World leaders are congratulating, Joe Biden who appears to have secured enough electoral votes to win the US presidential race. If the results are confirmed, Biden will become the 46th President of the United States of America.
Media projections on Saturday showed Biden crossing 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania, after pivotal victories in swing states Michigan and Wisconsin.
The news comes after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots in several so-called “battlegeround” states.
Election officials say Biden is also on track to win the national popular vote by more than four million votes, a margin that could grow as ballots continue to be counted.
Incumbent President Donald Trump has vowed to challenge the election results in court, saying “this election is far from over.”
Trump has repeatedly made claims of voter fraud in the election, although his campaign has yet to produce evidence to back up his assertions.
Media outlets note that Trump is the first incumbent president to lose re-election since Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992. Earlier Saturday, Trump left the White House for his Virginia golf club.
Americans voted in droves for this election, and with counting continuing in some states, Biden had already reportedly received more than 74 million votes, more than any presidential candidate before him.
Joe Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and raised in Delaware. He was one of the youngest candidates ever elected to the Senate.
During his career in politics he has held many powerful and influential positions, including chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees, before becoming Barack Obama’s vice president in 2008.
The European Union and Britain said on Saturday major divergences remain but that post-Brexit negotiations would continue next week to clinch a trade deal in the scant time left.
Following a phone call with Boris Johnson, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the differences were “large”, while the British prime minister described them as “significant”.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier said he would head back to London Sunday to resume talks with UK counterpart David Frost next week.
Despite multiple rounds of talks, including two weeks of “intense” meetings that ended Wednesday, the sides remain far apart on fishing rights and rules for competition between British and European companies.
“Some progress has been made, but large differences remain especially on level playing field and fisheries. Our teams will continue working hard next week,” von der Leyen tweeted.
Johnson said the negotiating teams would reconvene in London on Monday, “in order to redouble efforts to reach a deal”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
“The prime minister set out that, while some progress had been made in recent discussions, significant differences remain in a number of areas, including the so-called level playing field and fish,” he said.
Both leaders agreed to remain in personal contact as well, signalling a stepped-up political effort to secure a new trading partnership before Britain ends a post-Brexit transition period on December 31.
Before then, several weeks are needed for any treaty to be vetted and ratified by both sides, and observers have said they will be cutting it very fine if agreement is not reached by mid-November.
Red lines
Both sides had warned earlier in the year that a draft deal should be on the table before the end of October if it is to be ratified by the EU and UK parliaments before the end of the year.
But the talks blew past this unofficial deadline, and Britain could yet leave the EU single market and customs union at midnight on December 31 with no follow-on framework for cross-Channel business.
Both sides say they would prefer to avoid the economic disruption that this would entail, but both insist the are ready if it comes to that, and neither is yet ready to cross their red lines.
For Britain, this means reasserting sovereignty over its fishing waters and for Brussels agreeing rules to prevent UK businesses gaining an unfair advantage over EU competitors.
Barnier said he was going to London “to find an agreement that respects the interests and values of the EU and its 27 member states.”
Independent journalism costs money. Support Times of Malta for the price of a coffee.
Blessed Joan Roig y Diggle is among the almost 2000 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War publicly venerated in the Church. In the violent conflict that racked the Iberian Peninsula between 1936, hundreds of lay men and women – mothers and fathers, young and old – along with dozens of priests and nuns, and even Bishops, were killed out of “hatred of the faith,” and solely for their love of Christ.
Joan Roig y Diggle was born on May 12, 1917 in Barcelona (Spain). Due to economic problems, in 1934, together with his family, he had to move to the town of El Masnou where, in addition to working to contribute to the family budget, he joined the Federación de Jóvenes Cristianos de Cataluña , of which he became director.
Despite the many commitments of work and study and poor health, he maintained an intense spiritual life: daily participation in the Holy Mass, meditation and practices of piety, the deepening of the social doctrine of the Church.
The companions and priests who knew him in those years recall a young man of singular virtues and great interior transparency, with an intense and delicate spiritual life and a clear awareness of social problems and the responsibility of the laity in the life of society.
