EU pushed to debate Covid-19 vaccine patent waiver after US U-turn
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The leaders of the European Union are to discuss waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines this week, after the United States shifted position on the policy that could allow many poorer countries to produce their own vaccines.
“The EU is also ready to discuss any proposals that address the crisis in an effective and pragmatic manner,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday, despite previously signalling personal opposition to the move.
“That’s why we are ready to discuss how the US proposal for a waiver on intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines could help achieve that objective,” the EU executive chief said at a press conference.
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The United States and Europe have expressed support for the territorial borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which have been called into question in a document that has circulated among EU officials.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council on May 4 that the U.S. position on the 1995 Dayton peace accords and Bosnia-Herzegovina s future as “a single state destined for the Euro-Atlantic community” remains unchanged.
Ireland and Estonia, which are nonpermanent members of the Security Council, joined France in affirming their “unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia.
The statements follow reports that a document has circulated among EU officials proposing the redrawing of borders in the Western Balkans to merge Kosovo with Albania and to incorporate parts of Bosnia into Serbia and Croatia to help the region s EU integration.
US and EU back Western Balkans borders at UN 05-05-2021
File photo. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States new ambassador to the United Nations, holds her first press conference as the United States is set to take the presidency of the UN Security Council for the month, at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 1 March 2021. [Justin Lane/EPA/EFE]
Israel stampede was disaster waiting to happen: More than 100,000 crammed into site despite reports from 2008 and 2011 warning it posed danger to human life and capacity shouldn t exceed 15,000 - as Orthodox community lays victims to rest
Ex-comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, who wrote a report from 13 years ago, warned of dangers to human life
A separate report two years later, in 2011, also said: The existing situation must be immediately changed
First victims of Israeli festival crush identified as funerals got underway in keeping with Orthodox tradition
Among dead include singer from Canada, a nine-year-old boy and his brother, two Americans and father-of-11
In total, 45 people were killed and 150 were wounded, some critically, during Lag B Omer at Mount Meron
EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / This handout photo obtained from the Israeli Behadrei Haredim on April 30, 2021 shows security officials and rescuers gathering around the corpses of victims who died in a stampede overnight during a religious gathering in Meron in northern Israel near the reputed tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second-century Talmudic sage, where mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews flock to mark the Lag BaOmer holiday. – The massive stampede at the densely packed Jewish pilgrimage site killed at least 44 people in northern Israel on Friday, with rescue workers facing chaotic crowds while trying to evacuate the injured. (Photo by Handout and Ishay JERUSALEMITE / Behadrei Haredim / AFP) / Israel OUT / XGTY /