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NBA

League confidentin safe seasonahead of openersPage 24

MILITARY

More than 70 West Point cadetsaccused of cheatingPage 3

FACES

‘Wonder Woman’ andPixar’s ‘Soul’ two bigtitles for small screensPage 18

Former DOD official charged with taking kickbacks in Djibouti ›› Page 5

WASHINGTON — Black troops in

the Air Force and Space Force are in-

vestigated and punished far more of-

ten than their white counterparts and

they receive fewer career advance-

ment opportunities, according to a

review by the Air Force inspector

general published Monday.

The four-month data analysis by

the inspector general found dispari-

ties exist in the treatment of Black

and white troops within the Air Force

Department, Lt. Gen. Sami Said, the

service IG chief, said Monday. How-

ever, the investigation did not at-

tempt to determine the actual causes

of those discrepancies, meaning Said

could not definitively say they were

the result of racism or other biases

within the force.

“That requires more detailed as-

sessment and analysis,” Said told re-

porters in a phone call before the re-

port’s release Monday. “If you don’t

ISMAEL ORTEGA /U.S. Air Force

U.S. Air Force HonorGuard membersexecute drillmovements at theAlamo in San Antonio.A report releasedMonday founddisparities in thetreatment of Blackand white troops inthe Air Force.

Report: Black members of Air Force, Space Force are not treated the same as white troops

BY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

Detailing disparities

SEE DISCREPANCIES ON PAGE 3

STUTTGART, Germany — A

U.S. aircraft carrier group and a

Marine expeditionary unit have

joined a naval seabase off the

coast of Somalia in a display of

force as the military moves for-

ward with efforts to remove 700

troops from the country.

The Makin Island Amphibious

Ready Group and thousands of

embarked Marines and sailors

from the 15th Marine Expedition-

ary Group add “significant com-

bat capability” to help protect U.S.

forces as they transit in the region,

Air Force Maj. Gen. Dagvin An-

derson said in a statement Tues-

day.

Anderson commands the newly

formed Joint Task Force - Quartz,

which was set up by U.S. Africa

Command to oversee the reposi-

tioning of U.S. forces in eastern

Africa. And as of Monday, the air-

craft carrier USS Nimitz and its

escorts also were operating off the

coast of Somalia, USNI News re-

ported, citing defense officials.

The U.S. military is in the proc-

ess of pulling most of its 700 troops

in Somalia following a Defense

Department directive. While

AFRICOM has declined to detail

where forces will be relocated, it

has said most troops will head to

locations in eastern Africa.

US naval armada is sent to Somalia to relocate 700 troops and gearBY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

SEE SOMALIA ON PAGE 4

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, December 23, 2020

BUSINESS/WEATHER

DETROIT — In the middle of

last year, Tesla’s losses were pil-

ing up, sales weren’t enough to

cover expenses and big debt pay-

ments loomed. The situation was

so bad that one influential Wall

Street analyst raised the possibil-

ity that Tesla wouldn’t be able to

pay its bills and would have to be

restructured financially.

Since then, the electric car and

solar panel maker’s shares have

skyrocketed, rising nearly 700%

this year alone. Monday was its

first day of being included in the

prestigious S&P 500, but it did

not go well. Shares tumbled 6.5%

to $649.86, even though the index

as a whole lost only 0.4%. The

stock had hit a record high on

Friday.

Tesla’s rise to become the

world’s most valuable automaker

and rank among the top 10 big-

gest U.S. companies in the index

is a surprising accomplishment

considering that the company

lost $1.1 billion in the first half of

2019. The increase was so stun-

ning that even CEO Elon Musk

has said the shares are over-

priced.

Global sales hit a record of al-

most 140,000 vehicles in the third

quarter, debt has been reduced

with proceeds from stock offer-

ings and Musk’s company is

building two huge factories to

make new vehicles and satisfy

demand. Intensely loyal follow-

ers have invested billions and

Musk has become the world’s

third-richest man, according to

Forbes.

Tesla stock takes a hit on 1st day in S&P 500Associated Press

Bahrain72/64

Baghdad68/45

Doha76/64

Kuwait City70/50

Riyadh69/45

Kandahar59/30

Kabul48/29

Djibouti84/77

WEDNESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

50/39

Ramstein54/44

Stuttgart50/46

Lajes,Azores63/59

Rota61/51

Morón60/46 Sigonella

56/43

Naples58/46

Aviano/Vicenza44/32

Pápa48/43

Souda Bay64/58

Brussels52/45

Zagan48/38

DrawskoPomorskie 40/37

WEDNESDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa50/34

Guam86/80

Tokyo50/30

Okinawa70/61

Sasebo57/46

Iwakuni54/32

Seoul38/22

Osan40/23

Busan50/32

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

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

THURSDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

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

Military rates

Euro costs (Dec. 23) $1.20Dollar buys (Dec. 23) 0.7954British pound (Dec. 23) $1.31Japanese yen (Dec. 23) 101.00South Korean won (Dec. 23) 1,077.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) .3770Britain (Pound) 1.3351Canada (Dollar) 1.2910China (Yuan) 6.5433Denmark (Krone) 6.0938Egypt (Pound) 15.6723Euro .8192Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7529Hungary (Forint) 296.65Israel (Shekel) 3.2349Japan (Yen) 103.60Kuwait (Dinar) .3049

Norway (Krone) 8.7241

Philippines (Peso) 48.10Poland (Zloty) 3.69Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7525Singapore (Dollar) 1.3359

So. Korea (Won) 1,108.03Switzerland (Franc) .8875Thailand (Baht) 30.22Turkey (New Lira) 7.6450

(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 0.0930year bond 1.68

EXCHANGE RATES

Wednesday, December 23, 2020 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

know where there’s potential smoke, and if

you don’t know if it’s smoke or dust, you’ll

wander all over the place. So, this review

tells us where to focus … and where addi-

tional analysis is absolutely required.”

Addressing disparitiesThe Air Force has already begun probes

aimed at identifying and addressing the

root causes of the disparities, which will be

largely driven by institutions within the Air

Force with the inspector general’s help, the

general said. He committed to making pub-

lic further Air Force findings on discrepan-

cies in the way that Black and white troops

are treated.

The initial inspector general review was

launched at the request of the Air Force De-

partment’s top civilian and military leaders

during the summer amid a racial reckoning

nationwide following the killing of George

Floyd by Minneapolis police. Said was

charged with determining in about 120 days

whether the military had disparities that

could be documented about how it treated

its Black personnel. IG investigators looked

at more than five years of data and surveyed

some 123,000 troops in an effort to quickly

make a determination.

The data is clear that disparities exist,

Said said.

Among the statistics noted in the IG re-

port:

Enlisted Black airmen and guardians

were 72% more likely than whites to be pun-

ished through the Uniform Code of Military

Justice or through nonjudicial punishment

measures.

Enlisted Black airmen and guardians

were 57% more likely than whites to face a

court-martial.

Black junior enlisted Air Force and

Space Force troops are twice as likely to be

involuntarily discharged for misconduct

than white troops.

Black Air Force and Space Force ser-

vice members are 1.64 times more likely to

be named suspects in Air Force Office of

Special Investigations criminal cases than

white service members.

Black airmen and guardians are twice

as likely to be apprehended by Air Force se-

curity forces than white airmen and guardi-

ans.

Black officers are less likely than

white officers to be designated to attend

professional military education courses.

Black Air Force and Space Force

members are less likely to be promoted to

the ranks of E-5 through E-7 and O-4

through O-6.

‘Drowned with feedback’Many of the results were unsurprising,

Said said, but he had not anticipated the “un-

precedented” number of responses from

service members who wanted to share their

own experiences in the surveys, follow-up

reports, and 138 small-group interviews

with IG staff at bases across the country.

“The pent-up angst on the topic [and] the

volume was surprising,” Said said. “When

we asked for feedback, I expected to get

feedback, but we were just drowned with

feedback. The airmen were very eager to

tell the story. They wanted their voices

heard.”

Said told reporters that the responses to

survey questions revealed that information

provided by Air Force and Space Force

troops largely matched the data that IG in-

vestigators observed.

In many of those cases, Said said, racism

was probably a factor. About 50% of Black

service members polled during the review

reported they had experienced racism first-

hand by another member of the Air Force

Department. Less than 14% of white respon-

dents to the survey reported experiencing

racism.

