Kenya receives more than 1 million vaccines through COVAX
Kenya has received more than 1 million Covid-19 vaccines as part of the global COVAX program, according to a news release from the country’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday. A plane carrying 1.02 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine touched down just before midnight Tuesday...
Explosion reported near Covid-19 test center in the Netherlands
An explosion has been reported near a Covid-19 testing center in the Netherlands, police officers said Wednesday. No injuries resulted from the incident, which took place in the northwestern province of North Holland. The blast comes in the wake of several anti-lockdown demonstrations in the...
German Chancellor and state premiers to discuss extending Covid-19 lockdown
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet with 16 state premiers on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the next steps in combating the coronavirus crisis. Under discussion will be whether to extend the current lockdown till March 28, as well as the possibility of loosening...
Trump impeachment: When is his Senate trial and will he testify?
Donald Trump is about to stand trial in the US Senate for his role in the riot at the Capitol on 6 January. He says he won’t give evidence himself, so what can we expect? The former president is the first in US history to...
Covax: Canada defends taking vaccines from sharing scheme
Canada has defended its decision to draw on a supply of coronavirus vaccines from a global inoculation-sharing initiative known as Covax. Covax pools funds from wealthier countries to help buy vaccines for themselves and low-income nations. The scheme has announced a plan to deliver more...
Yemen war: Joe Biden ends support for operations in foreign policy reset
The US is to end its support for offensive operations by its allies in Yemen, which has been devastated by a six-year war in which more than 110,000 people are believed to have died. “The war in Yemen must end,” President Joe Biden said in...
Fauci hopes Covid-19 vaccinations for older children can start in late spring or summer
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he hopes there will be data to support Covid-19 vaccinations for older children by the late spring or summer. “I am hoping we will have the data to support initiating COVID-19...
Italy recommends AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 55
Italy will administer the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to people under 55 years old. They will start administering the vaccine to schoolteachers, army and police forces, prison staff and inmates. The decision follows a Wednesday meeting between the government and regional governors to discuss the country’s...
Africa will receive nearly 90 million vaccines from COVAX by February
Africa is to receive nearly 90 million Covid-19 vaccines in February in what will be the continent’s “largest ever mass vaccination campaign,” the World Health Organization announced in a statement on Thursday. In the statement, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said: “Africa...
Germany sees a new tougher line on China and Russia as Merkel leaves the political stage
FRANKFURT — Putting trade and business interests first has always been the German government’s mantra when it comes to the country’s relationship with China and Russia. Be it “Wandel durch handel,” which translates as “change through trade” in the case of China. German officials have...
Vaccine Rollout Gives U.K. a Rare Win in the Pandemic
Because the vaccine could only be refrigerated for three days once it reached the clinic, health care workers knew they had to inject 400 doses a day by Sunday to use up the supply. There was already a line of people waiting for “jabs,” so...
Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military seizes control
Myanmar’s military has taken control of the country after detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other politicians in the early hours. Military TV said a state of emergency had been declared for one year and power transferred. The coup comes after tensions...
Ongoing siege following car explosion at hotel gate in Somalia’s capital
Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN)Somalia security forces are fighting armed gunmen to end a siege at a hotel in the east African country’s capital Mogadishu on Sunday that has claimed the life of the country’s former defense minister, according to police. Police told CNN the country’s former...
Thousands detained in Russia amid rallies for Alexey Navalny
Moscow Record numbers of protesters were detained in Russia on Sunday, as demonstrations erupted across the country in support of detained opposition leader Alexey Navalny. At least 5,045 people were detained, with more than 1,600 in Moscow alone. That marks a record-high in detentions since...
Navalny slams ‘illegal’ Russian case against him
Russian anti-Putin campaigner Alexei Navalny has denounced his detention as “demonstratively illegal” in an appeal hearing via video link. A judge heard, and then rejected, his appeal against detention for 30 days. He was arrested on 17 January for not complying with a suspended sentence....
Coronavirus: Germany facing ’10 tough weeks’ of vaccine shortages
Germany is likely to face a shortage of coronavirus vaccines until at least April, the country’s health minister has warned. “We will still have at least 10 tough weeks with a shortage,” Jens Spahn wrote on Twitter. The pace of Germany’s rollout has been criticised,...