“God is with me”
During the religious persecution of July 1936, the meeting room of the Federación de Jóvenes Cristianos was destroyed and the church was set on fire. A few months later, on the night between 11 and 12 September, some militiamen took the Servant of God from his home. His last words to his mother, in English, were “God is with me.”
A few hours later, Joan Roig y Diggle was taken to the cemetery of Santa Coloma de Gramanet (Spain). The militia have determined to execute him. When they point their rifles at him, he utters words of forgiveness for his executioners. The moment they shoot, he cries out: “Long live Christ the King!”.
Blessed Joan Roig y Diggle was only 19 when he gave his life for Christ.
A model for Christian life
In his homily for the Mass of Beatification, Cardinal Omella asked what we can learn from Blessed Joan Roig’s witness. “Joan Roig can be a model of Christian life for both the young people and adults of our society,” he said. “His testimony can awaken in us the desire to follow Christ with joy and generosity.”
Cardinal Omella said, “The deep friendship with God, prayer, the Eucharistic life and apostolic ardor” of Blessed Joan Roig, “will unite us more to Christ and to His Gospel.”
He concluded his homily with a challenge: “Let us dare, like Joan, to be well grounded in Christ, in order to offer the love of the Triune God to our brothers and sisters. Let us be, as today’s Gospel proclaims, good seed that bears abundant fruit.”
And he reminded the faithful, “Jesus will never leave us. He will always be at our side to share with us His Risen life.”
LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the European Union’s executive arm agreed Saturday to stay in contact as their negotiating teams step up efforts to conclude a post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the European Union before time runs out.
“The diplomatic action of the Holy See is not content with observing events or evaluating their significance, nor can it remain only a sort of critical voice of conscience, often even outside the chorus”. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, made the remark on Friday, marking the 40th anniversary of the Agreement between the Holy See and Peru, signed in Lima on July 19, 1980.
The English Archbishop said, “The Holy See is called to act to facilitate coexistence among the various nations, to promote that fraternity among peoples, where the term fraternity is synonymous with effective collaboration, effective cooperation, concordant and orderly, in a structured solidarity for the benefit of the common good and that of individuals”.
Archbishop Gallagher pointed out that it is Pope Francis who asks the Holy See to move on the international scene, not just to guarantee generic security, which is made more difficult than ever in this period of persistent instability and marked conflict. The Pope urges the Holy See also to support an idea of peace which is the fruit of fair relations, that is, of respect for international standards and the protection of fundamental human rights, starting with those of the least and the most vulnerable.
From this it is clear, the Vatican official said, that the “ecclesial” function of diplomacy is “an instrument of communion that unites the Roman Pontiff to the Bishops and to the respective local Churches”. It is also the special way through which the Pope can concretely reach the spiritual and material “peripheries” of humanity.
The Secretary for Relations with States noted that the diplomatic network of the Holy See has bilateral relations with 183 States, to which the European Union and the Sovereign Order of Malta must be added. The Holy See also maintains stable multilateral relations with many other intergovernmental institutions in various sectors connected with structures of international governance.
Conflict prevention and post-war healing
Archbishop Gallagher says peace, according to the Holy See, does not stop simply at the common assertion of international law. Working for peace does not only mean establishing an international security system and respecting its obligations. It also means preventing the causes that can trigger a war, as well as removing the cultural, social, ethnic and religious situations that can reopen bloody wars that have ended recently. In this sense, he said, international law “must continue to equip itself with legal institutions and regulatory instruments capable of managing conflicts that have concluded or situations in which diplomatic efforts have silenced arms”.
Archbishop Gallagher also drew attention to efforts in the post-war phase. The post-conflict task, he said, is not limited to reorganizing territories, recognizing new or changed sovereignties, or even guaranteeing new balances with the force of arms. Rather, he said, it must specify the human dimension of peace, eliminating any possible reason that could once again compromise the condition of those who have experienced the horrors of war and now await and hope, according to justice, for a different future. “Translated into the language of diplomacy”, he said, “this means giving priority to the rule of law over the force of arms, guaranteeing justice even before legality”.
