Mexico’s leader says Biden promised $4B for Central America
President Joe Biden’s first calls to foreign leaders went to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at a strained moment for the U.S. relationship with its North American neighbors.
Mexico’s president said Saturday that Biden told him the U.S. would send $4 billion to help development in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — nations whose hardships have spawned tides of migration through Mexico toward the United States.
Lopez Obrador, who spoke Friday with Biden by phone, said the two discussed immigration and the need to address the root causes of why people migrate.
Biden’s call to Trudeau, also on Friday, came after the Canadian prime minister last week publicly expressed disappointment over Biden’s decision to issue an executive order halting construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
The long-disputed project was projected to carry some 800,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar sands of Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Biden told Trudeau that by issuing the order he was following through on a campaign pledge to stop construction of the pipeline, a senior Canadian government official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation.
The White House said in a statement that Biden acknowledged Trudeau’s disappointment with his Keystone decision.
Biden’s call with Lopez Obrador also came at a tense moment — days after the Mexican president accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of fabricating drug trafficking charges against the country’s former defense secretary.
UK vaccination policy questioned:
A major British doctors’ group says the U.K. government should “urgently review” its decision to give people a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine up to 12 weeks after the first, rather than the shorter gap recommended by the manufacturer and the World Health Organization.
The U.K., which has Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, adopted the policy in order to give as many people as possible a first dose of vaccine quickly.
So far almost 5.9 million people in Britain have received a shot of either a vaccine made by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech or one developed by U.K.-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
AstraZeneca has said it believes a first dose of its vaccine offers protection after 12 weeks, but Pfizer says it has not tested the efficacy of its jab after such a long gap.
The British Medical Association on Saturday urged England’s chief medical officer to “urgently review the U.K.’s current position of second doses after 12 weeks.”
In a statement, the association said there was “growing concern from the medical profession regarding the delay of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as Britain’s strategy has become increasingly isolated from many other countries.”
$1.05B lottery winner:
Someone in Michigan bought the winning ticket for the $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot, which is the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
The winning numbers for Friday night’s drawing were 4, 26, 42, 50 and 60, with a Mega Ball of 24. The winning ticket was purchased at a Kroger store in the Detroit suburb of Novi, the Michigan Lottery said.
The Mega Millions top prize had been growing since Sept. 15, when a winning ticket was sold in Wisconsin. The lottery’s next estimated jackpot is $20 million.
Friday night’s drawing came just two days after a ticket sold in Maryland matched all six numbers drawn and won a $731.1 million Powerball jackpot.
Pope in pain: Pope Francis is once again canceling public appearances due to nerve pain.
Francis will not participate in three events over the coming days “due to a recurrence of sciatica,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement on Saturday.
The 84-year-old pope will go ahead with the Angelus blessing on Saturday, delivered from the Apostolic Library instead of a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square due to the virus resurgence.
But he won’t say Mass in the Vatican Basilica on Sunday or a planned evening prayer at St. Paul’s Basilica to close out a week of prayer, and a meeting with the diplomatic corps to the Holy See set for Monday will be rescheduled, the Vatican said.
Nerve pain also forced the pope to skip New Year’s ceremonies in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Saudi Arabia war: Saudi Arabia said Saturday it intercepted an apparent missile or drone attack over its capital,
Riyadh, amid the kingdom’s yearslong war against neighboring Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Social media users posted video of what appeared to be an explosion in the air over Riyadh. Saudi state TV quoted authorities in the kingdom acknowledging the interception.
Yahia Sarei, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said in a brief statement that the rebels had not carried out attacks on Saudi Arabia in the past 24 hours.
The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh issued a warning to Americans calling on them to “stay alert in case of additional future attacks.”
The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital and the north, where the majority of the population lives, since September 2014.
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a war against them in March 2015 in support of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
The war has been mired in a stalemate for years.
NYC strike ends: A weeklong strike at the nation’s largest wholesale produce market ended Saturday after workers overwhelmingly approved a deal that includes their largest pay increase in decades and more money for health coverage.
Employees at New York City’s Hunts Point Produce Market will receive raises totaling $1.85 per hour over three years, including an increase of 70 cents per hour in the first year, their union said. Management will also made additional contributions of 40 cents per hour to employee health care.
About 1,400 members of Teamsters Local 202 walked off the job at the Bronx market Jan. 17, upset with how they were being compensated while continuing to keep operations going throughout the coronavirus pandemic, which caused the death of six employees. It was the first strike at the market since 1986.