Final results from the trial of Pfizer and BioNTech’s covid-19 vaccinewere even more encouraging than last week’s initial data. They showed 95% effectiveness in preventing the disease. Of the 43,000 who participated and 170 who contracted the virus, just eight had received an active jab rather than a placebo. However this vaccine (unlike other candidates) needs to be kept at -70°C. The companies will now apply for its approval in America and Europe.
New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced that America’s largest public-school system would shut its doors again. The city breached a 3% threshold for positive covid tests, averaged over seven days. One million district students will move to remote-learning. Most bars and restaurants remain open, for the time being. More than 250,000 Americans have now died from covid-19.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop deporting migrant children who enter America unaccompanied. Earlier this year the administration introduced a new process allowing border officials to deport such children with no way to challenge their removal. Between March and September it deported at least 8,800 children in this way. The judge said they were likely to suffer irreparable harm.
Australian special forces in Afghanistan unlawfully killed 39 civilians and prisoners over the course of 11 years, according to an internal inquiry presented by Australia’s defence chief. Some people were executed in order to 「blood」 inexperienced soldiers, it was alleged. Nineteen soldiers are being investigated for murder and other war crimes. Australia promised to compensate victims』 families.
Police fired tear-gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Protests broke out over the arrest of Bobi Wine, an opposition politician and musician, who hopes to challenge the president in next year’s election. Mr Wine has been arrested numerous times, most recently earlier this month, moments after he received nomination papers to run for the presidency.
America’s aviation regulator gave the green light for Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft to fly again, 20 months after they were grounded around the world following two crashes that killed 346 people. It will take a little longer before the planes carry passengers, though: the Federal Aviation Administration still must approve new training programmes for pilots.
RSA, the world’s oldest insurer, agreed to be taken over by Intact and Tryg, rivals from Canada and Denmark. The British firm dates its origins to the establishment of the Sun Fire Office by Charles Povey in 1706. Intact will pay £3bn ($4bn) for RSA’s British and Canadian operations; Tryg will pay £4.2bn for the rest.
A look ahead
Zoom and bust: the European Union’s awkward call
Ostensibly, EU leaders will chat about their respective responses to covid-19 during a virtual summit today. Lockdown measures have been reintroduced across Europe without the chaos of their initial implementation earlier this year, which led to queues at borders and unseemly rows over governments snatching protective equipment from each other. Though not on the agenda, a different issue will hang over proceedings. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s strongman leader, has blocked attempts by the EU to issue €750bn ($891bn) in collective debt for the first time, in order to bail out member countries』 pandemic-battered economies. Mr Orban is not alone. The Polish government joined the Budapest blockade because of plans to link payouts with members』 respect for the rule of law. Slovenia—whose prime minister is a noisy admirer of Donald Trump—has expressed support too. All 27 governments must approve the recovery plan if it is to go ahead.
Unhappy: the elephant in the courtroom
Today the New York Supreme Court begins to determine whether Happy—an elephant in the Bronx Zoo—is legally a person. If so, she』ll have a fundamental right to liberty, exercised, in this case, by packing her trunk and moving to a sanctuary in Tennessee. The idea is less ludicrous than it sounds. Most legal systems divide things into property and persons, with the latter including corporations and even rivers, in New Zealand. Happy is something of a cause célèbre for the Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal-rights group that has appointed itself her legal representative. NHRP argues that Happy’s solitude (she has been kept alone since 2006) is unjust, because elephants are naturally sociable and Happy is a particularly 「intelligent, autonomous being」. In 2005, she proved that she could recognise her reflection, the first elephant known to do so. If Happy is granted a legal personality it would pave the way for better protections for animals.