THE DAILY NEWS

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Pelosi says 'deadly serious' Jan. 6 probe to go without GOP"


By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

23 JULY 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unfazed by Republican threats of a boycott, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared Thursday that a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection will take on its “deadly serious” work whether Republicans participate or not.

The Republicans' House leader, Kevin McCarthy, called the committee a “sham process” and suggested that GOP lawmakers who take part could face consequences.

McCarthy said Pelosi's rejection of two of the Republicans he had attempted to appoint was an “egregious abuse of power."


The escalating tension between the two parties — before the investigation has even started — is emblematic of the raw partisan anger that has only worsened on Capitol Hill since former President Donald Trump’s supporters laid siege to the Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

With most Republicans still loyal to Trump, and many downplaying the severity of the violent attack, there is little bipartisan unity to be found.

McCarthy said Wednesday that he would withdraw the names of all five Republicans he had appointed after Pelosi rejected two of them, Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Pelosi made clear on Thursday that she won’t relent, and Democrats mulled filling the empty seats themselves.

“It is my responsibility as the speaker of the House to make sure we get to the truth of this, and we will not let their antics stand in the way of that,” Pelosi said of the Republicans.

It is unclear, for now, whether Pelosi will try to appoint more members to the select panel, as she has the authority to do under committee rules.

She left open that possibility, saying that there are other members who would like to participate.


But she said she hadn't decided whether to appoint Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of only two Republicans who voted in support of creating the panel last month.

The other, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, has already been appointed by Pelosi to sit on the committee along with seven Democrats — ensuring they have a quorum to proceed, whether other Republicans participate or not.

Cheney praised Kinzinger, saying he would be a “tremendous addition" to the panel.

Several Democrats on the panel also seemed to support the idea, with Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi saying the military veteran is a “the kind of person we’d want to have."

Banks and Jordan are outspoken allies of Trump, who has continued to spread lies about massive fraud in the election and has defended his supporters who broke into the Capitol.

The rioters fought past police and sent lawmakers inside running for their lives.

The House voted in May to create an independent investigation that would have been evenly split between the parties, but Senate Republicans blocked that approach in a vote last month.

Pelosi said the new panel was being created only because a bipartisan commission was no longer an option.

Asked Thursday if Cheney — and potentially Kinzinger — could be stripped of their regular committee assignments as retaliation for participating, McCarthy said “the conference will look at it.”

Cheney accepted the assignment from Pelosi earlier this month despite similar threats from McCarthy.

Pelosi accepted McCarthy’s three other picks — Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong and Texas Rep. Troy Nehls.

But McCarthy said that all five or none would participate.

Like Jordan and Banks, Nehls voted to overturn Biden’s victory.

Armstrong and Davis voted to certify the election.

Banks recently traveled with Trump to the U.S.-Mexico border and visited him at his New Jersey golf course.

In a statement after McCarthy chose him for the panel, he sharply criticized the Democrats who had set it up.

“Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the left’s authoritarian agenda,” Banks said.

Democrats whom Pelosi appointed to the committee earlier this month were angry over that statement, and concerned over Banks’ two recent visits with Trump, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the private deliberations who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss them.


Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, was one of Trump’s most vocal defenders during his two impeachments and last month likened the new investigation to “impeachment three.”

Trump was impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate both times.

The panel is also considering hiring former Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia, a Republican who has criticized Trump’s lies about election fraud, as an outside adviser, according to a person familiar with the committee’s work who was granted anonymity to discuss the private talks.

Cheney told reporters she agrees with Pelosi’s decision to reject the two Republicans named by McCarthy.

“At every opportunity, the minority leader has attempted to prevent the American people from understanding what happened — to block this investigation,” Cheney said.


The panel will hold its first hearing next week, with at least four police officers who battled rioters testifying about their experiences.

Members of the committee met Thursday afternoon to prepare.

Thompson said the hearing would allow the law enforcement officers to tell their stories and “set the tone” for the investigation's launch.

Seven people died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies.

Two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters.

