,d ecember violence in kabul continues with blastsingapore (dollar) 1.3280 so. korea (won) 1,099.51...

FACES

Zellwegersurprised byGrammy nodPage 18

OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — Workers on Sun-

day began packaging shipments of the second

COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the U.S., a

desperately needed boost to efforts to bring the

coronavirus pandemic under control.

Employees at a factory in the Memphis area

were boxing up the vaccine developed by Mod-

erna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health.

The much-needed shots are expected to be giv-

en starting Monday, just three days after the

Food and Drug Administration authorized

PHOTOS BY PAUL SANCYA/AP

Above: A worker gives a thumbs up while transporting boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to the loading dock for shipping at theMcKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss., Sunday. Below right: Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

2nd US vaccine shipping outModerna-developed shots expected to be available Monday

Associated Press

INSIDE

General sorry for ‘miscommunication’ over shipments Page 7

SEE SHIPPING ON PAGE 7

Volume 79 Edition 176 ©SS 2020 MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

MILITARY

Navy transitsTaiwan Strait forrecord 13th timePage 3

MILITARY

Some bases in Japanoffering free COVID-19screenings to troopsPage 5

Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame in CFP ›› College football, Page 24

KABUL, Afghanistan — A large

car bomb exploded in the Afghan

capital Sunday, killing at least

nine people and wounding 20 oth-

ers, the country’s Interior Minis-

ter said.

The blast adds to the near daily

attacks seen in Kabul since the Ta-

liban and government started

peace talks in September, and

comes as the U.S. remains on

course to reduce the number of

American troops in the country to

the lowest level since the begin-

ning of the war.

The Sunday morning attack oc-

curred in a western neighborhood

of the city and appeared to target

parliamentarian Khan Moham-

mad Wardak, Interior Minister

Massoud Andarabi told reporters.

Wardak was wounded, but in

“good condition,” Andarabi said.

Children and elderly people

were among the victims, and

homes near the blast site were se-

verely damaged, the Interior Min-

istry said in a separate statement.

No group immediately claimed

responsibility for the blast, which

came a day after five rockets were

fired onto Bagram Airfield, the

largest U.S. base in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military said no casual-

ties or damage resulted from that

attack.

The Taliban have vowed to re-

frain from attacking international

forces and Afghan cities as part of

a U.S.-Taliban deal signed in Feb-

ruary, and the local Islamic State

affiliate has claimed most large at-

tacks in recent months.

But smaller attacks, such as

Sunday’s targeting high-profile

Violence

in Kabul

continues

with blastBY PHILLIP WALTER

WELLMAN

Stars and Stripes

SEE BLAST ON PAGE 6

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Monday, December 21, 2020

BUSINESS/WEATHER

The call went out from states:

Masks, gowns, gloves and other

personal protective equipment

were needed fast in the battle

against the coronavirus.

Many businesses that jumped in

to help this spring soon found

themselves facing delays from

suppliers and, in some cases, hav-

ing orders canceled by states too

impatient to wait.

States looking to acquire per-

sonal protective equipment ended

up halting billions of dollars worth

of orders this spring, sometimes

sticking businesses with huge

costs they can’t recoup, according

to an Associated Press analysis of

states’ purchasing data.

“It was a nightmare, it was an

absolute nightmare,” said Chris-

tian Weber, CEO of Advanced

Shelter Systems Inc., which saw

Texas cancel a contract to supply

millions of KN95 masks, similar to

the N95 that filters out particles.

Based on data obtained through

open-records requests, the AP tal-

lied more than $7 billion in pur-

chases by states this spring for

personal protective equipment

and high-demand medical de-

vices, such as ventilators and in-

frared thermometers.

The AP did not request details

on canceled contracts, but one-

third of the states voluntarily pro-

vided data totaling more than $3

billion in canceled orders. Respi-

rator masks like N95s were among

the hardest-to-find items and the

most frequently canceled, ac-

counting for about one-third of all

halted orders in those states.

States halt virus supply deals with businessesAssociated Press

Bahrain72/64

Baghdad68/48

Doha76/64

Kuwait City70/50

Riyadh69/45

Kandahar59/30

Kabul48/31

Djibouti84/77

MONDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

53/38

Ramstein43/35

Stuttgart50/46

Lajes,Azores63/59

Rota61/51

Morón60/46 Sigonella

56/43

Naples58/46

Aviano/Vicenza44/32

Pápa42/31

Souda Bay64/58

Brussels52/45

Zagan40/36

DrawskoPomorskie 40/37

MONDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa41/28

Guam86/80

Tokyo50/30

Okinawa70/61

Sasebo54/39

Iwakuni54/32

Seoul44/26

Osan45/27

Busan50/32

The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,

2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

TUESDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Classified .................... 13Comics .........................16Crossword ................... 16Faces .......................... 18Opinion ........................ 14Sports ................... 20-24

Military rates

Euro costs (Dec. 21) $1.20Dollar buys (Dec. 21) 0.7951British pound (Dec. 21) $1.32Japanese yen (Dec. 21) 101.00South Korean won (Dec. 21) 1,070.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 1.3507Canada (Dollar) 1.2788China (Yuan) 6.5370Denmark (Krone) 6.0763Egypt (Pound) 15.7101Euro 0.8169Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7521Hungary (Forint) 292.18Israel (Shekel) 3.2371Japan (Yen) 103.31Kuwait (Dinar) 0.3042

Norway (Krone) 8.5956

Philippines (Peso) 48.07Poland (Zloty) 3.65Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7519Singapore (Dollar) 1.3280

So. Korea (Won) 1,099.51Switzerland (Franc) 0.8839Thailand (Baht) 29.85Turkey (New Lira) 7.6354

(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound, which is represented in dollarstopound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.)

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.25Federal funds market rate 0.093month bill 0.0830year bond 1.70

EXCHANGE RATES

Monday, December 21, 2020 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

MILITARY

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A

Marine on Okinawa was credited

Thursday with saving the life of a

local woman after she was bitten

by a venomous habu snake.

Sgt. John James, a motor vehi-

cle operator

from Combat

Logistics Bat-

talion 31, was

barbecuing

with friends at

the Saloon bar

in Kin town on

Nov. 6 when

they heard a

scream, Marine

officials said in a statement Thurs-

day.

“We were grilling burgers and

hot dogs and suddenly we heard

an elderly woman screaming in a

language we didn’t understand,”

James said, according to the Ma-

rine statement. “We didn’t know

what was wrong until she started

screaming out ‘habu, habu.’”

James, of Dubois, Neb., did not

hesitate, the statement said. He

found the bitemarks and quickly

fastened a tourniquet two inches

above the wound, using a friend’s

belt.

While the bar owner called

emergency services, James con-

tacted a corpsman friend to see

what else he could do, the state-

ment said. Local authorities ar-

rived quickly. They found the

snake and administered the cor-

rect anti-venom.

First responders credited

James and his quick actions with

saving the woman’s life, the state-

ment said.

James said he spoke to the wom-

an earlier this month, according to

the statement. She’s doing “really

well” and went back to work a few

days after the incident.

There are four types of habu

snakes indigenous to Okinawa —

the habu, Hime habu, Sakishima

habu and Taiwan habu — accord-

ing to the Okinawa prefectural

government website.

Up to 50 people on Okinawa —

most often farmers or farmwork-

ers — are bitten each year. Habu

venom is hemotoxic, destroying

blood cells and tissues, according

to the Okinawa Institute of Sci-

ence and Technology Graduate

University’s website. Snakebite

anti-venom is available but the

bites can be painful and cause per-

manent tissue damage.

Less than 1% of those bitten by a

habu die, according to a 2013 state-

ment from the U.S. Naval Hospital

Okinawa. The snakes are most ac-

tive September through Novem-

ber.

Combat Logistics Battalion 31 is

a subordinate unit of the 31st Ma-

rine Expeditionary Unit.

[email protected] Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1

Marine credited for savingOkinawan with snakebite

BY MATTHEW M. BURKE

Stars and Stripes

KRISTAN CAMPBELL/U.S. Air Force

A U.S. Marine based in Okinawa helped save the life of a local woman after she was bitten by a habu snake.

James

An airman from Misawa Air

Base has created an easy emer-

gency checklist that earned rec-

ognition from the Air Force sur-

geon general and the American

Red Cross.

