Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by AFP bureaus FALMOUTH, United Kingdom (AFP) — G7 leaders will agree to expand global Covid vaccine manufacturing to provide at least one billion doses to the world through sharing and financing schemes, Britain said Thursday. The announcement came after the United States said it would donate 500 million jabs to 92 poor and lower-middle-income nations. The UK, which is hosting the big powers’ gathering in southwest England, added it would donate at least 100 […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron called Thursday for pharma groups producing vaccines against Covid-19 to donate 10 percent of their production to poor nations. “Donations of doses by states have to be supplemented by donations of doses by pharmaceutical companies,” Macron told a news conference, adding that states had helped fund vaccine research and it was “legitimate” to ask for a contribution from the companies. Macron also called for leaders of the […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Two people including a child were shot dead in a grocery store in Florida on Thursday, the latest in a series of shootings in the southern US state. The shooting — in which the gunman also killed himself — occurred in a Publix grocery store in Royal Palm Beach, 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Miami, police said. “Upon arrival deputies located three individuals deceased from gunshot wounds, one adult […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Johnson & Johnson said Thursday the US Food and Drug Administration had authorized an extension for the shelf life of its Covid-19 vaccine from three months to four-and-a-half months. The news comes as millions of doses of the single-shot vaccine, which is stored at refrigerator temperatures, were in danger of expiring and being tossed. “The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies,” the company said in a […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — JBS, one of the world’s biggest meat processors, has paid bitcoin worth $11 million in ransom to hackers to prevent any further disruption after a paralyzing cyberattack believed to have originated in Russia. Hackers targeted the computer systems of Brazil-based JBS last week, impacting production and operations in the United States, Australia and Canada, and issued a ransom demand to the global meatpacking giant. The company’s US subsidiary said Wednesday […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — The Myanmar junta has hit deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption charges over claims she accepted illegal payments of gold and more than half a million dollars in cash, state media reported Thursday. The country has been in turmoil since the generals ousted Suu Kyi on February 1, with nearly 850 civilians killed in a brutal crackdown by security forces on near-daily protests against the coup. The 75-year-old […]
MUMBAI, India (AFP) — At least 11 people, including eight children, were killed when heavy monsoon rains caused a residential building to collapse in a Mumbai slum, Indian authorities said Thursday. Mumbai city authorities confirmed that seven other residents were injured in the incident late Wednesday even as search and rescue operations continued for several others feared missing. Residents have been evacuated from nearby structures considered to be in a dangerous condition. Of the injured, […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — At least nine people were killed when a five-storey building being demolished in South Korea suddenly collapsed, crushing a bus, officials said. Dramatic television footage showed the bus being buried in debris and smothered by a huge cloud of dust as the structure gave way. The bus, which had stopped in front of the site, was carrying 17 people when the accident occurred Wednesday in the city of Gwangju, southwest […]
by Jerome Cartillier with Sebastian Smith in Washington UNITED KINGDOM (AFP) — Joe Biden triumphantly announced that “the United States is back!” as he kicked off his first overseas tour as US president, urging global collaboration and consensus to rebuild after Covid and reset diplomatic ties after the divisive isolation of the Trump era. His multilateral charm offensive began even before he touched down in England for a packed week that takes in a G7 […]
by Anouk Riondet, with AFP bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — The United States is set to buy 500 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to distribute around the world, media reported Wednesday, as France and Belgium relaxed virus restrictions to allow restaurants and cafes to serve indoors. The Washington Post and New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, said President Joe Biden was due to formally announce the huge donation of Pfizer-BioNTech doses at a […]
OSLO, Norway (AFP) — Norway will offer the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine to volunteers under strict conditions from mid-July, the government said Wednesday, flouting the advice of various health authorities who say the risks outweigh the benefits. The Nordic country, which has dropped the AstraZeneca jab from its vaccination programme amid concerns about rare but severe blood clots, had also suspended the use of the J&J vaccine over similar concerns earlier this year. But […]
Nasal and anal samples taken from 28 elephants at a forest reserve in India COIMBATORE, India (AFP) — Twenty-eight elephants have been tested for Covid-19 at a forest reserve in southern India, officials said Wednesday, after the reported death of a rare Asiatic lion from the virus. In what is believed to be the first known death of an animal in India from the coronavirus, a nine-year-old lioness at a zoo in Chennai in […]
