While OPEC+ fights, Mexico wins over $2 billion with oil hedge
InternationalDec 03. 2020Employee pass in front of the finished Abkatun-A2 oil platform at the Mcdermott International Inc. fabrication facility in Altamira, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2018. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Luis Antonio Rojas.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Nacha Cattan, Javier Blas
Mexico will cash in its oil price insurance policy this year for the fourth time only in the last two decades, receiving a payout of about $2.5 billion from its 2020 sovereign oil hedge, people familiar with the transaction said.
In an ironic turn of events, Mexico is making a hedging profit just as the OPEC+ deal the Latin American country walked away from earlier this year is threatened by infighting over production levels.
For the past two decades, Mexico has locked in its oil revenue via options contracts it buys from a small group of investment banks and oil companies in what’s considered Wall Street’s largest — and most closely guarded — annual oil deal. The program gave President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador leverage to abandon the OPEC+ agreement by shielding the country from oil market turmoil, and the payout comes at a time when his government is badly in need of cash.
This year’s hedge expired earlier this week, as the program runs annually from Dec. 1 to Nov. 30, triggering the payment mechanism. The government hasn’t yet disclosed the amount, but it released some financial data earlier this year that allows analysts to make an approximate calculation.
Mexico told lawmakers earlier this year it had guaranteed its budget oil price assumption of $49 a barrel for 2020 through a mix of its oil hedge and the use of a budget revenue stabilization fund. Traditionally, the stabilization fund covers a couple of dollars of the price, with the rest hedged via a massive derivatives deal with several Wall Street banks. Assuming that Mexico hedged around $45-$47 a barrel, and that it secured a similar volume as in previous years, it stands to receive a payout in excess of $2 billion.
A spokesperson at the Mexican finance ministry said they couldn’t comment at this time. The people who said the hedge would pay around $2.5 billion asked not to be named because the information isn’t public.
The payout is smaller than the $6 billion that Lopez Obrador said in April the country could make if oil prices remained as weak as they were then. The Mexican oil benchmark basket averaged just $12 a barrel in April during the darker days of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, it has recovered to trade above $40 a barrel last week.
“We protected the Ministry of Finance,” Lopez Obrador said in April.
The smaller payout will still be a much needed cash injection after the nation’s budget revenue fell amid the deepest economic recession in almost a century.
Mexico counterparts on the deal have included in the past banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., as well as the in-house trading units of big oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc.
The hedge has shielded Mexico in every downturn over the last 20 years: The country made $5.1 billion when prices crashed in 2009 during the global financial crisis, and it received $6.4 billion in 2015, plus another $2.7 billion in 2016 after Saudi Arabia waged a price war.
The put options give Mexico the right to sell its oil at a predetermined price. The country banks all gains from a rally but enjoys the security of a minimum floor.
Although Mexico disclosed details of its hedge in the past, since 2018 it has kept secret the most sensitive data, including the exact strike price of the put options, and the volume hedged. On top of its sovereign program, which is run by the country’s Ministry of Finance and executed by the central bank, the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos also runs a much smaller oil hedge.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Stephanie Bodoni
Apple is facing lawsuits in several European countries seeking about 180 million euros ($217 million) over misleading claims about the battery life of older iPhones.
A group of five European consumer organizations filed class-action suits in Belgium and Spain and plans to sue in Italy and Portugal over the coming weeks as well, Euroconsumers said in an emailed statement Wednesday. The lawsuits concern users of iPhones 6, 6 Plus, 6S and 6S Plus, the group said.
The lawsuits mirror U.S. cases over claims that the company misled consumers about iPhone battery power and software updates that slowed the performance of the devices. The California-based company last month agreed to pay $113 million to settle a case with multiple U.S. regulators while customers are seeking approval from a U.S. court for a class-action settlement that could be worth as much as $500 million.
“Consumers are increasingly upset by products wearing out too quickly, the iPhone 6 models being a very concrete example of that,” said Els Bruggeman, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers. “Not only does it cause frustration and financial harm, from an environmental point of view it is also utterly irresponsible.”
The group sent a cease and desist letter to Apple in July, asking it to stop a practice that allegedly forces users to install updates which then slow down their phones so much that they become obsolete and a new model is needed.
Apple spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The Financial Times previously reported on the European lawsuits.
OPEC+ works silently to repair crack at oil coalition’s core
InternationalDec 03. 2020Oil pumping jacks, also known as “nodding donkeys”, operate in an oilfield near Neftekamsk, Russia, on Nov. 19, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Andrey Rudakov.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Grant Smith, Javier Blas, Salma El Wardany
After failed talks exposed a dangerous fissure at the alliance’s core, OPEC and its partners are quietly working to repair the damage.
Key players in the 23-nation alliance are making diplomatic efforts to resolve a dispute — centered around Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — over how much crude to pump in the new year. They need to thrash out a compromise before ministers gather on Thursday, at a meeting that’s been postponed because of the impasse.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners rescued the oil market this year from an unprecedented slump, slashing production as the pandemic crushed demand. If their pact breaks down, prices would sink again, battering an industry that spans tiny nations like Gabon to corporate giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp.
On Monday, differences between the Saudis and the UAE prevented the cartel from reaching a clear agreement on whether to delay a planned production increase. Traditionally stalwart allies, a fissure has emerged between the two Persian Gulf exporters as Abu Dhabi pursues a more independent oil policy.
Delegates spent Tuesday consulting with their governments and exchanging ideas over the phone. For now, the results are hidden within the opaque world of Middle East diplomacy, but several delegates said on Wednesday that the consultations had so far been positive.