But the IG had no way during its short re-

view to determine the veracity of specific

accusations of bias levied by troops partici-

pating in the surveys and listening sessions.

“We have enough feedback … that it is

likely that some of these elements [of rac-

ism and bias] are contributing factors based

on what we’re hearing from the voice of the

airmen,” Said said. “I can’t validate what

Airman X, Y or Z said, but if 1,000 airmen

are saying the same thing, then I have got

something that is almost validating itself.

So, we have indications that there is a there,

there.”

The review revealed 40% of Black service

members did not trust their commanders to

address racism or biases, while only 10% of

white service members reported such dis-

trust in their chains of command.

Black service members also reported

they felt they were less likely to receive op-

portunities to advance in their careers than

their white counterparts, and they were

more likely to be punished. Those survey

findings largely matched the data that the

IG found.

Non-racial problemsWhile those issues are likely rooted in

racism, Said said, other problems cannot so

easily be traced to biases.

For example, the general said, Blacks are

severely underrepresented within the pilot

force. Only about 2% of the Air Force’s en-

tire pilot population is Black, a figure that

includes Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, who in

August became the first Black military ser-

vice chief.

Said, who is a fighter pilot, said there is

evidence that Black service members end

up more often in support specialties with

jobs similar to civilian roles than operation-

al specialties — such as flying, combat con-

trol, or search and rescue — because they

are less likely to be exposed to veterans of

the operational Air Force in majority-Black

communities.

He said he knew Air Force pilots growing

up, which attracted him to the service and

flying.

“But if you just know about the Air Force

generally, and you’ve not ever been ex-

posed to what it’s about to be a pilot in the

Air Force before you join the Air Force,

you’re likely to go to do something else,”

Said said. “That’s not bad at all, right? All

specialties are equally important, but the

exposure early on to the pilot career field is

lacking [and] could be further enhanced

and their specific initiatives … on how to ad-

dress that.”

Air Education and Training Command

has already begun working to assess ways

to attract more Black service members into

its pilot corps, Said said.

The Air Force IG chief said it would take

years to fully investigate and reverse issues

that have led to the obvious racial dispar-

ities in the Air Force. He said the IG was

committed to revisiting the issue every year

until it was satisfied that Air Force and

Space Force had adopted solutions to the

problems.

Discrepancies: Report’s data shows disparities existFROM PAGE 1

dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

MILITARY

WASHINGTON — The U.S.

Military Academy at West Point

accused more than 70 underclass-

men of cheating on a math final

exam in the spring while the stu-

dents were taking online courses

because of the coronavirus pan-

demic, officials at the New York

institution said Tuesday.

West Point officials said 72

plebes — the academy’s term for

freshmen — and one second-year

cadet were accused of cheating on

a calculus final in May when in-

structors found “irregularities in

the mathematical work submitted

by cadets” during the grading

process. Academy officials said 59

of the accused cadets admitted to

cheating on the test. There are

about 1,200 cadets in each under-

classmen class.

“[The] West Point honor code

and character development pro-

gram remains strong despite re-

mote learning and the challenges

brought by the pandemic,” Army

Lt. Col. Christopher Ophardt, an a-

cademy spokesman, said in a

statement. “Cadets are being held

accountable for breaking the

code.”

West Point cadets are strictly

held to the storied academy’s

code: “A cadet will not lie, cheat,

or steal, or tolerate those who do.”

The code is enforced by West

Point upperclassmen, a role that is

meant to prepare them for the

challenges of ensuring discipline

as Army officers upon their grad-

uation, Ophardt said.

West Point upperclassmen,

guided by Army lawyers and mil-

itary ethics experts, led the probes

into the cheating allegations,

which is the largest academic

scandal reported by the academy

since 153 cadets resigned or were

expelled for cheating on an elec-

trical engineering exam in 1976.

After investigations and prelim-

inary hearings were completed

late last month, four cadets re-

signed from the school and two

cases were dismissed for lack of

evidence.

The incident was “disappoint-

ing” for West Point, Ophardt said,

adding the academy’s honor sys-

tem was properly addressing the

scandal. He said the 67 cadets still

involved in the incident “will be

held accountable for their ac-

tions.”

West Point officials believe the

cheating incident would not have

occurred had the students not

been studying remotely. Cadets

were instructed to return to their

homes after West Point’s spring

break in March as the coronavirus

spread rapidly across the United

States. They completed the 2019-

20 school year via virtual learning.

West Point returned its cadets to

campus at the beginning of the fall

semester in August, and students

have been taking courses in per-

son and virtually.

Ophardt declined to provide de-

tails Tuesday about how the stu-

dents cheated because cases re-

mained open.

Among the 59 cadets who ad-

mitted cheating, 55 were enrolled

in an academic rehabilitation pro-

gram that West Point instituted in

2015 called the Willful Admission

Process, the school said. To be eli-

gible for that program, cadets

must show sincerity in admitting

to breaking the honor code, dem-

onstrate a desire for rehabilita-

tion, not have had any previous vi-

olations, and must be recom-

mended for retention by upper-

classmen, according to a West

Point description of the program.

That six-month program pairs

cadets with mentors and forces

them to meet several times each

week to discuss the meaning of

West Point’s honor code and write

essays on their experiences. It was

meant to provide young cadets

who make a mistake with a second

chance to prove they can become

capable Army officers, according

to the school.

The four remaining cadets who

admitted to cheating did not meet

criteria for the Willful Admission

Program, officials said. They will

face boards who will determine

their futures at West Point.

The eight other cadets who did

not admit to cheating and whose

cases were not dismissed will face

hearings to determine whether

they violated the honor code. If

they are found guilty, a board will

determine their punishment, in-

cluding the potential for expul-

sion, officials said.

70 West Point cadets accused of cheating while studying remotelyBY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

JOE GROMELSKI /Stars and Stripes

The Honor Plaza at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., isseen in 2016. 

dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Neighboring Djibouti, home to

the military’s main hub in Africa,

and Kenya where there is a small-

er base, are possible destinations.

AFRICOM said that cross-bor-

der operations in Somalia, which

are targeting the al-Qaida-linked

al-Shabab group, will continue as

needed.

“To be clear, the U.S. is not with-

drawing or disengaging from East

Africa,” AFRICOM’s Gen. Ste-

phen Townsend said in a state-

ment Saturday. “We remain com-

mitted to helping our African part-

ners build a more secure future.

We also remain capable of striking

al-Shabab at the time and place of

our choosing — they should not

test us.”

The Makin Island, which in-

cludes an array of support ships,

joins the Navy’s USS Hershel

“Woody” Williams off the coast of

Somalia. The Woody, based out of

Souda Bay, Greece, arrived last

week.

The Makin Island and 15th

MEU bring nearly 5,000 Marines

and sailors combined, including

aviation and ground combat ele-

ments.

“The arrival of the (Marines)

and its significant combat capabil-

ity demonstrates our resolve to

support our partners and protect

our forces through this transi-

tion,” Anderson said in a state-

ment. “This is a great example of

how the United States can rapidly

aggregate combat power to re-

spond to emerging issues.”

The Marine amphibious ready

group, which lost eight Marines

and a sailor during training off the

California coast in July, had been

operating in the Pacific region be-

fore arriving off the coast of Soma-

lia.

Somalia: US reaffirmsits commitment to EastAfrica amid shufflingFROM PAGE 1

vandiver.john@stripes.comTwitter: @john_vandiver

MILITARY

vance notice when Navy vessels

intend to pass through the area,

according to the Navy statement.

The United States frequently

challenges these claims with free-

dom-of-navigation operations like

the one the McCain conducted

Tuesday.

The McCain did not seek per-

mission or give prior warning be-

fore passing through the Spratlys

to “demonstrate that innocent

passage may not be subject to

such restrictions,” according to a

statement from Lt. Joe Keiley, 7th

Fleet spokesman.

“Unlawful and sweeping mar-

itime claims in the South China

Sea pose a serious threat to the

freedom of the seas, including the

freedoms of navigation and over-

flight, free trade and unimpeded

commerce and freedom of eco-

nomic opportunity for South Chi-

na Sea littoral nations,” according

to the statement.

