees if they wanted to relocate without providing further details. A Salesforce employee who declined to be named said the company told workers via an internal chat that if they had concerns about access to reproductive health care in their states, Salesforce would help relocate them and their immediate families.

Dallas-based Match, which operates dating apps, said its CEO Shar Dubey is creating a fund to help cover the cost of abortion services for employees who have to travel outside of the state.

“I immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago and I have to say, as a Texas resident, I am shocked that I now live in a state where women’s reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India,” Dubey said in a memo to employees earlier this month. “Surely everyone should see the danger of this highly punitive and unfair law.”

Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell based in Round Rock, Texas, sent a note to employees on Sept. 8, addressing the latest Texas laws, saying the company believes in “the right to free, fair and equitable access to voting” and that its goal is to give employees “more coverage” when it comes to health “not less.” The company declined to say whether it is planning anything specific related to Texas’ abortion and voting laws.

HPE still believes that its policies and benefits will attract workers “no matter where they’re located,” said spokesman Adam Bauer. But he said the company can’t predict if and how this will impact recruiting in the future.

Kat Scott, a San Francisco-based developer advocate for the open-source foundation Open Robotics, said if the law is not removed quickly, it will have a lasting impact on people’s impression of the state.

“It’s going to be extremely difficult to recruit women or young people,” she said.

Published : September 13, 2021