“OPEC+ often generates drama, and this time tensions are running high,” said Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC. “But we still believe that the group will probably find some face-saving compromise, with a short extension of the current cuts being the most likely outcome.”
Most nations at Monday’s online session favored deferring the 1.9 million-barrel daily supply increase due to take effect in January by three months. With a new wave of virus infections hitting the global economy, they believe demand is still too fragile to absorb additional crude.
But the UAE pushed back, delegates said. Without openly opposing a delay, Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei insisted on stringent conditions — mainly the speedy implementation of cuts that other members owed in compensation for pumping too much in prior months — that rendered an agreement all but impossible.
In an apparent gesture of frustration, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the group that he may resign as co-chair of a key OPEC+ panel. Al Mazrouei was offered the post, but refused, according to a person familiar with the situation.
“The market is underestimating a little bit how serious this is — this is one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest allies,” Amrita Sen, co-founder of consultant Energy Aspects Ltd., told Bloomberg Television. She didn’t predict a messy outcome this week, but sees tensions persisting into next year.
This procedural dispute masks the UAE’s deeper dissatisfaction with OPEC supply restrictions, which “does not bode well for collective cohesion in 2021,” according to Croft.
Over the summer, Abu Dhabi’s impatience led it to cast aside its usual obedience to cartel discipline, and pump more crude than its quota allowed. The Saudis were furious, and summoned Al-Mazrouei to Riyadh for a public dressing down.
While the UAE subsequently atoned, people familiar with its oil policy say Abu Dhabi believes the current quota is unfair, and is keen to make the most of massive investments in production capacity. It’s also planning a new regional price benchmark based around its Murban crude variety, which needs the kind of volumes that clash with production limits.
Two weeks ago, the Emiratis even signaled privately that they have contemplated leaving OPEC in the long term. Analysts consider it just the latest example of the increasingly autonomous policy framework pursued by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
“The UAE is increasingly willing to act in its own direct national interests, and where that doesn’t align with Saudi Arabia it’s confident and willing to go it alone,” said Neil Quilliam, associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House think tank.
Nonetheless, many oil-watchers expect an agreement will be reached on Thursday. Algerian Oil Minister Abdelmadjid Attar, who currently holds the post of OPEC president, told state radio on Tuesday that postponing the meeting shows the group is willing to find a consensus.
OPEC is no stranger to difficult meetings. The gathering in April that resulted in the current output agreement went on for several days as Mexico haggled over its contribution. In 1986, one round of talks in Geneva ran for 17 days, and was quickly followed by a 10-day marathon.
“There is a determined push by the UAE to have its voice heard, to rearrange the chairs and thereby undermine Saudi primacy,” said Bill Farren-Price, a director at research firm Enverus. Still, he expects a rollover will be agreed: “They will be looking at a big dip in prices if they don’t do this.”
Barnier voices caution as Brexit negotiators race to a deal
InternationalDec 03. 2020Michel Barnier, chief negotiator for the European Union, center, wears a protective face mask while speaking with lawmakers ahead of a State of the Union address in the European Parliament in Brussels on Sept. 16, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Ian Wishart · WORLD, EUROPE
British and European Union officials are racing to strike a post-Brexit trade deal before the start of next week, with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier telling envoys the outcome is still too close to call.
While intensive, round-the-clock talks in London are making progress, genuine disagreement remains on the two biggest obstacles, meaning it’s impossible to predict an outcome with any certainty, people with knowledge of the discussions said. A third issue — how the deal would be enforced — can only be overcome at the end. However, two officials said the general mood on both sides is one of optimism.
Barnier told diplomats from the bloc’s 27 member states on Wednesday and that three disagreements, which have long bedeviled the talks, are still unresolved. There has been some movement, Barnier added, but it had mainly come from the EU side, according to one diplomat. The pound fell as much as 0.6% on the news.
The next few days are crucial, with the U.K. and EU teams hoping that an agreement can be reached on Friday or over the weekend, officials said. One said that while a final picture was beginning to emerge, the situation remains incredibly delicate.
It is typical in the last few days of a negotiation for assessments of a likelihood of a deal or not to swing wildly as both sides try to make each other blink. Markets are jumpy, showing how eager traders are to jump on signs an agreement is in reach.
People familiar with the EU position said negotiators are trying to avoid talks running into next week to prevent them having an impact on preparations for a summit of EU leaders that starts on Dec. 10. Barnier told ambassadors that talks could continue until that date, officials said.
Not only are European governments occupied with a row over the EU budget, the bloc’s negotiating team, led by Barnier, is concerned that presenting leaders with anything other than a signed-and-sealed deal would leave an agreement vulnerable to being unpicked at the last moment.
The EU has outsourced its negotiating to Barnier and the European Commission, and some countries — especially France and the Netherlands — are uneasy about what sort of compromises are being made in their name, one EU official said.
Barnier’s briefing on Friday was an exercise in calming those countries’ nerves, one diplomat said. But another said member states are concerned the EU might sign a deal that wasn’t in its favor, and that not signing one would be better than making too many concessions.
While deadlines have come and gone throughout the negotiating process, this period is being seen as the real endgame, officials on both sides said. The talks, which have been going on since March, need to finish within days if the U.K. and EU parliaments are to have time to ratify any agreement before Britain leaves the EU’s single market on Dec. 31.
If the two sides fail to reach an accord by then, businesses and consumers will be left facing the cost and disruption of tariffs and quotas, while relations between the U.K. and EU risk being poisoned for a generation.
Officials in Brussels said that planned U.K. legislation giving the government powers to unilaterally rewrite parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement could yet prompt the EU to balk at ratifying any deal. They expressed hope that Britain will delete the most controversial clauses from the bill if a deal is reached.
