We may never get coronavirus vaccine: UK chief scientific adviser
We may never get coronavirus vaccine: UK chief scientific adviser/node/1674271/world
We may never get coronavirus vaccine: UK chief scientific adviser
Developing a coronavirus vaccine is “a tough thing to do,” Sir Patrick Vallance said at a UK government coronavirus briefing, and said it may never happen. (Reuters/File Photo)
We may never get coronavirus vaccine: UK chief scientific adviser
Sir Patrick Vallance added that there are promising drug development schemes underway
Updated 14 May 2020
Arab News
LONDON: The world may never develop a coronavirus vaccine, the British government’s chief scientific adviser has warned.
Developing a vaccine is “a tough thing to do,” Sir Patrick Vallance said at a UK government coronavirus briefing.
“I will say there’s been great progress made, though, and a number of vaccine programs around the world which are progressing. So far so good. So I think the chances are a bit higher than they were that you get a vaccine, but you never know until you’ve got one.”
Vallance added that there are promising drug development schemes underway. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t end up with something,” he said. “You could end up with a therapeutic or a vaccine or potentially both.”
Teams in the US, China, the UK and elsewhere are investing vast resources into developing vaccines for the virus, as well as drugs that could provide more effective treatment for those who contract it.
Pope Francis’ funeral is set to begin, in a ceremony he helped reimagine
As many as 200,000 people are expected to attend the funeral Saturday
Francis choreographed the ceremony himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican’s funeral rites and rituals last year
Updated 4 sec ago
AP
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is being laid to rest Saturday in a ceremony reflecting his priorities as pope and wishes as pastor: Presidents and princes will attend his funeral in St. Peter’s Square, but prisoners and migrants will usher him into the basilica where he will be buried. As many as 200,000 people are expected to attend the funeral, which Francis choreographed himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican’s rites and rituals last year. His aim was to emphasize the pope’s role as a mere priest and not “a powerful man of this world,” the Vatican said. It was a reflection of Francis’ 12-year project to radically reform the papacy, to emphasize its pastors as servants, and to construct “a poor church for the poor.” It was a mission he articulated just days after his 2013 election and explained the name he chose as pope, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, “who had the heart of the poor of the world,” according to the official decree of the pope’s life that was placed in his coffin Friday night. Nevertheless, the powerful will be in attendance Saturday. US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, the UN chief and European Union leaders are joining Prince William and the Spanish royal family in leading official delegations. Argentine President Javier Milei had the pride of place given Francis’ Argentine nationality, even if the two didn’t particularly get along and Francis alienated many Argentines by never returning home. Francis is breaking with recent tradition and will buried in the St. Mary Major Basilica, near Rome’s main train station, where a simple underground tomb awaits him with just his name: Franciscus. As many as 300,000 people are expected to line the 4-kilometer (2.5 mile) motorcade route that will bring Francis’ casket from the Vatican through the center of Rome to the basilica after the funeral. Francis, the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope, died Easter Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke while recovering at home from pneumonia. With his funeral, preparations can now begin in earnest to host the centuries-old process of electing a new pope, a conclave that will likely begin in the first week of May. In the interim, the Vatican is being run by a handful of cardinals, key among them Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals who is presiding at the funeral and organizing the secret voting in the Sistine Chapel. Crowds waited hours in line to pay their respects to Francis Over three days this week, more than 250,000 people stood for hours in line to pay their final respects while Francis’ body lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican kept the doors open through the night to accommodate them. “He was an excellent, humble person who changed many laws and always for the better,” said a pilgrim from his native Argentina, Augustin Angelicola, as he waited on line. “Now it is a sad thing for the whole world that all this has happened. We did not expect it, it had to happen but not so soon.” But even with the expanded hours, it wasn’t enough. When the Vatican closed the doors to the general public at 7 p.m. on Friday, mourners were turned away in droves. A special relationship with the basilica Even before he became pope, Francis had a particular affection for St. Mary Major. It is home to a Byzantine-style icon of the Madonna, the Salus Popoli Romani, to which Francis was particularly devoted, such that he would go pray before it before and after each of his foreign trips as pope. He decided to have his tomb located in a niche next to the chapel housing the icon, with a reproduction of his simple silver pectoral cross over the marble tombstone. The choice of the basilica is also symbolically significant given its ties to Francis’ Jesuit religious order. St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, celebrated his first Mass in the basilica on Christmas Day in 1538. The Vatican said 40 special guests would greet his casket on the piazza in front of the basilica, reflecting the marginalized groups Francis prioritized pope: homeless people and migrants, prisoners and transgender people. “The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” the Vatican quoted Francis as saying in explaining the choice. The actual burial will be private, presided over by cardinals and a few close aides. Italy is deploying more than 2,500 police and 1,500 soldiers to provide security, which also includes stationing a torpedo ship off the coast, and putting squads of fighter jets on standby, Italian media reported.