A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.
___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... hp&pc=U531
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RIGZONE

"Oil Prices Edge Upward for the Week"


by Bloomberg | Jill R. Shah

Friday, July 23, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Oil squeezed out its first weekly gain in three on signs that global demand is holding up despite concerns that the renewed spread of the virus could stall the recovery.

Futures in New York rose 0.2% this week, completely recouping a selloff on Monday that was stoked by the rapidly spreading delta variant.

Fuel demand and road traffic from the U.S. to Asia and Europe remains resilient, underscoring expectations that the recovery hasn’t been derailed and global inventories will continue to shrink.

“The fact of the matter is that we’re not going to see, at least in the U.S. and in Europe, a massive return to strict lockdown,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp.

Crude has rallied nearly 50% this year as ongoing vaccination campaigns have propelled reopenings.

Data this week showed gasoline demand is essentially back to normal in many of the biggest consuming countries.

Meanwhile, OPEC+ and U.S. shale producers have shown discipline in returning shuttered supplies to the market.

The 7.5% price slump on Monday came just a day after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies led by Saudi Arabia and Russia finalized an agreement to gradually restore production they halted during the pandemic.

OPEC+’s modest increase eased fears around concerns of oversupply.

“Everybody thinks they are going to flood the market, and then they take a step back and realize that, hey, they’re adding because the supply is being burned off,” said Phil Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures LLC in Chicago.

The recent dip in prices is a buying opportunity and Brent prices should hit $100 per barrel next year, said a group of analysts at Bank of America Corp. in a recent note to clients.

Prices:

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery added 16 cents to settle at $72.07 a barrel in New York.

Brent for the same month rose 31 cents to end session at $74.10 a barrel.

This week, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes Inc. suggested the rebound in the U.S. shale patch will likely slow this year as companies keep a lid on spending.

Despite a strong recovery in crude prices in 2021, the shale industry is largely resisting adding new supply.

Still, the virus continues to pose a challenge.

The Olympics opening ceremony kicked off in a nearly empty stadium in Tokyo, amid a record number of new infections linked to the games.

In China, there are signs that a fresh outbreak at the airport in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing has quietly spread to other provinces.

--With assistance from Grant Smith and Saket Sundria.

https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_p ... 9-article/
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CNBC

"Treasury yields climb with10-year rate topping 1.28%"


Vicky McKeever @VMCKEEVERCNBC

PUBLISHED FRI, JUL 23 2021

Treasury yields climbed on Friday to finish the week, rebounding from the previous session.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note added 3 basis points, climbing to 1.288%.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond gained 2 basis points, rising to 1.927%.

Yields move inversely to prices and a basis point is equal to 0.01 percentage points.

Treasury yields rebounded having fallen in Thursday’s session, after jobless claims data came in higher than expected.

The number of first-time unemployment insurance claims filed last week came in at 419,000, versus the 350,000 filings expected by economists.

There are no Treasury auctions scheduled to be held on Friday.

Data also provided by Reuters

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/23/us-bond ... -data.html
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REUTERS

"TREASURIES-U.S. Treasury yields edge up before next week's Fed meeting"


By Herbert Lash

JULY 23, 2021

NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Treasury yields rose on Friday ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting next week, which will provide clues on the strength of the U.S. recovery and when the central bank might start to curb its economic support.

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes hovered just below 1.3%, or almost 17 basis points higher than a five-month low set Tuesday, but still at the low end of a recent range.

The benchmark note traded up 2.1 basis points at 1.288% after briefly rising above 1.3%.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 2.2 basis points to 1.925%.

The Treasury market has gone from oversold to overbought and is seeking equilibrium as fears ebb that the COVID-19 Delta variant would lead to lockdowns and slow the economy, said Steven Ricchiuto, U.S. chief economist at Mizuho Securities.

"What we're really seeing take place is a good deal of speculative flavor in a very, very thin market," Ricchiuto said.

"The market has to go back and find a more realistic level and that's what it is attempting to do right now."

The specter of renewed lockdowns and the Fed's insistence that inflation will remain within its new 2% target spurred a sharp rally in Treasury prices, which move inversely to yields.

But the durability of that rally, given expectations for improving fundamentals through this year, is questionable barring renewed lockdowns, said Jonathan Cohn, trading strategist at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC.