The two biggest obstacles to a trade deal remain what access EU boats will have to British fishing waters and the level competitive playing field for business, but progress has been made on both in the last few days, officials said. A third disagreement — how the overall deal is enforced — is tied to the first two.
On fisheries, the U.K. is holding out for greater control over its stocks, something the government sees as a matter of sovereignty. An agreement on the issue is a precondition for any wider accord, but President Emmanuel Macron has warned that France won’t allow a deal that fails to respect its interests.
Compromises being discussed include delaying any changes to quota allocations and phasing them in gradually over time. But efforts to reach an agreement on the subject are being hindered both by EU countries’ claims to historic rights to fish in certain areas, and the U.K.’s demand to make access conditional on annual negotiations, one official said.
On the level playing field, the two sides are trying to establish a system in which U.K. environment and labor standards can evolve in a similar way to the EU’s but which allows the British government to have full control over them.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed 13.5 months over protest
InternationalDec 03. 2020Joshua Wong, activist and former members of pro-democracy party Demosisto, walks towards a Correctional Services Department vehicle ahead of being transported to West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts in Hong Kong on Dec. 2, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Paul Yeung.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Kari Lindberg, John Cheng, Chloe Lo
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong urged supporters to “hang on” after he was sentenced to more than a year in jail for leading a protest outside police headquarters last year, prompting angry cries outside the court in one of the most high-profile cases in the government’s crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
“I know it’s so difficult, but I’ll hold on,” he yelled to supporters after the sentence was read out.
On Wednesday, Wong was sentenced to 13 and a half months in West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on charges of organizing an unauthorized assembly in June 2019 and inciting others to take part. The 24-year-old leader of the city’s 2014 Occupy protests had pleaded guilty last week to the charges, which carried a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Activists Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam, who were both members of Wong’s now-disbanded political party Demosisto, also pleaded guilty over their roles in the protest. Chow, 23, was sentenced to 10 months in jail while Lam, 26, was given seven months. After the sentencing, Lam shouted: “Never regret it!”
Around 100 people outside the courtroom cried out in anger once they heard the verdict. “Add oil!” they yelled, using one of the protest movement’s slogans. “We’ll wait for you!” Rival pro-China supporters chanted that Wong, Chow and Lam deserved to be locked up “forever,” and popped bottles of sparkling wine in celebration.
“In sentencing, the court must take into account factors such as protecting the public, meting out penalties, open condemnation and deterrence,” Magistrate Wong Sze Lai wrote in her decision. “As the present case involves a breach of public order and safety, as well as a threat to the personal safety of the public, deterrent sentences are warranted to safeguard public interests and the lives and property of the people.”
The June 21, 2019, siege outside the Hong Kong Police Force’s compound in Wan Chai was among the most dramatic moments in the early days of last year’s historic protests against legislation that would’ve allowed extraditions to mainland China. Wong — then fresh out of jail — joined the rally to oppose the police’s decision to tear gas against protesters.
Dozens of high-profile democracy advocates, including lawmakers, lawyers and billionaire media mogul Jimmy Lai, are facing jail time as Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s government seeks to punish participants in last year’s largely leaderless protests. Police have arrested more than 10,000 people on various allegations, including 26 under new national security legislation carrying sentences as long as life in prison.
The effort to prosecute Wong — who testified before the U.S. Congress last year and was subject of the Netflix documentary “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower” — has drawn condemnation from Western government officials. Chow’s case has also helped solidify criticism of Beijing in Japan, where local media has dubbed her “the goddess of democracy.”
Shortly after the sentencing, Hong Kong democracy activists Nathan Law and Alex Chow, living the U.K. and U.S. respectively, published an op-ed in the New York Times calling for a global alliance to push back against China and on Washington to do more for the city’s residents as Beijing cracks down.
“We hope that the Biden administration will review and reform asylum policies for Hong Kongers and take a close look at sanctions against those who attack the city’s democratic institutions,” the wrote.”It’s another blatant attack on the HK activists, whose wishes are solely bringing democracy to Hong Kong,” Law wrote separately on Twitter.
Before the sentencing, two pro-democracy supporters chanting outside the court in support of Wong were quickly cleared from the scene by police, who said they had been standing on the court’s driveway.
“The protest movement is over,” said Alexandra Wong, a protester known as Grandma Wong who attended rallies over the course of Hong Kong’s unrest last year, outside the court. “They’re arresting all lawmakers, even young activists, teenagers, even a grandma like me. Put charges on us for nothing, trying to silence us. It’s over.”
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Joshua Wong had previously served more than four months in jail for leading protests in 2014, when he was still a high school student. After pleading guilty last week, Wong was taken into custody where he was held for some 72 hours in a lit hospital room because police wanted to determine whether a shadow on a stomach X-ray indicated he had swallowed a foreign substance.
The activist is still facing charges related to his participation in an annual candlelight vigil to mark the June 4, 1989, crackdown on Tiananmen Square activists in Beijing, which had been banned due to coronavirus restrictions.
He’s also among those arrested over an October 2019 protest against a ban on face masks that has since been ruled unconstitutional and replaced with a requirement to wear them.
InternationalDec 03. 2020The Pfizer logo at a Pfizer facility in Puurs, Belgium, on Nov. 10, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert..
By The Washington Post · William Booth, Karla Adam
LONDON – Britain became the first country to grant emergency approval on Wednesday to the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Pfizer and BioNTech, smashing all speed records to see a potentially lifesaving shot invented, tested and approved in less than a year.
British officials said a mass immunization program would begin almost immediately, with distribution of the first 800,000 doses to begin next week in a remarkable rollout of an entirely new kind of vaccine, built with a few bits of RNA, that must be stored and shipped at Antarctic temperatures.