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew in Epstein sex trafficking scandal, dead at 41
Her publicist confirmed Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia
Giuffre became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein’s prolonged downfall
Updated 2 min 50 sec ago
AP
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41.
Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia, her publicist confirmed.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family said in a statement. “Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as “deeply loving, wise and funny.”
“She adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself,” von Mueffling wrote in a statement. “I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in Australia is available by calling 13 11 14. In the US, it is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
The American-born Giuffre, who lived in Australia for years, became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein’s prolonged downfall.
The wealthy, well-connected New York money manager killed himself in August 2019 while awaiting trial on US federal sex trafficking charges involving dozens of teenage girls and young women, some as young as 14. The charges came 14 years after police in Palm Beach, Florida, first began investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage girls who were hired to give him massages.
Giuffre came forward publicly after the initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty instead to relatively minor state-level charges of soliciting prostitution. He was released in 2009.
In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre said she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago — President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach club — when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein’s girlfriend and later employee, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre said Maxwell hired her as a masseuse for Epstein, but the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates. Giuffre said she was flown around the world for assignations with men including Prince Andrew while she was 17 and 18.
The men denied it and assailed Giuffre’s credibility. She acknowledged changing some key details of her account, including the age at which she first met Epstein.
But many parts of her story were supported by documents, witness testimony and photos — including one of her and Andrew, with his his arm around her bare midriff, in Maxwell’s London townhouse.
Giuffre said in one of her lawsuits that she had sex with the royal three times: in London during her 2001 trip, at Epstein’s New York mansion when she was 17 and in the Virgin Islands when she was 18.
“Ghislaine said, ‘I want you to do for him what you do for Epstein,’” Giuffre told NBC News’ “Dateline” in September 2019.
Andrew categorically rejected Giuffre’s allegations and said he didn’t recall having met her.
His denials blew up in his face during a November 2019 BBC interview. Viewers saw a prince who proffered curious rebuttals — such as disputing Giuffre’s recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring — and showed no empathy for the women who said Epstein abused them.
Within days of the interview, Andrew stepped down from his royal duties. He settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a “substantial donation” to her survivors’ organization. A statement filed in court said that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a sex trafficker and Giuffre “an established victim of abuse.”
She also filed, and in at least some cases settled, lawsuits against Epstein and others connected to him. In one case, she dropped her claims against a prominent US attorney, saying she might have erred in identifying him as one of the men to whom Epstein supplied her.
Epstein’s suicide put an end to his accusers’ hopes of holding him criminally accountable.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She said she wasn’t to blame for Epstein’s abuse.
Prosecutors elected not to include Giuffre’s allegations in the Maxwell case, but Giuffre later told the court that the British socialite had “opened the door to hell.”
Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, told interviewers that her childhood was shattered when she was sexually abused as a grade-schooler by a man her family knew. She later ran away from home and endured more abuse, she said.
She said she met her now-husband in 2002 while taking massage training in Thailand at Epstein’s behest. She married, moved to Australia and had a family.
