Category: World

Wars, instability pose vaccine challenges in poor nations

FILE - In this July 13, 2019, file photo, health workers wearing protective suits tend to an Ebola victim kept in an isolation tent in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo. The task of vaccinating millions of people in poor and developing countries against COVID-19 faces monumental obstacles, and it's not just a problem of affording and obtaining doses. Rumors flew about the Ebola vaccines, including the idea they were meant to kill people, said Dr. Maurice Kakule, an Ebola survivor who worked in vaccination campaigns. Similar suspicions are spreading about the COVID-19 vaccine, he said. Photo Courtesy: AP

DAR MANGI, Pakistan (AP): Arifullah Khan had just administered another polio vaccine when the gunfire blasted from the nearby hills. “It happened so suddenly. There was so much gunfire it felt like an explosion,” he said, recalling details of the attack five years ago in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal region near the Afghan border. A bullet… Continue reading Wars, instability pose vaccine challenges in poor nations

Japan halts all foreign arrivals over UK variant

People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk on Aoyama shopping street in Tokyo Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020. Japan is barring entry of all nonresident foreign nationals as a precaution against a new and potentially more contagious coronavirus variant that has spread across Britain. The Foreign Ministry says the entry ban will start Monday and last through Jan. 31. Photo Courtesy: AP

TOKYO (AP): Japan is barring entry of all nonresident foreign nationals as a precaution against a new and potentially more contagious coronavirus variant that has spread across Britain. The Foreign Ministry says the entry ban will start Monday and last through Jan. 31. Last week, Japan banned nonresident foreigners coming from Britain and South Africa… Continue reading Japan halts all foreign arrivals over UK variant

Trump made lasting impact on federal courts

WASHINGTON (AP): On this, even President Donald Trump’s most fevered critics agree: He has left a deep imprint on the federal courts that will outlast his one term in office for decades to come.He used the promise of conservative judicial appointments to win over Republican skeptics as a candidate. Then as president, he relied on… Continue reading Trump made lasting impact on federal courts

Queen Elizabeth pays tribute to ‘kindness of strangers’

File Photo In this undated photo issued on Friday Dec. 25, 2020, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in Windsor Castle, Windsor, England. (Victoria Jones/Pool via AP)

LONDON (AP): One of the traditional fixtures of any Christmas Day is to see Queen Elizabeth II and her family go to church. Not this year. The coronavirus pandemic has made sure of that. However, the queen, 94, did fulfill what is considered her most cherished Christmas Day duty. Addressing the nation — as well… Continue reading Queen Elizabeth pays tribute to ‘kindness of strangers’

A pandemic Christmas: Churches shut, borders complicated

File Photo A Sri Lankan Christian girl wears a Santa hair band and a face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus as she arrives at a church to attend the Christmas mass in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Dec. 25, 2020. Photo Courtesy: AP

ROME (AP): Curfews, quarantines and even border closings complicated Christmas celebrations Friday for countless people around the globe, but ingenuity, determination and imagination helped keep the day special for many. In South Africa, which is battling a spike in cases and deaths driven by a variant of COVID-19, scientist Tulio de Oliveira was spending the… Continue reading A pandemic Christmas: Churches shut, borders complicated

US deaths in 2020 top 3 million, by far most ever counted

FILE - In this Saturday, April 18, 2020 file photo, mortician Cordarial O. Holloway, foreground left, funeral director Robert L. Albritten, foreground right, and funeral attendants Eddie Keith, background left, and Ronald Costello place a casket into a hearse in Dawson, Ga. This is the deadliest year in U.S. history, with deaths topping 3 million for the first time. It's due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 320,000 Americans. Photo Courtesy: AP

NEW YORK (AP): This is the deadliest year in U.S. history, with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time — due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic. Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months. But preliminary numbers suggest that the United States is on track to see more… Continue reading US deaths in 2020 top 3 million, by far most ever counted

French President Macron tests positive for COVID-19

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday following a week in which he met with numerous European leaders. The French and Spanish prime ministers and EU Council president were among many top officials self-isolating because they had recent contact with him. Macron took a test “as soon as the first… Continue reading French President Macron tests positive for COVID-19

Coronavirus: European nations tighten restrictions ahead of Christmas

Photo courtesy: BBC

(BBC): A number of European countries have tightened coronavirus restrictions ahead of Christmas following a surge of infections in recent weeks. The Netherlands has entered a five-week lockdown, with non-essential shops, theatres and gyms all closing. Germany will enter a hard lockdown from Wednesday after the number of infections there hit record levels. Meanwhile, Europe’s… Continue reading Coronavirus: European nations tighten restrictions ahead of Christmas

COVID-19 vaccine shipments begin in historic US effort

A truck loaded with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine leaves the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Portage, Mich., Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020. Photo Courtesy: Retuers

KALAMAZOO, Michigan (AP): The first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States headed Sunday from Michigan to distribution centers across the country, with the first shots expected to be given in the coming week to health care workers and at nursing homes. Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in… Continue reading COVID-19 vaccine shipments begin in historic US effort