Staff Sgt. Julia DaSilva, of the

35th Medical Group, designed a

pocket-sized card that lists first-

aid fundamentals for easy access

in a medical emergency, the 35th

Fighter Wing said Dec.10 in a

news release.

DaSilva, of Port Saint John,

Fla., has a lead role in the air

base’s response to the coronavi-

rus pandemic as flight chief for

the medical group’s COVID cell.

The card she created includes

step-by-step instructions for

treating an unresponsive person.

Col. Regina Agee-Cruz, on be-

half of Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, the

Air Force surgeon general, con-

tacted DaSilva via FaceTime on

Oct. 23 to personally applaud her

idea, according to the release.

Hogg’s office intends to distrib-

ute it across the Department of

Defense, and the American Red

Cross plans to push it nationwide.

“It was truly surprising as I had

not heard anything about my idea

for some months due to CO-

VID-19,” DaSilva said in an email

Thursday to Stars and Stripes.

DaSilva got the idea for the

card in July 2019 when she was

taking a Basic Life Support re-

fresher course and realized that a

quick-reference tool could make

critical medical knowledge more

readily available.

The card features a diagram of

basic emergency care steps, in-

cluding checking responsiveness,

checking for pulse and breathing

and administering CPR.

“Anyone can use this card if

they froze or were scared that

they didn’t know what to do,” Da-

Silva said in a video posted on

Misawa’s Facebook page Dec. 13.

It’s particularly useful for

someone who’s never had to re-

spond to a medical crisis or taken

a life support class recently, she

said.

“I can see people using this to

save millions of lives,” DaSilva

said in the news release. “I never

expected it to be able to reach so

many people, so it is truly beyond

a dream come true.”

[email protected] Twitter: @ThisEarlGirl

Airman in Japan recognized forpocket-sized emergency checklist

BY ERICA EARL

Stars and Stripes

ARTHUR ROSEN/U.S. Navy

Petty Officer 1st Class Isis Hernandez, of Albuquerque, N.M., standslookout watch on the bridge wing as the guidedmissile destroyerUSS Mustin sails in the East China Sea on Friday.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Ja-

pan — The Navy on Saturday broke

its record for the number of times it

has sent a warship through the Tai-

wan Strait in a single year, accord-

ing to the Yokosuka-based 7th

Fleet.

The guided-missile destroyer

USS Mustin steamed through the

contested waterway separating

Taiwan from mainland China on

Saturday “in accordance with in-

ternational law,” 7th Fleet spokes-

man Lt. Joe Keiley said by email.

Navy passes through the 110-

mile-wide strait typically provoke

condemnation from Beijing, which

sees Taiwan as a breakaway prov-

ince and the waterway its territory.

The U.S. regards the strait as in-

ternational waters and acknowl-

edges China’s claim to Taiwan un-

der its “One China” policy but

views the island’s status as unset-

tled.

“The ship’s transit through the

Taiwan Strait demonstrates the

U.S. commitment to a free and open

Indo-Pacific,” Keiley said in his

email. “The United States military

will continue to fly, sail and operate

anywhere international law al-

lows.”

The transit was the Navy’s 13th

this year, passing the service’s pre-

vious record of 12 set in 2016. It

made nine such trips last year,

three in 2018 and five in 2017. Be-

fore Saturday, the Navy’s most re-

cent sail through the strait hap-

pened Nov. 22 by the guided-mis-

sile destroyer USS Barry.

The number of Navy trips

through the strait has increased

along with tensions between the

United States and China in the

South and East China seas. Strain

with China over Taiwan has grown

after the U.S. this month approved

a$280 million sale of advanced mil-

itary communications equipment

to Taiwan.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister

Zheng Zeguang said the sale “seri-

ously violated the basic norms of in-

ternational relations, seriously in-

terfered in China’s domestic poli-

tics, seriously damaged China-U.S.

relations, are arrogant, unreasona-

ble and vile,” according to a Dec. 8

report by The Associated Press.

The Mustin’s sail came a day af-

ter Chinese Foreign Ministry

spokesman Wang Wenbin, during

a press conference Friday, called

on the U.S. to “focus on cooperation

to manage differences and bring

China-U.S. relations back to the

right track so as to bring more ben-

efits to the people of both countries

and the world.”

Navy breaks yearlyrecord of transitsvia Taiwan Strait

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos


GRAFENWOEHR, Germany

— Five 101st Airborne Division sol-

diers flying over rural Germany

were in the right place at the right

time to help a local man.

The four-person crew and flight

surgeon were returning from a

training flight to their base

Wednesday when crew chief Spc.

Bruce Cook spotted trouble on the

ground, out of the corner of his

eye.

“We were coming over a ridge

line and I was looking outside,

where I noticed a puff of white

smoke,” he said in a phone inter-

view Friday. “I looked further and

I saw a car roll three times.”

The crash happened in Fabriks-

chleichach, a Bavarian town

about an hour’s drive away from

Illesheim, where the 101st Combat

Aviation Brigade soldiers are

based during their nine-month ro-

tation with the Atlantic Resolve

mission, a U.S. effort to deter Rus-

sian aggression in Europe.

“I just called it up and the deci-

sion-making started happening

from there as a crew,” Cook said.

After getting clearance from

their mission commander to

break away, the Chinook piloted

by Chief Warrant Officers 2 Da-

vid Acton and Robert Riedel cir-

cled back to help.

Cook served as a runner be-

tween the helicopter and brigade

surgeon Maj. Benjamin Stork,

who ran to assess the German

driver.

“We landed in a muddy farm

field and I ran across that, then

across a ditch, then a road,” Stork

said. “Saw a vehicle, one or two

civilians standing around it, and

then the injured German man on

the ground beside the vehicle.”

Fortunately, the man spoke

“pretty good English,” Stork said,

“because my German is broken.”

Stork evaluated him, making sure

that he could move his arms and

legs, and was aware of his sur-

roundings.

“He was in pretty good shape

(considering what happened),”

Stork said. “He had some bruises,

scrapes, a little bit of bleeding and

back pain but overall, he was do-

ing quite well.”

Shortly after Stork stabilized

the driver’s neck and back, an am-

bulance arrived, the Army said in

a statement. He gave a report to

the paramedics and helped load

the man into the vehicle, it said.

“As we were getting him on the

spine board, the victim got his

phone and called his family,”

Stork said. He was speaking Ger-

man, but “he mentioned U.S. Ar-

my on the phone … I think it was a

pretty good impression we

made.”

Soldiers spot accident from air, land to helpBY IMMANUEL JOHNSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: Manny_Stripes

GARRETT DIPUM/U.S. Army National Guard

U.S. Army pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Dave Acton, flight engineer Sgt. Patrick Carter, medical officerMaj. Benjamin Stork, crew chief Spc. Bruce Cook and pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert Riedel, ofCompany B, 6th General Support Aviation Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st AirborneDivision (Air Assault), stand in front of a CH47F Chinook helicopter in Illesheim, Germany.

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan —

One second separates a swimming

instructor at the home of U.S.

Forces Japan in western Tokyo

from his dream of representing

Japan at next year’s Olympic

Games.

Shotaro Shimazaki, 27, of Ome,

Japan, has been swimming since

age 6 and teaches intermediate

and expert adult swim classes at

the Yokota Natatorium.

The speedster doesn’t brag, ac-

cording to his colleagues, but he’s

a competitive breaststroker and

plans to enter trials in April that

will determine who competes for

Japan at the summer games in To-

kyo.

To be selected, Shimazaki,

ranked 16th in Japan for 100-me-

ter-breaststroke based on this

year’s results, will need to be one

of the fastest two swimmers at the

National Swimming Champion-

ships and clock a 100-meter time

of under 59.21 seconds, according

to information provided by the Ja-

pan Swimming Federation.

Right now, he’s swimming the

distance in about a minute flat, he

said during a Dec. 9 interview.

“If I can drop one second, I’ll

make the team,” he said.

Shimazaki hoped to enter the

Olympics for the first time this

year but the trials and the games

were postponed due to the corona-

virus pandemic.

Olympic organizers and Japa-

nese officials say the games will

start July 23despite recent polling

that suggests most Japanese peo-

ple want the event canceled or

postponed again.

As a youngster, Shimazaki com-

peted for the Central Fussa Swim

Team, in the city that borders Yo-

kota’s main gate.

“My teammate was a breast-

stroker,” he recalled. “He was a

few years older than I was and I

felt that breaststroke was so cool.”

