Category: World - Page 6 - FAMOUS REPORTERS

Feb

2021

Lebanon receives first Covid vaccines

Lebanon on Saturday received its first vaccines against the coronavirus, a day before an inoculation drive kicks off in the crisis-hit Mediterranean country. A plane landed at the Beirut airport, an AFP correspondent reported, with authorities saying it was carrying 28,500 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine flown in from Belgium. The shipment was the first after the World Bank allocated $34 million to inoculate two million of Lebanon's six million inhabitants. Caretaker health minister Hamad Hassan was on the tarmac to welcome the plane and expressed great "relief".Members of staff unload boxes of the first shipment of the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech…

Feb

2021

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7.1-magnitude quake off east Japan, no tsunami alert

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A firefighter vehicle patrols streets following a strong earthquake in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 13, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato A strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck late Saturday off the eastern coast of Japan but no tsunami warning was issued, Japanese authorities said. The quake produced powerful shaking along parts of Japan’s eastern coast, and was felt strongly in Tokyo, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Japan’s meteorological agency said the quake hit at 11.08pm (1408GMT) at a depth of 60 kilometres (37 miles) in the Pacific, off Fukushima — near the epicentre of a 2011 killer quake which triggered…

Feb

2021

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Myanmar protesters block arrests as UN demands Suu Kyi’s release

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This aerial photo shows protesters marching on a road during a demonstration against the military coup in Shwebo in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region on February 13, 2021. (Photo by STR / AFP) Opposition to Myanmar’s new military regime intensified on Saturday as spontaneous neighbourhood watch groups mobilised to thwart arrests of anti-coup activists and the UN demanded the release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The army takeover that brought a decade-old democracy to an end last week has unleashed a storm of anger and defiance, with huge daily protests bringing urban centres around the country to a standstill. Since…

Feb

2021

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Biden begins dismantling Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ asylum policy

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(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 22, 2021 US President Joe Biden. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)Asylum seekers forced to remain in Mexico while their cases are being resolved in the United States will begin to be admitted into the US as of next week, President Joe Biden’s administration announced Friday. Biden instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) earlier this month to take action to end the controversial “Remain in Mexico” program put in place by his predecessor Donald Trump. It saw tens of thousands of non-Mexican asylum seekers mostly from Central America sent back over…

Feb

2021

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Algerian president returns from Germany after post-Covid surgery

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Algerian President Abdelmadjid TebbouneAlgerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune returned home Friday after a one-month stay in Germany for surgery following post-Covid-19 complications in his foot, state television said. “The President of the Republic, Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, returned today,” the state broadcaster said, but did not broadcast images of his arrival. Tebboune, 75, had been hospitalised in Germany last year after contracting Covid-19, and stayed there for two months before returning to Algeria. He returned to Germany on January 10, and underwent a “successful” operation on his foot 10 days later, according to…

Feb

2021

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Microsoft backs search engines paying for news worldwide

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Microsoft PHOTO:AFP Microsoft on Thursday lobbied for other countries to follow Australia’s lead in calling for news outlets to be paid for stories published online, a move opposed by Facebook and Google. Microsoft last week offered to fill the void if rival Google follows through on a threat to turn off its search engine in Australia over the plan. Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement the company fully supports proposed legislation in Australia that would force Google and Facebook to compensate media for their journalism. “This has made for an unusual split within the tech sector, and we’ve…

Feb

2021

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Venezuela reports 2020 inflation of 3,000 percent

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(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 03, 2020 a man buy bananas at the municipal market of Chacao in Caracas amid the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic, as inflation increases in Venezuela which is in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history after seven years of recession. – Venezuela closed 2020 with an accumulated inflation of 2,959%, according to figures published on February 11, 2021 by the Central Bank (BCV). (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP)Venezuela ended 2020 with inflation of nearly 3,000 percent, the central bank said Thursday.The oil-rich country is mired in the worst…

Feb

2021

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House rests Trump impeachment case, defense begins Friday

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This handout photo released by the White House shows US President Donald Trump and his Chief of Staff (not pictured) participating in a phone call with the US Vice President, Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 4, 2020, in his conference room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. – President Donald Trump has “continued to improve” as he is treated for Covid-19 at a military hospital near Washington, his doctors said October 4, adding that he could be discharged as early as October 5. (Photo by Tia DUFOUR /…

Feb

2021

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US federal debt to climb beyond GDP in 2021, government estimates

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The United States will see its second-largest budget deficit since World War II this year, while the federal debt will continue to climb beyond GDP, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate released Thursday. The forecast by the nonpartisan office serving Congress came after the United States spent big in 2020 to keep its economy afloat as it battled the Covid-19 pandemic, sending its budget deficit to more than $3.1 trillion -- or 14.9 percent of GDP -- and the national debt to 100.1 percent of GDP. The forecast for the next 10 years does not take into account…

Feb

2021

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South Africa’s Ramaphosa vows to overcome pandemic

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President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday vowed that South Africa will beat the coronavirus pandemic despite a delay in its immunisation roll-out after the country switched vaccines at the 11th hour. The continent's worst-hit country halted the start of its immunisation campaign after a study showed that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine it had received failed to prevent mild and moderate illness caused by a new, widespread variant discovered in South Africa. The government has now turned to the Johnson & Johnson formula, of which it has secured nine million doses. "The first batch of 80,000 doses will arrive in the country next…