Sudan’s leader: We weren’t blackmailed; we’re biggest winners of Israel deal

Khartoum would have had to wait a year to be delisted by as state sponsor of terrorism, says Gen. Burhan; backs Palestinian state, but says it’s not only Sudan’s responsibility

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Sudan’s leader said Monday that the decision to normalize ties with Israel was an incentive for US President Donald Trump’s administration to end Sudan’s international pariah status.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, told state television that without the normalization with the Jewish state now, Sudan would have had to wait until deep into next year to be removed from the US’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Trump’s administration has tied the de-listing of Sudan to a deal to normalize ties with the Jewish state. The African country is the third Arab state — after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — to move to normalize relations with Israel in recent months. The administration was eager to achieve diplomatic victories in the run-up to the US presidential election November 3.

“If the candidate [Trump] wanted some gains, we also wanted some gains… We would have waited for August or September,” he said. “We are more winners than any other party.”

Trump announced Friday that Sudan would start to normalize ties with Israel after pledging that the African country would be removed from the terror list after it agreed to put $335 million in an escrow account to be used to compensate American victims of terror attacks. The attacks include the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by the al-Qaeda network while its leader, Osama bin Laden, was living in Sudan. In exchange, Trump notified Congress on Friday of his intent to remove Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Burhan said both deals will open the door for Sudan to be integrated into the world financial and political system. “It was necessary for us to bring Sudan back into the global system,” he said.

“We were not blackmailed over normalization,” Burhan said in the TV interview. Rather, “reconciliation” was “in the interest of Sudan.”

“We are isolated and have suffered from sanctions,” he said.

“The removal of our name from the list… will allow us to return to the international community. We will benefit economically and get technology,” he said.

In addition, the diplomatic breakthrough would “release aid” to implement the inter-Sudanese peace agreement signed on October 3, he added, referring to a separate landmark deal that brought in several Sudanese rebel factions from the cold.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/sudans-leader-israel-deal-incentive-to-end-pariah-status/

Murkowski predicts Barrett won't overturn Roe v. Wade

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) just before the Senate vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court predicted the Trump nominee will not vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case establishing a right to an abortion, once she is on the Supreme Court.

“I don’t see her overturning the decision in Roe v. Wade, based on — based on the weighting of the reliance factors,” Murkowski, a GOP moderate who is voting for Barrett, said Monday evening.

“I believe, I believe, that given how she outlined, not only to me but how she spoke to the issue of reliance when she was before the committee, I believe that she will look at that and weight that in any matters, in any cases that come before her that take up Roe v. Wade,” she explained.

Murkowski is viewed as a pro-choice senator but she has supported some restrictions. She does not support using federal funds to pay for abortion or late-term abortions.

“While I support a women’s right to make her own reproductive choices, that support is not without limits,” she said earlier this year.

Murkowski was one of two Republican senators, along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who said the Senate should not confirm President Trump’s nominee to replace late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the Nov. 3 election.

Murkowski on Monday said she spent about an hour and twenty minutes meeting with Barrett and asking her about her judicial philosophy. The Alaska Republican said she wanted to hear the nominee’s views of precedent and the importance of “reliance,” a legal term referring to how individuals come to rely on standing interpretations of law.

Murkowski also said she noted to Barrett that she was 14 years old when the Roe decision was made.

She said she talked with Barrett about “what that means to overturn, potentially overturn something, that generations of women are relying on.”

“There’s no doubt in my mind that she has the intelligence” to be a strong justice and “clearly is a brilliant jurist,” Murkowski said. “That may be what scares some but I think we want to have justices that have an extraordinary grasp and understanding of the law, which she currently does.”

Other Republicans have different views of how Barrett may rule on a challenge or potential curtailment of Roe v. Wade, such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who insisted that Trump nominate a judge to the Supreme Court with a record of skepticism toward Roe v. Wade.

Hawley has since said he is very pleased with Barrett joining the high court. He praised her Monday afternoon as “an individual who has been open in her criticism of that illegitimate decision Roe v. Wade.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/522877-murkowski-predicts-barrett-wont-overturn-roe-v-wade

Mossad reportedly brought Chinese coronavirus vaccine to Israel for ‘study’

Israel’s secret service organization, Mossad, has obtained China’s Covid-19 vaccine, taking the medicine for “study,” local media reported. Israel has already developed a vaccine of its own, which is undergoing human trials.

Mossad brought the vaccine to Israel in recent weeks, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Monday. It was not immediately clear how exactly the agency obtained the medicine.

Multiple government sources have “indirectly” confirmed the report to local media. The goal of the procurement is said to be study of the Chinese compound and further exploring vaccination options. Apart from that, a senior health ministry official confirmed that the country is seeking to purchase Covid-19 vaccines from other countries.

“There are several diplomatic efforts going on behind the scenes,” the official told the Jerusalem Post. “We are trying everything we can to ensure Israeli citizens have access to a vaccine as soon as possible.”

Israel has already developed a Covid-19 vaccine of its own, yet its testing process remains at an early stage. Last week, the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona announced the name of its vaccine, which has been dubbed ‘Brilife’.

The vaccine has already received all the necessary approvals and its Phase 1 human testing is expected to begin next week. At first, the medicine will be trialed on some 100 volunteers, and if everything goes well, a further 1,000 people will partake in the Phase 2 trials next spring.

In recent weeks, Israel has endured a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases with the disease tally currently standing at the 310,000 mark. While the figure appears to be relatively small compared to the worst-affected countries, it’s rather sizable for the 8.9 million nation and constitutes some 3.4 percent of the whole population.

Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has reached well over the 43 million mark, the latest statistics by the Johns Hopkins University show. More than 1.1 million people have succumbed to the disease since the beginning of the pandemic.

https://www.rt.com/news/504622-mossad-chinese-coronavirus-vaccine/

‘Pseudo-expert’: College dropout billionaire Bill Gates attacks Trump adviser Dr. Scott Atlas over Covid-19 stance

Self-styled Covid-19 authority and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has weaponized media demands to “trust the science” to tear into Trump adviser (and actual medical doctor) Scott Atlas for not backing stricter Covid policies.

“We now have a pseudo-expert advising the president,” Gates snarled during an interview at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit on Monday, denouncing Atlas – who, unlike the billionaire software tycoon, completed both college and medical school – as an “off the rails” bad influence on the Trump administration.

“The most malign thing is where you start to attack your own experts and suggest that maybe politicians know better than disease experts,” Gates continued. The billionaire is neither a politician nor a medical doctor, despite the vast sums he has spent through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its affiliates in an effort to vaccinate the developing world. Atlas, on the other hand, has a medical degree from the University of Chicago and has taught healthcare policy at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute.

https://www.rt.com/usa/504626-gates-attacks-atlas-medical-expert/