On Tuesday, “all interactions

with foreign military forces were

consistent with international

norms and did not impact the op-

eration,” Keiley said in the state-

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE,

Japan — The U.S. Navy guided-

missile destroyer USS John S.

McCain steamed Tuesday past

the Spratly Islands, a disputed

chain in the South China Sea west

of the Philippines, in another

demonstration of freedom of mar-

itime navigation, according to a

7th Fleet spokesman.

Six nations, including the Phi-

lippines, China, Vietnam and Tai-

wan, assert sovereignty over all

or part of the chain of more than

100 small, uninhabited islands

and reefs rich with fishing

grounds and potential oil and gas

deposits.

Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philip-

pines and China have created out-

posts or bases there, according to

the CIA World Factbook. China,

which claims authority over most

of the South China Sea, built bases

capable of accommodating fight-

er jets and other advanced weap-

onry.

Three nations — China, Viet-

nam and Taiwan — expect ad-

ment.

The McCain’s last demonstra-

tion in the South China Sea, on

Oct. 9, put it near the Paracel Is-

lands, northwest of the Spratlys.

During that episode, the McCain

was warned away by the Chinese

military, according to a report in

the state-run Global Times.

Most recently, the McCain

steamed Nov. 23 into Peter the

Great Bay, off the coast of Vladi-

vostok, Russia, in a challenge to

that country’s claims in the area.

The Russian Defense Ministry

said it expelled the ship from the

region, but Keiley at the time

called the claim false.

“The United States will never

bow in intimidation or be coerced

into accepting illegitimate mari-

time claims, such as those made

by the Russian Federation,” he

said at the time.

USS McCain sailsthrough disputedchain once again

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

MARKUS CASTANEDA/U.S. Navy

The destroyer USS John S. McCain passes through the South China Sea on a freedomofnavigation patrolon Tuesday.

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.comTwitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

A rare immune system overre-

action that at first seemed like the

flu likely caused 34-year-old Sgt.

1st Class Levi Presley’s organ fail-

ure and death, the special oper-

ations soldier’s wife said.

“He was healthy and all the

tests, including [COVID-19], came

back negative,” Erin Presley said

in a chat interview. “The infectious

disease doctor came in and took a

look, said he felt it was HLH and

would treat him, but [was] afraid it

was too late.”

Hemophagocytic lymphohistio-

cytosis, or HLH, is a severe condi-

tion that involves a “cytokine

storm,” prompting an exaggerat-

ed immune response and damag-

ing the liver, spleen and other or-

gans. It’s often fatal if not diag-

nosed and treated quickly.

On Dec. 12, days after falling ill

and just weeks before Christmas,

Presley died in Fort Walton Beach,

Fla. A memorial for the father of

six, who was assigned to 7th Spe-

cial Forces Group (Airborne), was

held Friday at the group’s Liberty

Chapel on Eglin Air Force Base.

“I’m ... angry, sad, heartbroken,

numb,” his wife told Stars and

Stripes days be-

fore the memo-

rial. “He was

loved by a lot of

people and espe-

cially by people

who worked with

him.”

Born in Mil-

waukie, Ore.,

Levi Presley enlisted in the Army

in 2004 and deployed to both Iraq

and Afghanistan, where as a satel-

lite communications operator he

helped maintain networks used for

command and control in both

countries, an obituary stated.

A graduate of Airborne School

and the Army’s Space Cadre basic

course, he had earned the Merito-

rious Service Medal, Army Com-

mendation Medal with oak leaf

cluster and Army Achievement

Medal with two oak leaf clusters

among his many awards and deco-

rations, the Army said.

“He loved being a soldier, but

more than that, loved being a dad,”

his wife said. The couple had two

children together, plus his three

from a previous marriage as well

as Erin Presley’s daughter.

“He felt like he had the flu, and

then all of a sudden he was in multi-

organ failure,” she said.

The form of HLH that took his

life is genetic and affects about 1 in

50,000 people worldwide, accord-

ing to the National Institutes of

Health MedlinePlus website. It is

often found in infancy but can also

be found later in life. HLH also has

asecond form that is not inherited,

but can be triggered as a response

to infection, cancers, autoimmune

conditions and other diseases.

Sometimes signs and symptoms

may arise without an infection,

MedlinePlus states. The overpro-

duction of activated immune cells,

including T cells, leads to fever

and then enlargement of the liver

and spleen, and may affect blood

platelet levels and other organs.

After his death, Army officials at

7th Special Forces Group (Air-

borne) were focused on support-

ing the family, the command said.

“It’s made me speechless, the

Army family has really gone above

and beyond for our kids, our fam-

ilies and myself,” Erin Presley

said. “I have absolutely no words to

describe the love we have been

shown.”

Soldier’s sudden death stuns familyBY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

Presley

garland.chad@stripes.comTwitter: @chadgarland

Wednesday, December 23, 2020 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

MILITARY

STUTTGART, Germany — A former De-

fense Department official overseeing con-

struction work at the U.S. military’s hub in

Djibouti has been charged with taking kick-

backs to help a private contractor obtain

$6.4 million in extra government payments.

Nizar Farhat, 63, of Palm Desert, Calif.,

was charged earlier this month in connec-

tion with allegations he received $34,000 in

illegal gratuity from a private party while

serving in a government position, the U.S.

Attorney’s central district office in Califor-

nia said in a statement.

In 2014 and 2015, Farhat oversaw a $15

million contract to construct an aircraft

hangar and a telecommunications facility at

Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, where the

Defense Department has spent millions of

dollars on upgrades over the past several

years.

At the time, Farhat was a construction

manager based at the Marine Corps Air

Ground Combat Center in Twentynine

Palms, Calif. He was shifted to Djibouti on a

temporary assignment to handle the project

at Camp Lemonnier, federal prosecutors

said.

After the projects were completed, the

contractor submitted a “requests for equi-

table adjustment” that sought $6.43 million

in additional payments from the Defense

Department, prosecutors said.

The indictment alleged that Farhat ac-

cepted $20,000 in cash from the company

for performing official acts, and recom-

mending that the Navy certify completion

of the construction projects and pay the ad-

ditional $6.43 million the company request-

ed, the Justice Department said.

The indictment also alleges that Farhat

took another $14,000 in cash from the com-

pany as compensation for advising it and

drafting the request for more money. The

Justice Department did not identify the

company involved.

Camp Lemonnier, which serves as a

launching pad for military operations

across the Horn of Africa, has steadily ex-

panded over the years.

During Farhat’s time at the base, the

hangar project was just a sliver of the work

going on. In 2014, there were $500 million in

active construction projects underway at

Camp Lemonnier, much of which was fo-

cused on improving infrastructure for U.S.

Air Force operations.

Ex-DOD official charged with taking kickbacksBY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

vandiver.john@stripes.com Twitter: @john_vandiver

MICHAEL ABRAMS/Stars and Stripes

Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, serves as alaunching pad for military operationsacross the Horn of Africa.

AUSTIN, Texas — Sen. Ted

Cruz, R-Texas, has introduced

legislation that allows Americans

to purchase Medals of Honor

found overseas and return them to

the United States for educational

purposes, repairing an unintend-

ed consequence of the Stolen Va-

lor Act that banned importing the

military medal.

The Limiting and Enabling

Gathering Awards Commemorat-

ing Yesteryear Act, or LEGACY

Act, creates a way for the medals

to be purchased by Americans or

American institutions only for

educational use. The defense sec-

retary must approve those pur-

chases and the subsequent impor-

tation of the medal.

The bill, which is headed to the

Senate’s Finance Committee

sometime in the new year, also

threatens sanctions for those who

engage in financial transactions of

aMedal of Honor, unless it is to re-

turn the medal to the United

States. Potential sanctions could

include freezing assets in Ameri-

can territories, revoking or deny-

ing Visa applications or arrest up-

on entering the United States.

“Foreign sales of Medals of

Honor harm the dignity and honor

of all recipients,” Cruz said in a

statement. “By creating a process

for these medals to be donated to

the military, museums, or educa-

tional institutions, future genera-

tions of Americans will be able to

learn more about Medal of Honor

recipients’ heroic service and

countless contributions to our

country.”