Keiko Aso, 54, coached Shima-

zaki for three years in high school.

During a phone interview Tues-

day, she said Shimazaki has a

great build for the sport.

“He had a natural aptitude as a

swimmer but didn’t have the moti-

vation,” she said.

But, after competing at the ju-

nior level, Shimazaki’s attitude

changed and he started talking

about the Olympics, Aso said.

“I have hopes for him since he

has accomplished, no matter

what, when he decided to do so,”

she said.

The young athlete trains 90 min-

utes a day, five or six days a week,

mostly at Yokota in preparation

for trials at the newly built Tokyo

Aquatic Center, where the Olym-

pic events will take place, Shima-

zaki said.

“I swam there last week. Every-

thing is big and there are huge

stands and monitors,” he said,

adding that the water in the pool is

very smooth.

He fuels himself for training

with Japanese food such as rice

and natto, a sticky fermented

bean, he said.

Shimazaki is popular with

swimmers at Yokota and the par-

ents of the 160 kids who take les-

sons at the Natatorium, according

to base aquatics director Jason

Fay.

“When I started working with

him I didn’t realize he was trying

out for the Olympics,” he said. “He

didn’t mention it and I heard it

from other staff.”

Swimming is a great sport for

kids, Shimazaki said.

“It’s good for fitness but they al-

so learn to survive if they fall in the

sea or a river,” he said.

Lately, however, he has been fo-

cused on teaching 15 adult expert

and intermediate swimmers to

improve their breaststroke times.

He tracks their progress on a

chart that shows their improve-

ment from week to week.

Competitive breaststrokers

must breath every stroke, but Shi-

mazaki said he can swim the

length of an Olympic 50-meter

pool underwater.

A common problem among the

recreational breaststrokers is im-

proper leg technique, he said.

“The legs are the most impor-

tant,” he said, demonstrating how

they should be kicked in the cor-

rect manner to generate power

through the water.

In summer, Shimazaki goes to

Shimoda Beach in Shizuoka pre-

fecture, south of Tokyo, but

doesn’t try to impress people there

with his breaststroking and just

enjoys the sun and sand, he said.

Even if he doesn’t make the

Olympic team, Shimazaki said

he’s excited about the games com-

ing to Tokyo and hopes to watch

Japan’s baseball team compete.

Japanese swimmerchases Olympic dreamwhile teaching at base

BY SETH ROBSON

AND HANA KUSUMOTO

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @[email protected]: @HanaKusumoto

THERON GODBOLD/Stars and Stripes

Shotaro Shimazaki, 27, a swimming instructor at Yokota Air Base, Japan, is a competitive breaststrokerwho plans to enter trials that will determine who competes for Japan at the summer games in Tokyo.

MILITARY


MILITARY

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE,

Japan — The annual flu-shot cam-

paign, SHOTEX, at the naval hos-

pital here provided a mass-immu-

nization dry run for the corpsmen

preparing to inoculate thousands

of personnel with the coming cor-

onavirus vaccine.

The Nov. 16-Dec. 11 campaign

provided Navy corpsmen real-

world experience that could come

in handy once the coronavirus

vaccine is available for the gener-

al public, Naval Medical Forces

Pacific spokeswoman Regena Ko-

witz said in an email Friday.

“Across Navy Medicine, we

have a lot of experience providing

mass immunizations, whether it’s

to vaccinate large numbers of new

recruits in basic training or the an-

nual influenza SHOTEX,” she

said. “Any vaccine that would

need to be administered on a large

scale would likely be done in a

similar way.”

For now, only medical workers,

residents and staff of Defense De-

partment care homes, high-risk

beneficiaries, emergency respon-

ders and security personnel are

receiving the vaccine until suppli-

es grow, according to the Penta-

gon.

In the Pacific, the vaccine has

been sent to hospitals at Camp

Humphreys in South Korea and

Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, as

well as Tripler Army Medical

Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, as

part of a pilot program to ensure

the distribution process works,

the Pentagon said last week.

Over the course of the cam-

paign, corpsmen brushed up on

skills specific to mass immuniza-

tion events, such as how to docu-

ment the immunizations in patient

records; properly administer

shots; handle and transport vac-

cines, Kowitz said. They also en-

sured their basic life support cer-

tifications were up to date “in case

of an emergency or adverse reac-

tion.”

“Any opportunity to administer

vaccines on a large scale, such as

the annual flu shot exercise, is an

opportunity for our corpsmen to

build their skills for future exer-

cises like this,” Kowitz said in the

email.

In a little less than a month, Yo-

kosuka Naval Hospital staff vacci-

nated nearly 8,800 service mem-

bers, military personnel and de-

pendents, Kowitz said. That’s

about 86 percent of the 10,173 flu

shots given throughout last year’s

flu season.

Though avoiding sickness has

been top-of-mind throughout the

pandemic, Kowitz said she could

not speculate why the turnout was

much higher this year than in pre-

vious flu-shot campaigns.

At Yokosuka, the vaccine was

distributed for the first time at the

base’s Purdy Gym. In years past, it

was given at Sullivans Elemen-

tary School, but the need for social

distancing required a larger space

this year, according to Kowitz. It

was also made available at the Ike-

go housing area, about 6.5 miles

from the main base, for residents

there.

With everyone standing six feet

apart, the line into Purdy Gym for

the shot extended outside and

wrapped around the building

throughout the first weeks of the

campaign. Several patients re-

ported waiting for more than two

hours. Later, people were told to

come on specific days in accord-

ance with their last names to even

out the turnout.

While Kowitz said the coronavi-

rus vaccine could be distributed in

a similar manner, it also “would

depend on the specific vaccine

and any unique requirements,

such as storage and handling.”

For example, current coronavi-

rus vaccines have temperature re-

quirements, which would require

freezing capabilities. The Pfizer-

BioNTech vaccine must be kept at

minus 94 degrees F, while the

Moderna vaccine must be stored

at minus 4 degrees F.

Though the flu shot campaign

has since ended, immunizations

remain available at the hospital.

Flu-shot exerciseoffers dry runfor virus vaccine

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

CAITLIN DOORNBOS/Stars and Stripes

A box labeled “mass quarantine supplies” sits inside the Purdy Gym at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, onDec. 11, the final day of the installation’s annual flu shot campaign.

TOKYO — Some U.S. military bases in Ja-

pan are providing coronavirus screenings

for service members, their families and civil-

ian employees heading home for the holi-

days, and beyond.

Medical centers at Naval Air Facility Atsu-

gi, Sasebo Naval Base, Yokota Air Base and

Kadena Air Base are offering the tests, which

some U.S. states require prior to entry. While

tests are free for active-duty service mem-

bers, there may be fees for civilians, contrac-

tors and retirees based on each installation’s

policy.

Alaska, Hawaii and Maryland require

proof of a negative coronavirus test at least 72

hours before entry; Pennsylvania requires

the same proof for anyone age 11 and above,

according to the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention website as of Tuesday.

Yokosuka Naval Hospital is offering tests

only for active-duty service members and

their families, according to a spokesperson

for the medical center.

NAF Atsugi, 26 miles south of Tokyo, rec-

ommends travelers contact their respective

installation’s clinics at least two days before

the desired testing date and provide copies of

their travel itinerary and leave request

forms.

While the pre-screenings are just in time

for holiday travel, some bases will be extend-

ing them into next year.

“In support of Team Kadena’s ongoing ef-

forts to protect not only local communities

but also off-island populations, pre-med

screenings will be conducted for the foresee-

able future for areas that require them, not

just during the holidays,” Kadena spokes-

man Tech. Sgt. Daniel Fernandez said

Wednesday by email.

The U.S. Army Japan headquarters at

Camp Zama will not provide pre-travel

screenings, spokesperson Kevin Krejcarek

said in a phone call Thursday.

Negative coronavirus tests, even where

required for travel, do not preclude service

members, their families, contractors or civil-

ian employees from mandatory quarantines

when returning from overseas travel, he

said.

Marine Corps Installations Pacific and III

Marine Expeditionary Force did not respond

to Stars and Stripes’ inquiries.

Japanese public health authorities admin-

ister the tests at Narita and Haneda interna-

tional airports near Tokyo, but they aren’t

cheap. The cost at Narita is $325 with an ap-

pointment or $465 without one. The cost at

Haneda is $385.