Drug regulators in Britain have a global reputation for being tough but quick-moving, but Wednesday’s decision is likely to intensify the focus on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has faced increasing pressure from the Trump administration to approve Pfizer’s vaccine. On Tuesday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows summoned Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, to ask why the agency was not moving faster.
The British government said the first people to receive the vaccine would be the most vulnerable to covid-19, and so at the head of the line will be the residents of nursing homes and their caregivers. In Britain, like the United States, residents of these homes suffered high rates of mortality, especially in the first wave of the pandemic. According to the Office for National Statistics, over 17,000 people – 27 percent of coronavirus-related deaths in England and Wales – have died in nursing homes.
The care home residents will be followed by all those over 80 and front-line medical workers. Then the over 75, the over 70s and individuals who are “clinically extremely vulnerable.”
At a Downing Street news conference, June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said that the regulator had “absolute confidence” in the “safety, effectiveness and quality” of the vaccine.
“No stone has been left unturned,” she said.
“If you are climbing a mountain, you prepare and prepare. We started that in June. By the time the interim results became available on November 10 we were at base camp and then when we got the final analysis we were ready for that last sprint that takes us to today.”
Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said Britain was prioritizing those most at risk of dying from the virus, those who are most vulnerable, and health-care workers. He said that the order of who gets a jab first is unrelated to lockdown tiers where people live.
Munir Pirmohamed, a professor at the University of Liverpool and an independent adviser to the government, said the Pfizer data showed that there was partial immunity after the first dose and that people will be immune seven days after the second dose. The two doses are given about three weeks apart.
British officials say they will have 800,000 doses of the vaccine in the country within days, with another few million doses by the end of the year. Pfizer has said it can supply 40 million doses here in the spring.
But Britain has said it wants to immunize the whole country of 67 million – so supply will crucial.
British regulators are also reviewing for approval of a competing vaccine made by Oxford University and the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. If approved the government has made orders for 100 million doses from AstraZeneca. There’s also 7 million doses on pre-order from another front-running vaccine candidate made by Moderna.
Britain’s swift action drew some blowback from the European Union’s drug regulator, which said that it believed its slower and more careful approval process was the “most appropriate regulatory mechanism for use in the current pandemic emergency.”
It said that the full approval process allows for a more extensive evaluation of the data and imposes more legal requirements for safety, quality and efficacy of the vaccine on drug manufacturers.
The regulator, the European Medicines Agency, is reviewing both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, but does not expect to take action before the end of December.
Britain has left the European Union but remains subject to many of its regulations, including those on drugs, until Dec. 31. But E.U. rules allow individual countries to authorize unlicensed drugs during emergencies.
In a statement, Britain’s Department of Health and Social Care said that the decision to approve the vaccine “follows months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data” by a panel of experts who concluded that it met the standards for safety and effectiveness. Data previously released from large-scale clinical trials showed that the vaccine had nearly 95 percent efficacy and people who were immunized displayed no serious side effects.
Britain has been racing to become the first Western country to approve a coronavirus vaccine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted, “It’s the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again.”
“Help is on its way,” British Health Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted on Wednesday. “The NHS stands ready to start vaccinating early next week.”
Hancock told the BBC that he was “absolutely thrilled” by the decision and “very proud” that Britain was the first country to approve the vaccine.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla described the vaccine’s authorization as “a historic moment,” and noted that the company anticipates that it will soon be approved by other governments around the world. Pfizer and BioNTech filed for emergency use authorization in the United States on Nov. 20, with the goal of distributing the vaccine to high-risk populations by mid-December.
Biden closes in on top health leaders as pandemic ravages U.S.
InternationalDec 03. 2020Michelle Lujan Grisham, governor of New Mexico, is seen on a laptop computer speaking during the virtual Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Daniel Acker.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Josh Wingrove, Shira Stein, Alexander Ruoff
President-elect Joe Biden’s front-runner for secretary of Health and Human Services is New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and he may announce several of his administration’s health leaders as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter.
The position of HHS secretary is down to two possibilities, the people said, between Lujan Grisham and former surgeon general Vivek Murthy, a co-chair of the coronavirus advisory board Biden appointed shortly after he was elected.
Biden’s health team will assume office with the U.S. still suffering from the pandemic, as virus cases and hospitalizations soared over the past month. His health secretary is expected to have input on filling other top health posts, such as FDA commissioner and the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the people said, so those appointments may not be announced until later.
The Health and Human Services secretary will have the tough task of rebuilding Obamacare, which Biden has promised to expand. That will be a difficult undertaking with a Republican-led Senate.
Murthy or Jeff Zients, who led the Obama administration effort to repair healthcare.gov, the faulty Obamacare website, may be named to a leadership role on the pandemic, according to the people familiar with the matter — a “Covid-19 czar.”
Mandy Cohen, the North Carolina state health secretary, is a favorite for CMS, the people said. Biden’s choices to lead the Food and Drug Administration appear narrowed down to David Kessler, a former commissioner of the agency who is another co-chair of his coronavirus advisory board, and Joshua Sharfstein, a former FDA official who is a vice dean at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Biden announced his economic team on Tuesday, a group led by Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen whose top priority will be restoring jobs eliminated by the pandemic. An announcement on some of his health team could come as soon as Monday, the people said.
The people familiar with the matter asked not to be identified because talks are still ongoing and no final decision has been made. It’s not clear how many people will be announced at once, or which positions would later be filled by the health secretary once the Biden administration is in place.
Biden’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. recorded 158,000 new coronavirus infections on Monday and a record 205,000 cases three days earlier. Biden will take office as distribution of coronavirus vaccines ramps up, and he has warned that any delay in the transition to his administration could slow or complicate that endeavor.