The question of what should

happen to a medal when the veter-

an who received it has died draws

impassioned responses and was

part of the Stolen Valor Act in

2006. The bill, which was last mod-

ified in 2012, cracked down on peo-

ple falsifying military service and

awards and also banned the sale of

a Medal of Honor, the highest va-

lor award bestowed upon Ameri-

can service members.

Subsequently, it also banned re-

turning from overseas with a Med-

al of Honor, regardless of whether

the transaction was legal in the

country where it occurred.

In total, 3,526 Americans have

earned the Medal of Honor since it

was first authorized by Congress

in December 1861. More than

1,500 were issued in the Civil War,

which predates the current stan-

dards for consideration.

In some cases, a family line dies

out and there is no one to inherit a

medal. In other instances, recip-

ients or their families just don’t

want the medal anymore, said

Robert Wilson, who owns a store

called Tarbridge Military Collec-

tibles in Fayetteville, N.C., that

specializes in buying and selling

military items.

“These medals were the most

hated thing in my house,” Wilson

recounted a woman told him in his

shop as she sold her brother’s

medals decades after he was killed

in Vietnam. “She said, ‘They took

my brother and put those in place

of him.’ ”

However, there are plenty of

collectors out there “who volun-

teer their own time and money to

pay for the privilege of curating

this stuff,” said Jeff Schrader, a

military antique dealer in Bur-

fordville, Mo. “In reality, the work

that they are doing, is really why a

great many things will exist 100

years from now that would not oth-

erwise.”

Earlier this year, a Medal of

Honor presented to Army Pvt.

Thomas Kelly in 1899 for his ef-

forts in the Spanish-American

War turned up for sale in a Ger-

man auction house. It sold for

more than $15,000. Neither the

buyer nor seller were made pub-

lic, so how Kelly’s medal made its

way to Germany is not known.

At the time, Cruz made an un-

successful attempt to intervene

and halt the sale, as did the Nation-

al Medal of Honor Museum Foun-

dation, which is raising $185 mil-

lion to build a museum for the

Medal of Honor in Arlington, Tex-

as.

Hermann Historica, the Ger-

man auction house selling the

medal, offered to sell the medal di-

rectly to the museum. However,

the museum did not accept the of-

fer because returning it stateside

would have been illegal.

The LEGACY Act states the de-

fense secretary will have the au-

thority to approve organizations to

purchase and/or import Medals of

Honor back to America, but the

medal must go to a museum, edu-

cational institution, or back to the

service branch that originally

awarded it.

This path to repatriation is the

most important part of the bill,

said James Connors, CEO of the

museum foundation.

“It intends to stretch our law to

international law, but it’s going to

require cooperation with our al-

lies,” he said.

The museum is still about four

years away from opening its

doors, though it has already begun

to acquire Medals of Honor, main-

ly through family donations. This

year, they’ve accepted two medals

donated by the families of Army

Spc. Robert Law and Army Maj.

Charles Davis.

Davis’s son presented the foun-

dation with the medal that his fa-

ther received in 1943 for action in

World War II. The donation also

included letters that Davis wrote

to his wife about receiving the

medal. Law received the medal for

actions in the Vietnam War.

These and any other medals

housed in the museum will be the

“crowned jewels” of the collec-

tion, Connors said. Should Cruz’s

bill pass into law, Connors said

they would immediately file to get

approval to begin acquiring med-

als overseas and begin returning

them to America. They are al-

ready purchasing items off the

market that will aid in the mu-

seum’s storytelling and artifact

collection.

“Our mission is a patriotic mis-

sion and the LEGACY Act is, of

course, a patriot piece of legisla-

tion,” Connors said. “We’re con-

stantly on the lookout across the

world for opportunities. We’re still

in the process of raising the profile

and awareness of what [we are]

doing here in Arlington. I couldn’t

think of better way to do that than

to be the agent that repatriates a

medal or more than one medal.”

While Cruz’s law paves the way

for medals to come home for edu-

cational purposes, it does not allow

for collectors to apply for the waiv-

er to bring the medal home to keep

for themselves.

Wilson said he believes a repos-

itory such as the museum in Texas

could be beneficial for the Medal

of Honor. However, when it comes

to a medal such as the Purple

Heart, which has been issued 1.8

million times, it is far more diffi-

cult to say that a repository for all

of them is the best choice. In his

shop, an infantryman’s Purple

Heart can sell for about $350 to

$400. However, if the service

member was part of an elite unit or

battle, its price can jump into the

thousands.

As controversial as it is, Wilson

said assigning monetary value to

medals is what preserves them.

“I sell medals and to some peo-

ple that’s horrible,” he said. “I sell

medals because I don’t want them

to wind up in the landfill.”

However, Medals of Honor

might continue to end up overseas

because of the money, even at the

risk of breaking the law, said

Schrader, who owns Advance

Guard Militaria.

If Cruz wanted these medals

back in America, “the solution to

that is to lift the prohibition on

sales of them here in the United

States,” he said. “That would be a

very controversial thing, and I un-

derstand that a lot of people would

be very unhappy to hear that. But

the people who own them who are

not in a position to take the finan-

cial hit of giving them to a museum

when they want to sell them,

where do they go? They go illegally

to Europe and sell them.”

Proposed bill creates path to repatriate Medals of Honor BY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

thayer.rose@stripes.com Twitter: @Rose_Lori

Courtesy of Rob Shenk

The family of Army Spc. Robert Law donated the soldier’s Medal ofHonor to the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation.

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, December 23, 2020

WAR/MILITARY

KABUL, Afghanistan — A road-

side bomb tore through a vehicle

in the Afghan capital of Kabul on

Tuesday, killing at least five peo-

ple, three of them doctors, police

said.

The doctors worked at the Puli

Charkhi prison, Kabul’s main pen-

itentiary, and were killed as they

were on the way to their office in

the city’s Doghabad neighbor-

hood.

It was not immediately clear if

the doctors were targeted in the

attack. Their car, a white sedan,

did not appear to have any mark-

ings on it that indicated its passen-

gers were medical workers. The

vehicle was almost completely de-

stroyed in the blast.

Ferdaws Faramarz, a spokes-

man for the Kabul police chief,

said two others were wounded in

the attack.

Farhad Bayani, a spokesman

for the office of the prison admin-

istration, said that four prison staff

were killed in the blast, including

the three doctors and their driver.

He said that among those killed

was Nazefa Ibrahimi, the acting

health director of the prison. An-

other doctor was in serious condi-

tion.

The identity of the fifth person

killed was not immediately

known.

No one immediately claimed re-

sponsibility for the attack, which

damaged nearby buildings and

shops.

In other violence, late on Mon-

day Taliban insurgents launched

attacks against Afghan security

checkpoints in northern Baghlan

province, killing two security offi-

cers and wounding two others, ac-

cording to Jawed Basharat, a

spokesman for the provincial po-

lice chief.

He added that four Taliban

were also killed while two others

were wounded in the battle.

Also Monday, in northern Fa-

ryab province, at least two securi-

ty officers were killed and five oth-

ers were wounded when Taliban

militants detonated a vehicle full

of explosives in a market, said Ha-

nif Rezaie, a spokesman for the ar-

my in the country’s north.

On Sunday, at least nine people

were killed and around 20 others,

including a member of the parlia-

ment, were wounded in Kabul

when legislator Khan Mohammad

Wardak’s convoy was targeted by

a car bomb, according to the Af-

ghan Interior Ministry. Wardak

was wounded in the attack.

RAHMAT GUL/AP

Afghan security personnel and municipality workers remove a damaged vehicle after a roadside bomb inKabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday.

Afghan police say bomb tearsthrough car, killing 5 in Kabul

BY RAHIM FAIEZ

Associated Press

TOKYO — The U.S. military in

Japan and South Korea reported

another 32 cases of the coronavi-

rus as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, while

both countries continued to report

some of their highest daily num-

bers.

In Seoul, the South Korean Cen-

tral Disease Control Headquar-

ters reported 869 new cases across

the country on Monday, ending a

five-day run of more than 1,000

new cases per day.

U.S. Forces Korea reported that

two South Korean civilian workers

tested positive, one a contractor at

Camp Casey, the other a civilian

employee at Camp Humphreys,

according to a news release Mon-

day evening.

The contractor at Casey had

been quarantined at home since

Dec. 14 when he tested positive

Saturday. He was last at Casey on

Dec. 13, according to the com-

mand.