Some bases in Japan offerfree virus tests for troops

BY ERICA EARL

Stars and Stripes

NATALIE GREENWOOD/ U.S. Marine Corps

Medical centers on some bases in Japan are offering free coronavirus screenings fortroops heading home for the holidays.

[email protected] Twitter: @ThisEarlGirl


the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani

network, the Interior Ministry

said.

In a statement condemning

Sunday’s bombing, President

Ashraf Ghani said the Taliban

should stop violence against civil-

ians and agree to a ceasefire. But

he didn’t directly blame the group

for the blast.

Wardak, a prominent business-

man as well as a member of par-

Afghans, have become a frequent

occurrence in Kabul and other

parts of the country, and many

government officials have put the

blame on the Taliban.

In September, a bomb targeting

Vice President Amrullah Saleh

detonated in central Kabul, killing

10 civilians. The Taliban denied

involvement, but explosives

found at the scene were linked to

liament, was the second lawmak-

er attacked in a week. On Dec. 13,

a bomb attached to the car of par-

liamentarian Tofeq Wahdt killed

his driver and security guard and

left him wounded. No one claimed

responsibility for the attack. Two

days later on Dec. 15, a bomb at-

tached to the car of Kabul’s depu-

ty provincial governor, Mahbo-

bullah Mohibi, exploded, killing

him and two others.

The perpetual violence has

made Afghans more doubtful

about future peace.

Optimism over the ongoing

peace process dropped from 86%

in the summer to 57% this fall, ac-

cording to a survey by the Insti-

tute of War and Peace Studies, a

Kabul-based think tank.

Despite the violence, the

Trump administration announced

last month that the U.S. would re-

duce the number of troops in Af-

ghanistan to 2,500 by the middle

of January. Under the U.S.-Tali-

ban agreement, all remaining

troops could be withdrawn by

May if the Taliban is able to meet

certain anti-terrorism require-

ments.

Blast: Hope for Afghan peace eroding as violence continues FROM PAGE 1

Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this [email protected]: @pwwellman

WAR/MILITARY

sioner Ralf Lessmeister said that

he and Maj. Gen. Randall Reed,

the commander of Third Air

Force, discussed that all Ameri-

cans in the Kaiserslautern mili-

tary community that fall under

SOFA should receive the vaccine

on base.

The only Americans who would

be eligible to get inoculated on the

German side would be civilians

registered with their local city

hall, Lessmeister said.

Military officials have long dis-

couraged most personnel from

registering, which could subject

their government paychecks to

questioning by German income

tax officials.

Lessmeister spoke to reporters

Thursday during a tour of Kaiser-

slautern’s new vaccination center

STUTTGART, Germany — The

U.S. military could begin adminis-

tering the coronavirus vaccine to

health care workers and emergen-

cy responders in Europe within

days, while German authorities

are readying vaccination centers

that could be open to military-af-

filiated Americans in some loca-

tions.

“We are prepared to receive

(the coronavirus vaccine) as early

as next week,” Brig. Gen. Mark W.

Thompson, head of Regional

Health Command Europe, said in

a phone interview Friday.

It’s not yet finalized whether the

Pfizer or Moderna vaccine will be

administered, but the military in

Europe has a preference.

The Moderna vaccine, which

received emergency approval by

the FDA on Friday, is easier to

store and transport, Thompson

said. That gives it an advantage for

a dispersed U.S. military commu-

nity in Europe, he said.

If it ends up being the Pfizer

version — a vaccine also devel-

oped by the Mainz-based compa-

ny BioNTech — the military has a

system in place to handle that as

well, Thompson said.

The pilot vaccination phase will

begin with personnel at Landstuhl

Regional Medical Center and oth-

er military clinics in Europe. It

will last about a month, since inoc-

ulation requires two shots, weeks

apart.

At Ramstein Air Base, the vac-

cine will be offered to first respon-

ders, police, firefighters and se-

lect health care personnel, base

officials said.

After the monthlong pilot phase

is finished, vaccines will go to

highly deployed forces, high-risk

populations and lastly the remain-

ing military force and civilian

community, Thompson said.

The aim is to have all personnel

who want the shots to be vaccinat-

ed within the calendar year, he

said, adding that the decision to be

inoculated is voluntary.

The speed of delivering vac-

cines to the U.S. military commu-

nity in Europe will hinge on how

fast manufacturers can supply

them and how the U.S. govern-

ment distributes them.

That could raise the prospect of

choosing to get a shot off-base at a

private health care provider,

should a host nation like Germany

receive supplies faster than the

military.

Thompson said personnel, to in-

clude civilians and family mem-

bers, should consult with their

health care provider as vaccines

become available.

Still, it isn’t yet clear which com-

munities in Germany will allow

military-affiliated Americans to

use free vaccination centers off

base.

Two German states where U.S.

forces are stationed said last week

that they would include Ameri-

cans in the country under the NA-

TO Status of Forces Agreement

when they begin vaccinations.

They are expected to start in early

January, with German health care

workers and the elderly first in

line.

But in Rheinland-Pfalz, home to

about 50,000 U.S. personnel and

family members, health officials

had a different message Thurs-

day: Americans could be turned

away at Kaiserslautern district

vaccination centers, despite an

earlier statement provided to

Stars and Stripes by the state’s

health ministry that “members of

the U.S. armed forces and their

relatives” would be “treated like

all other German citizens in the

vaccination strategy.”

Kaiserslautern district commis-

in the city’s west, inside the for-

mer part of the Opel factory and

near the U.S. Army’s Rhine Ord-

nance Barracks.

Explaining the discrepancy,

Lessmeister said the state health

ministry had not communicated

with the U.S. military.

In Baden-Wuerttemberg, home

to U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart,

the state health ministry said SO-

FA-status Americans will be

treated like Germans and receive

the coronavirus vaccine if they

show up at off-post vaccination

centers.

Americans may use an app or

call a phone number to arrange an

appointment to receive the vac-

cine at no cost, the ministry told

Stars and Stripes. The producer of

the vaccine, medical officials or

the state would cover any poten-

tial harm the vaccine may cause, a

ministry official said.

Government health officials in

Bavaria did not immediately say

whether they would provide the

vaccine to SOFA-status Ameri-

cans at their vaccination centers.

Germany is still waiting for the

European Medicine Agency to ap-

prove the vaccination the country

will use. When it does arrive, it

could take some time before the

vaccination is widely available to

the general population.

German Health Minister Jens

Spahn, in an interview with ZDF

news Friday, outlined a plan that

calls for dividing vaccination can-

didates into priority groups.

The first group includes people

over 80, nursing home staff and

select medical workers. The sec-

ond group is composed of people

over 70; those with trisomy 21, de-

mentia and transplant patients;

asylum seekers and homeless

shelter residents; close contacts of

people in need of certain medical

care; and pregnant women.

The third group includes people

over 60, those with certain chronic

diseases; police and firefighters;

some government workers, edu-

cators and retail workers.

Military in Europe to receive virus vaccines soonBY JOHN VANDIVER

AND MARCUS KLOECKNER

Stars and Stripes

MARCUS KLOECKNER/Stars and Stripes

A person proceeds to a checkout desk in a demonstration of procedures at the coronavirus vaccinationcenter in Kaiserslautern, Germany, on Friday.

Stars and Stripes reporter Jennifer H. Svancontributed to this [email protected]: @john_vandiver


BERLIN — One by one, several

European Union nations banned

flights from the U.K. on Sunday

and others like Germany were

considering such action, all in

hopes of blocking a new strain of

coronavirus sweeping across

southern England from establish-

ing a strong foothold on the Conti-

nent.

The Netherlands banned flights

from the U.K. for at least the rest

of the year while Belgium issued a

flight ban for 24 hours starting at

midnight and also halted train

links to Britain, including the Eu-

rostar. Austria and Italy said they

would halt flights from the U.K.

but did not say exactly when that

would take place.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi

Di Maio said on Twitter that the

government was preparing the

ban “to protect Italians” from the

new coronavirus variant. About

two dozen flights were scheduled

to arrive in Italy on Sunday, most

in the northern region of Lombar-

dy but also to Venice and Rome.

German officials, meanwhile,

said they were considering “seri-

ous options” regarding incoming

flights from the U.K. and the

Czech Republic imposed stricter

quarantine measures from people

arriving from Britain. An EU offi-

cial, who spoke on condition of

anonymity because the talks were

still ongoing, said Sunday after-

noon that the EU Commission was

in touch with member states on

the rapidly developing situation.

