World

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence receives a COVID-19 vaccine to promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine at the White House on December, 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. Doug Mills Pool/Getty Images/AFP/POOL / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP Several senior US officials including Vice President Mike Pence got early Covid-19 vaccinations Friday, contrasting with Europe, where two leaders were quarantining after testing positive and EU regulators have yet to approve a vaccine. Pence’s public inoculation against the coronavirus was the most high-profile attempt yet at persuading vaccine-skeptic Americans to join…

US lawmakers were hammering out final details Friday on a major coronavirus relief package and an attached federal funding bill but sticking points could push them past a midnight deadline, threatening a government shutdown amid swelling health and fiscal crises. Republicans and Democrats braced for possibly working through the weekend to conclude a $900 billion deal aimed at providing emergency relief for millions of struggling families and businesses amid signs of a worsening economy and as the country sees record high death tolls from the coronavirus pandemic. But with the holidays approaching, a midnight Friday deadline loomed. If an extension…

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence receives a COVID-19 vaccine to promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine at the White House on December, 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images/AFP US Vice President Mike Pence received a Covid-19 jab on live television Friday as the country prepared to greenlight its second vaccine in a boost to the planet’s unprecedented immunisation campaign. Pence’s move comes as inoculation efforts are unfurling around the world in the race to halt a pandemic that has claimed at least 1.66 million lives and infected more than 74 million…

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Igor Matovic arrives at the EU headquarters’ Europa building in Brussels on December 10, 2020, prior to a European Union summit. (Photo by YVES HERMAN / POOL / AFP) Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said Friday he had tested positive for Covid-19, a week after he attended an EU summit in Brussels. The summit is believed to be where French President Emmanuel Macron caught the virus, leading a host of European leaders and top French officials to rush into self-isolation. “Today, I am one of you,” Matovic wrote on his Facebook page, attaching a screenshot of a…

A man and a woman ride a motorbike, on December 17, 2020 at the Benin-Nigerian border city of Krake, one day after Nigeria announced the lifting of borders’ closure. – Nigeria is lifting the closure of borders with neighbouring Benin and Niger which it imposed in 2019 to curb smuggling of rice and other commodities, the government said on December 16, 2020. The closure had a major impact on Benin, a key exporter of foodstuffs to Africa’s most populous country via its port of Cotonou. (Photo by Yanick Folly / AFP) The main border crossing between Benin and Nigeria was…

In a bid to boost learning and digital skills in Lagos State schools, Special Assistant to the Governor on Education, Mr. Tokunbo Philip Wahab, in company of the Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary Education District (TGPS), Education District 5, Mrs. Anike Adekanye, has commissioned libraries and ICT centres at Jibowu Junior High School and Onike Girls Junior High School, Yaba. Tokunbo stressed the need to intervene in areas of information technology where students are lagging behind, noting that the library is equipped with books, computers and a generating set. “As we wrap up the transition to information technology revolution, we are introducing students to…

(FILES) In this file photo David de la Zerda, ICU Medical Director at Jackson Memorial Hospital, receives a Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at Jackson Memorial Hospital, in Miami, Florida on December 15, 2020. – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on December 17, 2020 it was working with Pfizer to revise a fact sheet for recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine after two people had allergic reactions. The two people, both health workers, were vaccinated in Alaska and one of them had a serious or “anaphylactic” reaction resulting in hospitalization. (Photo by Eva Marie UZCATEGUI / AFP) The US…

A handout photograph released by the UK Parliament shows Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson attending Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), in a socially distanced and hybrid session of the House of Commons, in central London on December 16, 2020. – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday resisted calls to tighten coronavirus restrictions over Christmas, as London faced stricter measures and concern grew about rising case numbers. The government has been under mounting pressure to toughen proposals allowing up to three households to meet indoors during a five-day festive window from December 23, as European neighbours curb their easing plans amid…

This picture taken on December 17, 2020 shows Saudi Arabia’s Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah waiting to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine (Tozinameran) in the capital Riyadh, as part of a vaccination campaign by the Saudi health ministry. (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP) Saudi Arabia kicked off a three-phase Covid-19 vaccination programme Thursday, with the health minister among those inoculated after the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the kingdom. Along with Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah, a woman in a wheelchair and another man were among the first to be administered the vaccine at a centre in…