The Humphreys employee test-

ed positive Sunday and was last at

the base on Friday, according to

USFK.

Japan on Monday reported

2,643 newly infected individuals,

according to the World Health Or-

ganization. Tokyo on Tuesday re-

ported that 563 people tested posi-

tive for the virus, according to pub-

lic broadcaster NHK.

Yokosuka Naval Base, 35 miles

south of central Tokyo and home-

port of the 7th Fleet, reported that

20 people have tested positive for

the virus since Friday, according

to a base news release Tuesday.

Of them, six had fallen ill with

symptoms of COVID-19, the respi-

ratory illness associated with the

coronavirus; three patients were

identified by contact tracing; six

are recent arrivals to Japan.

The remaining five are base em-

ployees: Two were discovered by

contact tracing and three fell ill

and tested positive, according to

the base.

Another 16 were deemed reco-

vered from the virus. The base

said 68 patients are being moni-

tored by the base hospital.

Yokota Air Base in western To-

kyo, the headquarters of U.S.

Forces Japan, reported four new

cases of the virus Tuesday.

All four individuals were al-

ready in mandatory, two-week iso-

lation as required of new arrivals

to Japan from the United States

when their positive test results ar-

rived, according to a base Face-

book post. The base is monitoring

seven patients, it said.

At Kadena Air Base on Okina-

wa, another six people tested posi-

tive, according to base Facebook

posts Monday evening and Tues-

day.

On Tuesday, the base said a fam-

ily member of a previously infect-

ed person tested positive while in

quarantine since Thursday.

On Monday, Kadena reported

four individuals that “share the

same work location or family unit”

were quarantined Thursday after

they were identified as close con-

tacts of another infected person,

according to the base. The fifth

person, who recently traveled out-

side Japan, came up positive on a

test required of anyone prior to ex-

iting isolation.

Public health authorities on the

base identified an unspecified

number of close contacts and

quarantined them, too, according

to Kadena.

US military in S. Korea, Japan report 32 more coronavirus cases

ditzler.joseph@stripes.comTwitter: @JosephDitzler

BY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

KABUL, Afghanistan — Acting

Defense Secretary Christopher

Miller visited Afghanistan on

Wednesday, the second senior de-

fense official in a week to travel to

the region amid ongoing Taliban

violence against civilians and Af-

ghan security forces.

His mission, he said, was to make

certain that Afghan President Ash-

raf Ghani understands “we are still

behind him” despite the U.S. troop

drawdown there.

Miller met with Army Gen. Aus-

tin “Scott” Miller, the commander

of U.S. and coalition forces in Af-

ghanistan, Ghani and U.S. service

members.

The acting defense secretary’s

visit to the country follows a car

bomb explosion Sunday in Kabul

that killed nine people and wound-

ed 20 others. On Saturday, mili-

tants fired five rockets onto Ba-

gram Airfield in Parwan province,

the largest U.S. base in Afghanis-

tan, from a small truck parked in a

nearby village.

Afghanistan continues to see vi-

olence against government forces

and civilians by the Taliban and

other terrorist groups, such as the

Islamic State. A peace agreement

in February between the United

States and the Taliban laid out con-

ditions for the Taliban to meet, in-

cluding reducing violence and

stopping attacks on U.S. and NATO

troops. The United States in return

agreed to reduce the number of

troops in the country.

On Nov. 17, Christopher Miller

announced plans to reduce U.S.

forces in Afghanistan and Iraq by

Jan. 15, five days before President-

elect Joe Biden is sworn into office.

The new administration would

have 2,500 troops in Afghanistan

and 2,500 in Iraq, while the situa-

tion in both countries remains pre-

carious.

The U.S. and its NATO allies

have tried to get the Taliban to re-

duce the violence, according to a

senior defense official who spoke

on condition of anonymity.

“As to the levels of violence

against the [Afghan National Secu-

rity Forces] and civilians, no, the

Taliban have not made those com-

mitments. And [the violence] has

not been reduced,” he said.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of

Staff, met last week with Taliban

representatives in Doha, Qatar,

where they are holding negotia-

tions with the Afghan government.

For two hours, he discussed the

need for a reduction in violence in

Afghanistan, The Associated Press

reported. Milley has said the talks

did not lead to any breakthroughs.

Not only are attacks by the Tali-

ban a concern for the Pentagon, but

so are al-Qaida and ISIS activities

in the country.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the American

special envoy for Afghan reconcil-

iation, has warned that the violence

is “distressingly high” and could

threaten the peace agreement, ac-

cording to a recent Defense De-

partment inspector general report

on Afghanistan.

Miller said he told Ghani he was

sorry for the attacks in the country

and that the Afghan people were

paying the price for the violence.

Acting secretary ofdefense makes tripto visit Afghanistan

BY CAITLIN M. KENNEY

Stars and Stripes

kenney.caitlin@stripes.comTwitter: @caitlinmkenney

Wednesday, December 23, 2020 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

VIRUS OUTBREAK

NEWARK, Del. — President-

elect Joe Biden on Monday re-

ceived his first dose of the coro-

navirus vaccine on live television

as part of a growing effort to con-

vince the American public the in-

oculations are safe.

The president-elect took a dose

of Pfizer vaccine at a hospital not

far from his Delaware home,

hours after his wife, Jill Biden, did

the same. The injections came the

same day that a second vaccine,

produced by Moderna, was to

start arriving in states. It joins

Pfizer’s in the nation’s arsenal

against the COVID-19 pandemic,

which has now killed more than

317,000 people in the United

States and upended life around

the globe.

“I’m ready,” said Biden, who

was administered the dose at a

hospital in Newark, Del. The pres-

ident-elect rolled the left sleeve of

his turtleneck all the way up to his

shoulder, then declined the option

to count to three before the needle

was inserted into his left arm.

“You just go ahead anytime

you’re ready,” he told the nurse

practitioner who administered

the shot.

Biden emphasized the safety of

the vaccine, and said President

Donald Trump’s administration

“deserves some credit” for get-

ting the vaccine distribution proc-

ess “off the ground.”

“I’m doing this to demonstrate

that people should be prepared

when it’s available to take the vac-

cine,” he added. “There’s nothing

to worry about.”

He noted, however, that distri-

buting the vaccine is “going to

take time,” and urged Americans

to take precautions during the ho-

liday season to avoid the spread of

the virus, including wearing

masks.

“If you don’t have to travel,

don’t travel,” he said. “It’s really

important.”

Biden also thanked health care

workers, and offered praise and

an elbow bump to Tabe Mase, the

nurse practitioner who adminis-

tered his first dose of the vaccine.

Vice President-elect Kamala

Harris and her husband are ex-

pected to receive their first shots

next week.

Other top government officials

have been in the first wave of

Americans to be inoculated

against COVID-19 as part of the

largest largest vaccination cam-

paign in the nation’s history.

Vice President Mike Pence,

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-

Calif., Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and oth-

er lawmakers were given doses

Friday. They chose to publicize

their injections as part of a cam-

paign to convince Americans that

the vaccines are safe and effective

amid skepticism, especially

among Republicans.

President Donald Trump is dis-

cussing with his doctors the tim-

ing for taking the vaccine, the

White House has said. He tweeted

earlier this month that he was

“not scheduled” to take the vac-

cine but that he looked “forward

to doing so at the appropriate

time.”

The White House has offered

another reason for waiting, saying

Trump was showing support for

the most vulnerable to get the vac-

cine first.

Trump was hospitalized with

COVID-19 in October and given

an experimental monoclonal anti-

body treatment that he credited

for his swift recovery. A Centers

for Disease Control and Preven-

tion advisory board has said peo-

ple who received that treatment

should wait at least 90 days to be

vaccinated to avoid any potential

interference.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s

top infectious diseases expert,

and other experts have recom-

mended that Trump be vaccinat-

ed without delay as a precaution.

CAROLYN KASTER/AP

Presidentelect Joe Biden receives his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine from nurse partitioner TabeMase at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del., on Monday.

Biden gets COVID-19 vaccine,says ‘nothing to worry about’

Associated Press

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Ja-

pan — Hundreds of sailors from the

aircraft carrier USS Ronald Re-

agan are quarantined after having

close contact with others who test-

ed positive for the coronavirus, ac-

cording to emails between the

ship’s leaders.