Lujan Grisham is seen as having an easier path to confirmation than Murthy, who has spoken out against gun violence as a public health threat and may draw strong opposition from Senate Republicans as a result, the people familiar with the matter said.
If he isn’t nominated to lead HHS, Murthy is under consideration as Covid-19 czar or another role, including a second stint as surgeon general, the people said. Murthy talks to Biden almost every day as co-chair of his advisory board and is seen as having influential supporters.
Murthy and Zients have also represented Biden’s transition team on calls with current HHS officials, two of the people said.
Biden’s team is still discussing what the White House coronavirus task force and Operation Warp Speed — the Trump administration’s effort to fast-track vaccines — will look like under the new administration.
If Biden announces his health team next week, he may be just days ahead of the first emergency FDA approval of a coronavirus vaccine. President Donald Trump is planning a vaccine summit next week at the White House, while an FDA advisory panel is scheduled to meet on Dec. 10 to discuss the shots.
Vice President Mike Pence told governors this week that the vaccines could start being delivered as soon as the week of Dec. 14.
InternationalDec 03. 2020President-elect Joe Biden announces his economic team Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. Biden is facing complaints from some that he has so far largely put Black officials in lower-profile positions or in jobs that include “deputy” in the title. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Demetrius Freeman
By The Washington Post · Annie Linskey, Matt Viser
WASHINGTON – Representatives from seven of the country’s leading civil rights organizations are pressing to meet with President-elect Joe Biden in coming days, escalating pressure on him to appoint Black nominees to the remaining high-profile Cabinet posts amid concern that White nominees have dominated so far.
Wally Adeyemo, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for deputy treasury secretary, speaks at the introduction of Biden’s economic team Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. Adeyemo would be the first Black person to serve in that role. Biden’s team noted that he has so far named fewer than a quarter of the federal positions he plans to highlight. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Demetrius Freeman
Biden has rolled out a diverse set of appointments but reserved the initial marquee slots in the Cabinet and White House for White candidates, prompting worry that Biden is failing to make good on his promises to promote Black leaders to prominent jobs.
Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, said Tuesday that he was baffled that Biden has failed to confirm a meeting with the civil rights groups nearly a month after Election Day.
“We have not had any communication with the president-elect, so we have no concept of what to expect next,” Johnson said, noting that Biden has been a longtime member of the organization and that the NAACP pushed hard for his election. “That’s somewhat concerning to us.”
“But for the black community support for him, he would not be in office,” he said.
Prominent advocates, and members of Congress who typically keep a lower profile, also expressed disappointment in the fledgling Biden administration – in some cases saying they hoped that sounding the alarm would influence Biden’s thinking as he fills out his government.
“I really thought – at this stage of the game – I would see more African American appointments in the top positions,” said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who endorsed Biden in the Democratic primary. “And I would have had more of a sense of confidence that there would be more African American men and women appointed to positions at the highest level of government.”
“We are capable of being in those lead positions,” Watson Coleman added. “I don’t see that yet. And that’s disappointing to me.”
Clayola Brown, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, a Black trade union group, said Biden had “fallen a bit more than just short” of expectations with regard to appointing Black officials – particularly in naming Black women to “meaningful positions inside of this administration.”
Biden’s transition team confirmed it had received a request for a meeting from the seven groups. Biden officials said they have “engaged” with some of the groups individually, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Urban League. They did not confirm that the requested meeting would take place.
Biden has nominated longtime diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Black former Foreign Service officer, to be ambassador to the United Nations. And on Tuesday, he introduced six key members of his economics team, a group that includes Wally Adeyemo, who would be the first African American deputy treasury secretary, and Cecilia Rouse, who would be the first Black official to serve as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. The group also included Neera Tanden, who would be the first woman of color – her parents were from India – to lead the Office of Management and Budget. All require Senate confirmation.
But those raising concerns cited Biden choosing White officials for top jobs at the state and treasury departments as well White House positions including chief of staff, national security adviser and press secretary. Instead, they said, Biden has so far largely put Black officials in lower-profile positions or in jobs that include “deputy” in the title.
Their focus now is on positions including defense secretary and attorney general. They argue that Biden’s decisions about those two key roles could affect the two runoff Senate races in Georgia – which will determine which party controls the upper chamber. Democrats need a strong turnout by Black voters to win those races.
“In order to win Georgia you have to have a very energized African American voting base,” Johnson said. “At the very minimum you shouldn’t do anything to dampen the energy and enthusiasm of that base. Who he appoints to what position could very well do that.”
Biden officials noted that so far half of the Cabinet-level positions feature people of color and that 10 Black officials have been named to key jobs. Biden has broken four racial barriers with his nominations, including naming Alejandro Mayorkas to be the first Hispanic to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the first woman, first Black woman and first Asian American woman to fill the job. Biden has pledged to name the first Black woman to the Supreme Court should an opening arise.
“His success in finding diverse voices to develop and implement his policy vision to tackle our nation’s toughest challenges will be clear when our full slate of appointees and nominees is complete,” said Cameron French, a spokesman for the Biden transition.
Other groups besides the seven requesting a meeting have also weighed in: In Late November, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus wrote to Biden urging him to make sure his appointments would reflect their population in the United States.
Janet Murguía, president of the Latino organization UnidosUS, said there was an initial burst of excitement about Mayorkas’s selection for the Homeland Security post.
“We think that’s a great start, but there’s much more to do in terms of seeing more representation at the highest levels,” Murguía said. “There’s still many roles to be filled. We’re encouraged by what we’ve seen so far. But there are some key roles we believe could be filled by key high-profile Hispanics.”
