Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson told a G20 health summit Friday they will supply around 3.5 billion vaccine doses at cost or discount to middle and low income countries this year and next. Pfizer will deliver two billion doses, Moderna “up to” 995 million doses, and Johnson and Johnson “up to 500 billion doses”, representatives of the three pharmaceutical companies said. © Agence France-Presse
PARIS, France (AFP) — France will confer a special honour on health workers who die from Covid while fighting the pandemic, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday. He said a status called “died in the service of the republic” would be created to honour public employees who lose their life “in exceptional circumstances”. A similar “died in the service of the nation” status already exists for police and the military, while “died for France” is […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain will allow all vaccinated travellers to visit the country from June 7, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Friday, as the tourism hotspot aims to revive its virus-battered travel industry. “From June 7, all vaccinated people and their families will be welcome in our country, Spain, regardless of their country of origin,” Sanchez said at an international tourism fair in Madrid. He also announced that British travellers would be allowed to […]
by John HADOULIS ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Hundreds of Greek firefighters fought for a second day on Friday to bring a large forest blaze under control, with better weather conditions providing hope the flames could be subdued. Nearly 300 firefighters battled throughout the night to keep the fire contained on the Geraneia mountain range, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Athens. “Conditions are much better (today),” fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told Skai TV, adding […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday welcomed a ceasefire brokered between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, after 11 days of deadly fighting. “Good that there is now a ceasefire,” Maas tweeted, a day after he visited Israel and Ramallah for talks. “Now we have to deal with the causes, rebuild trust and find a solution to the Middle East conflict,” he said. © […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The Eiffel Tower will reopen on July 16 after several months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Paris landmark’s operator said on Thursday. Visitor numbers will be limited to 10,000 a day to meet social distancing requirements, fewer than half of their pre-Covid levels, operator Sete told AFP. All floors of the monument will be accessible to visitors, except some areas where renovation work is ongoing. Only 50 percent […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Progress against the coronavirus pandemic remains “fragile” and international travel should be avoided, the World Health Organization’s Europe director warned on Thursday but stressed that authorized vaccines do work against variants of concern. “Right now, in the face of a continued threat and new uncertainty, we need to continue to exercise caution, and rethink or avoid international travel,” Hans Kluge said, adding that “pockets of increasing transmission” on the continent could […]
by Hazel Ward with Daniel Silva in Madrid CEUTA, Spain (AFP) — The seas were calm along the Moroccan-Spanish frontier late Wednesday with no sign of swimmers trying to reach Spain’s north African Ceuta enclave after a record 8,000 arrivals in just one day. Spanish authorities were caught by surprise when large numbers of people began flooding across the frontier on Monday as the Moroccan border forces looked the other way, quickly leaving the tiny […]
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Thousands of people, some of them shaken, were evacuated Wednesday from a neighbourhood of Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt following the discovery of a massive World War II bomb. City authorities said 25,000 people were evacuated from the densely populated Nordend area after the 500 kilogram bomb was unearthed during construction work. Bomb disposal teams are due to detonate the explosive once they cover it with soil, the authorities said. People sheltering […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Around 8,000 migrants have arrived in Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta since Monday, and around half have been sent back to Morocco, the Spanish government said Tuesday. Madrid will send another 50 police officers to the territory, in addition to the 200 already announced, to boost border controls, it added in a statement. “In addition another 150 officers are on alert in case their deployment to Ceuta is needed,” the […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria will phase out AstraZeneca from its Covid-19 immunization program because of delivery problems and wariness among the population following reports of the vaccine’s rare side effects, the health minister said. Austria becomes the third European country, after Norway and Denmark, to completely drop the AstraZeneca vaccine from its national immunization program over rare cases of severe blood clots in people receiving the jab. “We will probably continue to do first […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The United States’ top military officer has warned the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas is creating instability beyond Gaza, saying it is “in no one’s interest to continue fighting”. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, speaking to journalists while flying to Brussels for a NATO meeting, urged both sides in the conflict to de-escalate, echoing comments from President Joe Biden, who has said he backs a […]
