UK PREPARES FOR 'HISTORIC MOMENT' OF VACCINATION AGAINST COVID-19

The first 50 National Health Service (NHS) hospitals are gearing up for what

the UK government has described as the "biggest immunisation programme in

history" as the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19

arrived at "secure locations" in the country from neighbouring Belgium this

weekend.

Frontline healthcare staff, people over the age of 80 and care home workers

will be among the first to get the vaccine as part of Phase 1 of the

programme from Tuesday, which was approved for rollout by the UK's

independent regulator earlier this week.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had declared

the jab, which claims to offer up to 95 per cent protection against

COVID-19, is safe for human use against the novel coronavirus after

"rigorous" checks.

"This coming week will be an historic moment as we begin vaccination against

COVID-19," said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

"I urge everybody to play their part to suppress this virus and follow the

local restrictions to protect the NHS while they carry out this crucial

work," he said.

The minister added that the government is doing everything it could to

overcome "significant challenges" to ensure care home residents are

vaccinated as soon as possible after they were also cleared for Phase 1 by

the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), as those at

the highest risk of death from the deadly virus.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that NHS staff are

working through the weekend for the first vaccinations to take place from

Tuesday across 50 shortlisted hubs in the first wave.

Queen Elizabeth, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, are expected to be among the

first to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, whose first consignment has

arrived in the UK and is set to be administered first to those above the age

of 80 from Tuesday.

REPORT: MICROWAVE WEAPONS MAY BE BEHIND MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS AFFLICTING US

OFFICIALS ABROAD

A new report by a National Academy of Sciences committee has found that

"directed" microwave radiation is the likely cause of illnesses among

American diplomats in Cuba and China.

The study commissioned by the State Department and released Saturday is the

latest attempt to find a cause for the mysterious illnesses that started to

emerge in late 2016 among U.S. personnel in Havana.

The study found that "directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be

the most plausible" explanation for symptoms that included intense head

pressure, dizziness and cognitive difficulties. It found this explanation

was more likely than other previously considered causes such as tropical

disease or psychological issues. The study did not name a source for the

energy and did not say it came as the result of an attack, though it did

note that previous research on this type of injury was done in the former

Soviet Union.

In its report, the 19-member committee noted that it faced significant

challenges in trying to get to the bottom of the medical mystery. Among

them, not everyone reported the same symptoms and the National Academy of

Sciences research did not have access to all the previous studies on the

illnesses, some of which are classified.

"The committee found these cases quite concerning, in part because of the

plausible role of directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy as a mechanism, but

also because of the significant suffering and debility that has occurred in

some of these individuals," said committee chairman David Relman, a

professor of medicine at Stanford University. "We as a nation need to

address these specific cases as well as the possibility of future cases with

a concerted, coordinated, and comprehensive approach."

The health effects were experienced by about two dozen Americans affiliated

with the U.S. Embassy in Cuba as well as Canadian diplomats and personnel at

the U.S. consulate in Guanghzhou, China, in early 2017.

Some of the Americans have been critical of the U.S. government's response

to their health complaints and at least one has filed suit against the State

Department.

Between late 2016 and May 2018, several U.S. and Canadian diplomats in

Havana complained of health problems from an unknown cause. One U.S.

government count put the number of American personnel affected at 26.

Some reported hearing high-pitched sounds similar to crickets while at home

or staying in hotels, leading to an early theory of a sonic attack.

PAKISTAN ON BRINK OF BANKRUPTCY UNDER IMRAN KHAN GOVT: PDM

While addressing a public meeting at the Bacha Khan Chowk, leaders of the

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) consisting of an 11-party alliance, said

that the wrong policies of the Imran Khan-led government had brought the

country to the brink of economic disaster.

Dawn quoted PDM as saying, the struggle they had launched would continue

until the ouster of the rulers who had been "imposed on the country after

stealing the people's mandate in the 2018 elections."

The opposition alliance also organised protest meetings and demonstrations

in Khuzdar, Gwadar and Hub, where local leaders spoke to the public.

They criticised the Imran Khan-led government and its leadership saying that

their wrong policies had resulted in the country "becoming bankrupt".

Those who had promised to provide 10 million jobs to the people were

snatching the existing jobs from them, thus making them think in terms of

committing suicide adding that despite arrests and "other excesses"

committed by the government they would continue their struggle until its

logical conclusion, said the leaders.

The PDM has held five similar rallies in Peshawar, Gujranwala, Karachi,

Quetta and Multan since October 16.

