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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 Natalia Cano and Sofia Miselem MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Demands for justice mounted Thursday as relatives buried the victims of Mexico City’s metro disaster, accusing the authorities of negligence that cost the lives of 25 people. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has rejected accusations that his austerity drive was a factor in Monday’s accident, when a section of elevated track collapsed, bringing a train crashing down. But at funerals in the capital, devastated […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia is likely to remain shut to visitors until late 2022, the country’s trade and tourism minister said Friday, as another global coronavirus surge smashed hopes of a quick reopening. Minister Dan Tehan said a wave of cases on the Indian sub-continent showed Australia’s near blanket ban on arrivals was still essential to keep the country Covid-free. Since March 20, 2020, Australians have been barred from travelling overseas and a hard-to-get […]
by Mauro PIMENTEL RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — A massive police operation against drug traffickers in a Brazilian favela Thursday left 25 people dead, turning the impoverished Rio de Janeiro neighborhood into a battlefield and drawing condemnation from rights groups. A policeman was among those killed in the early morning raid on Jacarezinho, on Rio’s north side, where residents awoke to explosions, heavy gunfire and helicopters overhead. Police confirmed the toll — and investigators […]
MALE, Maldives (AFP) — Former Maldives president and current parliamentary speaker Mohamed Nasheed was recovering in hospital Friday after an assassination attempt left him with shrapnel wounds. The Indian Ocean archipelago’s first democratically elected leader was hurt when a device attached to a motorcycle was detonated as he got into a car late Thursday, an official said. “Nasheed escaped an assassination attempt,” a Maldivian government official told AFP. “He is injured, but his condition is […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan will prolong a virus state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions and impose restrictions in more areas on Friday as cases surge less than three months before the Olympics. The emergency measures, less strict than the blanket lockdowns seen in other countries, focus on limiting commercial activity with malls closed and bars and restaurants told to shut or stop serving alcohol. They were imposed in Tokyo, Osaka and two […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military has deployed more heavy bombers and fighter jets to protect withdrawing American and coalition troops from Afghanistan, which have so far sustained no direct attacks, the Pentagon said Thursday. “Less than one week in, the drawdown is going according to plan,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters. Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said that to defend the departing troops, six B-52 long range bombers and 12 […]
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 […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka on Thursday became the latest of India’s neighbours to seal its borders with the South Asian giant as it battles a record coronavirus surge. Bangladesh and Nepal have also banned flights and sought to close their borders with India, where a huge rise in numbers in the past three weeks has taken deaths past 230,000 and cases over 21 million. All three countries are fighting their own pandemic […]
DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — Qatar’s finance minister Ali Shareef al-Emadi has been arrested over alleged abuse of power and misuse of public funds, state media said on Thursday. The official Qatar News Agency later reported that the country’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, had issued a decree “relieving” Emadi of his post. Sheikh Tamim also asked Trade and Industry Minister Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari to “carry out the duties of minister of finance”, […]
