World

A parachutist lands after unfolding a Spanish flag during the Spanish National Day military parade in Madrid on October 12, 2017.<br />Spain marks its national day today under high tension as the country reels from the biggest challenge to unity in a generation with its Catalan region threatening to break away. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and King Felipe VI attended the traditional military parade in central Madrid that marks October 12, the day that Christopher Columbus first arrived in the Americas in 1492 and a nationwide holiday. / AFP PHOTO / JAVIER SORIANO Spain’s economy contracted sharply by 11 percent…

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 24, 2016 shows Lai Xiaomin, then chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co., speaking during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2016 in Boao, south China’s Hainan province. – China on January 29, 2021 executed Lai Xiaomin, a former top banker accused of taking 260 million USD worth of bribes, other forms of corruption and bigamy, state broadcaster CCTV reported. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT China on Friday executed a former top banker accused of taking $260 million worth of bribes, other forms of corruption and bigamy, state…

world health organization PHOTO: Getty Images Africa can expect to see at least 30 percent of its population immunised against coronavirus by the end of 2021, the World Health Organization said Thursday, as vaccines begin trickling into the continent. It is estimated Africa will need 1.5 billion vaccine doses to immunise 60 percent of its 1.3 billion inhabitants, the threshold for herd immunity against Covid-19. But the continent has fallen behind in the global vaccine scramble, as wealthier nations have been accused of bulk-buying excess doses directly from manufacturers. Most African countries are relying on the World Health Organization (WHO)…

This handout photograph released on January 27, 2021 by The Vatican Media shows Pope Francis holding a live streamed weekly private audience in the library of the apostolic palace in The Vatican, during the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. (Photo by Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP) / /caption] Pope Francis is to meet top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani during the first-ever papal visit to Iraq in March, a senior Catholic cleric told AFP on Thursday. Louis Sako, patriarch of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church, said it would be a “private visit” between the two religious figures…

Police Line PHOTO: Shutterstock Two people were found dead after an hours-long hostage situation at a doctor’s office in Texas, according to police and US media reports Wednesday. The drama in the state capital Austin began Tuesday afternoon and lasted more than five hours, and it was not immediately known how many people were taken hostage or who did it. A special police unit used a bullhorn to communicate with the hostage-taker. “Your life is very important to me,” a member of the SWAT team said over the loudspeaker, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. “And I know life is…

(FILES) This file photo taken on February 24, 2020 shows the logo of the World Health Organization (WHO) written in French and Chinese at the entrance of their headquarters in Geneva. – President Donald Trump has formally withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization, making good on threats over the UN body’s response to the coronavirus, a senator said July 7, 2020. “Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the US from the @WHO in the midst of a pandemic,” Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on Twitter. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI…

IMF PHOTO: Reuters Investors may have become overly complacent about financial conditions, creating the risk of a sharp downturn in markets, the IMF said Wednesday. While policymakers must keep interest rates low to ensure economies recover from the Covid-19 crisis, they also must remain vigilant about potential problems, the IMF cautioned in the latest update to its Global Financial Stability Report. “Financial stability risks have been in check so far, but we cannot take this for granted,” said Tobias Adrian, head of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department. With borrowing rates at record lows and new vaccines boosting hopes…