"We continue to believe yields ought to go higher but at this point think it's prudent to be more tactical with entry points and holding periods as the market attempts to find an equilibrium," he said.

Real yields are close to record lows and the market is questioning whether the Fed can hike more than a couple of times given tapering is actively discussed, with inflation data surprising on the upside, Cohn said.

This "speaks to that need to be tactical and respect some of the puzzling price action in rates," he said.

A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of economic expectations, was at 108.3 basis points.

The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was unchanged at 0.202%.

The breakeven rate on five-year U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was last at 2.543%.

The 10-year TIPS breakeven rate was last at 2.332%, indicating the market sees the consumer price index averaging at that rate annually for the next decade.

(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Dan Grebler and Richard Chang)

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bon ... SL1N2OZ1JL
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REUTERS

"U.S. stock markets hit new highs, Treasury yields up as choppy week ends"


Jessica Dinapoli

July 23, 2021

Summary

* Wall Street closes at record highs

* Flash PMI data mixed, COVID worries hurt outlook

* Oil up; U.S. dollar, U.S. treasury yields rise


NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - All three major U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs on Friday after a rocky week in which investors fretted over the Delta coronavirus variant and cheered an economic recovery, while U.S. Treasury yields rose before a Federal Reserve meeting next week.

Megacap tech stocks and positive corporate earnings helped drive main U.S. indexes up again.

Yields on U.S. Treasuries were also up, as was the dollar, with investors eyeing next week's Federal Reserve meeting for hints on the U.S. economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and when the central bank will pull back support for the economy.

"It's certainly been a really strong run."

"For now it looks justified based on the strong earnings results."

"We got interest rate stability, which was helpful."

"As the economic recovery continues, as long as people are continuing to get out there despite the Delta variant, we think stocks can go higher," said Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist for LPL Financial.

"We think the ride will get bumpier in the second half, but we think the bull market continues."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 238.2 points, or 0.68%, to close the week at 35,061.55, while the S&P 500 gained 44.31 points, or 1.01%, to 4,411.79.

The Nasdaq Composite added 152.39 points, or 1.04%, to close at 14,836.99.

The greenback on Friday booked a second week of gains after a volatile few days as risk appetite waxed and waned.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was slightly higher on the day at 92.894.

That was off a 3-1/2-month high of 93.194 hit on Wednesday.

For the week, it was up 0.1%, after rising 0.6% previously. read more

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes hovered around 1.3%, or almost 17 basis points higher than a five-month low set on Tuesday, but was still at the low end of a recent range.

The benchmark note traded up 2.1 basis points to 1.288% after briefly rising above 1.3%.

"We're closing out the week on a very nice trade, and it's being driven by earnings primarily and earnings specifically in stocks that speak to the consumer, which is not a new story but it's a story that adds momentum to the trade in the second half of the year," said Peter Kenny, founder of Kenny & Co LLC, the parent company for Strategic Board Solutions and Kenny's Commentary, a subscriber-based political and economic newsletter.

After declining earlier in the trading session, oil was set to end the week slightly up.

Investors have been assuming "things will improve, travel will increase," said Steve Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Securities.

"There are concerns about the Delta variant."

Massocca added, "If that thesis is thrown into jeopardy, it put a hitch in the 'giddy up' in the market."

Some parts of the United States are implementing mask mandates again due to new COVID-19 cases, while others have not, leading to confusion.

U.S. business activity grew at a moderate pace for a second straight month in July amid supply constraints, suggesting a cooling in economic activity, a report from data firm IHS Markit showed on Friday.

Positive corporate earnings helped the stock market.

American Express Co jumped 1.7% after posting second-quarter profit that beat expectations.

Social media firms Twitter Inc and Snap Inc gained 3.8% and 24.5%, respectively, after their upbeat results.

Financial markets have swung from one direction to another this week as investors try to assess what the surging Delta variant means for the world economy.

After recording its steepest one-day drop since May on Monday, the S&P 500 stock index went on to post the biggest one-day jump since March a day later.

Currency, bond and commodities markets have seen similar gyrations.

Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli; Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe and Wayne Cole in Syndey; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Will Dunham, Pravin Char, Dan Grebler and Raissa Kasolowsky

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/glo ... 021-07-23/
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REUTERS

"U.S. business activity cools further in July - IHS Markit survey"


Lucia Mutikani

July 23, 2021

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. business activity grew at a moderate pace for a second straight month in July amid supply constraints, suggesting a cooling in economic activity after what was expected to have been a robust second quarter.

Data firm IHS Markit said on Friday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to a four-month low of 59.7 from 63.7 in June.

A reading above 50 indicates growth in the private sector.

Businesses are battling shortages of raw materials and labor, which are fanning inflation, in the aftermath of the economy's reopening after severe disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey's findings fit in with economists' views that growth will slow after accelerating in the second quarter, thanks to massive fiscal stimulus.


Even with the boost from government money fading, the economy remains supported by strong demand, with households having accumulated at least $2.5 trillion in excess savings during the pandemic.

The labor market recovery is also gaining traction and wages are rising as companies compete for workers.

But the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which is behind a resurgence in new COVID-19 infections in parts of the country with low vaccination rates, could result in consumers being more cautious.

"While the second quarter may therefore represent a peaking in the pace of economic growth according to the PMI, the third quarter is still looking encouragingly strong," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.

"Short-term capacity issues remain a concern, constraining output in many manufacturing and service sector companies while simultaneously pushing prices higher as demand exceeds supply."

The government is due to publish its snapshot of second-quarter gross domestic product next Thursday.

Growth estimates are converging around a 9.0% annualized rate.

The economy grew at a 6.4% pace in the first quarter.

The IHS Markit survey's flash services sector PMI fell to a reading of 59.8 from 64.6 in June, slowing further from May's record high.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 64.8 this month for the services sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.


Firms reporting a slowdown in activity cited labor shortages and difficulties acquiring stock.

According to the survey, some firms reported customer hesitancy because of significant hikes in selling prices.

Companies are passing on to consumers the higher production costs brought about by scarce raw materials and workers.

The government reported last week that consumer prices increased by the most in 13 years in June, while producer prices accelerated.

There are, however, signs that inflation is close to peaking.

The survey's measure of prices paid by services businesses slipped to 72.1 from a reading of 74.2 in June.

While services sector activity is cooling, manufacturing continues to power ahead.

The survey's flash manufacturing PMI rose to an all-time high reading of 63.1 from 62.1 in June.

Economists had forecast the index for the sector, which accounts for 11.9% of the economy, would dip to 62.

A measure of new orders received by factories increased and manufacturers reported unfinished work continued to pile up even as hiring picked up.

Suppliers continued to struggle to deliver inputs on time.

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-bus ... 021-07-23/
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REUTERS

"Global supply chains buckle as virus variant and disasters strike"


Jonathan Saul Muyu Xu Yilei Sun

July 23, 2021

LONDON/BEIJING, July 23 (Reuters) - A new worldwide wave of COVID-19.

Natural disasters in China and Germany.

A cyber attack targeting key South African ports.

Events have conspired to drive global supply chains towards breaking point, threatening the fragile flow of raw materials, parts and consumer goods, according to companies, economists and shipping specialists.


The Delta variant of the coronavirus has devastated parts of Asia and prompted many nations to cut off land access for sailors.

That's left captains unable to rotate weary crews and about 100,000 seafarers stranded at sea beyond their stints in a flashback to 2020 and the height of lockdowns.

"We're no longer on the cusp of a second crew change crisis, we're in one," Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, told Reuters.

"This is a perilous moment for global supply chains."

Given ships transport around 90% of the world's trade, the crew crisis is disrupting the supply of everything from oil and iron ore to food and electronics.

German container line Hapag Lloyd (HLAG.DE) described the situation as "extremely challenging".


"Vessel capacity is very tight, empty containers are scarce and the operational situation at certain ports and terminals is not really improving," it said.

"We expect this to last probably into the fourth quarter – but it is very difficult to predict."

Meanwhile, deadly floods in economic giants China and Germany have further ruptured global supply lines that had yet to recover from the first wave of the pandemic, compromising trillions of dollars of economic activity that rely on them.

