World

In his first call to a foreign leader as US president, Joe Biden spoke with Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau Friday on a number of topics and made plans to continue the conversation next month, Ottawa and Washington said in separate statements. During the conversation, which Canada said lasted approximately 30 minutes, the two leaders covered everything from the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to the closure of the US-Canada border since March, to environmental protection. In a similar call Friday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed on Twitter that he and Biden had discussed topics ranging from Covid-19 to…

Thousands of people on Saturday joined caravans in several Brazilian cities to demand the ouster of President Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The protests, organized by leftist parties and organizations, saw some 500 vehicles parading along Brasilia's Esplanade of Ministries and blaring their horns, their windows painted with slogans like "Bolsonaro Out," "Impeachment Now" or "Vaccination for Everyone." Similar protests involving hundreds of cars were seen in other cities, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Brazil has the world's second-highest number of Covid-19 deaths -- more than 215,000 -- and its vaccination program has gotten…

A major clinical trial shows that an inflammatory drug called colchicine is effective in treating Covid-19 and reduces the risk of complications from the disease, doctors in Canada said. The results of the study are a "major scientific discovery" and make colchicine -- a medicine used to treat gout -- "the world's first oral drug that could be used to treat non-hospitalized patients with Covid-19," the Montreal Heart Institute said in a statement late Friday. The study results show that colchicine reduced by 21 percent the risk of death or hospitalizations in patients with Covid-19 compared to placebo, the institute…

Credit: RDIF/Cover-Images.com A warning from AstraZeneca that initial supplies of its Covid vaccinations to Europe will be lower than expected has sparked new concern over the rollout of inoculations, with some countries planning for a sharp drop in deliveries. Friday’s announcement by the British pharmaceutical firm followed another last week by Pfizer, which said it would delay shipments of its vaccine for up to a month due to works at its key plant in Belgium. The companies’ warnings come with worry deepening over new Covid-19 variants, particularly one that emerged in Britain and which is more infectious than the original…

A health worker screens and sanitises visitors to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outside a hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe March 26, 2020. PHOTO: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters Two ministers serving in the Zimbabwean government died of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) within a matter of days, prompting the country to announce on Saturday plans to further tighten lockdown measures. Late on Friday, the government announced that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died after falling ill with COVID-19, less than two days after the country lost Foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo to the same disease. Four government ministers have succumbed to the coronavirus in…