Covid: WHO probe team in China exits Wuhan quarantine
A World Health Organization (WHO) team has come out of quarantine and will start on-the-ground investigations into the origins of the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The scientists will begin interviewing people from research institutes, hospitals and the seafood market linked to the...
Coronavirus: Man killed at protest against Lebanon’s total lockdown
A man has died after protesters angry with a total coronavirus lockdown and dire economic conditions clashed with riot police in the Lebanese city of Tripoli for a third consecutive night. Omar Tayba, 29, was among 220 people injured during the unrest. His brother said...
Carlos Holmes Trujillo: Colombian defence minister dies with Covid-19
Colombia’s defence minister has died in hospital after contracting coronavirus, the government has announced. Carlos Holmes Trujillo, 69, was taken to hospital with Covid-19 earlier this month and had developed viral pneumonia. “Colombia has lost one of its best men,” President Ivan Duque said on...
Coronavirus: EU to tighten vaccine exports amid row with AstraZeneca
The EU has warned it will tighten exports of Covid vaccines produced in the bloc, amid a row with AstraZeneca over a cut in planned supplies. Last week, AstraZeneca told the EU it was falling behind on its supply target because of production problems. Pfizer-BioNTech...
Italian PM Conte to resign following pandemic criticism
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is set to hand in his resignation on Tuesday, following criticism of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 85,000 Italians have died with Covid-19. Mr Conte hopes to be given a mandate by the president to form a...
Japan’s daily coronavirus cases fall below 3,000 for first time since December
Japan confirmed 2,765 new coronavirus infections on Monday, falling below 3,000 new daily cases for the first time since December 28, according to the country’s Health Ministry. The country’s total number of cases now stands at 368,855, with the death toll rising by 74 Monday...
0.01% of people tested positive for coronavirus after two vaccine doses, Israeli data shows
About 0.01% of a large group of people who received two doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine tested positive for coronavirus after their second shot — and those patients had only a mild illness, according to preliminary data from an Israeli health care system. Maccabi Healthcare...
Biden to sign 10 executive orders to tackle Covid
President Joe Biden is set to sign 10 executive orders to boost the fight against Covid which has ravaged the US. Vaccination will be accelerated and testing increased. Emergency legislation will be used to increase production of essentials like masks. In a break with former...
Biden inauguration: Trump leaves White House vowing ‘we will be back’
Donald Trump has vowed he will be “back in some form” after departing the White House for the final time as president. He told supporters as he prepared to fly to Florida that it had been “a great honour to be your president”. He is...
Kamala Harris becomes first female, first black and first Asian-American VP
Kamala Harris has made history as the first female, first black and first Asian-American US vice-president. She was sworn in just before Joe Biden took the oath of office to become the 46th US president. Ms Harris, who is of Indian-Jamaican heritage, initially ran for...
UK and EU in row over bloc’s diplomatic status
A diplomatic row has broken out between the UK and EU over the status of the bloc’s ambassador in London. The UK is refusing to give Joao Vale de Almeida the full diplomatic status that is granted to other ambassadors. The Foreign Office is insisting...
Migrant caravan: Mexico presses US to reform immigration policies
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has urged the US to make major reforms to its immigration policy as thousands of migrants were blocked by police in neighbouring Guatemala. Mr Lopez Obrador said he was hopeful that President-elect Joe Biden would agree to work with...
Iraq attack: Twin suicide bombings in central Baghdad kill 20
At least 20 people have been killed and 40 others injured in a twin suicide bombing at a crowded commercial area in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, officials say. The bombers blew themselves up at a clothing market in Tayaran Square as they were pursued by security...
Vaccination rates highlight stark differences between Israelis and Palestinians
Kafr ‘Aqab (CNN)Two young men work side-by-side in a butcher’s shop. They live in the same teeming and densely packed town. One is fortunate — he’s eligible to get an Israeli Covid-19 vaccination. The other isn’t. Both are Palestinian residents of Kafr ‘Aqab, a finger...