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19th May
Germany to offer free COVID-19 shots for all adults from June 7
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will stop restricting coronavirus vaccines to more vulnerable groups from June 7, paving the way for the entire adult population to get free immunizations from that date onwards, Health Minister Jens...
18th May
Britain calls for progress with EU on post-Brexit Northern Irish trade
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain wants to see progress soon in talks with the European Union on solving the post-Brexit Northern Irish border riddle, with its minister in charge of ties with the bloc urging member states to meet their obligations. After the United Kingdom left the European Union’s orbit at the end of last year, checks...
South Africa’s ANC to oppose court challenge by suspended top official
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) will oppose a court application by one of its top officials challenging his suspension, the party said on Monday. Ace Magashule challenged his suspension as secretary general in court last week, the latest twist in a power struggle that has exposed deep fractures in the...
WHO chief urges COVID-19 vaccine makers to advance doses for COVAX
GENEVA (Reuters) -The head of the World Health Organization called on COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to make shots available to the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility earlier than planned due to a supply shortfall left by Indian export disruptions. COVAX, which supplies doses to poorer countries, relies heavily on India’s Serum Institute’s exports of the AstraZeneca shot but...
EU regulator backs month-long storage of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in fridges
(Reuters) -Europe’s drug regulator on Monday recommended extending the storage time for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at normal fridge temperatures to 31 days from five days, easing logistical challenges during rollouts in the region. The change is applicable to unopened vials, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said, adding that the advice by its human medicines...
Senegal architects ditch concrete for earth in revival of old techniques
DAKAR (Reuters) – Construction is booming in Dakar, where unfinished apartment blocks tower over most streets, their exposed concrete bricks a dull uniform grey. In one site, however, a building stands out – the bricks the workers are laying are made of raw, red earth. Concrete is inexpensive and used with abandon in Senegal’s capital,...
Sex workers back in business as Dutch COVID curbs ease
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Sex workers will go back to work in the Netherlands this week under an easing of COVID-19 curbs, health minister Hugo de Jonge said on Monday. Authorities will also let parks, zoos, gyms and outdoor swimming pools reopen on Wednesday, after the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations eased pressure on hospitals, the minister...
More forced power outages in Taiwan as demand spikes amid heatwave, drought
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan imposed power cuts on Monday evening following a spike in demand amid a heatwave and drought and failure at a power plant, in the second such outage in a week, although far fewer homes were affected. Power was restored by 1340 GMT, electricity provider Taipower said. Taiwan, which major chip makers such...
U.S. Supreme Court rejects J&J appeal over Risperdal drug
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid by Johnson & Johnson to overturn a $70 million jury verdict against the pharmaceutical company for its failure to warn about risks associated with off-label uses of its antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The court turned away the company’s appeal of a November 2019 ruling by the...
Activists and South African gov’t lock horns over coal pollution
PRETORIA (Reuters) -South Africa’s failure to tackle toxic levels of air pollution produced by burning coal is a violation its post-Apartheid constitution, activists and a U.N. rights expert said in court on Monday. Campaigners are suing the South African government in the High Court, hoping to force tougher action against heavy polluters such as state...
Britain to treble tree planting by 2024 to fight climate change
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said it planned to treble tree planting rates over the next three years to help reach its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, as part of efforts to fight climate change. The UK wants to push ahead with its environmental plans and encourage other nations to do the same...
Cannabis and cocaine seized in big Niger and South Africa drug busts
DAKAR (Reuters) – Drugs with a street value of nearly 100 million euros have been seized in operations in Africa and the Middle East, including two major busts that show how traffickers are packing larger loads into their shipments, Interpol said on Monday. Interpol worked with customs and police officials from 41 countries for two...
Two-month-old Spanish baby saved by pioneering heart transplant
MADRID (Reuters) – The life of a two-month-old Spanish girl was saved by pioneering surgery when doctors transplanted a small heart that had stopped beating from a donor with a different blood type, Hospital Gregorio Maranon said on Monday. “It was twice the magic,” said Juan Miguel Gil Jaurena, head of children’s cardiac surgery at...
Bolivian police find and destroy three crack cocaine ‘mega-factories’
La PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivian authorities said they struck a significant blow against cocaine producers in the country after the discovery and destruction of three “mega-factories” that they stated could produce up to 910 kg of crack a day. Police found the tarpaulin-covered, makeshift factories hidden in forestry reserves and national parks in eastern Beni...
Pope names new Hong Kong bishop amid tensions over city’s freedoms
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis named a new bishop of Hong Kong on Monday, a long-delayed appointment that comes amid Sino-Vatican frictions and growing Western concern over human rights in the global financial hub. Stephen Chow, 61, head of Hong Kong’s Jesuit order, will replace Cardinal John Tong, who has held the post in a...
