*****@***il.com&p=25874920&stpe=static” border=”0″ /> The Reuters Daily Briefing Tuesday, November 30, 2021 by Linda Noakes Moderna’s CEO says vaccines are likely to be less effective against Omicron Trump seeks to keep records away from Capitol riot investigators Blinken warns Russia of “serious consequences” of any new Ukraine aggression Today’s biggest stories

Christmas trees in the State Dining Room are decorated with snapshots of U.S. presidents and their families, here Donald and Melania Trump, during a press tour of White House Christmas decorations, November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst. U.S. Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers are set to ask a U.S. appeals court to keep records about his conversations and actions before and during the deadly January 6 Capitol riot by a mob of his supporters away from congressional investigators. Congress could vote as early as tomorrow to continue funding the federal government, according to congressional aides, avoiding what would be a politically embarrassing partial shutdown. Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal sex abuse trial enters its second day, with prosecutors expected to question a longtime pilot of the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein. We explain the charges in the trial. Jury selection is set to begin in the manslaughter trial of a white former Minnesota police officer charged in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a Black man whose April death sparked protests in a state already on edge over George Floyd’s killing. Pennsylvania prosecutors said they have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss out the state court decision that overturned Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction earlier this year. WORLD The United States warned of “serious consequences” for any renewed Russian aggression as the Western military alliance NATO met to discuss Moscow’s intentions for massing troops on the border with Ukraine. We spoke to Ukrainians near the conflict zone who are trying to guess Putin’s next move. EU, Iranian and Russian diplomats sounded upbeat as Iran and world powers held their first talks in five months to try to save their 2015 nuclear deal, despite Tehran taking a tough stance in public that Western powers said would not work. Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte’s preferred successor, Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go, announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, leaving the administration without a candidate in next year’s polls. Protesters plan to march across Sudan and on the presidential palace in the latest protest against military rule following last month’s coup. Neighborhood resistance committees called the protests despite an agreement last week that reinstated civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. One in three people working in Australia’s parliament have experienced sexual harassment, a report said, following an independent inquiry into parliamentary workplace culture. Prime Minister Scott Morrison ordered the review after his party came under pressure over its handling of an alleged rape inside the building. BUSINESS Britain’s competition regulator said it has directed Facebook owner Meta Platforms to sell animated images platform Giphy after finding that the deal could harm social media users and UK advertisers. As Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hands the reins to technology chief Parag Agrawal, Breakingviews columnist Gina Chon says his departure from one of the companies he created helps them both. A regional director for the U.S. National Labor Relations Board called for a rerun of a union election at an Amazon.com facility in Alabama, setting the stage for another high-profile organizing battle at the world’s largest online retailer. The arrest of Macau’s junket mogul is expected to shrink business in the world’s largest gambling hub, with authorities in China underlining their intent to crack down on what they see as a dangerous outflow of funds from the mainland. Alvin Chau’s arrest has ushered in a new era – one of zero tolerance towards the promotion of gambling in China. Volvo Cars warned that the sector-wide semiconductor shortage would continue into next year, as its first quarterly report since listing on the stock market a month ago confirmed a dip in revenue and profit.

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”We ridiculed Barbados whenever we had the opportunity. There is no hope for ‘Little England” we would say. Yet, among the nations of the region, Barbados in recent times has chosen to be the most courageous.”

In the case of St Lucia, Anthony questioned whether the current administration has the courage to take the first step like Barbados – “replace the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice, as our final Court of Appeal?”

He noted that St. Lucia’s Parliament now has the two-thirds majority specified by the Constitution to amend the second of the constitution allowing appeals to the CCJ. He added that the local court of appeal “by way of an advisory opinion of a majority, does not need a referendum to take that step.”

”For my part, we should tarry no further and collectively, act together in unison to commence the process to repatriate our constitution to where it belongs, in the sovereign will of our people.”

