UK SCIENTISTS LAUNCH 'MIX AND MATCH' CORONAVIRUS VACCINE TRIAL

British scientists on Thursday launched an unprecedented trial to find out

if two doses of different COVID-19 vaccines yield an immune response that

matches - or exceeds - the effect of two doses of the same vaccine.

The government-funded study will try to provide invaluable data on whether

mixing brands is an effective strategy in the scramble to immunize the

global population against the virus - all the more pressing now given

unpredictable vaccine supplies and the need for a flexible system to reach

all people. Researchers also want to test how well the mixed doses respond

to the new virus variants.

Mixing brands has been shown to be effective against Ebola and in general

practice - some people who require booster jabs later in life rarely receive

the same brand of vaccine they were first given years ago. The seasonal flu

jab also changes year on year.

A driving reason for this experiment, in the words of Matthew Snape, chief

investigator of the trial, is to "create a safety net" that can offset any

disruptions in supply. "It's good to have that in the back pocket . if there

was a problem," he told journalists Wednesday.

The team said preliminary data will be available by early summer.

The trial is no simple exercise. Researchers will assess the body's immune

response after administering BioNTech/Pfizer's jab first, followed by

Oxford/AstraZeneca's vaccine second; they also will test by swapping the

order. These results will be compared with people receiving the standard

regime of the same vaccine twice. And all arms of the trial will test both

28-day and 12-week dosing intervals, as per the U.K.'s current program.

'AMERICA IS BACK': JOE BIDEN TOUTS MUSCULAR FOREIGN POLICY IN FIRST

DIPLOMATIC SPEECH

The US is to end its support for offensive operations by its allies in

Yemen, which has been devastated by a six-year war in which more than

110,000 people are believed to have died.

"The war in Yemen must end," President Joe Biden said in his first major

foreign policy speech.

Under Mr Biden's two predecessors, the US backed a coalition led by Saudi

Arabia against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The conflict has left millions of Yemenis on the brink of starvation.

Two weeks into his presidency, Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris

travelled together to the State Department in a show of support for the role

of diplomats.

"America is back. Diplomacy is back. You are at the centre of all that I

intend to do," Mr. Biden told a socially distanced auditorium of diplomats

ahead of what was billed as his first major foreign policy speech as

president.

"We're going rebuild our alliances. We're going re-engage the world and take

on the enormous challenges we face dealing with the pandemic, dealing with

global warming and again standing up for democracy and human rights around

the world."

Ahead of the speech, Mr. Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan,

said that the president will announce "an end to American support for

offensive operations in Yemen."

"That's a promise he made in the campaign he will be following through on."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he will quickly revisit Trump's

last-minute decision to designate the Huthis as a terrorist group - a move

that aid groups warns will effectively criminalize vital humanitarian work.

TRUMP REFUSES TO TESTIFY IN 'UNCONSTITUTIONAL' IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

Former president Donald Trump refused Thursday to testify in his looming

impeachment trial after being called by House prosecutors to give evidence,

branding the process "unconstitutional."

Trump's lawyers ridiculed the request in a letter by lead House prosecutor

Jamie Raskin to answer questions over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol

as a "public relations stunt."

"Your letter only confirms what is known to everyone: you cannot prove your

allegations" against Trump, attorneys Bruce Castor and David Schoen said in

their reply.

While the attorneys did not say whether he would testify, a senior advisor

to Trump, Jason Miller, said flatly that he would not.

"The president will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding," Miller

told AFP.

IRAN CARRIES OUT SURGICAL STRIKE INSIDE PAKISTAN'S TERRITORY: REPORT

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) has freed its two soldiers, who

were among the 12 soldiers kidnapped in 2018, in an intelligence operation

inside Pakistan's territory, Anadolu Agency reported.

"A successful operation was carried out last Tuesday night to rescue two

kidnapped border guards who were taken as hostages by Jaish ul-Adl

organization two and a half years ago," the IRGC was quoted as saying in an

official statement on Wednesday.

The statement said the soldiers have been transferred back to Iran.

On October 16, 2018, Jaish ul-Adl organisation kidnapped 12 IRGC guards to

Pakistani territory in the city of Merkava in Sistan and Baluchestan

Province on the border between the two countries, Anadolu Agency stated.

Following this, the military officials formed a joint committee between two

countries to free the guards.

While five of the 12 soldiers were released in November 2018, the Pakistani

Army rescued four on March 21, 2019.

According to Anadolu, Jaish ul-Adl organization, which Tehran has declared a

terrorist organization, is waging an armed struggle against the Iranian

government, saying it defends the rights of Baloch Sunnis in Iran.