Giuffre founded an advocacy charity, SOAR, in 2015.
Giuffre was hospitalized after a serious accident, her publicist said last month. She didn’t answer questions at the time about the date, location, nature or other specifics of the accident and about the accuracy of an Instagram post that appeared to come from Giuffre. The post said she had been in a car that was hit by a school bus and her prognosis was dire.
She is survived by her three children, whom the statement described as the “light of her life.”
Sigrid McCawley, an attorney for Giuffre, said in a statement, “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring. The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.”
The AP does not identify people who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly.
Two-year-old US citizen deported ‘with no meaningful process’
“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a US citizen,” Doughty said
Updated 8 min 30 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON:The Trump administration appeared to have deported a 2-year-old US citizen “with no meaningful process,” a federal judge said on Friday, as the child’s father sought to have her returned to the United States.
US District Judge Terry A. Doughty said the girl, who was referred to as “V.M.L.” in court documents, was deported with her mother.
“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a US citizen,” Doughty said.
He scheduled a hearing for May 19 “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process.”
V.M.L. was apprehended by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday with her mother, Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela, and older sister when Villela attended a routine appointment at its New Orleans office, according to a filing by Trish Mack, who said the infant’s father asked her to act as the child’s custodian.
According to Mack, when V.M.L.’s father briefly spoke to Villela, he could hear her and the children crying. During that time, according to a court document, he reminded her that their daughter was a US citizen “and could not be deported.”
However, prosecutors said Villela, who has legal custody, told ICE that she wanted to retain custody of the girl and have her go with her to Honduras. They said the man claiming to be V.M.L.’s father had not presented himself to ICE despite requests to do so.
“It is therefore in V.M.L.’s best interest that she remain in the lawful custody of her mother,” Trump administration officials said in a filing on Friday. “Further, V.M.L. is not at risk of irreparable harm because she is a US citizen.”
V.M.L. is not prohibited from entering the US, prosecutors added.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union described V.M.L,’s case -and another similar — as a “shocking ... abuse of power.”
“These actions stand in direct violation of ICE’s own written and informal directives, which mandate coordination for the care of minor children with willing caretakers – regardless of immigration status – when deportations are being carried out,” it said.
US President Donald Trump, whose presidential campaigns have focused heavily on immigration, said earlier this month he wanted to deport some violent criminals who are US citizens to El Salvadoran prisons.
The comments raised concern about a proposal that has alarmed civil rights advocates and is viewed by many legal scholars as unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration, which has already deported hundreds of people to El Salvador, to “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to the country on March 15 despite an order protecting him from deportation.
Indian army says new exchange of gunfire with Pakistan
Says unprovoked” small arms firing was carried out by “multiple” Pakistan army posts “all across the Line of Control in Kashmir”
Updated 54 min 58 sec ago
AFP
NEW DELHI: Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged gunfire overnight along the Line of Control (LOC) that separates the two countries in contested Kashmir for a second day running, the Indian army said Saturday.
India’s army said “unprovoked” small arms firing was carried out by “multiple” Pakistan army posts “all across the Line of Control in Kashmir” overnight from Friday to Saturday.
“Indian troops responded appropriately with small arms,” it said in a statement. “No casualties reported.”
FBI arrests a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities
Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man out of her courtroom through the jury door as immigration authorities were coming
Arrest comes amid growing battle between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary over deportations and other matters
Updated 26 April 2025
AP
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin: The FBI on Friday arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, escalating a clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.
President Donald Trump’s administration has accused state and local officials of interfering with his immigration enforcement priorities. The arrest also comes amid a growing battle between the administration and the federal judiciary over the president’s executive actions over deportations and other matters.
Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI on Friday morning on the courthouse grounds, according to US Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron. She appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. She faces charges of “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest” and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.
“Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety,” her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said during the hearing. He declined to comment to an Associated Press reporter following her court appearance.
Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, in a statement on the arrest, accused the Trump administration of repeatedly using “dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level.”
“I will continue to put my faith in our justice system as this situation plays out in the court of law,” he said.
Court papers suggest Dugan was alerted to the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the courthouse by her clerk, who was informed by an attorney that they appeared to be in the hallway.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan speaks during a rally marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Lee Matz/Milwaukee Independent via AP)
The FBI affidavit describes Dugan as “visibly angry” over the arrival of immigration agents in the courthouse and says that she pronounced the situation “absurd” before leaving the bench and retreating to her chambers. It says she and another judge later approached members of the arrest team inside the courthouse, displaying what witnesses described as a “confrontational, angry demeanor.”
After a back-and-forth with officers over the warrant for the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, she demanded that the arrest team speak with the chief judge and led them away from the courtroom, the affidavit says.
After directing the arrest team to the chief judge’s office, investigators say, Dugan returned to the courtroom and was heard saying words to the effect of “wait, come with me” before ushering Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer through a jury door into a non-public area of the courthouse. The action was unusual, the affidavit says, because “only deputies, juries, court staff, and in-custody defendants being escorted by deputies used the back jury door. Defense attorneys and defendants who were not in custody never used the jury door.”
A sign that remained posted on Dugan’s courtroom door Friday advised that if any attorney or other court official “knows or believes that a person feels unsafe coming to the courthouse to courtroom 615,” they should notify the clerk and request an appearance via Zoom.
A sign is posted outside of county Judge Hannah Dugan's courtroom at the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 25, 2025. (AP Photo)
Flores-Ruiz, 30, was in Dugan’s court for a hearing after being charged with three counts of misdemeanor domestic battery. Confronted by a roommate for playing loud music on March 12, Flores-Ruiz allegedly fought with him in the kitchen and struck a woman who tried to break them up, according to the police affidavit in the case.
Another woman who tried to break up the fight and called police allegedly got elbowed in the arm by Flores-Ruiz.
Flores-Ruiz faces up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count if convicted. His public defender, Alexander Kostal, did not immediately return a phone message Friday seeking comment.
A federal judge, the same one Dugan would appear before a day later, had ordered Thursday that Flores-Ruiz remain jailed pending trial. Flores-Ruiz had been in the US since reentering the country after he was deported in 2013, according to court documents.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said victims were sitting in the courtroom with state prosecutors when the judge helped him escape immigration arrest.
“The rule of law is very simple,” she said in a video posted on X. “It doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in. If you break the law, we will follow the facts and we will prosecute you.”
White House officials echoed the sentiment of no one being above the law.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin, called the arrest of a sitting judge a “gravely serious and drastic move” that “threatens to breach” the separation of power between the executive and judicial branches.
Emilio De Torre, executive director of Milwaukee Turners, said during a protest Friday afternoon outside the federal courthouse that Dugan was a former board member for the local civic group who “was certainly trying to make sure that due process is not disrupted and that the sanctity of the courts is upheld.”
“Sending armed FBI and ICE agents into buildings like this will intimidate individuals showing up to court to pay fines, to deal with whatever court proceedings they may have,” De Torre added.
The case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a back door of a courthouse to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent.
That prosecution sparked outrage from many in the legal community, who slammed the case as politically motivated. Prosecutors dropped the case against Newton District Judge Shelley Joseph in 2022 under the Democratic Biden administration after she agreed to refer herself to a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of the bench.
The Justice Department had previously signaled that it was going to crack down on local officials who thwart federal immigration efforts.
The department in January ordered prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal charges any state and local officials who obstruct or impede federal functions. As potential avenues for prosecution, a memo cited a conspiracy offense as well as a law prohibiting the harboring of people in the country illegally.
Dugan was elected in 2016 to the county court Branch 31. She also has served in the court’s probate and civil divisions, according to her judicial candidate biography.
Before being elected to public office, Dugan practiced at Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Legal Aid Society. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree and earned her Juris Doctorate in 1987 from the school.