Just days before Christmas,

high-speed train operator Euros-

tar canceled its trains between

London, Brussels and Amsterdam

beginning Monday, but kept trains

operating on the London-to-Paris

route.

The EU governments said they

were taking action in response to

tougher measures imposed Satur-

day by British Prime Minister Bo-

ris Johnson on London and its sur-

rounding areas. Johnson immedi-

ately put those regions into a new

Tier 4 restriction level, upending

Christmas plans for millions.

Johnson said a fast-moving new

variant of the virus that is 70%

more transmissible than existing

strains appeared to be driving the

rapid spread of new infections in

London and southern England. But

he added “there’s no evidence to

suggest it is more lethal or causes

more severe illness,” or that vac-

cines will be less effective against

it.

The World Health Organization

tweeted late Saturday that it was

“in close contact with U.K. officials

on the new #COVID19 virus varia-

nt” and promised to update gov-

ernments and the public as more is

learned.

The new strain was identified in

southeastern England in Septem-

ber and has been circulating in the

area ever since, a WHO official told

the BBC on Sunday.

“What we understand is that it

does have increased transmissibil-

ity, in terms of its ability to spread,”

said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s

technical lead on COVID-19.

Germany has not yet spelled out

a ban but is considering limiting or

halting flights from the U.K. as

well, the dpa news agency reported

Sunday.

The European Medicines Agen-

cy is meeting Monday to approve

the first COVID-19 vaccine for the

European Union’s 27 nations,

bringing vaccinations closer for

millions of EU citizens. The vac-

cine made by German pharmaceu-

tical company BioNTech and

American drugmaker Pfizer is al-

ready in use in the United States,

Britain, Canada and other coun-

tries.

New strain leadssome EU nationsto halt UK flights

PETER DEJONG / AP

Arriving and departing passengers use the flat escalators at Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam,Netherlands, on Friday. The Netherlands is banning flights from the United Kingdom for the rest of theyear in an attempt to make sure that a new strain of the COVID19 virus does not reach its shores.

BY KIRSTEN GRIESHABER

AND SYLVIA HUI

Associated Press

their emergency rollout.

Later Sunday, an expert committee was to debate

who should be next in line for early doses of the Mod-

erna vaccine and a similar one from Pfizer Inc. and

Germany’s BioNTech. Pfizer’s shots were first ship-

ped out a week ago and started being used the next

day, kicking off the nation’s biggest vaccination drive.

Public health experts say the shots — and others in

the pipeline — are the only way to stop a virus that has

been spreading wildly. Nationwide, more than

219,000 people per day on average test positive for the

virus, which has killed more than 314,000 in the U.S.

and nearly 1.7 million worldwide.

The Pfizer and Moderna shots shipped so far and

going out over the next few weeks are nearly all going

to health care workers and residents of long-term

care homes, based on the advice of the Advisory Com-

mittee on Immunization Practices.

That panel was meeting Sunday to debate who

should get the doses available after those early shots

are given.

There won’t be enough shots for the general pop-

ulation until spring, so doses will be rationed at least

for the next several months.

The panel members are leaning toward putting “es-

sential workers” next in line, because people like bus

drivers, grocery store clerks and others are the ones

getting infected most often. But other experts say peo-

ple 65 and older should be next, along with people

with certain medical conditions, because those are

the Americans who are dying at the highest rates.

The expert panel’s advice is almost always en-

dorsed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention. No matter what the CDC says, there will

be differences from state to state, because their health

departments have different ideas about who should

be closer to the front of the line.

Both the new Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer-

BioNTech shot require two doses several weeks

apart. The second dose must be from the same com-

pany as the first. Both vaccines appeared safe and

strongly protective in large, still unfinished studies.

Shipping: Paneldebating who willget the next dosesFROM PAGE 1

PAUL SANCYA / AP

Boxes containing the Moderna COVID19 vaccine areprepared to be shipped at the McKesson distributioncenter in Olive Branch, Miss., on Sunday.

VIRUS OUTBREAK

The Army general in charge of

getting COVID-19 vaccines across

the United States apologized on

Saturday for “miscommunica-

tion” with states over the number

of doses to be delivered in the

early stages of distribution.

“I failed. I’m adjusting. I am fix-

ing and we will move forward

from there,” Gen. Gustave Perna

told reporters in a telephone brief-

ing.

Perna’s remarks came a day af-

ter a second vaccine was added in

the fight against COVID-19, which

has killed more than 312,000 peo-

ple in the U.S. Governors in more

than a dozen states have said the

federal government has told them

that next week’s shipment of the

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be

less than originally projected.

The general said he made mis-

takes by citing numbers of doses

that he believed would be ready.

There’s a distinction between

manufactured vaccine and doses

that are ready to be released.

The finished product must un-

dergo “rigorous quality control

and sterility

tests,” which can

take up to a

month, the De-

partment of

Health and Hu-

man Services

said.

The Food and

Drug Adminis-

tration then

must receive a certificate of analy-

sis 48 hours before the manufac-

turer ships a batch, the govern-

ment said.

Perna said the government now

is on track to get approximately 20

million doses to states by the first

week of January, a combination of

the newly approved Moderna vac-

cine and the Pfizer-BioNTech vac-

cine.

Perna said 2.9 million Pfizer-

BioNTech doses have been deliv-

ered to states so far.

General apologizes for‘miscommunication’over vaccine shipments

Associated Press

Perna


VIRUS OUTBREAK

TRIPLER ARMY MEDICAL CENTER,

Hawaii — Hundreds of military medical

personnel on Oahu had been inoculated

against the coronavirus as of Thursday

morning, two days after Tripler Army

Medical Center received an initial batch of

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The medical center on the outskirts of

Honolulu serves all uniformed branches. It

is one of 16 Defense Department sites

around the world to begin a vaccination

drive aiming to protect roughly 11.1 million

defense personnel from COVID-19, the dis-

ease caused by the virus.

“We’re honored that we get to be a key

player in reaching the end of COVID,” Col.

Martin Doperak, Tripler’s commander,

said during a news conference Thursday

morning on the medical center’s sprawling

grounds.

Citing operational security concerns,

Doperak declined to say how many initial

doses of vaccine Tripler received.

The doses on hand are being given in a

“phased approach” under guidelines devel-

oped by the Defense Department, Depart-

ment of Health and Human Services and

the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-

vention, he said.

“[We] are first inoculating our intensive-

care unit personnel; emergency room and

urgent-care personnel; first responders; in-

patient and outpatient health delivery; and

support personnel,” Doperak said. “Basi-

cally, those that will come into contact with

COVID patients. This first tier includes

both active-duty, civilians and contractors

who have volunteered to receive the vac-

cine.”

Defense Department policy requires all

active duty and reserve personnel, as well

as anyone working in the health care field,

to receive flu vaccine each year. But the

coronavirus vaccine is entirely voluntary at

this point.

“We have well over 50% of the folks vol-

unteering to receive the vaccine,” said Col.

Ingrid Lim, deputy commander for medi-

cal services at Tripler. That amounted to “a

few hundred” volunteers as of Thursday

morning, she said.

Personnel who opt out are encouraged to

reconsider and “to talk to either family

members or their doctor if they have spe-

cific medical conditions that they are con-

cerned about,” she said.

The attitude of those already inoculated

has “run from ecstatic and excited and

can’t-wait to those who are, you know, ‘It’s

just another vaccine,’” she said. “But most

folks who are taking it now are excited to be

part of history and also excited to get the

vaccine to protect themselves. They see it

as an essential component to providing

good clinical care and being safe.”

Tripler was chosen as one of the Defense

Department sites for the vaccine rollout be-

cause of the state’s sizable defense person-

nel footprint and the medical center’s ultra-

cold storage capability.

The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at mi-

nus 94 degrees Fahrenheit or it will break

down and become ineffective.

The first shipments of Pfizer vaccine to

the 16 installations are serving as a pilot ef-

fort, testing for glitches in the system be-

fore larger quantities are distributed, Dop-

erak said.

The Defense Department only received

just under 44,000 doses of vaccine from

Pfizer, which are being distributed to the 16

installations in proportion to the population

size of the selected sites, the Pentagon said

in a news release Tuesday.

Tripler supports a beneficiary popula-

tion of more than 140,000 service members,

family members and military retirees of all

service branches in Hawaii. That number

does not include Defense Department civil-

ian personnel.