About 350 Reagan sailors “are in

some form of” quarantine at Yoko-

suka, the carrier’s homeport, ac-

cording to executive officer Capt.

Matthew Ventimiglia, who started

an email chain Sunday between the

ship’s senior leaders. More than

100 are on board the ship. Some are

in isolation because they recently

arrived in Japan, according to Ven-

timiglia’s email.

Stars and Stripes on Tuesday ob-

tained the email chain, which in-

cludes messages from Reagan

commander Capt. Fred Goldham-

mer and senior medical officer

Capt. George Rice to department

heads and leading chief petty offi-

cers. Some quarantined sailors

may be out in time for the holidays.

Many “are on track to be released

this week” as the ship prepares to

conduct a “large test-out of quaran-

tine,” Ventimiglia wrote Sunday.

However, Reagan spokeswo-

man Lt. Cmdr. Dawn Stankus told

Stars and Stripes in an email Tues-

day that “there is no ‘push’ to get

sailors out of quarantine before the

holiday weekend because ship-

board leadership continues to take

the threat of COVID-19 seriously,”

referring to the respiratory disease

caused by the coronavirus.

Sailors quarantined on Christ-

mas “will receive care packages,

pizza and have an opportunity to

participate in a festive door deco-

rating contest,” Stankus said.

Meanwhile, the base is coping

with its largest coronavirus out-

break since the pandemic began,

base commander Capt. Rich Jar-

rett said in a Facebook video Fri-

day. As of Tuesday, the base report-

ed 68 people with the virus are be-

ing monitored by base medical pro-

fessionals, according to base public

affairs. No infected sailors are

aboard the Reagan, Stankus said.

The Reagan on Dec. 8 imple-

mented an “essential-personnel

only order” on the ship as coronavi-

rus cases increased, Stankus said.

That order was eased Friday, but

those who had close contact with

positive cases were ordered to

quarantine “for further observa-

tion and testing.”

About 260 quarantined Reagan

sailors are assigned to the V-2 divi-

sion, which maintains and operates

the ship’s steam catapults, Gold-

hammer wrote in the email chain

Tuesday. They have been under a

shelter-in-place order for more

than a week.

Of those, 150 have quarantined at

their homes, where conditions are

“painful but tolerable,” Goldham-

mer wrote in the email chain.

The remaining 110 were quaran-

tined aboard the ship, Goldham-

mer said. However, Stankus said

there were no sailors quarantined

on the ship as of Thursday night.

For them, being confined aboard

the carrier was “excruciating,”

Goldhammer wrote. Some were

seen huddling in bathrooms, trying

to get better wireless internet ac-

cess, according to his email.

“They were stuck on the ship and

not able to go anywhere, even on

the ship,” Goldhammer said in the

email.

Stankus said the quarantine has

had “no impact to mission and

readiness,” but Goldhammer in the

email chain said the carrier could

miss an opportunity for mainte-

nance and upgrades, called a se-

lected restricted availability, if

sailors can’t safely return to work.

“We understand the importance

of stopping the spread of COVID

quickly so that we can continue es-

sential work to sustain our ability to

deploy and answer needs of our na-

tion, allies and partners,” Stankus

said in her email to Stars and

Stripes.

Ventimiglia urged leaders

aboard the Reagan to stem the vi-

rus’s spread to accomplish the

work and allow the crew some time

off.

“I understand the timelines are

tight, but we’ve got to make tangi-

ble progress this week,” Ventimi-

glia wrote, “or we’ll quickly find

ourselves challenged to keep crew

health as required to maximize lib-

erty and SRA on track.”

Berthing areas recently ap-

peared to foster clusters of corona-

virus cases, according to the cap-

tain’s email. Three female sailors

from a 20-person berthing tested

positive Monday, for example.

Ventimiglia instructed officers

to consider reducing the number of

sailors in berthing at any one time

by rearranging sailors’ work

schedules, according to his email.

“This is an all-hands battle,”

Ventimiglia said in his email.

“Make sure your department has

taken a critical look at how COVID

could impact your team.”

350 sailors fromthe Reagan arein quarantine

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, December 23, 2020

VIRUS OUTBREAK

BERLIN — German pharma-

ceutical company BioNTech is

confident that its coronavirus vac-

cine works against the new U.K.

variant, but further studies are

needed to be completely sure, its

chief executive said Tuesday.

The variant, detected mainly in

London and the southeast of En-

gland in recent weeks, has

sparked concern worldwide be-

cause of signs that it may spread

more easily. While there is no in-

dication it causes more serious ill-

ness, numerous countries in Eu-

rope and beyond have restricted

travel from the U.K. as a result.

“We don’t know at the moment

if our vaccine is also able to pro-

vide protection against this new

variant,” CEO Ugur Sahin told a

news conference the day after the

vaccine was approved for use in

the European Union. “But scien-

tifically, it is highly likely that the

immune response by this vaccine

also can deal with the new virus

variants.”

Sahin said that the proteins on

the U.K. variant are 99% the same

as on the prevailing strains, and

therefore BioNTech has “scientif-

ic confidence” that its vaccine will

be effective.

“But we will know it only if the

experiment is done and we will

need about two weeks from now to

get the data,” he said. “The likeli-

hood that our vaccine works ... is

relatively high.”

Should the vaccine need to be

adjusted for the new variant the

company could do so in about 6

weeks, Sahin said, though regula-

tors might have to approve the

changes before the shots can be

used.

Having to adjust the vaccine

would be a blow for the rollout of

immunization campaigns and the

effort to rein in the pandemic that

has so far killed more than 1.7 mil-

lion people worldwide.

BioNTech’s vaccine, which was

developed together with U.S.

pharmaceutical company Pfizer,

has been authorized for use in

more than 45 countries including

Britain, the United States and the

EU. Hundreds of thousands of

people have already received the

shots.

The companies submitted data

to regulators showing the vaccine,

which goes by the brand name

COMIRNATY in Europe, is 95%

effective in preventing infection

with COVID-19.

“All countries across the EU

that have requested doses will re-

ceive them in the next five days,

the very initial supply, and that

will be followed up next week with

further supplies,” said Sean Ma-

rett, BioNTech’s chief commer-

cial officer.

The company is distributing su-

per-cooled batches of vaccine

across the 27-nation bloc by truck

and plane from a Pfizer plant in

Belgium. The EU has ordered 200

million doses of the vaccine, with

an option of 100 million more.

Marett said BioNTech is exam-

ining ways to deliver more than

the 1.3 billion doses currently

planned worldwide for 2021.

BioNTech CEO confident vaccine will work on variantAssociated Press

ANDREAS ARNOLD, DPA/ AP

Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNtech, speaks at the company's headquartersin Mainz, Germany, on Tuesday. Sahin says he is confidentBioNTech’s vaccine will work on the new variant of the coronavirus.

“The likelihood that our vaccineworks ... is relatively high.”

Ugur Sahin

BioNTech CEO

LONDON — Stranded Europe-

bound truckers hoped Tuesday to

receive the green light to get out

of Britain soon, after some of the

most dramatic travel restrictions

of the pandemic were imposed on

the country following the discov-

ery of a potentially more conta-

gious strain of the coronavirus.

More than 1,500 trucks snaked

along a major highway in south-

east England near the country’s

vital Channel ports or crowded

into a disused airport, illustrating

the scale of Britain’s isolation af-

ter countries from Canada to In-

dia banned flights from the U.K.

and France barred the entry of its

trucks for 48 hours beginning

Sunday night.

For a country of islands that re-

lies heavily on its commercial

links with France, that’s poten-

tially very serious — and raised

concerns of food shortages if the

restrictions weren’t lifted by

Wednesday.

Hopes increased over Tuesday

that the stranded drivers may

soon be able to get on the road

again as the European Union’s

executive arm pushed for a coor-

dinated response to the travel re-

strictions on the U.K. The Eu-

ropean Commission said people

returning to their home countries

or main places of residence

should be able to do so provided

they test negative test for the vi-

rus or quarantine.

Though Justice Commissioner

Didier Reynders said EU coun-

tries should work together to

“discourage nonessential travel”

between the bloc and Britain, he

said “blanket travel bans should

not prevent thousands of EU and

U.K. citizens from returning to

their homes.”

