Covid: Mass vaccination centres to open in England

BBC News says thousands more people will receive a Covid-19 vaccine this week as seven mass centres open across England.

NHS England said hundreds more GP-led and hospital services would also open later this week.

The government is aiming to vaccinate 15 million people in the UK – the over-70s, healthcare workers and those required to shield – by mid-February.

Matt Hancock will set out the government’s vaccine delivery plan at a press conference later.

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One in five in England have had Covid, modelling suggests

The Guardian says one in five people in England may have had coronavirus, new modelling suggests, equivalent to 12.4 million people, rising to almost one in two in some areas.

It means that across the country as a whole the true number of people infected to date maybe five times higher than the total number of known cases according to the government’s dashboard.

In some areas, however, the disparity may be even greater. Parts of London and the south are estimated to have had up to eight times as many cases as have been detected to date.

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Indonesia pinpoints location of crashed plane’s black boxes in Java Sea

France24 says body parts, twisted wreckage and clothing were plucked from waters off the Indonesian capital Sunday after a passenger jet with 62 people aboard crashed shortly after take-off a day earlier.

Authorities have yet to say why the Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 went into a steep dive about four minutes after it left Soekarno-Hatta international airport on Saturday afternoon.

But, on Sunday, they said that they had pinpointed the location of its black boxes — cockpit voice and flight data recorders — that could be key to explaining why the plane slammed into the Java Sea off the sprawling city’s coast.

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China says WHO expert panel on COVID will arrive on Jan 14

Aljazeera says a WHO team of international experts which is investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic will arrive in China on January 14, the country’s national health authority said on Monday.

The team initially planned to travel to China in early January but WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that their arrival was delayed because Beijing had not authorised their entry.

The pandemic first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 with initial cases linked to the now-closed Huanan seafood market. The city recorded its first official death from the then-unnamed disease a year ago – a 61-year-old man who had links with the market.

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1 policeman killed, dozens injured in southern Iraq clashes

Arab News says a policeman was killed and dozens of people injured Sunday in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters in southern Iraq, multiple security officials said.

They said the clashes erupted in Haboubi square in the town of Nasiriyah in violence that began over the arrest of activists in the province. Security forces used tear gas and batons in effort to disperse the protesters who threw stones and rocks at security forces. Occasional gunfire could be heard.

It was not immediately clear how the policeman was killed amid conflicting reports. The officials said at least 18 protesters were injured and more than 40 among the security forces. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

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US intends to designate Houthi movement in Yemen as foreign terror group

Arab News says the US will designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a terrorist group, Mike Pompeo said Sunday, a late-term move that aid groups fear will worsen a humanitarian crisis.

With just 10 days left before Joe Biden takes office, the action could complicate the new administration’s efforts to restart diplomacy with Iran, which has ties to the Houthis, and to reassess the US relationship with Saudi Arabia.

“The designations are intended to hold Ansar Allah accountable for its terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure and commercial shipping,” Pompeo said in a statement, using the official name of the Houthi movement.

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US House to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump

TRT World says Nancy Pelosi says the House will proceed with legislation to impeach Donald Trump, calling him a threat to democracy after the deadly assault on the Capitol.

Pelosi made the announcement in a letter to colleagues on Monday.

She said the House will act with solemnity but also urgency with just days remaining before Trump is to leave office on January 20.

“In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both,” she said.

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