Hawaii’s civilian medical facilities are

distributing roughly 5,000 doses of vaccine

received directly from Pfizer. Another

7,800 doses are expected to be delivered

next week.

Doperak said that less at-risk categories

of people will be offered inoculations as

Tripler receives additional doses of vaccine

in coming days.

The phased approach prioritizes vaccine

for military heath care workers most at-

risk for infection, a group that includes

members of security forces, fire depart-

ments, first responders and ambulance

drivers, he said.

Subsequent phases focus on populations

with elevated risk of dying from COVID-19.

Only after that will the vaccine become

available to the generally healthy active du-

ty service members and dependents, he

said.

But even then, certain priorities will be

observed.

“A unit that’s going to deploy will be

ahead of a soldier that’s not going to deploy

and be back here at home station,” Doperak

said.

The Pfizer vaccination requires a second

shot 21 days after the initial inoculation, but

the Tripler staff is not holding back any of

the initially received doses, which offer

50% to 70% efficacy compared to 95% effec-

tiveness of the double dose.

“We are giving as many people as pos-

sible that first dose because it gives them

some protection,” he said.

Tripler was among the sites nationwide

discovering last week that each vial of vac-

cine intended to inoculate five people had

enough for a sixth, sometimes seventh,

shot.

“That basically is a Christmas present for

the whole health care system,” Doperak

said. “You can basically say we’ve in-

creased the amount we have by 20%.”

Military medical crewsvaccinated in Hawaii

MACKENZIE WALSH/ Tripler Army Medical Center

Dr. Scott Belnap, a physician at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii,receives the COVID19 vaccine on Dec. 16.

BY WYATT OLSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @WyattWOlson

HONOLULU — On Hawaii’s

rural island of Kauai, where

sprawling white sand beaches and

dramatic seaside mountains at-

tract visitors from around the

world, local residents spent the

first seven months of the pandem-

ic sheltered from the viral storm.

Early and aggressive local mea-

sures coupled with a strictly en-

forced statewide travel quaran-

tine kept Kauai’s 72,000 residents

mostly healthy — the island had

only 61 known coronavirus cases

from March through September.

But on Oct. 15, the state launched a

pre-travel testing program to reig-

nite Hawaii’s decimated tourism

economy.

Kauai went from having no in-

fections to at least 84 new cases in

seven weeks. The surge seeded

community transmission and led

to the island’s first — and so far on-

ly — COVID-19 death: Ron Clark,

who worked for decades as a tour

driver.

Despite Hawaii’s cautious ef-

fort at reopening that allowed

travelers who tested negative for

COVID-19 before they flew to the

state to sidestep quarantine rules,

the Kauai spike illustrates the dif-

ficulty of preserving public health

— even on an isolated island —

when economic recovery relies on

travel. Kauai officials have decid-

ed the cost of vacationing in para-

dise, for now, is too high.

Clark got COVID-19 in Novem-

ber and died about 10 days later.

At age 84, he worked until he con-

tracted the disease and most re-

cently shuttled airline pilots and

crew to and from the airport. Air-

line crews are exempt from the

state’s testing and quarantine

rules.

The day after Clark’s death,

Kauai officials said they would opt

out of the state’s testing program

and require visitors to again quar-

antine for two weeks whether or

not they test negative for CO-

VID-19 before arriving.

Kauai officials say the single-

test scheme did not do enough to

protect the people who live there.

With only nine ICU beds and 14

ventilators, the island’s health

care system could quickly become

overwhelmed by a large outbreak,

said Kauai Mayor Derek Kawaka-

mi.

Seeking to prevent such a sce-

nario, Kawakami proposed a man-

datory second test for all arriving

passengers after arrival. His plan

would have included a short quar-

antine while people awaited their

second result.

“We think having a negative test

is a good prerequisite to getting on

a plane,” Kawakami said. But

“once you land on Kauai ... (trav-

elers) should be able to sit and cool

off for three days.”

But the proposal was turned

down by state officials, with Dem-

ocratic Gov. David Ige saying the

plan would have to be locally fund-

ed and administered.

After the Kauai surge, the state

Department of Health traced

most of the island’s October and

November cases to returning resi-

dents and tourists who brought the

virus in despite the pre-flight test-

ing program.

Mostly virus-free Kauai hit by pandemic after travel resumesAssociated Press

CALEB JONES / AP

A woman walks into the international airport in Honolulu in October,amid a quarantine rule that effectively shut down the tourism industryin the state.


Boeing improperly influenced a

test designed to see how quickly

pilots could respond to malfunc-

tions on the Boeing 737 Max, and

Federal Aviation Administration

officials may have obstructed a re-

view of two deadly crashes involv-

ing the plane, Senate investigators

say.

In a report released Friday, the

Senate Commerce Committee al-

so said the FAA continues to retal-

iate against whistleblowers. The

FAA’s parent agency, the Trans-

portation Department, has also

hindered investigators by failing

to turn over documents, it said.

The report follows a similarly

scathing review of the FAA by a

House panel earlier this year.

Both grew out of concern about

the agency’s approval of the Boe-

ing Max.

In a statement, the FAA said the

report “contains a number of un-

substantiated allegations” and de-

fended its review of the Max, call-

ing it thorough and deliberate.

“We are confident that the safe-

ty issues that played a role in the

tragic accidents involving Lion

Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Air-

lines Flight 302 have been ad-

dressed through the design chang-

es required and independently ap-

proved by the FAA and its part-

ners,” the agency said.

Boeing didn’t comment on spe-

cific allegations.

“We take seriously the Commit-

tee’s findings and will continue to

review the report in full,” the Chi-

cago-based company said.

All Max planes were grounded

worldwide after crashes in Indo-

nesia and Ethiopia killed 346 peo-

ple. Following a lengthy review of

Boeing changes, the FAA last

month approved the plane to fly

again if airlines update a key

flight-control system and make

other changes.

The Senate report, however,

criticized a key part of the FAA re-

view. It said that Boeing “inappro-

priately influenced” FAA testing

of pilot-reaction time to a nose-

down pitch of the plane.

According to a whistleblower

who was an FAA safety inspector,

Boeing representatives watched

and gave advice to help test pilots

in a flight simulator respond to the

problem in a few seconds. The re-

action of three flight crews was

still slower than Boeing had as-

sumed, according to the report.

Each time the plane would have

been thrown into a nose-down

pitch, although recovery would

have been possible, the investiga-

tors said.

In the two Max crashes, a fail-

ure of the key flight system, called

MCAS, pushed the nose down re-

peatedly, sending the planes into

fatal dives.

The FAA countered that it was

an FAA pilot who discovered a

separate computer issue in the

plane, a flaw that took Boeing ad-

ditional months to fix.

Investigators also said an FAA

division manager was first invit-

ed, then excluded from a review of

the Max crashes even though his

position normally would call for

him to participate in the review.

The official said he believes he

was excluded to shield FAA from

criticism.

The committee chairman, Rog-

er Wicker, R-Miss., called the in-

vestigators’ findings troubling.

“The report details a number of

significant examples of lapses in

aviation safety oversight and

failed leadership in the FAA,”

Wicker said in a statement. “It is

clear that the agency requires

consistent oversight to ensure

their work to protect the flying

public is executed fully and cor-

rectly.”

Senate investigators fault FAA over Boeing jet, safetyAssociated Press

NATION

WASHINGTON — Contradict-

ing his secretary of state and other

top officials, President Donald

Trump suggested without evi-

dence that China — not Russia —

may be behind the cyber espion-

age operation against the United

States and tried to minimize its

impact.

In his first comments on the

breach, Trump scoffed at the fo-

cus on the Kremlin and down-

played the intrusions, which the

nation’s cybersecurity agency has

warned posed a “grave” risk to

government and private net-

works.

“The Cyber Hack is far greater

in the Fake News Media than in

actuality. I have been fully briefed

and everything is well under con-

trol,” Trump tweeted Saturday.

He also claimed the media are

“petrified” of “discussing the pos-

sibility that it may be China (it

may!).”

There is no evidence to suggest

that is the case. Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo said late Friday

that Russia was “pretty clearly”

behind the operation against the

United States.

“This was a very significant ef-

fort and I think it’s the case that

now we can say pretty clearly that

it was the Russians that engaged

in this activity,” Pompeo said in

the interview with radio talk show

host Mark Levin.