Biden’s team noted that he has so far named fewer than a quarter of the federal positions he plans to highlight. For example, Susan Rice, who is African American and was on Biden’s shortlist for secretary of state and vice president, will get a “key job” in the Biden administration, according to a person in direct contact with the president-elect.
Still, the civil rights leaders say they are focused on top positions.
“Those of us that have had access to administrations know the difference between first tier and second tier,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is among those hoping to meet with Biden.
Sharpton noted that President Barack Obama had two Black attorneys general during his eight years in the White House. “The expectation among the civil rights community and the Black community here is not unfounded,” Sharpton said.
He and others have promoted Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor who ran the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during the Clinton administration, as well as Tony West, a former associate attorney general during the Obama administration. They also have signaled that Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., who was defeated in November, would be palatable. Jones is White but has a strong civil rights background, most notably when as a U.S. attorney he prosecuted Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church in which four young Black girls were killed.
“We had a reckoning of race with George Floyd,” Sharpton said. “To answer that without an attorney general who not only has a sensitivity but a background in protecting people with police reform and voting rights would be something that would be very displeasing if not insulting to the community he promised to represent on the night he was elected.”
“It was Joe Biden who said the African American community has his back and he’ll have ours,” he added. “We would assume, but we’ll see, in the appointments.”
Regarding the Defense slot, Michèle Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense for policy in the Obama administration who is White, has long been regarded as a leading candidate to become the first female defense secretary.
But over the past few weeks, two Black candidates have been floated: Jeh Johnson, a secretary of homeland security in the Obama administration, and Lloyd Austin, a retired Army general.
The NAACP’s Johnson said it’s a “problem” that he and other civil rights leaders have not yet heard from Biden about setting a time for a meeting. In addition to the NAACP, the group includes representatives from the Urban League and Sharpton’s National Action Network, among others.
“It’s very important that this meeting with the historic civil rights leaders takes place,” said Marc Morial, the president and CEO of the National Urban League. “We want to have the conversation and we want to establish the relationship – and a relationship is one where there will be times we will be supportive, and there may be times we have to object.
“There’s high expectations about the diversity of the Cabinet,” Morial said. “And we think the expectation is, when it comes to the Cabinet [of] this incoming administration, it will exceed the high-water marks of Clinton and Obama.”
Biden’s promise to Black voters was reiterated during his victory speech the night he was declared president-elect. “The African American community stood up again for me. You’ve always had my back, and I’ll have yours,” he said.
It was a reference to support from Black voters during the general election. Black voters backed Biden by wide margins in several key states that had gone for President Trump in 2016. In Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which secured his electoral college advantage, about 9 in 10 Black voters sided with Biden, exit polls showed.
During the Democratic primary, Biden’s candidacy was revived in South Carolina after he was endorsed by the powerful Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. Clyburn, however, is also among those concerned about Biden’s appointments. “I want to see where the process leads to, what it produces,” Clyburn told Juan Williams, a columnist for The Hill newspaper. “But so far it’s not good.”
He and others have been pushing Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, for a possible nomination as agriculture secretary. Biden has indicated he is reluctant to select House or Senate members for jobs because it could dilute the party’s power on Capitol Hill.
“It is critically important that Black women’s leadership be well represented in your Cabinet and throughout the Administration,” according to a letter signed by two dozen officials who lead groups promoting Black women.
The letter was organized by Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable, who said in addition to Agriculture she is pushing for a Black woman to run at least one other major department, such as Housing and Urban Development; Education; Health and Human Services; or Justice.
“We are appreciative of the staff positions,” Campbell said. “But where are the Black women in the statutory Cabinet positions?”
Barr says he hasn’t seen fraud that could affect the election outcome
InternationalDec 03. 2020Attorney General William Barr appears before the House Judiciary Committee in July. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Matt McClain
By The Washington Post · Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey
WASHINGTON – Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that he has “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” undercutting claims that President Donald Trump and his allies have made – without evidence – of widespread and significant voting irregularities.
His comments to the Associated Press, while caveated, make Barr the highest-ranking Trump administration official to break with the president on his allegation that the election was stolen, and they might offer political cover to other Republicans to stake out similar positions.
Trump himself, though, has shown no sign of backing down, and some of his Capitol Hill allies were critical of Barr’s assertions. Trump’s relationship with his attorney general was already deteriorating, with the president frustrated that Barr was unwilling to launch aggressive measures to support his fraud claims or take other steps that might benefit his reelection campaign.
At the same time Barr’s comments became public Tuesday, the Justice Department revealed that the attorney general had, in October, secretly appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut as special counsel examining how the FBI investigated the Trump campaign in 2016 and beyond – a move that might hearten Trump and his allies.
Barr assigned Durham to run the investigation last year, but the order to install him as special counsel is likely to ensure that his work is not shut down by the incoming administration of Joe Biden, a concern voiced by people close to Barr.
Under Justice Department regulations, special counsels can be dismissed only for misconduct or some other good cause, making it more difficult for the next attorney general to end Durham’s investigation, in addition to the political cost that would come with short-circuiting the probe.
Barr has been accused of using his position as the country’s top law enforcement official to help Trump win reelection and amplify his unfounded claims of electoral malfeasance.
Before the election, he warned repeatedly and forcefully about fraud that might come with mass mail-in voting, echoing the president’s attacks on the practice. Afterward, he reversed long-standing Justice Department policy and authorized prosecutors to take overt steps to pursue allegations of “vote tabulation irregularities” in certain cases before results were certified. To date, none have done so.
Barr’s memo, though, authorized actions only in cases that could change the outcome of the election, and officials have previously told The Washington Post that they were aware of no such investigations or evidence that would warrant them.
