Government reshuffle, 5 February 2021
02/05/2021 | 10:29am EDT
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Required fields Prime Minister Stefan Löfven today announced a government reshuffle. Two new ministers have been appointed, and two ministers have been given revised areas of responsibility. Minister Isabella Lövin is leaving her post. Newly appointed ministers Ministry of Employment Ministry for Foreign Affairs Ministers with revised areas of responsibility Ministry of Finance Ministry of the Environment
Attachments
Foreign Minister
Pekka Haavisto (Green) will visit St. Petersburg on Monday 15 February for a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, according to an announcement from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The ministers are expected to discuss the arrest and detention of Russian opposition leader
Alexei Navalny, EU-Russia relations and the current situations in Nagorno-Karabakh, Belarus and Ukraine.
Finland and other EU countries have objected to the treatment of Navalny, who was jailed for three-and-a-half years earlier this week on a charge of violating the conditions of a suspended sentence.
Haavisto tweeted earlier this week that the sentence handed down to the opposition leader was unjustified.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs News item
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs urges to avoid all travel to the Brazil, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom in accordance with the recommendation of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. For all other countries, the Foreign Ministry’s general travel advice due to the COVID-19 pandemic is to avoid all but essential travel.
The coronavirus pandemic remains a major global risk to travel safety, and the situation may deteriorate abruptly and unpredictably in any country or region. Travellers may face limited access to healthcare, quarantine and restrictions on being outdoors. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has only limited capabilities to assist travellers in distress during the pandemic.
Race Emerges as Vaccine Problem; U.S. Cases Slow: Virus Update Bloomberg 1/31/2021
(Bloomberg)
Initial data from New York City show “profound” racial disparities in who is receiving the vaccine, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. New York state reported the fewest new cases in more than a month. Across the U.S., infections continue to slow.
A top health adviser to President Joe Biden warned that a new variant of the coronavirus circulating in the U.K. will likely become the dominant strain in the U.S. Ten Republican senators have proposed an alternative plan for Covid-19 economic stimulus costing about $660 billion.