The Chinese flooding is curtailing the transport of coal from mining regions such as Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, the state planner says, just as power plants need fuel to meet peak summer demand.


In Germany, road transportation of goods has slowed significantly.

In the week of July 11, as the disaster unfolded, the volume of late shipments rose by 15% from the week before, according to data from supply-chain tracking platform FourKites.

Nick Klein, VP for sales and marketing in the Midwest with Taiwan freight and logistics company OEC Group, said companies were scrambling to free goods stacked up in Asia and in U.S. ports due to a confluence of crises.

"It's not going to clear up until March," Klein said.

MORE PAIN FOR AUTOMAKERS

Manufacturing industries are reeling.

Automakers, for example, are again being forced to stop production because of disruptions caused by COVID-19 outbreaks.

Toyota Motor Corp said this week it had to halt operations at plants in Thailand and Japan because they couldn't get parts.

Stellantis temporarily suspended production at a factory in the U.K. because a large number of workers had to isolate to halt the spread of the virus.

The industry has already been hit hard by a global shortage of semiconductors this year, mainly from Asian suppliers.

Earlier this year, the auto industry consensus was that the chip supply crunch would ease in the second half of 2021 - but now some senior executives say it will continue into 2022.

An executive at a South Korea auto parts maker, which supplies Ford, Chrysler and Rivian, said raw materials costs for steel which was used in all their products had surged partly due to higher freight costs.


"When factoring in rising steel and shipping prices, it is costing about 10% more for us to make our products," the executive told Reuters, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

"Although we are trying to keep our costs low, it has been very challenging."

"It's just not rising raw materials costs, but also container shipping prices have skyrocketed."

Europe's biggest home appliances maker, Electrolux, warned this week of worsening component supply problems, which have hampered production.

Domino's Pizza said the supply-chain disruptions were affecting the delivery of equipment needed to build stores.

U.S. AND CHINA STRUGGLE

Buckling supply chains are hitting the United States and China, the world's economic motors that together account for more 40% of global economic output.

This could lead to a slowdown in the global economy, along with rising prices for all manner of goods and raw materials.


U.S. data out Friday dovetailed with a growing view that growth will slow in the last half of the year after a booming second quarter fueled by early success in vaccination efforts.

"Short-term capacity issues remain a concern, constraining output in many manufacturing and service sector companies while simultaneously pushing prices higher as demand exceeds supply," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.

The firm's "flash" reading of U.S. activity slid to a four-month low this month as businesses battle shortages of raw materials and labor, which are fanning inflation.

It's an unwelcome conundrum for the U.S. Federal Reserve, which meets next week just six weeks after dropping its reference to the coronavirus as a weight on the economy.

The Delta variant, already forcing other central banks to consider retooling their policies, is fanning a new rise in U.S. cases, and inflation is running well above expectations.


'WE NEED TO SUPPLY STORES'

Ports across the globe are suffering the kinds of logjams not seen in decades, according to industry players.

The China Port and Harbour Association said on Wednesday that freight capacity continued to be tight.

"Southeast Asia, India and other regions' manufacturing industry are impacted by a rebound of the epidemic, prompting some orders to flow to China," it added.

Union Pacific, one of two major railroad operators that carry freight from U.S. West Coast ports inland, imposed a seven-day suspension of cargo shipments last weekend, including consumer goods, to a Chicago hub where trucks pick up the goods.

The effort, which aims to ease "significant congestion" in Chicago, will put pressure on ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Tacoma, specialists said.

A cyber attack hit South African container ports in Cape Town and Durban this week, adding further disruptions at the terminals.

If all that were not enough, in Britain the official health app has told hundreds of thousands of workers to isolate following contact with someone with COVID-19 - leading to supermarkets warning of a short supply and some petrol stations closing.

Richard Walker, managing director of supermarket group Iceland Foods, turned to Twitter to urge people not to panic buy.

"We need to be able to supply stores, stock shelves and deliver food," he wrote.