Since it became clear that Biden won, Trump and his allies have sought to discredit the election’s results, mounting unsuccessful court challenges and publicly decrying what they claim to be fraud and other irregularities. But even with Barr’s directive in place, the attorney general met Trump and his allies’ claims with silence. A group of 16 assistant U.S. attorneys even wrote to Barr to say they had not seen evidence of any substantial anomalies.
A person who spoke with Trump on Monday said he was railing against governors in Republican states – particularly in Georgia and Arizona – who would not back up his claims of fraud and were proceeding to certify election results. Barr’s comments take away another valuable ally in his cause, which is expected to go nowhere, but Trump nevertheless is unlikely to give it up until at least after the electoral college votes Dec. 14, this person said.
An administration official, like others speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail a sensitive topic, told The Post that in recent months, Barr and Trump have “barely spoken,” though they did have a conversation the week before Thanksgiving.
Before the election, the president was frustrated that Durham was not producing public results that might discredit his political opponents and aid his reelection bid. Then, Trump became upset that the Justice Department was not doing more to support his claims of massive fraud, nor coming out publicly to support his claims, officials said.
Trump made his displeasure known. In October, after it was reported that Durham would not release a report before the election, the president said that the delay was “a disgrace” and that he would relay his thoughts directly to Barr.
“If that’s the case, I’m very disappointed,” Trump said during an interview with radio host Rush Limbaugh. “I think it’s a terrible thing. And I’ll say it to his face.”
This past weekend, Trump took aim at the Justice Department and the FBI over their failure to back his election fraud claims.
“Where are they? I’ve not seen anything,” he told Fox News.
The president also suggested that the bureau and the Justice Department were possibly “involved,” though he did not offer any evidence or further clarity.
Administration officials said those public disputes have also played out in private. Trump has complained to advisers about his attorney general, two officials said, and the frustration has filtered to Barr even as the men have talked less frequently.
The president has also been annoyed that Barr has expressed support for FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose public statements contradicting Trump – about election security and domestic extremism – have made him a frequent target of the president’s rage, an administration official said.
“There have been clashes,” the official said.
In the Associated Press interview, Barr said the FBI and the Justice Department had looked into some fraud claims, and suggested they had not found what the president and his allies have asserted. Barr seemed to take particular aim at one claim by lawyer Sidney Powell, who alleged a grand conspiracy in which election software changed voting tallies.
“There’s been one assertion that would be systemic fraud, and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results. And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that,” Barr told the Associated Press, referring to the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice.
Barr did not rule out any instances of fraud or election irregularities. He said that most of the claims of fraud that had come to the department were “very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or conduct. They are not systemic allegations. And those have been run down; they are being run down.”
“Some have been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes,” he said. “They have been followed up on.”
After the interview was published, a Justice Department spokesperson issued a statement attacking some of the reporting on it and declaring, “The Department will continue to receive and vigorously pursue all specific and credible allegations of fraud as expeditiously as possible.”
In a statement, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, and Jenna Ellis, a legal adviser to the campaign, said, “With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn’t been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation.” The two lawyers have been leading Trump’s effort to attack the results of the election, and though they have appeared with Powell, they have said publicly that she is not formally working for Trump. Powell did not return an email seeking comment.
In recent weeks, officials said, Trump has been speaking with Giuliani and Ellis extensively, believing that his other advisers are too skeptical about his claims or too pessimistic about his chances.
“Nonetheless, we will continue our pursuit of the truth through the judicial system and state legislatures, and continue toward the Constitution’s mandate and ensuring that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is not,” their statement said. “Again, with the greatest respect to the Attorney General, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud.”
Some Republicans similarly took aim at the Justice Department after Barr’s comments. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said on Fox Business that the department “has a lot of egg on their face having not discovered a lot of the fraud as it was occurring.” Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called on Barr to show more of what investigators had discovered.
“I think there is still enough questions outstanding,” Johnson said, according to CNN.
Even as news broke of Barr’s statements to the Associated Press, Trump was tweeting about “hundreds of thousands of fraudulent (FAKE) ballots” and a news conference advancing similar claims. Barr was spotted at the White House, though an official said that was for a meeting with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, not the president.
In the interview with the Associated Press, Barr endeavored to make clear that whatever disputes Trump might have with the election, the Justice Department is not the appropriate institution to resolve them. The department, he said, examines crimes, while state or local officials audit voting results.
“There’s a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all, and people don’t like something, they want the Department of Justice to come in and ‘investigate,’ ” Barr said.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., surmised that Barr’s comments would probably result in the attorney general being terminated.
“I guess he’s the next one to be fired, since he now too says there’s no fraud,” Schumer said. “Trump seems to fire anyone in that regard.”
Christopher Krebs, who had led the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, one of the key federal agencies charged with safeguarding the vote, was fired last month after he publicly defended the integrity of the election count. Shortly before his dismissal, Krebs refuted allegations made by the president’s supporters that election systems had been manipulated, tweeting that “59 election security experts all agree, ‘in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.’ “
Durham’s appointment as special counsel, meanwhile, drew a more predictable reaction, as it was embraced by Republicans and decried by Democrats.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he hoped that Democrats show “the same respect” they gave to former special counsel Robert Mueller III when he led the Russia inquiry. “This important investigation must be allowed to proceed free from political interference,” said Graham. “The American people deserve a full accounting of this wrongdoing.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that the Durham appointment smacked of politics and that the attorney general “is using the special counsel law for a purpose it was not intended: to continue a politically motivated investigation long after Barr leaves office.”