”Surely, we have a duty to make final appeals in judicial matters accessible to the vast majority of our population, not only to the few who can afford it before the Privy Council,” he said.

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PM Gonsalves: More CARICOM nations should seek Republican status

CMC

 

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says he looks forward to the day when other CARICOM member states will follow Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica and adopt a republican form of government.

In a lengthy letter congratulating Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on her island becoming the fourth CARICOM state to replace Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as head of state on Tuesday, Prime Minister Gonsalves said other CARICOM countries, namely French-speaking Haiti and the Dutch-speaking Suriname have also adopted a republican form of government with both countries having executive presidents.

“Guyana and Dominica have been republics since independence respectively in 1966 and 1977 although Guyana has an executive Presidency and Dominica, a Non-Executive President.  Trinidad and Tobago which became independent in August 1962 with a constitutional monarchial system with a largely ceremonial Governor-General, altered its constitution in 1976 to a republican one with a Non-Executive President,” he said.

Gonsalves said that prior to Prime Minister Mottley’s successful leadership on this issue, only Dr Eric Williams, “the political titan of Trinidad and Tobago”, was able to lead triumphantly on republicanism by way of an alteration to an existing post-independence Constitution.

“So, Barbados is not doing anything novel.  But what it is doing is of utmost significance, for the better, for its people and our Caribbean civilisation.  It is my hope that, in my lifetime, all or most of the independent countries of CARICOM would move from a monarchial system to a republican one.

“I earnestly look forward to such a change in Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  These eight CARICOM member-states plus six other countries are outside of the United Kingdom, with the British monarch as their Head of State: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. “

Gonsalves said in the Caribbean as a whole there are five British colonies or overseas territories, namely Anguilla, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands.  Bermuda located in the Atlantic, but with Caribbean connections, is also under British suzerainty.

“The wider Caribbean is also awash with colonial territories or departments of colonial powers of the United States of America, France, and Holland,” he wrote, adding “hopefully, too, all these colonial territories will push for independence within the comity of nations globally.

“It would be good to see the end of colonialism in our Caribbean.   But that initiative belongs not to me but to the people of these twenty or so colonies or territories and their national leaders,” Gonsalves wrote in his congratulatory letter to Prime Minister Mottley.

Barbadian Dame Sandra Mason was sworn in as Barbados first head of state during a glittering ceremony at National Heroes Square in the heart of the capital, Bridgetown, in the early hours of Tuesday.

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BRIDGETOWN, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Barbados declared hit singer Rihanna a national hero at its republican celebrations in her hometown of Bridgetown.

This was the first day of the new Republic of Barbados and its hometown girl was center stage.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that the 33-year-old would be conferred with the honour of National Hero of Barbados to cheers. Rihanna was called up before the crowds to be congratulated by Mottley.

“May you continue to shine like a diamond and bring honour to your nation by your works, by your actions,” Mottley told Rihanna, a reference to her 2012 chart-topping single “Diamonds”.

Rihanna was born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, before moving to the United States after she was discovered by New York-based music producer Evan Rogers.

She has since gone on to become one of the biggest artists in the world, as well as starring in movies including Battleship and Ocean’s 8, and launching her own fashion brand, Fenty, in 2018.

Since 2018, Rihanna has had the honorary title of Ambassador for Culture and Youth in Barbados.

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BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS— A church service and a luncheon on Sunday November 28 brought down the curtain on the month-long activities, held under the theme ‘Touching Hearts, Transforming Communities since 1993’, to commemorate the 28^th anniversary of Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris as an elected member of the Federal Assembly

“I acknowledge the presence of so many high officials here this morning as I commemorate my 28^th anniversary as a member of parliament for the wonderful people of St. Christopher Seven, Bellevue, Tabernacle, Mansion, Christ Church, Molineux, Phillips, Bourryeau, Lodge Village, Lodge Project, and Ottley’s, and to say a huge, noisy ‘thank you’ to all of my constituents for being so wonderfully good to me,” said Dr Harris