Arson investigators, police look into Los Angeles blaze; 1,000 evacuated
(Reuters) – A wildfire in Los Angeles, California, gained momentum on Sunday and about 1,000 residents were put under evacuation orders and two suspects were detained as arson investigators and police looked into the cause of the blaze. “We did have one individual who was detained and released. However, we now have a second individual...
Australia sticks by plan to re-open border in mid-2022
Australia is sticking to plans to start re-opening to the rest of the world only from the middle of next year, officials said on Sunday, resisting mounting pressure to end the closure of international borders. In March 2020, Australia closed its borders to non-nationals and non-residents and has since been allowing only limited international arrivals,...
At Miss Universe pageant, Myanmar’s contestant pleads “our people are dying”
Myanmar’s Miss Universe contestant, Thuzar Wint Lwin, used the pageant on Sunday to urge the world to speak out against the military junta, whose security forces have killed hundreds of opponents since it seized power in a Feb. 1 coup. “Our people are dying and being shot by the military every day,” she said in a video...
Taiwan urges no panic buying as new COVID-19 rules kick off
Taiwan appealed to people to avoid panic buying of items such as instant noodles and toilet paper as new curbs on gatherings and movement took effect to rein in the spread of COVID-19 during a spike in domestic infections. Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city, on Saturday,...
Singapore warns children susceptible to virus variants, shuts schools
Singapore warned on Sunday that the new coronavirus variants, such as the one first detected in India, were affecting more children, as the city-state prepares to shut most schools from this week and draws up plans to vaccinate youngsters. All primary, secondary and junior colleges will shift to full home-based learning from Wednesday until the...
Second victim of WW2 shell explosion dies in Solomon Islands
Another person who was injured in an explosion of a World War II shell in Solomon Islands last week has died. The National Referral Hospital confirmed to local media that Charley Noda died on Saturday night in the capital. Noda was one of four people injured in the incident eight days ago. They were part...
Vaccination centre ponders cutting days to ease nurses’ workload
An Auckland vaccination centre may have to cut the number of days it operates unless it gets more vaccinators. Each nurse at the Ōtara site is delivering about 100 injections a day at the centre which runs seven days a week. Those in charge said they urgently need more vaccinators to prevent nurses getting exhausted and to keep...
17th May
Cook Islands operators seeing light at end of 15-month tunnel
Cook Islands tourism operators and businesses say they are primed for a return of Kiwi visitors after this week’s bubble opening and expect Air New Zealand to respond to any increases to travel demand. After over a year, New Zealanders are finally able to travel to the Cook Islands without having to quarantine. The first flight to...
Former Vanuatu PM Salwai loses appeal against perjury sentence
An appeal by Vanuatu’s former prime minister Charlot Salwai against his perjury sentence has been dismissed. The Appeal Court told him instead that his suspended two-year sentence was lenient. Salwai was found guilty last December after being accused of misinforming the country in regard to the appointment of parliamentary secretaries in 2016. The case followed...
U.S. gasoline shortage eases, but pumps dry in some areas
Gasoline shortages that have plagued the U.S. East Coast slowly eased on Sunday, with 1,000 more stations receiving supplies as the country’s largest fuel pipeline network recovered from a crippling cyberattack. The six-day closure of Colonial Pipeline’s 5,500-mile (8,900-km) system was the most disruptive cyberattack on record, preventing millions of barrels of gasoline, diesel and...
Two dead, dozens hurt in Israeli synagogue accident – ambulance service
At least two worshippers were killed and more than 100 injured on Sunday when a grandstand collapsed in a synagogue under construction in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s national ambulance service said. The accident in Givat Zeev, just north of Jerusalem, raised more questions about safety measures at large ultra-Orthodox events,...
Palestinian killed after ramming car into 6 Israeli police in Jerusalem – police
Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian driver who crashed his car into a police roadblock, injuring six officers, in a flashpoint Jerusalem neighbourhood on Sunday, police said. The incident occurred in Sheikh Jarrah, in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, which is the focus of a court case in which several Palestinian families could be evicted from homes...
Extra seat thrown out, FAST wins Samoa election
The Supreme Court in Samoa has thrown out the electoral office’s decision to appoint an extra woman member of parliament. It means the decision breaks a month-long deadlock from the April election, handing the newcomer FAST party a majority. The electoral office last month added the extra seat purportedly to meet a provision in the...
Israel launches dozens of strikes as Gaza fighting enters second week
Israel launched dozens of air strikes in Gaza and the Hamas militant group kept up its rocket attacks on Israeli cities in fighting that spilled into a second week on Monday. International calls mounted for a ceasefire, but there was no sign of any imminent end to the most serious hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s ruling...
Samoa court dismisses call for second election
Samoa’s Supreme Court has thrown out the Head of State’s decision to call a second election, clearing the path for the newcomer FAST party to form a government. Announcing the second election earlier this month, Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II told Samoans it was the best way to break the political deadlock that emerged after last...