SAUDI PRINCE CRITICISES ISRAEL AT BAHRAIN SUMMIT

A prominent Saudi prince harshly criticised Israel on Sunday at a Bahrain

security summit that was remotely attended by Israel's Foreign Minister,

showing the challenges any further deals between Arab States and Israel face

in the absence of an independent Palestinian state.

The fiery remarks by Prince Turki al-Faisal at the Manama Dialogue appeared

to catch Israel's Foreign Minister off guard, particularly as Israelis

receive warm welcomes in Bahrain and the UAE following agreements to

normalise ties.

Left unresolved by those deals, however, is the decades-long conflict

between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians view those pacts as a

stab in the back from their fellow Arabs and a betrayal of their cause.

Prince Turki opened his remarks by contrasting what he described as Israel's

perception of being "peace-loving upholders of high moral principles" versus

what he described as a far-darker Palestinian reality of living under a

"Western colonizing" power.

Israel has "incarcerated (Palestinians) in concentration camps under the

flimsiest of security accusations - young and old, women and men, who are

rotting there without recourse to justice," Prince Turki said. "They are

demolishing homes as they wish and they assassinate whomever they want."

The prince also criticised Israel's undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons

and Israeli governments "unleashing their political minions and their media

outlets from other countries to denigrate and demonise Saudi Arabia."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, who spoke after Prince Turki, said-

"I would like to express my regret on the comments of the Saudi

representative."

"I don't believe that they reflect the spirit and the changes taking place

in the Middle East," he said.

SHARIF RUES THAT NONE OF PAKISTAN'S PMS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COMPLETE THEIR

TERMS

Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday regretted that none

of the country's elected premiers have been able to complete their terms,

saying "Iqbal did not dream of this Pakistan".

Speaking at the PML-N's social media convention, he said that again and

again, the constitution was violated those who created the country were

termed traitors, popular leaders were jailed and leaders were made out to be

robbers."

Sharif said that the votes of the public had been "stolen", accusing the

government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan of indulging in rigging in the

2018 elections, Dawn news reported.

"Until now, none of the (elected) prime ministers have been allowed to

complete their constitutional term. Every few years, democracy is attacked

and martial law is imposed," Sharif was quoted as saying in the report.

"Tell me, hand on your heart, is this Quaid-i-Azam's Pakistan?" he asked.

Sharif, while referring to the criticism over his speeches critical of the

military, said if it was "treason to expose those who have formed a state

above a state".

"These undemocratic forces have choked freedom of expression in the country,

choked the poor and unemployment, have crushed them with inflation these are

painful things but all they are worried about is how to stop Nawaz Sharif,

he added.

CHINA DISMISSES 'WOLF WARRIOR DIPLOMACY' CHARGE AS AKIN TO 'CHINA THREAT'

THEORY

China has sought to dismiss the use of the term Wolf Warrior diplomacy,

which is used to describe the confrontational rhetoric by its diplomats to

ward off criticism on a host of issues, calling it yet another version of

China threat theory being floated by Beijing's critics.

"Obviously, the "Wolf Warrior diplomacy" is actually another version of the

"China threat" theory and another "discourse trap," the purpose of which is

to prevent China from fighting back, Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said

in the first official reaction to the widely-used phrase among international

diplomats and media to highlight Beijing's aggressive posturing.

Critics also say the change in style is fuelled by the pursuance of

aggressive nationalism by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) under

the leadership of President Xi Jinping.

IRAN PREPARES TO RAISE OIL EXPORTS IF SANCTIONS EASED: REPORT

Iran has instructed its oil ministry to prepare installations for production

and sale of crude oil at full capacity within three months, state media said

on Sunday, ahead of a possible easing of US sanctions after President-elect

Joe Biden takes office. They quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying that

Iran exported more than two million barrels a day before US President Trump

exited the 2015 nuclear deal with six powers in 2018 and reimposed sanctions

that have hit Iran's economy hard by sharply cutting its vital oil exports.

Biden, who will take office on January 20, has said that he would return to

the pact and would lift sanctions if Tehran returned to "strict compliance

with the nuclear deal".

Rouhani said on Sunday that his country was preparing for a speedy increase

of its oil production, the official IRNA news agency reported. "The oil

ministry will take all the necessary steps to prepare the oil industry's

facilities to produce and sell - proportionate to the available capacity -

within the next three months," IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying. It is

estimated that Iran exports less than 300,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd),

compared to a peak of 2.8 million bpd in 2018.