Officials at the White House

had been prepared to put out a

statement Friday afternoon that

accused Russia of being “the

main actor” in the hack, but were

told at the last minute to stand

down, according to one U.S. offi-

cial familiar with the conversa-

tions who spoke on condition of

anonymity to discuss private de-

liberations.

It is not clear whether Pompeo

got that message before his inter-

view, but officials are now scram-

bling to figure out how to square

the disparate accounts.

The White House did not imme-

diately respond to questions about

the statement or the basis of

Trump’s claims. The State De-

partment also did not respond to

questions about Pompeo’s re-

marks.

Throughout his presidency,

Trump has refused to blame Rus-

sia for well-documented hostili-

ties, including its interference in

the 2016 election to help him get

elected. He blamed his predeces-

sor, Barack Obama, for Russia’s

annexation of Crimea, has en-

dorsed allowing Russia to return

to the G-7 group of nations and

has never taken the country to

task for allegedly putting bounties

on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Pompeo in the interview said

the government was still “un-

packing” the cyberespionage op-

eration and some of it would likely

remain classified.

“But suffice it to say there was a

significant effort to use a piece of

third-party software to essentially

embed code inside of U.S. govern-

ment systems and it now appears

systems of private companies and

companies and governments

across the world as well,” he said.

Though Pompeo was the first

Trump administration official to

publicly blame Russia for the in-

trusion, cybersecurity experts

and other U.S. officials have been

clear over the past week that the

operation appears to be the work

of Russia. There has been no cred-

ible suggestion that any other

country — including China — is

responsible.

Democrats in Congress who

have received classified briefings

have also affirmed publicly that

Russia, which in 2014 hacked the

State Department and interfered

through hacking in the 2016 presi-

dential election, was behind it.

It’s not clear exactly what the

hackers were seeking, but experts

say it could include nuclear se-

crets, blueprints for advanced

weaponry, COVID-19 vaccine-re-

lated research and information

for dossiers on government and

industry leaders.

Russia has said it had “nothing

to do” with the hacking.

While Trump downplayed the

impact of the hacks, the Cyberse-

curity and Infrastructure Securi-

ty Agency has said it compro-

mised federal agencies as well as

“critical infrastructure.”

Homeland Security, the agen-

cy’s parent department, defines

such infrastructure as any “vital”

assets to the U.S. or its economy, a

broad category that could include

power plants and financial institu-

tions.

One U.S. official, speaking

Thursday on condition of ano-

nymity to discuss a matter that is

under investigation, described the

hack as severe and extremely da-

maging.

“This is looking like it’s the

worst hacking case in the history

of America,” the official said.

“They got into everything.”

Trump had been silent on the

hacks before Saturday.

Trump downplays Russiaconnection to hacking

BY JILL COLVIN

AND MATTHEW LEE

Associated Press

WASHINGTON— The Penta-

gon is proposing to end an ar-

rangement in which a single mil-

itary officer leads two of the na-

tion’s main cybersecurity organi-

zations, a move that a leading

Democrat said Saturday makes

him “profoundly concerned”

amid a large-scale hacking cam-

paign on U.S. government com-

puter systems.

Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of

the House Armed Services Com-

mittee, said in a letter to acting De-

fense Secretary Christopher Mill-

er that he objects to the way the

Pentagon is going about splitting

off U.S. Cyber Command from the

National Security Agency.

Both organizations currently

are headed by Army Gen. Paul

Nakasone, an arrangement known

as “dual-hatting.”

“Any action to sever the dual-

hat relationship could have grave

impacts on our national security,

especially during a time that the

country is wrestling with what

may be the most damaging cyber-

attack in our country’s history,”

Smith wrote.

Smith was referring to revela-

tions that elite hackers gained ac-

cess to U.S. government computer

systems and likely purloined a

trove of delicate secrets over a

monthslong period before being

detected.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

said on Friday that Russia was

“pretty clearly” behind the hack,

which is ongoing. On Saturday,

President Donald Trump suggest-

ed without evidence that China —

not Russia — may be behind the

hack and tried to minimize its im-

pact.

A U.S. official confirmed Satur-

day that the Pentagon has a plan

for separating the National Secu-

rity Agency and Cyber Command.

The official spoke on condition of

anonymity to discuss an internal

matter not publicly announced.

In his letter to Miller, Smith said

the Pentagon has not met condi-

tions set by the 2017 defense bill

for severing the NSA from Cyber

Command. Those conditions in-

clude certification by the secreta-

ry of defense and the chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff that end-

ing the “dual-hat” arrangement

will not hurt national security.

Smith sent a similar letter to

Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Joint

Chiefs chairman.

AP

The Pentagon, with the Washington Monument in the background.

Lawmaker criticizes DODplan for cybersecurity split

Associated Press


INDIANAPOLIS — Neither

woman could bring themselves to

watch the video of George Floyd’s

final moments, his neck pinned un-

der a Minneapolis police officer’s

knee.

But as their city grieved, Leesa

Kelly and Kenda Zellner-Smith

found much-needed comfort in the

messages of anguish and hope that

appeared on boarded-up windows

as residents turned miles of ply-

wood into canvases. Now, they’re

working to save those murals be-

fore they vanish.

“These walls speak,” said Zell-

ner-Smith, who said she was too

numb to cry after Floyd’s killing.

“They’re the expressions of com-

munities. We want these feelings,

hopes, calls to action to live on.”

Together, the two Black women

formed Save the Boards to Memo-

rialize the Movement, part of a

push to preserve the ephemeral ex-

pressions of anger and pain born of

outrage over racial injustice that

triggered weeks of protests across

the country.

Some artists began painting in-

tricate murals, but many spray-

painted raw messages of anguish.

Zellner-Smith started with the sim-

ple pieces.

“Some of these boards aren’t

pretty,” she said. “There is collec-

tive pain and grief in each board,

and each one tells a different aspect

of this story. And now we get to tell

that story to everyone.”

One is the word “MAMA” scraw-

led hastily onto the side of an aban-

doned Walmart. The word was

among Floyd’s last. Now it’s part of

a database of protest art called the

Urban Art Mapping George Floyd

and Anti-Racist Street Art data-

base.

“The art was changing quickly,

and these raw, immediate re-

sponses were being erased and

painted over,” said Todd Law-

rence, an associate professor of En-

glish at the University of St. Tho-

mas in St. Paul, Minn., and one of

the database’s creators. “We want

people to see the full range of re-

sponses, the complexity, the multi-

tude of voices.”

Lawrence and art history profes-

sor Heather Shirey were part of a

research team already document-

ing street art. When the streets of

countless cities became temporary

galleries after Floyd’s death, they

set out to capture the art before it

disappeared.

Although many of the 1,600 art-

works in the crowdsourced data-

base come from Minneapolis, Shi-

rey said they hope to expand to

pieces from around the world.

“Oppression and racial violence

is unfortunately universal, so art is

responding to it around the world,”

she said.

Similar work is going on across

the country as groups take mea-

sures to keep the art alive.

In New York City, the Soho

Broadway Initiative worked with

local arts groups to get permission

for murals and provide artists with

materials. As murals started com-

ing down, the organization return-

ed 22 artworks to artists and col-

lected 20 more waiting to be return-

ed.

In Indianapolis, organizer Mali-

na Jeffers is unsure about the fu-

ture of the Black Lives Matter

street mural stretching across In-

diana Avenue. The mural is wear-

ing down from traffic, and winter

will bring weather damage and

snowplows.

But the mural will live on in

prints and T-shirts created by the

local Black artists behind the origi-

nal mural. More than 1,000 shirts

have been sold. Vinyl banners rep-

resenting 24 other murals painted

in the downtown area are displayed

at the city’s Central Library.

“All of us know the mural won’t

be there forever,” Jeffers said. “So

we all wanted a piece of it to hold on-

to.”

For Seattle’s Black Lives Matter

street mural, Mexican American

artist Angelina Villalobos, aka 179,

mixed her mother’s ashes into the

bright green paint she used for the

letter A. City workers scrubbed the

mural from the asphalt after it be-

gan chipping, but one worker col-

lected paint from each letter, which

Villalobos plans to keep on her

mother’s altar in the kitchen.

“I’m getting my mom back, but

she’s been transformed,” she said.

“It’s like ... a time capsule of that

mural experience and all the work

and thought and pain that went into

it.”

Kelly and Zellner-Smith have fil-

led their warehouse space to ca-

pacity. They started out by hoard-

ing boards in their garages. They

now have 537 in a warehouse. They

said watching the space fill up was

surreal.