Breaking the mechanisms of indifference
The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States also denounced the “spread of indifference” which, he said, is not just limited to places of conflicts and wars, perhaps in faraway lands. “Today it also calls into question all of us, who, willingly or unwillingly, are reached in our daily lives by a continuous wave of news and information, which virtually connect us with the rest of the world and show us multitudes of suffering people without a roof, of many victims of wars forced to emigrate, of people who are discouraged, of those who have lost their jobs, and of the most vulnerable people”.
The archbishop said he was convinced that today, more than ever, it is necessary “to break these mechanisms of indifference, to break the protective shell of our selfishness, thus passing from theorems on possible peace, to concrete experiences of lived peace, even if suffered”.
Authentic conversion
In this situation, the archbishop said, the path to be adopted is the one indicated by Pope Francis, namely, to fight against both material and spiritual poverty and be peacebuilders by building bridges through dialogue. The Holy See official said they are also the three points of reference that indicate a personal, social and global journey to which the Pope, from the first days of his election, has invited everyone.
Pope Francis “asks a lot of courage from us to leave behind the easy certainties we have acquired and commit ourselves to an authentic conversion of heart, of priorities and of lifestyles. He urges us to open ourselves to an encounter with the other, even when we may not seem to know the other enough, who come from very different cultural and religious backgrounds or speak very different languages”. Archbishop Gallagher concluded, saying the diplomacy of the Holy See is on the move. “It is a long, complex and difficult path, but with God’s help it is possible,” he said.
LONDON: The European Union and Britain said on Saturday (Nov 7) major divergences remain in their Brexit talks but that negotiations would continue next week to try to clinch a trade deal in the scant time left.
After a call between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, both said talks would continue but that the main sticking points remained.
“The prime minister set out that, while some progress had been made in recent discussions, significant differences remain in a number of areas, including the so-called level playing field and fish,” a spokesman for Johnson’s office said.
Britain formally left the EU last January but has been following the bloc’s rules since then as the two sides try to agree on their future trade relationship.
The transition period ends on Dec 31 but negotiators are still trying to reach an agreement to protect nearly a trillion dollars in annual trade from possible quotas and tariffs.
Both sides say an agreement can be struck before then but little progress has been made over the issues of corporate fair play, fishing rights and the settling of disputes.
READ: EU’s Barnier says ‘very serious’ gaps still in Brexit trade talks
The chief negotiators, the EU’s Michel Barnier and Britain’s David Frost, will resume talks in London on Monday and will “redouble efforts to reach a deal”, Johnson’s office said.
“Our teams will continue working hard next week. We will remain in close contact in the next days,” Von der Leyen said.
Time is running out for an agreement this year, and European lawmakers who discussed the matter on Friday said that for this to happen, a deal must be in place by the middle of this month.
Even if there is a deal, a report this week said trade between Britain and the EU still faces widespread disruption from Jan 1, while systems needed to implement requirements of the Brexit divorce deal will not be ready.
Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen agreed during a phone call on Saturday to “redouble efforts” to reach a trade deal and signed off on talks continuing next week.
Downing Street said the Prime Minister told his Brussels counterpart that there remained “significant differences” in the UK-EU negotiations, with the two sides continuing to be apart on their positions over fishing rights and a level playing field agreement.
The call follows two weeks of intensified talks between the UK’s chief negotiator Lord Frost and his European Union equivalent Michel Barnier, with Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen paving the way for further discussions between the pair in London next week.
“Prime Minister Boris Johnson today spoke with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen for a stock take on the progress in the negotiations between the UK and the EU,” a Number 10 spokeswoman said.
“The Prime Minister set out that, while some progress had been made in recent discussions, significant differences remain in a number of areas, including the so-called level playing field and fish.
“The Prime Minister and president agreed that their negotiating teams would continue talks in London next week, beginning on Monday, in order to redouble efforts to reach a deal.
“They agreed to remain in personal contact about the negotiations.”
EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier will travel to London next week to continue Brexit trade talks after UK and EU leaders signed off on further discussions (Victoria Jones/PA)
Briefings between the two leaders are regarded as key moments in the cross-Channel bartering.
