World

US President Joe Biden signs executive orders as part of the Covid-19 response in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) President Joe Biden on Thursday tightened mask-wearing rules and ordered quarantine for people flying into the United States, as he got to work on tackling the coronavirus pandemic on his first full day in power. Signing 10 executive orders in the White House, Biden told the nation that the Covid-19 death toll would likely rise from 400,000 to half a million next month — and…

Google PHOTO: AP/REX/Shutterstock Google threatened Friday to block Australians from using its search service unless the government changed landmark legislation to make the internet giant pay news outlets for their content. Google Australia managing director Mel Silva warned a Senate committee in Canberra that the world-first media law was “unworkable” and would undermine the functioning of the internet. “If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” Silva said, the first time the company has made such a threat after months of difficult…

(Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday slammed China’s “cynical” move on the new US president’s inauguration day to sanction nearly 30 officials from Donald Trump’s outgoing government, including his secretary of state Mike Pompeo. According to Beijing, “some anti-China politicians in the United States, out of their selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China… have planned, promoted and executed a series of crazy movies.” As a result, China decided to sanction 28 people “who have seriously violated China’s sovereignty,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. The officials and their family members will…

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 23, 2020 Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) addresses a news conference following the meeting of the governing council of the ECB in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. – European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde warned governments on October 12, 2020 against pulling pandemic support schemes too quickly as eurozone economies struggle to recover from the coronavirus crisis. (Photo by Daniel ROLAND / AFP) European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde warned on Thursday that the pandemic still poses “serious risks” to the eurozone economy as concerns grow about new…

A representative image. seismograph PHOTO: Shutterstock A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Philippines Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and a tsunami warning was not issued. The quake hit about 310 kilometres (193 miles) southeast of Davao city on the main southern island of Mindanao at a depth of 95 kilometres at 8:23 pm local time (1223 GMT), according to USGS. Residents in the town of Jose Abad Santos, near the southern tip of the island, lost electricity for about 15 minutes after the quake shook the region but there was no…

(FILES) In this file photo illustration taken on August 07, 2020, the WeChat app is displayed in the App Store on an Apple iPhone in Washington, DC. – US officials on September 18, 2020, ordered a ban on downloads of the popular Chinese-owned mobile applications WeChat and TikTok from September 20, saying they threaten national security. The move comes amid rising US-China tensions over technology and a Trump administration effort to engineer a sale of the video app TikTok to American investors. (Photo by Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP) California WeChat users sued its parent company…

• Pledges to unite the country• Trump promises “to be back in some form’ in farewell speech• Nigerian-Americans, Owolewa, Agbaje emerge U.S. lawmakers• Buhari congratulates Biden, seeks partnership against terrorism In a brief and glorious moment, Joe Biden yesterday took the oath of office as the 46th President of the United States of America and pledged to work for all Americans, including those who did not support his campaign. The President took his oath of office using the 127 years old family Bible with his wife, Jill, at his side. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Justice John Roberts swore him…

Poet Amanda Gorman on Wednesday became a sudden star at age 22 at President Joe Biden's inauguration as she recited verse inspired by the Capitol attack, touching on how democracy "can never be permanently defeated." Gorman was the youngest poet to recite at an inauguration, a role first given to Robert Frost by John F. Kennedy in 1961, after First Lady Jill Biden saw one of Gorman's readings and invited her to participate at the Capitol steps. Gorman said that she had been writing a few lines a day but stayed awake at night out of a compulsion to complete…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday urged new US President Joe Biden to "strengthen" a long-standing alliance between the two countries, partly to confront the "threat" posed by Iran. "I look forward to working with you to further strengthen the US-Israel alliance, to continue expanding peace between Israel and the Arab world and to confront common challenges, chief among them the threat posed by Iran," Netanyahu said. The Israeli leader was speaking in a video congratulating Biden moments after he was sworn in as US president, replacing Donald Trump. Netanyahu, who has referred to Trump as the "best friend"…

A medical worker holds a vial with Russia’s Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine against the coronavirus disease at a vaccination point at the GUM department store in Moscow on January 18, 2021, as Russia launched mass coronavirus vaccinations. – Russians willing to be vaccinated can choose between two vaccines, Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona, TASS news agency reports. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP) Russian authorities have applied for registration of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in the European Union, the country’s sovereign wealth fund financing the jab said Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said the application…