WASHINGTON – The US administration of Joe Biden will purchase 500 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine to donate globally, according to a report on Wednesday. The Washington Post cited three people familiar with the plans who said Biden will announce the plan at the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Britain later this week. … Read More
LONDON – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will meet US President Joe Biden in London on June 13, the Buckingham Palace announced Thursday. “The Queen will meet the President of the United States of America and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle on Sunday, 13th June 2021,” the Royal Family official account tweeted. The meeting … Read More
ANKARA – Over two billion coronavirus vaccine shots have so far been administered worldwide, figures compiled by Our World in Data, a tracking website, showed on Thursday. China leads the global count with 704.83 million jabs, followed by the US with 296.91 million. India has administered 221.4 million shots, Brazil 68.92 million, the UK 65.66 … Read More
JERUSALEM – The Knesset (Israel’s parliament) on Wednesday elected Isaac Herzog a new president for the country, succeeding Reuven Rivlin whose term as president has ended. Herzog, a former Labour Party leader, became the 11th president of Israel. According to the Knesset news channel, Herzog received 87 votes of the 120 Knesset members during secret … Read More
BEIJING – The world’s first case of a human being infected with the bird flu virus H10N3 has been registered in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, the National Health Commission said in a news release on Tuesday. At the end of April, a 41-year-old man in the city of Zhenjiang felt he was running a temperature. … Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – More than 120,000 people are currently displaced in Myanmar amid growing conflict between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups, according to a UN report released on Friday. Fighting has particularly intensified in Kachin, Kayin, northern Shan, Chin, and Kayah states, resulting in the internal displacement of a total of 120,900 … Read More
ANKARA – China on Monday further relaxed its family planning policy and allowed couples to have three children, the state-run media said. According to Global Times, the Chinese government has decided to improve its population structure and counter the country’s aging population problem. The authorities are also planning to improve the maternity leave and maternity … Read More
NEW DELHI – India reported the highest daily figure for deaths due to the coronavirus on Wednesday, the country’s Health Ministry said. With 4,529 new deaths, the nationwide tally has reached 283,248. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s top research body, said 2,008,296 people were tested on Tuesday. So far, more than … Read More
WASHINGTON – The US House on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill aimed at combating the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the country, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk for signature. The Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act passed in a 364-62 vote in the House, with all no votes coming from Republicans. … Read More
OVIEDO, Spain – Vaccinating coronavirus patients who have received the AstraZeneca jab with the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective, according to preliminary results from a Spanish study published Tuesday. The small clinical trial led by Spain’s Carlos III Health Institute found that mixing the vaccines could provide greater protection against the virus. The neutralizing … Read More
GAZA CITY, Palestine – The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the start of the offensive on the Gaza Strip has risen to 213, including 61 children and 36 women, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry said Tuesday the number of injuries also climbed to 1,442. The Israeli military has … Read More
JAKARTA – Fifteen Indonesian provinces, most of them located in Sumatra, have reported a rise in active coronavirus cases, chief of the Committee for Covid-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN), Airlangga Hartarto, has said. “But if we look at (the data), the weekly cases in Sumatra Island are showing an upward trend compared to … Read More
LONDON – Major sectors of the UK society are set to reopen on Monday as coronavirus restrictions are further eased across England, Wales, and parts of Scotland. Northern Ireland will review its measures later this week. Despite growing concerns over the spread of highly contagious Indian variant of the virus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised … Read More
ANKARA – The death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip has risen to 212, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday. The grim figure includes 61 children, 35 women and 16 elderly people, the ministry said in a statement, while 1,400 people have been injured during the offensive. The Israeli … Read More
LONDON – British Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned Sunday that the coronavirus variant first detected in India can “spread like wildfire” among those who haven’t had a jab. The variant is “becoming the dominant strain in some parts of the country” such as Bolton and Blackburn, he told Sky News. On a more positive note, … Read More
GAZA, Palestine – Israel on Sunday bombarded a health facility in Gaza with two missiles, an official statement said. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, the missiles hit the Al-Daraj Martyrs Health Center, majorly damaging the structure and rendering it inoperable. The statement called on the international community to intervene for the protection … Read More
WASHINGTON – Eighteen states in the United States and some major-label businesses have announced plans as of Saturday to drop public mask mandates either immediately or in the weeks to come, but other states such as California, New York, and New Jersey are moving forward with caution. Many Americans went maskless in public on Friday … Read More
GENEVA – The second year of the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection may result in a higher death toll than the first one, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a briefing in Geneva on Friday. “Covid-19 has already cost more than 3.3 million lives, and we are … Read More
ANKARA – The United Nations (UN) on Friday estimated that about 10,000 Palestinians have had to leave their homes in Gaza “due to the ongoing hostilities” amid an Israeli offensive. “They are sheltering in schools, mosques, and other places during a global Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic with limited access to water, food, hygiene, and … Read More
GENEVA – World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, he announced on Twitter, urging everyone to get vaccinated against Covid-19, if there is a vaccine available in the country. “Today it was my turn to get vaccinated against #COVID19. Vaccines save lives. It’s critical to get them to … Read More