Their conversation last month led to discussions being “intensified” before a fallout after the European Council meeting on October 15 briefly derailed the negotiations.
Ireland’s Europe minister Thomas Byrne, speaking before the phone call, cast doubt that the conversation would lead to white smoke on agreeing a deal, saying discussions are still at a “technical level”.
“I personally don’t expect that there would be major progress today but at the same time I think it is very good that the top two are talking – I think that’s really positive but I don’t think we would expect ‘a moment’ at this particular point,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
UK chief negotiator Lord Frost was in the Belgian capital to speak face-to-face with his European Union counterpart Michel Barnier earlier this week as the deadline for doing a deal edges closer.
After talks finished on Wednesday, Mr Barnier briefed MEPs and EU diplomats that “very serious divergences” remain, with only 54 days left until the end of the transition period.
He said the main stumbling blocks continue to be around the “level playing field” aimed at preventing unfair competition on areas including state subsidies, fisheries policy and the governance of any deal.
After Saturday’s the phone call, Lord Frost tweeted: “Prime Minister Boris Johnson and commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke today about our negotiations with the EU.
“My talks with Michel Barnier will continue in London on Monday.”
He previously said progress has been made during two weeks of intensive negotiations but “wide divergences remain on some core issues”.
Minister for State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne has said he was not expecting a telephone conversation between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his European Commission counterpart to result in a breakthrough in the post-Brexit trade talks.
Mr Johnson was due to speak to Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to “take stock” of the deadlocked trade talk negotiations today.
Briefings between the two leaders are seen as key moments in the cross-Channel bartering, with their conversation last month seeing discussions “intensified” before a fallout after the European Council meeting on October 15th briefly derailed the negotiations.
But Mr Byrne said he doubted the conversation between Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen would lead to white smoke on agreeing a deal, with “big issues” still remaining in talks that he described as having been “difficult”.
“I personally don’t expect that there would be major progress today but at the same time I think it is very good that the top two are talking – I think that’s really positive, but I don’t think we would expect ‘a moment’ at this particular point,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“At the moment there is a huge range of issues that need to be discussed at a technical level and they need to continue, I hope.
“I hope that today’s discussion between Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson will progress that further.”
Update to the agenda of President @vonderleyen for Saturday 7 November afternoon:
➡️ phone call with UK Prime Minister @BorisJohnson on the state-of-play of the ???? negotiations
UK chief negotiator Lord Frost was in the Belgian capital to speak face-to-face with his European Union counterpart Michel Barnier earlier this week.
Meetings between the pair are due to continue next week in London after both agreed there continued to be gaps in the UK and the bloc’s positions as the deadline for doing a deal edges closer.
Ticking clock
After talks finished on Wednesday, Mr Barnier briefed MEPs and EU diplomats that “very serious divergences” remained, with only 54 days left until the end of the transition period.
He said the main stumbling blocks continued to be around the “level playing field” aimed at preventing unfair competition on areas including state subsidies, fisheries policy and the governance of any deal.
Lord Frost previously said progress had been made during two weeks of intensive talks but “wide divergences remain on some core issues”.
More discussions are planned between Brussels and London ahead of the UK’s scheduled exit from the EU at the end of the year.
On 5 November 2020, health authorities in Denmark reported 12 human cases of COVID-19 caused by a specific mink-associated variant strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. All 12 cases live in North Jutland and became unwell in September. Eight had a link to the mink farming industry and four cases were from the local community. Since June 2020, 214 human cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Denmark with SARS-CoV-2 variants associated with farmed minks, including 12 cases with a unique variant. This particular variant strain displays a combination of mutations not previously documented. Laboratory tests conducted in Denmark indicate that this strain may have reduced response to neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. These findings are preliminary and further studies and international collaboration are ongoing to confirm them.
Denmark has assessed that the ongoing circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in mink farms, the susceptibility of the mink, and the ease of transmission at the human-animal interface represents a risk to public health in the country. Genetic changes in the variant that may affect the risk of reinfection in humans, as well as COVID-19 related diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, are an additional concern. More scientific and laboratory research is needed to assess these issues. Denmark has shared the sequences of the strain to the GISAID genetic sequence repository to help researchers determine the significance of the mutations.