“Being surrounded by these

boards that encompass this pain

and grief and hope, it was spiritu-

al,” Kelly said.

The group’s next steps are to cat-

alog the boards, do 3D scans and

build a virtual gallery.

But while Kelly and Zellner-

Smith created a GoFundMe to

raise money for the project, funds

have quickly dwindled.

“They all need to be saved,” Zell-

ner-Smith said. “They all matter,

and we want to keep collecting.

We’re just a little stuck right now.

But the work is far from over.”

DARRON CUMMINGS/AP

Malina Jeffers looks at the Black Lives Matter street mural stretching across Indiana Avenue on Dec. 10 inIndianapolis.

Artists, activists rush to savemurals of Black Lives Matter

BY CHRISTINE FERNANDO

Associated Press

NATION

BOSTON — Boston police and

prosecutors are investigating af-

ter body camera footage surfaced

that shows officers pushing pro-

testers, pepper-spraying crowds

and one officer talking about hit-

ting protesters with a police vehi-

cle.

A sergeant has been placed on

administrative leave after the leak

last week of the footage captured

during Boston demonstrations

early June 1 after the killing of Ge-

orge Floyd by police in Minneapo-

lis.

The videos posted Friday by

The Appeal, an online news outlet,

show officers spraying pepper

spray on people and into crowds,

pushing nonviolent demonstra-

tors to the ground and one officer

saying he may have hit people

with a car.

An attorney for the protesters

has requested the video.

Police Commissioner William

Gross said in a statement that he

ordered an investigation as soon

as the videos were brought to his

attention.

“I have placed a sergeant in-

volved in this incident on adminis-

trative leave and I will take any

additional action as necessary at

the conclusion of the investiga-

tion,” Gross said. “I want to en-

courage people to bring these mat-

ters to our attention so that we can

investigate them appropriately.”

Mayor Marty Walsh said in a

statement that the footage is diffi-

cult to watch and that he hopes to

get answers through the investiga-

tion.

“We never want to see police of-

ficers using more force than nec-

essary, even when tensions are

high,” he said.

A spokesperson for Suffolk

County District Attorney Rachael

Rollins said she is also investigat-

ing.

The head of Boston’s largest po-

lice union accused the the defense

attorney who provided the videos

to the news outlet of “stitching to-

gether several contextually defi-

cient video snippets” to falsely

portray police as “the real enemy

in the city that night.”

“The reality-altering effort and

insult aside, the fact remains, the

violence and hatred perpetrated

against our officers and our City

that night will forever be en-

grained in the minds and memo-

ries of our officers and their fam-

ilies because of the damage done

by cop-hating anarchists and agi-

tators who showed up to a peace-

ful protest armed for violence and

looking for a fight,” Larry Calde-

rone of the Boston Police Patrol-

men’s Association said in a state-

ment.

Boston police seenpepper-spraying,shoving protesters

Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif. — A self-pro-

claimed pedophilia advocate who

once ran for political office in Vir-

ginia has been arrested by author-

ities who said they caught him fly-

ing across the country last week

with a 12-year-old girl he had per-

suaded to run away from her Cali-

fornia home.

Nathan Larson, 40, made the girl

wear a long-haired wig to make

her look older and told her to pre-

tend to be mute during their travel,

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret

Mims announced on Saturday.

The investigation began Mon-

day morning when the girl’s fam-

ily reported her missing from her

bedroom in Fresno, Calif.

Mims said detectives learned

that Larson, a resident of Catlett,

Va., met the girl previously

through social media, flew to Cali-

fornia and persuaded her to sneak

out of her house around 2 a.m.

Monday. They took a rideshare car

to the Fresno Airport, where they

boarded a plane bound for Wash-

ington, D.C., she added.

Larson was taken into custody

and the girl was rescued by a Den-

ver police officer who stopped the

pair during their layover in Col-

orado, Mims said. The girl was not

injured and was later reunited

with her family.

Mims said that while the girl was

not physically harmed, detectives

have evidence of inappropriate

touching at the airport.

She said the steps Larson had

taken to groom the girl were of a

“sophisticated nature” and asked

anyone who may have had inap-

propriate contact with Larson to

contact police. She also urged par-

ents to always monitor their chil-

dren’s internet activity and who

they are communicating with on-

line.

Man arrested on trip acrossUS with girl, 12, sheriff says

Associated Press


AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Police: Man falsley saidinfant was in stolen car

OH CINCINNATI — Aman falsely reported a10-month-old was in his car when

it was stolen from a gas station to

get a faster response, police said.

The man called police to say the

car was snatched with the baby in-

side, police said.

Police mobilized resources in-

cluding a helicopter in an attempt

to find the vehicle. But about 45

minutes into the search, police

said that the man changed his sto-

ry and said that the child was not

in the vehicle.

While police tried to verify that

the child was safe, a tip came in

and police located the car. Offi-

cers apprehended one suspect.

Police verified the child was

safe with a grandmother.

The man who reported the car

was stolen will be charged with in-

ducing panic and making false

alarms.

Cemetery makes moreroom for green burials

MI CHASSELL TOWN-SHIP — A cemetery inMichigan’s Upper Peninsula is

making more room for so-called

green burials.

The Chassell Township cemete-

ry in Houghton County has sold

out of the approximately 40 sites

that were created five years ago.

The cemetery has added more

than two dozen plots in a wooded

area, The Daily Mining Gazette

reported.

Green burials refer to burials

that do not use embalming fluids

to preserve the body or cement

vaults. The body typically is bur-

ied in a biodegradable container

or a cloth shroud, according to the

Keweenaw Green Burial Alliance.

The burials are usually less ex-

pensive than a conventional buri-

al.

Beach may decide toban alcohol outdoors

GA TYBEE ISLAND —Georgia’s largest pub-lic beach could decide in early

2021 whether to ban drinking alco-

hol outdoors.

The city council on Tybee Is-

land began weighing an open con-

tainer ban in October and asked a

task force to study the issue. The

group will make its final recom-

mendation in January, City Man-

ager Shawn Gillen told WTOC-

TV.

Officials began looking at ban-

ning drinking on the streets after

noticing an increase in recent

years of police dealing with more

unruly people impaired by alco-

hol. Part of the solution will be put-

ting more police on the streets.

School: Undergraduatesto get free text books

KY RICHMOND — East-ern Kentucky Univer-sity announced an initiative that

will allow undergraduate students

to receive free text books during

the next school year.

The EKU BookSmart program

was developed by the university

and is possible due to its partner-

ship with Barnes & Noble College

Booksellers, the school an-

nounced. The program will pro-

vide required textbooks and

course materials for all in-person

and online students. Materials can

be delivered or picked up at the

campus bookstore, officials said.

Barry Poynter, senior vice pres-

ident for finance and administra-

tion, said national studies show

that the average costs of textbooks

is $1,200 annually.

Boy in car hit by rockthrown from overpass

SC FLORENCE — A 15-year-old was knockedunconscious after a rock was

thrown from an overpass and

smashed through the windshield

of the car he was in, authorities

said.

The boy was unconscious when

he was taken to a hospital, Dar-

lington County sheriff’s officials

said. No other information on his

condition was immediately avail-

able.

Another woman reported that

her vehicle was also struck on the

windshield by a rock, authorities

said. Sheriff’s officials say a truck

driver whose rig was struck by de-

bris reported seeing two youths

throwing objects from the over-

pass.

Scones maker cited foroverworking teens

WA TUMWATER — Themaker of FisherScones, which has been a favorite

at the Washington State Fair for

years, was cited for more than

1,500 instances of overworking

teenagers.

State Department of Labor and

Industries investigators found Co-

nifer Specialties was responsible

for 1,560 instances of teens work-

ing more hours than state law al-

lows. Of the 1,560 violations, 426

involved teens working during

school hours.

The report of a teenager injured

while using a commercial-grade

mixer prompted the investigation

in 2019, state officials said.

The company, owned by John

Patrick Heily, has until Wednes-

day to appeal the citation, which

includes a $45,100 fine.

Coyote bites grocerystore worker in leg

CA LAFAYETTE — Acoyote bit a grocerystore worker in the leg in the

fourth such attack in the San Fran-

cisco Bay Area since April, a wild-

life official said.

At least two of th

,d ecember violence in kabul continues with blastsingapore (dollar) 1.3280 so. korea (won) 1,099.51...

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