Additional reporting by Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Hilary Russ in New York, Joe White in Detroit, Lucia Mutikani and Howard Schneider in Washington and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Simon Webb, Dan Burns and Pravin Char

https://www.reuters.com/business/global ... 021-07-23/
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REUTERS

"Vaccinated people make up 75% of recent COVID-19 cases in Singapore, but few fall ill"


By Aradhana Aravindan, Chen Lin

JULY 23, 2021

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Vaccinated individuals accounted for three-quarters of Singapore’s COVID-19 infections in the last four weeks, but they were not falling seriously ill, government data showed, as a rapid ramp-up in inoculations leaves fewer people unvaccinated.

While the data shows that vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe cases, it also underscores the risk that even those inoculated could be contagious, so that inoculation alone may not suffice to halt transmission.


Of Singapore’s 1,096 locally transmitted infections in the last 28 days, 484, or about 44%, were in fully vaccinated people, while 30% were partially vaccinated and just over 25% were unvaccinated, Thursday’s data showed.

While seven cases of serious illness required oxygen, and another was in critical condition in intensive care, none of the eight had been fully vaccinated, the health ministry said.

“There is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected,” the ministry said, adding that all the fully vaccinated and infected people had shown no symptoms, or only mild ones.

Infections in vaccinated people do not mean vaccines are ineffective, experts said.

“As more and more people are vaccinated in Singapore, we will see more infections happening among vaccinated people,” Teo Yik Ying, dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

“It is important to always compare it against the proportion of people who remain unvaccinated...Suppose Singapore achieves a rate of 100% fully vaccinated...then all infections will stem from the vaccinated people and none from the unvaccinated.”

Singapore has already inoculated nearly 75% of its 5.7 million people, the world’s second highest after the United Arab Emirates, a Reuters tracker shows, and half its population is fully vaccinated.

As countries with advanced vaccination campaigns prepare to live with COVID-19 as an endemic disease, their focus is turning to preventing death and serious diseases through vaccination.

But they are grappling with how to differentiate public health policies, such as mask wearing, between the vaccinated and those who are not.

Both Singapore and Israel, for example, reinstated some curbs recently to battle a surge in infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, while England lifted almost all restrictions this week, despite high caseloads.

“We’ve got to accept that all of us will have to have some restrictions, vaccinated or not vaccinated,” said Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases physician and microbiologist at Canberra Hospital in the Australian capital.

“It’s just the restrictions are likely to be higher for those unvaccinated than vaccinated people, but that may still mean they have mask mandates indoors, for instance.”

The Singapore data also showed that infections in the last 14 days among vaccinated people older than 61 stood at about 88%, higher than the figure of just over 70% for the younger group.

Linfa Wang, a professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, said elderly people had been shown to have weaker immune responses upon vaccination.

In Israel, which also has a high vaccination rate, about half of the 46 patients hospitalised in severe condition by early July had been vaccinated, and the majority were from risk groups, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear if the Singapore data reflected reduced protection offered by vaccines against the Delta variant, the most common form in the wealthy city state in recent months.

Two doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca are nearly as effective against Delta as against the previously dominant Alpha variant, according to a study published this week.

Singapore uses the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in its national vaccination programme.

Friday’s 130 new locally-transmitted infections were off this week’s 11-month high.

The recent rise in cases prompted authorities to tighten curbs on social gatherings in the push to boost vaccinations, particularly among the elderly.

Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and Chen Lin in Singapore; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Clarence Fernandez

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKBN2ET0JM
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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"Democratic leaders put partisan games before the people"


Jackson Richman 

23 JULY 2021

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are attempting to sabotage a bipartisan infrastructure package.

Schumer set up a procedural Senate vote that took place on Wednesday, even though a bipartisan infrastructure package was (and is) not yet completed.

The failed outcome was known even before the vote since all Republicans, as expected, voted against the motion to begin debating the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package.

That package includes funding for actual infrastructure, including roads, bridges, broadband internet, electric vehicle charging stations, electric transit and buses, and eliminating lead service lines and pipes to allow for clean water.

By setting up a pointless vote, Schumer sought to pressure the bipartisan work of 10 senators.

Thankfully, the group didn’t cave to pressure, and reportedly, a bill is still in the offing.