The attorney general’s order, signed Oct. 19 but kept secret until now, said that after consulting with Durham, Barr had “determined that, in light of extraordinary circumstances relating to these matters, the public interest warrants Mr. Durham continuing this investigation pursuant to the powers and independence afforded by the Special Counsel regulations.”
A Justice Department official said the White House was not made aware of the appointment at that time and learned only Tuesday.
As special counsel, Durham is authorized to investigate “whether any federal official, employee, or any other person or entity violated the law in connection with the intelligence, counterintelligence, or law-enforcement activities directed at the 2016 presidential campaigns, individuals associated with those campaigns, and individuals associated with the administration of President Donald J. Trump, including but not limited to Crossfire Hurricane and the investigation of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.”
Crossfire Hurricane is the name FBI agents gave to their investigation of Trump campaign associates whom they suspected might be involved with Russian election interference. Mueller took over that probe after Trump fired Wray’s predecessor, James Comey.
In a letter to lawmakers Tuesday explaining his decision, Barr said that although he had expected Durham to finish his work by the summer, delays created by the coronavirus pandemic and the discovery of additional information pushed back that timeline.
“In advance of the presidential election, I decided to appoint Mr. Durham as a Special Counsel to provide him and his team with the assurance that they could complete their work, without regard to the outcome of the election,” Barr wrote.
The letter states that Barr waited to make that decision public until after the election, though it does not indicate why he waited until December to do so. Some lawyers questioned whether he had misused Justice Department regulations to appoint a department employee – Durham – as special counsel, when the regulation states that a special counsel “shall be selected from outside the United States Government.”
Barr’s order appointing Durham seems to try to circumvent that requirement by citing another department regulation stating the attorney general can appoint a Justice Department officer to “conduct any kind of legal proceeding.”
The incoming Biden administration could, in theory, rewrite the special counsel regulation to make it easier to dismiss Durham or otherwise change his mandate, but that would probably provoke anger among Republicans.
“What Barr thinks he’s doing is ensuring Durham’s work can continue beyond the end of this administration, because the regulations don’t allow the attorney general to fire the special counsel except for cause,” said Gregory Brower, a former senior FBI official. “The next administration may be stuck with Durham, but as long as Durham is playing it straight, that’s not a terrible thing. Arguably the new administration doesn’t have a dog in this fight.”
IRA มีการกิจสร้าง “ฟาร์มโทรลล์” หรือกลุ่มบัญชีที่เข้าไปก่อกวนและโน้มน้าวความคิดทางการเมืองผู้ใช้อินเทอร์เน็ต IRA ได้สร้างบัญชีโซเชียลมีเดียหลายพันบัญชีที่ปลอมตัวเป็นชาวอเมริกันที่สนับสนุนกลุ่มการเมืองหัวรุนแรงและวางแผนหรือส่งเสริมกิจกรรมเพื่อสนับสนุนทรัมป์และต่อต้านคลินตัน และเผยแพร่บทความเท็จและการบิดเบือนข้อมูลจากสื่อที่รัฐบาลรัสเซียแล้วแพร่กระจายในโซเชียลมีเดีย ยังไม่นับการส่งแฮ็คเกอร์เข้าโจมตีเว็บไซต์สำคัญๆ ทางการเมืองในสหรัฐโดยตรง ปรากฎว่าปฏิบัติการของ IRA สามารถเข้าถึงผู้ใช้โซเชียลมีเดียหลายล้านคนระหว่างปี 2013 ถึง 2017
ในเรื่องนี้ สตานิสลาฟ ซาริน โฆษกของผู้ประสานงานด้านบริการพิเศษซึ่งดูแลหน่วยงานด้านความมั่นคงของโปแลนด์ประกาศว่าแฮกเกอร์ได้บุกเว็บไซต์ของ War Studies University ของโปแลนด์และบิดเบือนข้อมูลโดยได้โพสต์จดหมายที่หัวหน้ามหาวิทยาลัยอธิบายว่ากองกำลังของสหรัฐในโปแลนด์เป็น “การยึดครองของชาวอเมริกัน” เจ้าหน้าที่ของโปแลนด์กล่าวว่าจดหมายปลอมฉบับดังกล่าวถูกแพร่ต่อโดยเว็บไซต์ของโปแลนด์อย่างน้อยสามแห่งโดยหนึ่งแห่งมีประวัติการสนับสนุนการบิดเบือนข้อมูล
Employee pass in front of the finished Abkatun-A2 oil platform at the Mcdermott International Inc. fabrication facility in Altamira, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2018. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Luis Antonio Rojas. 
Oil pumping jacks, also known as “nodding donkeys”, operate in an oilfield near Neftekamsk, Russia, on Nov. 19, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Andrey Rudakov. 
Michel Barnier, chief negotiator for the European Union, center, wears a protective face mask while speaking with lawmakers ahead of a State of the Union address in the European Parliament in Brussels on Sept. 16, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert. 
Joshua Wong, activist and former members of pro-democracy party Demosisto, walks towards a Correctional Services Department vehicle ahead of being transported to West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts in Hong Kong on Dec. 2, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Paul Yeung. 
The Pfizer logo at a Pfizer facility in Puurs, Belgium, on Nov. 10, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert.. 
Michelle Lujan Grisham, governor of New Mexico, is seen on a laptop computer speaking during the virtual Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Daniel Acker. 
President-elect Joe Biden announces his economic team Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. Biden is facing complaints from some that he has so far largely put Black officials in lower-profile positions or in jobs that include “deputy” in the title. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Demetrius Freeman 
Attorney General William Barr appears before the House Judiciary Committee in July. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Matt McClain 
ประเทศที่ทำไอโอมากที่สุดในโลกและสำเร็จมากที่สุด รัสเซียทำอย่างไรและกำลังมุ่งไปทางไหน
