U.S. law requires the president to issue a determination within 60 days regarding whether a foreign government has used chemical weapons, yet the Trump administration has missed the deadline and the president has not even condemned the Russian government’s actions.

A joint investigation by Bellingcat and several other media outlets has revealed that a clandestine Federal Security Service (FSB) unit specializing in poisonous substances tried multiple times to poison Navalny. American, British, and German intelligence have reportedly corroborated the investigation’s findings.

Source: FDD | White House Refusing to Hold Russia Accountable for Navalny Poisoning

Tens of thousands of prison inmates in Massachusetts will be among the first to be offered coronavirus vaccines, before home health aides, seniors and medically vulnerable residents of the state.

The inmates, along with people who live in homeless shelters and other congregate settings, will be vaccinated by the end of February, after health care workers, emergency medical workers and residents of long-term care facilities receive the shots.

The state’s high prioritization of inmates is unusual. A dozen states have listed prisoners among those set to receive vaccines in the first round of inoculations, but none ranks inmates so highly. Federal health officials have recommended that corrections officers and staff at state facilities receive high priority but have said nothing about inmates. The federal prison system has said it will vaccinate officers and staff first.

Source: Analysis: More than 900 companies that got PPP loans still laid off or furloughed 90K workers | TheHill

The WHO added that the agreements mean all 190 COVAX participants will be able to access doses to protect vulnerable groups in the first half of 2021. And the group projects that by the end of 2021, at least 1.3 billion donor-funded doses will be available to 92 lower-income economies, targeting 20% of their populations. It emphasized that deliveries are based on regulatory approvals and country readiness to receive the vaccines.

However, COVAX needs $6.8 billion in 2021 to achieve its ambitious goal, the WHO said. Over the past 2 weeks, GAVI has received pledges from a number of countries, bringing the overall amount raised to $2.4 billion, the WHO said. They include Norway, Canada, Kuwait, Denmark, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centers, Estonia, and Team Europe

Source: New COVAX agreements renew vaccine hopes for developing countries | CIDRAP

Yet with the first 5000 injections scheduled for Friday, “only seven residents and fellows were included,” the Chronicle reports. Who is getting priority for the hospital’s limited number of vaccines? Residents and fellows sent a letter to Stanford’s top brass claiming that several senior faculty members, who have been working from home, were chosen to be vaccinated first, despite not having interacted with patients in person for months.Source: Stanford Medical Center Residents Protest Over Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout

And right after a massive cyberattack on multiple government agencies, including the department that oversees America’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. — Read on http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/pentagon-cuts-off-biden-transition

Trump’s Defense Chief Suddenly Cut Off All of Biden’s Briefings | Vanity Fair — Just Sayin’

From his hospital bed, 60-year-old Chris Lea says “it is not worth losing an aunt, uncle or grandparent”.

Source: Covid patient urges people not to visit family at Christmas – BBC News

Source: Coronavirus digest: COVID nearly three times deadlier than flu | News | DW | 18.12.2020

Source: Is India′s Gujarat providing a model for ′Muslim discrimination′? | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 18.12.2020