Meanwhile, Pelosi reiterated on Thursday that the House of Representatives won’t consider the bipartisan package unless the Senate also passes the $3.5 trillion "human infrastructure" reconciliation bill.

Therefore, even if a bipartisan infrastructure bill passes the Senate, Pelosi will refuse to take up a bill to help fix America’s infrastructure, which is rated as one of the worst in the developed world.

To hold such legislation back is selfish and inexplicable.


Pelosi and Schumer would be wise to let the bipartisan infrastructure bill come to fruition and pass it.

America needs to enact fixes to its roads, bridges, and other elements of obvious infrastructure deficiency.

Playing politics is a disservice to the millions of people who need functioning roads and public transportation to get them from point A to point B.

If they can do their jobs, why can't Democratic politicians do theirs?

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Yahoo News

"Exclusive: Jan. 6 select committee will include former CIA inspector general found to have retaliated against whistleblower"


Jenna McLaughlin · National Security and Investigations Reporter

Fri, July 23, 2021

WASHINGTON — As the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot prepares to get underway next week, it will include former CIA Inspector General David Buckley in the role of staff director.

The selection of Buckley to serve in that capacity, however, could come back to haunt the Democrats on the committee who selected him.

Yahoo News has obtained a previously unpublished 2019 report compiled by the Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog office showing that investigators urged the CIA to take action against Buckley for his alleged retaliation against a whistleblower, a conclusion that would likely be troubling to potential witnesses who might testify in the Jan. 6 inquiry.


The authors of the report recommended that “at minimum” the CIA determine “whether [their] findings affect the security clearances” of Buckley and several fellow senior officials — a serious rebuke that would have affected his future government contract work as well as his tenure with the highly sensitive Capitol riot investigation.

The future of Buckley’s security clearance remains uncertain, and it is unclear whether the CIA heeded the report’s recommendations or took any action against him or his former colleagues.

The CIA declined to comment.

Buckley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The target of Buckley’s retaliation, former CIA IG official Andrew Bakaj, has yet to receive any remedy for a series of adverse actions that affected his career, including being put on administrative leave and having his security clearance suspended after cooperating with an external investigation into potential evidence manipulation at the CIA inspector general’s office.

While intelligence community whistleblowers do not always have substantial protections for disclosing evidence of government fraud, waste, abuse or wrongdoing, several developments including a policy directive issued by President Barack Obama in 2012, referred to as PPD19, were designed to fix that gap.


Bakaj was, in fact, in charge of implementing Obama’s directive at the CIA, making him extremely familiar with the protections afforded under the law.

Bakaj’s superiors became frustrated, however, when he did not inform them he had responded to requests for information from the intelligence community inspector general, who was tasked with independent reviews affecting agencies within the intelligence community.

Bakaj ultimately chose to retire rather than continue to suffer professional consequences, later becoming the lead counsel for the still anonymous whistleblower who raised concerns about then-President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.


He waited over five years for the Department of Homeland Security inspector general to conclude an impartial review of his retaliation complaints, which vindicated him, as Yahoo News reported in September 2019.

According to a spokesperson for the Jan. 6 select committee, the subject of the investigation into Buckley’s actions as CIA watchdog did surface during his interviews for the position.

During that questioning, Buckley denied he had retaliated against Bakaj for his “claimed whistleblowing,” despite the fact that an independent government agency substantiated those allegations.


When asked whether the DHS report was considered by the committee during its hiring process, the spokesperson told Yahoo News that Buckley “worked tirelessly for over four years to conduct rigorous oversight of the CIA and to transform his Office into a respected and competent organization.”

Part of that work involved “more trainings and oversight of his staff,” the spokesperson continued, changes that “some people rejected.”

But in their report, DHS investigators concluded that Buckley’s decision to launch an investigation into Bakaj’s record in the first place, regardless of what it found, was “tainted” and motivated by retaliation.

The Report of Investigation viewed by Yahoo News was sent to Christine Ruppert, then the acting CIA inspector general, on June 10, 2019.


While a previously published executive summary revealed that CIA IG leadership opened a “retaliatory investigation” into an employee whistleblower, the newly obtained, 36-page report goes into further detail about the conclusions of the investigation and the specific people involved.

