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BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Thursday said he was against a US-backed proposal to waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines and that production should be ramped up in existing facilities instead. In an interview with AFP, Bourla said his company, which developed its vaccine with German firm BioNTech, was “not at all” in favour of the call from the United States to waive patent protections for coronavirus jabs. The widely praised move […]
by Camille BAS-WOHLERT COPENHAGEN, Germany (AFP) — Gyms, theatres and cinemas on Thursday welcomed Danes back thanks to a new round of Covid-19 restriction easing and a reliance on a “corona pass”. Armed with the pass people in Denmark can already visit restaurants, museums or the hairdresser. Now the new certificate — confirming that they have either tested negative in the past 72 hours, been vaccinated, or recently recovered from Covid-19 — will also give […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Novavax has inked a deal for the first 350 million of its Covid-19 vaccine doses bound for the Covax global vaccine-sharing facility, the US biotech firm said Thursday. Novavax, which signed a memorandum of understanding in February to provide 1.1 billion doses in total, penned an advance purchase agreement with Covax for the first tranche. They will be supplied, subject to regulatory approval, from the third quarter of […]
https://youtu.be/63p4y6P1nsw BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany will aim to offer Covid-19 vaccines to all children aged 12 and over by the end of August once a jab is approved for younger people by the European regulator, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Thursday. All 12- to 18-year-olds will be offered vaccines in the summer “on the condition of the expected approval, if nothing unforeseen happens”, Spahn said after a meeting with regional health ministers in […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he supported the idea of a waiver on patent protections for coronavirus vaccines as Russia registered its fourth virus jab called Sputnik Light. A campaign to lift patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines picked up steam on Thursday, with French, German and EU leadership saying they were ready to discuss a proposal by US President Joe Biden, before Putin added his support. “We are […]
by Alexandria SAGE ROME, Italy (AFP) — An Italian court convicted two young Americans Wednesday for the murder of a police officer while they were on a summer holiday in Rome, with both handed life sentences. Finnegan Lee Elder, 21, had admitted stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega during a late-night encounter in July 2019, while out with his friend Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 20. Prosecutors claimed it was a brutal, unprovoked attack in which Elder, then 19, stabbed […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Switzerland’s Covid-19 death toll topped 10,000 on Wednesday as health officials gave cautious signs of optimism that the pandemic was coming under control in the wealthy Alpine nation. The landlocked European country, population 8.6 million, said 10,012 people had now died from the virus, while more than 664,000 cases have been registered. But the government’s Covid-19 expert group said the situation was currently stable and even slightly improving. “We have good […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday met jointly with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts to discuss North Korea, bringing together the allies despite renewed rifts. Joined by aides, Blinken sat in the centre of a U-shaped table with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on each side in a conference room of a London hotel on the sidelines of a Group […]
by Shaun TANDON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The Group of Seven wealthy democracies will discuss coronavirus vaccines Wednesday as they face growing pressure to share stockpiles and know-how with poor nations trailing far behind on fighting the pandemic. Foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are wrapping up three days of talks in central London that will set the agenda for a G7 leaders’ summit next month in […]
by Kit HOLDEN Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German police said Monday they had shut down “one of the biggest darknet child pornography platforms in the world” and arrested four of its members in a series of raids in mid-April. The platform, named as “Boystown”, had existed since 2019, counted over 400,000 members and was “set up for the worldwide exchange of child pornography, in particular images of the abuse of boys”, federal […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — People who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer have to abide by curfews and contact restrictions in Germany under a draft law agreed by the cabinet on Tuesday. They will also be allowed access to shops and other facilities without first providing a negative test result as is currently required of the rest of the population, Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said while announcing the measures, which may come […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The UN rights office condemned Tuesday the “excessive use of force” by security officers in Colombia, after numerous deaths during days of protests against a proposed tax reform. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced “profound shock” at the latest incident overnight in the city of Cali in which police are alleged to have “opened fire” on demonstrators, reportedly killing and injuring a number of people. […]