COVID-19 spreads primarily through human-to-human transmission, but transmission has also been observed between humans and some animals, such as mink, dogs, domestic cats and lions. Mink farms, in several European countries, including Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands, have shown that the virus can move between mink and human. It is always a concern when a virus moves from animals to humans as genetic changes can happen as it moves back and forth.
The variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 was detected following enhanced surveillance in communities around mink farms undertaken by the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) of the Ministry of Health. To prevent further spread of this and other mink-associated strains in people, the Danish authorities have announced a range of measures, including the culling of all remaining mink in farms in Denmark. Other public health measures include enhanced COVID-19 disease surveillance, increased sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains across Denmark, and extensive public health and social measures including movement restrictions for the populations in the seven municipalities in the north-west of Denmark that are affected, to reduce local transmission.
Available evidence has so far not indicated any changes in the virus affecting virus transmissibility, or disease severity associated with this new variant strain.
WHO/Europe convened a meeting with Danish authorities and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on 5 November to understand and discuss the details of the findings, and offer support.
WHO will coordinate further discussions with virology expert networks and follow up with other mink-producing countries. It will also continue to monitor transmission between animals and humans to assess any potential risks posed to public health.
Virus changes
It is normal for viruses to mutate or change over time. WHO has been following genetic changes in the COVID-19 virus since the start of the pandemic through a dedicated COVID-19 virology working group. When a virus moves from humans to animal populations such as mink, and back to humans, it can acquire unique mutations. Detailed analyses and scientific studies are needed to better understand the recently reported mutations.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to speak by telephone Saturday to assess the state of post-Brexit trade talks between the U.K. and the European Union.
A spokesman at Johnson’s Downing Street office said Friday that the prime minister’s conversation with the leader of the EU’s executive arm would allow the two to “take stock” of the negotiations less than two months before a transition period designed to smooth Britain’s departure from the EU ends.
Though the U.K. left the EU on January 31, it remains within the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union until the end of this year.
A trade deal would ensure there are no tariffs and quotas on trade in goods between the two sides, but there would still be technical costs, partly associated with customs checks and non-tariff barriers on services.
Johnson said he hoped a deal could be concluded in the next seven to 10 days.
“There’s a deal there to be done but if not, the country is very well prepared,” he told British broadcaster Sky News on Friday.
Progress on reaching even a bare-bones agreement has been slow. The two sides are far apart on key issues, such as fishing rights and business regulations.
Following the conclusion of the latest round of talks in Brussels on Wednesday, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said “very serious divergences” remained. Barnier and his British counterpart, David Frost, have agreed to meet again next week.
The outcome of the U.S. presidential election, though not connected directly, could have a bearing on the discussions. President Donald Trump was a self-proclaimed supporter of Brexit and said he wanted to conclude a trade deal with the U.K. following reelection. Should he lose, many analysts said it would raise the pressure on London to secure a trade deal with the EU.
Trump’s Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, has voiced worries about the impact of Brexit on the peace process on the island of Ireland. Biden said he would seek to rebuild U.S. ties with the EU, were he to become president.
Earlier, Britain’s spending watchdog warned that there is likely to be “significant disruption” to trade with the European Union at the start of next year even if a trade deal between the two sides is agreed in time.
The National Audit Office, which assesses government spending, noted that crucial IT systems and transit areas for trucks are not yet ready to deal with the upcoming change in the economic relationship between the U.K. and the EU.
It did find some progress in the implementation of the changes required to systems, infrastructure and resources even though they have been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is likely to be significant disruption at the border from January 1 as many traders and third parties will not be ready for new EU controls,” the National Audit Office said in its latest assessment of border preparations.
According to the government’s latest “reasonable worst-case planning assumptions,” between 40% and 70% of trucks transiting between the EU and the U.K. may not be ready for the new border controls come Jan. 1. It has also warned of queues of up to 7,000 trucks around the main sea crossings in southeast England.