The commission added that

“cargo flows need to continue un-

interrupted.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel told

BBC radio that the British gov-

ernment is “speaking constantly”

with France to get freight moving

again. France has said it wants to

lift the ban as soon as possible

and is looking at ways of testing

drivers on their arrival.

Given that around 10,000

trucks pass through the Dover ev-

ery day, accounting for about 20%

of the country’s trade in goods,

retailers are getting increasingly

concerned if there is no resolu-

tion soon.

Andrew Opie, director of food

and sustainability at the British

Retail Consortium, warned of po-

tential shortages of food like let-

tuce, vegetables and fresh fruit

after Christmas if the borders are

not “running pretty much freely”

from Wednesday.

The problem, he explained, is

the empty trucks sitting in En-

gland can’t pick up new deliver-

ies for Britain.

“They need to get back to plac-

es like Spain to pick up the next

consignment of raspberries and

strawberries, and they need to get

back within the next day or so,

otherwise we will see disruption,”

he said.

Over the weekend, British

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

imposed strict lockdown mea-

sures in London and neighboring

areas amid mounting concerns

over the new variant to the virus,

which early indications show

might be 70% more transmissi-

ble.

As a result, Johnson scrapped a

planned relaxation of rules over

Christmastime for millions of

people and banned indoor mixing

of households. Only essential

travel will be permitted.

There are mounting concerns

that the whole of the U.K. will be

put into a national lockdown after

Christmas as new infections soar,

including in Wales where 90 sol-

diers from the British Army will

be reenlisted to drive vehicles

from Wednesday to support

health teams responding to emer-

gency calls.

The British government’s chief

scientific adviser, Patrick Val-

lance, warned Monday that mea-

sures “may need to be increased

in some places, in due course, not

reduced.” For many, that was

code for another national lock-

down.

While the new variant is being

assessed, countries were trying to

limit contact with Britain, even

though there is evidence of the

strain elsewhere already.

The chaos at the border comes

at a time of huge uncertainty for

Britain, less than two weeks be-

fore it completes its exit from the

EU and frees itself from the

bloc’s rules. Talks on a post-Brex-

it trade relationship between the

two sides are deadlocked.

UK strives to

end France’s ban

on truck travel

SKY / AP

In this aerial photo taken from video, trucks are parked in a holding area at a former airfield in Manston,England. The goods trucks are waiting to get out of Britain as France barred travel from the UK for 48hours because of a new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus in England. 

Associated Press

Wednesday, December 23, 2020 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

VIRUS OUTBREAK

WASHINGTON — Congress

passed a $900 billion pandemic re-

lief package that would finally de-

liver long-sought cash to business-

es and individuals and resources to

vaccinate a nation confronting a

frightening surge in COVID-19

cases and deaths.

Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 tril-

lion catchall spending bill and

thousands of pages of other end-of-

session business in a massive bun-

dle of bipartisan legislation as Cap-

itol Hill prepared to close the books

on the year. The bill approved Mon-

day night went to President Donald

Trump for his signature, which was

expected in the coming days.

The relief package, unveiled

Monday afternoon, sped through

the House and Senate in a matter of

hours. The Senate cleared the

package by a 92-6 vote after the

House approved it by another lop-

sided vote, 359-53. The tallies were

a bipartisan coda to months of par-

tisanship and politicking, a logjam

that broke after President-elect

Joe Biden urged his party to accept

a compromise with top Republi-

cans that is smaller than many

Democrats would have liked.

The bill combines coronavirus-

fighting funds with financial relief

for individuals and businesses. It

would establish a temporary $300

per week supplemental jobless

benefit and a $600 direct stimulus

payment to most Americans, along

with a new round of subsidies for

hard-hit businesses, restaurants

and theaters and money for

schools, health care providers and

renters facing eviction.

The 5,593-page legislation — by

far the longest bill ever — came to-

gether Sunday after months of bat-

tling, posturing and postelection

negotiating that reined in a number

of Democratic demands as the end

of the congressional session ap-

proached. Biden was eager for a

deal to deliver long-awaited help to

suffering people and a boost to the

economy, even though it was less

than half the size that Democrats

wanted in the fall.

“This deal is not everything I

want — not by a long shot,” said

Rules Committee Chairman Jim

McGovern, D-Mass., a long-stand-

ing voice in the party’s old-school

liberal wing. “The choice before us

is simple. It’s about whether we

help families or not. It’s about

whether we help small businesses

and restaurants or not. It’s about

whether we boost (food stamp)

benefits and strengthen anti-hun-

ger programs or not. And whether

we help those dealing with a job loss

or not. To me, this is not a tough

call.”

Congress also approved a one-

week stopgap spending bill to avert

a partial government shutdown at

midnight and give Trump time to

sign the sweeping legislation.

Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin, a key negotiator, said on

CNBC on Monday morning that the

direct payments would begin ar-

riving in bank accounts next week.

Democrats promised more aid to

come once Biden takes office, but

Republicans were signaling a wait-

and-see approach.

The measure would fund the

government through September,

wrapping a year’s worth of action

on annual spending bills into a sin-

gle package that never saw Senate

committee or floor debate. Similar-

ly, a $328 billion tax title — includ-

ing $164 billion for the $600 stimu-

lus checks — never saw prior legis-

lative action until being bundled in-

to the end-of-session grab bag.

The legislation followed a

tortured path. Democrats played

hardball up until Election Day,

amid accusations that they wanted

to deny Trump a victory that might

help him prevail. Democrats de-

nied that, but their demands indeed

became more realistic after

Trump’s loss and as Biden made it

clear that half a loaf was better than

none.

The final bill bore ample resem-

blance to a $1 trillion package put

together by Senate Republican

leaders in July, a proposal that at

the time was scoffed at by House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as

way too little.

Majority Leader Mitch McCon-

nell, R-Ky., took a victory lap after

blocking far more ambitious legis-

lation from reaching the Senate

floor. He said the pragmatic ap-

proach of Biden was key.

“The president-elect suggesting

that we needed to do something

now was helpful in moving both Pe-

losi and Schumer into a better

place,” McConnell told reporters.

“My view about what comes next is

let’s take a look at it. Happy to eval-

uate that based upon the needs that

we confront in February and

March.”

On direct payments, the bill pro-

vides $600 to individuals making

up to $75,000 per year and $1,200 to

couples making up to $150,000,

with payments phased out for high-

er incomes. An additional $600

payment will be made per depend-

ent child, similar to the last round of

relief payments in the spring.

Congress passes$900B relief billTrump expected to sign measure, whichincludes financial aid, funds to battle virus

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cali-

fornia has recorded a half-million

coronavirus cases in the last two

weeks, overwhelming emergency

rooms in urban centers and rural

areas including along the Mexi-

can border where a small hospital

system warns it is fast running

out of patient beds.

The state could be facing a

once-unthinkable caseload of

nearly 100,000 hospitalizations

within a month, Gov. Gavin News-

om said Monday.

Conditions at El Centro Region-

al Medical Center in the southeast

corner of the state are desperate,

even worse than during a sum-

mer surge that caught the atten-

tion of the governor, hospital offi-

cials said.

“We don’t have space for any-

body. We’ve been holding pa-

tients for days because we can’t

get them transferred, can’t get

beds for them," said Dr. Alexis

Lenz, an emergency room physi-

cian at the medical center in Im-

perial County, home to 180,000

people.

Of the 175 patients at the hospi-

tal on Monday, 131 had COVID-19.

The facility licensed for 161 beds

has erected a 50-bed tent in its

parking lot and was converting

three operating rooms to virus

care.

Newsom, himself quarantined

for the second time in two

months, said a state projection

model shows previously unfath-

omable hospitalization numbers

and he’s likely to extend his stay-

at-home order for much of the

state next week.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s

secretary of Health and Human

Services, said it’s feared entire ar-

eas of the state may run out of

room even in their makeshift

“surge” capacity units “by the

end of the month and early in Ja-

nuary.” In response, the state is

updating its planning guide for

how hospitals would ration care if

everyone can’t get the treatment

they need, he said.

“Our goal is to make sure those

plans are in place, but work hard

to make sure no one has to put

them into place anywhere in Cali-

fornia,” Ghaly said.