The Honourable Prime Minister, who has been a Federal Parliamentarian since November 29, 1993, made the remarks at the House of Deliverance New Testament Church of God on Main Street, Tabernacle Village, where Senior Pastor Octavia Charles-Warner welcomed the Prime Minister and his delegation to the morning worship service

Present at the service included Governor General’s Deputy His Excellency Michael and Mrs Cynthia Morton, Speaker of the Federal National Assembly the Hon Michael Perkins, Deputy Speaker, Senator the Hon Dr Bernicia Nisbett, and Cabinet Secretary Mrs Josephine Huggins.

“I want to say thank you to all of you who were there in the beginning, (and) who joined only yesterday,” said Dr Harris. “Your presence, your support means quite a lot to me, so thank you.”

He added: “Without your engagement, without your comforting words, without your kindness, without your attempting to put yourselves in my shoes, I would not have made it for the last 28 years, for it has been a journey of good times, and bad times, and the bad times sometimes when they come, because of the message that Octavia Charles-Warner our lead pastor gave, sometimes you have to go through those moments alone.”

Prime Minister Harris is the National Political Leader of the Peoples Labour Party (PLP), one the three parties in the ruling Team Unity Administration. The party’s Deputy National Political Leader, who is also the Minister of Health et al, the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett, who was accompanied by Ms Jacinth Francis, on behalf PLP Constituency Number Three Branch, presented him a plaque to thank him for the 28 years he has served the people of Number Seven and the country.

Other gifts followed, including from the Constituency Number Seven Women Group presented by Mrs Sonia Henry, from the House of Deliverance New Testament Church of God presented by Senior Pastor Octavia Charles-Warner, from Gospel Singer Ms Shirley Williams, and from Miss Sheville Franklyn who shares the same birth date with Dr Harris.

While thanking those who sent him gifts, he advised that he would accept them until Monday November 29. However, Ms Violet Williams who moderated the worship service told the congregation not to worry but to hold on to their gifts and bring them out on Monday December 6 when Prime Minister Harris would be celebrating his birthday.

Seven members of the Church’s Youth Group read out Paul’s admonition to Timothy by spelling out the acronym for TIMOTHY. For each letter in the name ‘Timothy’ they quoted the relevant verse, all of them from the two books by Timothy in the New Testament.

Miss Shervincia Charles said ‘T’ stood for Timothy (2 Timothy 1:7); Miss Omicha Crawford said ‘I’ stood for inspiration (1 Timothy 3:14); Miss Glenniqua Williams said ‘M’ stood for motivation (1 Timothy 4:12); Miss Sherné Charles said ‘O’ stood for open minded (2 Timothy 2:7); Miss Nadesha Brown said ‘T’ stood for being TRUE to your calling (2 Timothy 2:22); Miss Jahvela Brown said ‘H’ stood for humility (2 Timothy 2:25); and Master Devon J. Williams said ‘Y’ stood for yielding yourself to God (2 Timothy 4:5).

“I want to say thank you especially to all the prayer warriors, in this church, in every church, who have been holding me up, holding up my leadership, and holding up the Team Unity in Government in prayers,” said Prime Minister Harris in conclusion. “Challenges will come but I hope at the end of it, I would have proven myself worthy of service to you the people who I love.”

Also present in church were Ambassador His Excellency Sydney Osborne, Ambassador His Excellency Vance Amory, Ambassador His Excellency Kevin Williams, Resident Ambassador of the Republic of China on Taiwan His Excellency Michael Lin, and Charge d’ Affaires of the Embassy of Venezuela Mr Marco Antonio Guzman Adrian.

Others included the entire Peoples Labour Party’s National and Branch executives, led by National Chairman Mr Warren Thompson, and Secretary Ms Myrtilla Williams who organised the entire calendar of activities to mark the anniversary, PLP Founder Member Mr William Phillip, Director of Social Security Mr Antonio Maynard, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Delores Stapleton-Harris, and National HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator, Dr Mathia Afortu-Ofre, among others.

