World

WILMINGTON, DE – NOVEMBER 25: †President-elect Joe Biden delivers a Thanksgiving address at the Queen Theatre on November 25, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware.†As Biden waits to be approved for official national security briefings, the names of top members of his national security team were announced yesterday to the public. Calls continue for President Trump to concede the election and let the transition proceed without further delay. Mark Makela/Getty Images/AFP“I believe that this grim season of division, demonization is going to give way to a year of light,” Biden said in an address in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.While not mentioning…

The United States will temporarily require visitors from Iran, Myanmar, and a number of African nations to pay up to $15,000 in visa bonds in a new hardline immigration measure enacted late in Donald Trump’s presidency. The rule took effect Tuesday for a duration of six months, although it remains to be seen if it will be maintained by President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20 and has promised to be more welcoming to the rest of the world. The pilot program is designed to make up the costs to the US government of deporting foreigners who overstay…

Chinaís President Xi Jinping arrives during the second plenary session of the National Peopleís Congress in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 25, 2020. (Photo by Noel Celis / AFP) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday congratulated Joe Biden on his US election victory, state media reported. In his telegram, Xi said both countries should “stick to no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect, (and) the spirit of win-win cooperation” in order to promote the “noble cause” of world peace and development. Xi’s message came more than two weeks after several other major countries had congratulated Biden.…

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde t in Brussels, Belgium February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo The European Central Bank warned Wednesday that a premature withdrawal of government support to the eurozone’s pandemic-hit economies could derail the recovery and trigger a wave of bankruptcies. An “abrupt” end to the measures could “result in a more severe economic contraction than during the first wave of the pandemic,” the ECB said in its twice-yearly financial stability report. Eurozone governments have taken unprecedented steps to shield companies and workers from the pandemic fallout, including through guarantees on bank loans and repayment…

A man looks at the “PUBG Mobile” game, owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent, in the App Store on an Apple iPhone in New Delhi on September 2, 2020. – India on September 2 banned 118 Chinese apps as it stepped up economic hostilities over an increasingly bitter border showdown between the giant neighbours. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP) India banned 43 more Chinese apps on Tuesday including some from e-commerce giant Alibaba, saying they threatened its “sovereignty and integrity” as tensions remain high between the nuclear-armed neighbours following a deadly border clash. New Delhi previously pulled 59 Chinese…

This picture taken on November 18, 2020 shows a syringe and a bottle reading “Vaccine Covid-19” next to the Moderna biotech company logo. – The CEO of Moderna warned European countries on November 17 that dragging out negotiations to purchase its promising new Covid-19 vaccine will slow down deliveries, as other nations that have signed deals will get priority. The biotech company Pfizer said the day after that a completed study of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine showed it is 95 percent effective, after Moderna said its own vaccine was 94.5 percent effective, according to a preliminary analysis. (Photo by JOEL…

A black man raises his fist during a protest against the death of Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas in Porto Alegre, Brazil on November 23, 2020. – The death of a black man beaten by white security agents in a supermarket belonging to the Carrefour group in Porto Alegre on Thursday night unleashed a wave of indignation in Brazil. (Photo by SILVIO AVILA / AFP) The UN said Tuesday the deadly beating of a black man by white guards in Brazil exemplified “structural racism”, and called for an independent investigation and urgent reforms in the country. Several days of protest have…

Ayman Nour (R), owner of the Egyptian opposition TV channel El-Sharq and Yasin Aktay (L), a Justice and Development Party (AKP) member of the parliament and head of the Turkish Group of Inter-Parliamentarian Union speak to media members in front of the Istanbul courthouse on November 24, 2020 after attending the trial of 20 Saudi suspects including two former aides to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, accused of killing and dismembering dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. – Khashoggi, 59, an insider-turned-critic who wrote for The Washington Post, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, on October 2, 2018…