It hopes to accomplish that by

beefing up temporary staffing,

opening makeshift hospitals in

places like gymnasiums, tents

and a vacant NBA arena, and by

sending patients to regions of the

state that might have precious re-

maining beds.

California is enduring by far its

worst spike in cases and hospital-

izations. All of Southern Califor-

nia and the 12-county San Joaquin

Valley to the north have been out

of regular ICU capacity for days.

California is averaging almost

44,000 newly confirmed cases a

day and has recorded 525,000 in

the last two weeks. It’s estimated

12% of those who test positive end

up in the hospital. That means

63,000 hospitalizations from the

last 14 days of cases. The current

figure is 17,190.

The state’s public health de-

partment in June released crisis

planning guidelines for hospitals

and other care facilities during

the pandemic. It provides de-

tailed guidance for how to man-

age care decisions when re-

sources are scarce.

The goal is the best possible

outcome for the largest number of

people, the document says.

The guidelines emphasize the

importance of planning for crisis

scenarios and of ensuring deci-

sions are not made based on dis-

criminatory factors such as age,

race, disability, gender, socioec-

onomic status, insurance status.

The document outlines best

practices for “proactive triage”

that must occur when a hospital

has exhausted its resources. A ba-

sic graphic shows the first consid-

eration should be whether a pa-

tient is actively dying or certain to

die, in which case they should on-

ly be given palliative care.

For patients not in that catego-

ry, care providers are broadly

asked to assess a person’s progno-

sis of survival compared to others

when determining how to allocate

limited resources.

Los Angeles is among the har-

dest hit areas of the state but its

hospitals aren’t there yet, LA

County Department of Health

Services Director Dr. Christina

Ghaly said Monday. They are in

the contingency stage, which

means shifting around staff and

equipment.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Gar-

cetti said experts have drawn “a

straight line” between the current

spikes in cases and Thanksgiving

gatherings and warned people to

stay home in the coming weeks.

“If you gather for the holidays,

our hospitals will be overrun,”

Garcetti said. “This is not a good

sign, and it’s a recipe for a Christ-

mas and New Year’s surge.”

Newsom gave Monday’s brief-

ing from his home as he began a

10-day quarantine Sunday for the

second time in two months after a

staff member tested positive for

the virus. The governor was test-

ed and his result came back nega-

tive.

JAE C. HONG/AP

Nurses prepare to help a COVID19 patient get into a prone position at Providence Holy Cross MedicalCenter in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles on Thursday.

100K in hospital within monthpossible, Calif. governor says

Associated Press

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, December 23, 2020

NATION

WASHINGTON — Competing

crises are slamming the U.S. Post-

al Service days before Christmas,

imperiling the delivery of millions

of packages as the mail agency

contends with spiking coronavi-

rus case numbers among its work-

force, unprecedented volumes of

e-commerce orders and the con-

tinuing fallout from a hobbled

cost-cutting program launched by

the postmaster general.

Nearly 19,000 of the agency’s

644,000 workers have called in

sick or are isolating because of the

coronavirus, according to the

American Postal Workers Union.

Meanwhile, packages have

stacked up at some postal facili-

ties, leading employees to push

them aside to create narrow walk-

ways on shop floors.

Some processing plants are re-

fusing to accept new mail ship-

ments. The backlogs are so pro-

nounced that some managers

have reached out to colleagues in

hope of diverting mail shipments

to nearby facilities. But often,

those places are full, too. Mean-

while, packages sit on trucks for

days waiting for floor space to

open so their loads can be sorted.

The end result: Many families

will not see online orders arrive in

time for Christmas Day.

Through Dec. 12, the start of the

Postal Service’s busiest period for

package deliveries, parcel volume

was up 14% compared with the

same period in 2019, the agency

told mailing industry officials.

That surge has employees in some

areas working upward of 80 hours

a week, including some who have

worked every day since Thanks-

giving without a weekend.

Adding to the slowdowns is on-

the-ground confusion over the

cost-cutting initiatives that Post-

master General Louis DeJoy im-

plemented over the summer and

paused at the direction of five fed-

eral courts. The Postal Service

has appealed several of those rul-

ings.

In the meantime, those battles

have created uncertainty in the

ranks about specific delivery pro-

cedures.

While the perfect storm of cri-

ses probably will delay millions of

holiday packages and greeting

cards, other more essential items,

including prescription medica-

tions, bills and benefits checks, al-

so may be stuck in limbo.

U.S. Postal Service spokesman

David Partenheimer said the

agency is flexing its network to

ensure that it is able to sort, proc-

ess and deliver the mail despite

the staff shortages and capacity

challenges. “Our entire Oper-

ations team, from collections, to

processing to delivery, worked

throughout this past weekend and

continues to work round-the-

clock to address the historic vol-

ume,” he said.

Millions of presents may arrivelate due to USPS package delays

The Washington Post

SAN FRANCISCO — The

rush to finish holiday shopping

is on, only this time instead of

filling up malls, people are fill-

ing up online carts.

That has resulted in delays,

earlier shipping cutoffs and

shoppers testing their under-

standing while they wait for

deliveries.

That’s on top of what retail

analysts say is more than two

years of e-commerce growth

crammed into a year, causing

major growing pains as ship-

ping networks, warehouses

and supply chains rushed to

keep up with demand. Adding

to the crunch, the companies

were scrambling to figure out

how to try to keep workers

safe and socially distanced,

slowing things down.

U.S. online shopping sales

are projected to reach $795

billion this year, a 32% gain

from last year, according to re-

search firm eMarketer.

Shipping giants UPS and Fe-

dEx have been controlling vol-

ume from retailers and turn-

ing down requests for addi-

tional deliveries beyond what

was decided months ago. That

has put even more strain on

the U.S. Postal Service to pick

up the slack.

The “historic record of holi-

day volume compounded by a

temporary employee shortage

due to the COVID-19 surge,

and capacity challenges with

airlifts and trucking for mov-

ing this historic volume of mail

are leading to temporary de-

lays,” the agency said in a

statement.

Online shopping rushgood for e-commerce, badfor last-minute shoppers

The Washington Post

HONOLULU — Kilauea volca-

no on Hawaii’s Big Island roared

back to life Sunday night as lava

went shooting into the air, boiling

away a water lake and sending a

massive plume of steam, gas and

ash soaring into the atmosphere.

In the first hours of the erup-

tion, lava mixed rapidly with wa-

ter in the summit’s crater lake to

create steam. The sky above the

eruption turned shades of orange

and red as people lined up to

watch the billowing column of

gas and vapor rise above the vol-

cano in the middle of the night.

Tom Birchard, a senior fore-

caster with the National Weather

Service in Hawaii, said lava

poured into the crater and mixed

with the water to cause a vigorous

eruption for about an hour. When

lava interacts with water it can

cause explosive reactions.

All the water evaporated out of

the lake and a steam cloud shot

up about 30,000 feet into the at-

mosphere, Birchard said.

The water was the first ever re-

corded in the summit crater of

Kilauea volcano. In 2019, after a

week of questions about a myste-

rious green patch at the bottom of

the volcano’s crater, researchers

confirmed the presence of water.

The lake had continued to fill

since then.

The eruption began late Sun-

day within the volcano’s caldera,

the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Because of the location of the

erupting lava, no homes were

evacuated and there was little

risk to the public. The crater,

named Halemaumau, is located

within Hawaii Volcanoes Nation-

al Park and was home to a long-

standing lava lake that was pre-

sent for years before a 2018 erup-

tion caused it to drain.

The eruption continued

throughout Monday and scien-

tists said it’s hard to know how

long it will last. With the water

gone, a lava lake was forming in

the crater throughout the day.

An advisory was issued by the

National Weather Service in Ho-

nolulu, warning of fallen ash from

the volcano. Excessive exposure

to ash is an eye and respiratory

irritant, it said. The agency later

said the eruption was easing and

a “low-level steam cloud” was lin-

gering in the area.

Hawaii Volcanoes National

Park spokeswoman Jessica Fer-

racane said in a telephone inter-

view that the volcanic activity is a

risk to people in the park and that

caution is needed.

“It’s pretty spectacular this

morning,” she said, “but there

are high amounts of hazardous

sulfur dioxide gas and particu-

lates and those are billowing out

of the crater right now and those

present a danger to everyone, es-

pecially people with heart or re-

spiratory problems, infants,

young children and pregn