All in the congregation were invited by Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris to join him for a luncheon which was hosted on the grounds of the neighbouring Edgar T. Morris Primary School. At the school, a cake specially baked for the occasion, was cut by the Prime Minister assisted by Speaker of the National Assembly the Hon Michael Perkins, and Minister of Human Settlements et al, the Hon Eugene Hamilton, who is also the Leader of Government Business in Parliament.

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Covid: Face masks rules return in England amid Omicron spread

By Alex Kleiderman & Doug Faulkner
BBC News

Image source, PA Media

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NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS — The Nevis Health Promotion Unit (HPU) is urging members of the public to adorn the colour red and join them in an event dubbed “Light up the town,” and a walk on December 01, 2021, in support of those who have been afflicted with HIV/AIDS.

Ms. Shevanee Nisbett, Senior Health Educator, at the Nevis HPU says the event will be held on World AIDS Day on December 01 beginning with a small ceremony from 5:30 p.m. at the #Nevis Nice sign, next to the Artisan Village at Pinney’s. Following at 6 p.m., participants will walk to the Charlestown ferry terminal with red flameless candles which will be provided. Interested persons can register at: https://forms.gle/RBSzX4xgDCgrGAW97  . The theme for World AIDS Day 2021 is “End inequalities. End AIDS. End pandemics.

Meantime, Ms. Nisbett used the opportunity to address the status of HIV/AIDS on Nevis

“Our first case was recorded in 1987. The number of recorded cases we have from then until now is at 78. The number of deaths we’ve had from then until now would be 30. Our active cases are 21 and that would be 12 male and 9 female,” she said.

The age ranges of the 21 active cases are: three persons between the ages of 20 and 24 years; one person between the ages of 30 and 34 years; one person between the ages of 35 and 39 years; one person between the ages of 40 and 44 years; one person between the ages of 45 and 49 years; five persons between the ages of 50 and 54 years; four persons between the ages of 55 and 60 years; and four persons who are 60 years and older.

The Senior Health Educator urged persons to continue to get tested because of the importance of knowing their HIV/AIDS status.

Ms. Nisbett also pointed to the provisions made by the Ministry of Health to facilitate those who have contracted the disease.

“The health care facilities that we have in place for persons with HIV or for HIV/AIDS, we have persons who are affected with HIV who are registered, they are offered free treatment from the Ministry of Health, and so that’s an ongoing programme we have that’s manned by our persons who deal specifically with HIV/AIDS, the cases that we have.

“We also have free testing for HIV that is offered at the Health Promotion Unit as well as the health centres and we are asking persons who would like to get tested [to] call your health centre and make an appointment, and of course you could always go to your doctor and ask them to recommend you for HIV testing,” she said.

In addition, the HPU is also offering free condoms. Interested members of the public can access them by making a request at the office which is located in the Ricaldo Caines Building on Prince Williams Street in Charlestown. The unit is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

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NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS — Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Finance in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), will present the 2022 Budget at a sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly Chambers at Hamilton House on December 07, 2021 at 10 a.m.

Ms. Myra Williams, Clerk of the Assembly, in the Order Paper dated November 29, 2021, which was issued ahead of the sitting, stated that the Minister of Finance will lay on the table the Draft Estimates 2022.

Mr. Brantley will also seek leave to introduce and have read for the first time the Nevis Appropriation (2022) Ordinance, 2021, and he will later move to have the second and third reading of the ordinance.

The sitting will commence with the formal entry of Hon. Farrel Smithen, President of the Assembly followed by Prayers; Motion for the approval of the Order paper as circulated; Messages from Hon. Hyleeta Liburd, Deputy Governor General of Nevis; Announcements by the president; Papers to be laid; Statements by ministers; Personal explanations; Introduction of Bill and first reading; Public business; and Resolutions before adjournment.

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