The report names Bakaj as the whistleblower who raised the complaints, as well as Buckley as one of the perpetrators.

According to the report’s timeline, Bakaj met with intelligence community inspector general deputy counsel Paul Wogaman in April 2014 to help with an inquiry into the CIA IG’s office.

When his superiors learned of the disclosure they became angry, telling Bakaj that he should have “confirmed that the request was authorized” before speaking to Wogaman, though Bakaj had no responsibility to do so.

In response, the CIA launched a review of his computer searches and other professional activity.

The investigation into Bakaj turned up one instance in which he accessed and copied a sensitive CIA file on his computer.

However, the CIA couldn’t find any evidence that Bakaj had done anything with the files, and he told interviewers the search was benign.

During the investigation, Buckley placed Bakaj on administrative leave.

Ultimately, the CIA concluded the files were not leaked, and the FBI declined to investigate Bakaj’s computer searches.

By then, however, he had retired from the agency.

In 2015, after Bakaj had retired, he filed a complaint of retaliation against the CIA.

The DHS inspector general got involved after determining that the CIA had failed to properly review it.

“Upon reviewing the case file, the DHS-OIG determined that the CIA-OIG did not complete a full local agency review under PPD19,” the investigators wrote.

DHS investigators determined that the evidence revealed in Bakaj’s complaint was protected under the law.

Additionally, the investigators concluded that the CIA OIG’s investigation into his record “was a pretext for gathering evidence to use to retaliate against” him.


In addition, Bakaj’s disclosures were a “contributing factor” that led to his administrative leave and clearance suspension, the investigators continued.

There is “significant evidence” that the CIA OIG “had a motive to retaliate” against Bakaj, wrote the investigators.

Despite the fact that Buckley retired in 2015 to work at the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG, the DHS-OIG forwarded the report to the CIA “to determine appropriate corrective action.”

While it’s unclear whether the CIA responded to those recommendations, Christopher Sharpley, Buckley’s former deputy who served as the acting CIA IG in 2018, withdrew his nomination for the full-time IG job after his involvement in retaliating against Bakaj and others was covered by the media.

The Democratic leadership’s decision to hire Buckley despite the DHS’s conclusions has enraged former CIA IG officials familiar with Buckley’s tenure as well as experts on whistleblower protections who, as a result, are casting doubt on the legitimacy of the select committee’s investigation.

Dan Meyer, who previously led the whistleblowing and source protection program at the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General, told Yahoo News he was unable to comment on the specific case, due to a nondisclosure agreement.

However, Meyer, currently a managing partner at the law firm Tully Rinckey, wrote in an email that “reprising [creates] a corrupting management culture,” a pattern of behavior that “will give congressional sources pause.”

“The IC whistleblowing program, from 2013 to 2018, received a number of allegations, some substantiated, that inspectors general themselves were engaging in retaliation against their own intelligence officers charged by President Obama and Director [James] Clapper with, ironically, protecting whistleblowers,” Meyer, speaking in his personal capacity, continued.

“It was an unanticipated challenge, and one that ultimately ended the program.”

"No whistleblower is likely to trust someone with a record of opening a retaliatory investigation,” wrote Jason Foster, the former chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“The chaos and partisanship infecting the process undermines the committee's credibility, which has developed into a full-blown dumpster fire at this point.”


While Foster has plenty of Democratic critics, his former boss Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has made whistleblower protections a top priority.

One former CIA IG employee told Yahoo News that he “came out of his seat” when he heard Buckley had been selected for the Jan. 6 select committee.

“There’s an objective, impartial government agency that substantiated the allegations against him … and now he’s going to be the chief of staff to a high-visibility committee [that is] going to have whistleblowers providing testimony before the committee,” he said.

“This makes absolutely no sense."

"It taints the entire process.”

Irvin McCullough, deputy director of legislation at the whistleblower protection nonprofit the Government Accountability Project, agreed.

“The free flow of information through whistleblower testimony is the lifeblood of any congressional investigation,” McCullough wrote in an email to Yahoo News.

“How can whistleblowers safely step forward to the Select Committee when a federal watchdog found its staff director reprised against a whistleblower?”
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