EU SENDS TOP ENVOY TO MOSCOW AMID TENSIONS OVER NAVALNY

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was set to head to Moscow on Thursday

to hold talks with the Kremlin as riot police continue to make mass arrests

of Alexei Navalny's supporters.

The visit by the former Spanish foreign minister is the first by a top EU

envoy since 2017. Relations between the two sides grew cold after Moscow's

military conquest of Crimea and support for opposition fighters in Ukraine

in 2014.

Borrell declared that he would deliver a "clear message" to Moscow over

issues of human rights and the arrest of Navalny, a high-profile critic of

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The trip drew criticism from some members of the EU who argued that the

Kremlin would play it off as evidence of Brussel's intention to return to

business-as-usual. Moscow has ignored calls from the EU to release Navalny

who was sentenced to almost three years imprisonment on Tuesday.

Borrell was hopeful to garner cooperation with his Russian counterpart,

Sergey Lavrov, over issues such as climate change and reviving the Iran

nuclear deal.

Borrell had already called for Navalny's "immediate release," but Moscow

warned the diplomat against trying to use the meeting to further attempts to

secure his freedom.

"We hope that such nonsense as linking the prospects of Russia-EU relations

with the resident of a detention center will not happen," Putin's spokesman

Dmitry Peskov said.

Moscow stands "ready to do everything" to develop ties with Brussels, but

the Kremlin is "not ready to listen to advice" on the issue of Navalny, he

said.

IN FIRST FOR EUROPE, IRAN ENVOY SENTENCED TO 20-YEAR PRISON TERM OVER BOMB

PLOT

An Iranian diplomat accused of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled

opposition group was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday in the

first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in the European

Union since Iran's 1979 revolution.

Belgian prosecution lawyers and civil parties to the prosecution said

Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was guilty of attempted terrorism

after a plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

(NCRI) near Paris in June 2018 was foiled by German, French and Belgian

police.

"The ruling shows two things: A diplomat doesn't have immunity for criminal

acts ... and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been

carnage," Belgian prosecution lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier told reporters

outside the court in Antwerp.

Reporters and members of the public were not allowed into the courtroom,

which was heavily guarded by police and armoured vehicles, with police

helicopters overhead.

Three other Iranians were sentenced in the trial for their role as

accomplices, with 15, 17 and 18-year sentences handed down respectively.

PAKISTAN SAYS CHINA'S SINOPHARM VACCINE NOT EFFECTIVE FOR PEOPLE OVER 60

YEARS

Pakistan on Thursday said that China's Sinopharm vaccine is not effective

for people over 60 years of age, a day after it began its countrywide

coronavirus vaccination programme with the Chinese jabs.

China donated half a million doses of Sinopharm vaccines to Pakistan which

sent a special plane to airlift the jabs on Monday.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr Faisal Sultan told the

media on Thursday that Pakistan's expert committee while considering the

preliminary analysis data recommended the vaccine only for people aged 18-60

years.

"At this stage, the expert committee has not authorised the Sinopharm

vaccine for people older than 60," he said, adding that after getting more

data, a decision will be made whether it can be used for elderly.

Pakistan began its countrywide coronavirus vaccination programme on

Wednesday, with the first jabs administered simultaneously in all four

provinces, a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the immunisation

drive in capital Islamabad.

ANKARA CALLS STUDENT PROTESTERS 'LGBT PERVERTS' AMID ARTWORK CONTROVERSY

Turkish police have responded to protests by students at Istanbul's Bogazici

University with an iron fist. On Monday alone, they arrested 159 students -

61 of them remain in custody, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu.

Since early January, there have been regular police raids or arbitrary

arrests of students who have been protesting against the appointment of

Professor Melih Bulu, a supporter of Erdogan, as the rector of the

prestigious university.

Over the last four weeks, there have been numerous clashes around the

Bogazici University campus. But one incident has proved particularly

polarizing in Turkey.

On Saturday the students organized an art exhibition on the campus. One work

showed the Kaaba, considered one of the most sacred sites in Islam,

alongside the rainbow flag, the symbol of the LGBTQI+ movements. The

Istanbul prosecutor's office has launched an investigation, and four

students were arrested, with two of them still in detention.

Ali Erbas, Turkey's most senior cleric and the president of the top

religious body, Diyanet, also used Twitter to censure the artwork, posting:

"I condemn the attack on the Muslim's holy site, the Kaaba and on our

Islamic values." He said that he would take legal measures against the

people responsible.

His critics, however, see the state as the aggressor. "Interior Minister

Soylu's statements are an example of hate speech," according to

constitutional law expert Serkan Koybasi. He accused Erbas of violating the

principle of secularism long enshrined in Turkey's constitution - a religion

and its values, he said, could not be defended by court actions.

Many legal experts and lawyers have also criticized the actions of the

Istanbul police.