President Joe Biden traveled to coastal Virginia on Monday to promote how his proposals to spend $4 trillion for infrastructure and families will help the U.S. education system.Biden, joined by his wife, Jill Biden, a community college professor, bantered with a class of 5th-grade students at an elementary school in Yorktown. The students had shields in front of their desks as a guard against the virus.The president asked them what they wanted to do when they grow up and was given an array of examples, including a fashion designer, a chef and a hairstylist.”You’re very impressive,” Biden told them.Later, he…
Author: Mike Harrison
Cuba in March approved late-stage trials of Abdala, named after a poem by the 19th-century Cuban independence hero Jose Marti. Reuters | PUBLISHED ON MAY 03, 2021 10:31 PM IST Venezuela this month will begin clinical trials of the Cuban coronavirus vaccine candidate Abdala, and plans to produce enough doses locally to vaccinate 4 million people, Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said on Monday.Cuba in March approved late-stage trials of Abdala, named after a poem by the 19th-century Cuban independence hero Jose Marti. The trials are to be completed in July and the first results published in August, according Cuban to…
Singapore’s Ministry of Health said it has asked hospitals to defer non-urgent surgeries and admissions until further notice, in a bid to increase potential capacity for handling Covid-19 patients.The capacity measures, which also include limiting emergency room visits only for life-threatening or other emergency conditions, and encouraging teleconsultations instead of in-person medical visits where possible, come amid a flareup of cases in a country that’s been one of the world’s most successful in containing the virus.The city-state saw its first fatality due to complications from Covid-19 in nearly two months over the weekend. An 88-year-old Singaporean woman with a history…
Russia is turning to multiple Chinese firms to manufacture the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in an effort to speed up production as demand soars for its shot.Russia has announced three deals totaling 260 million doses with Chinese vaccine companies in recent weeks. It’s a decision that could mean quicker access to a shot for countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa that have ordered Russia’s vaccine, as the U.S. and the European Union focus mainly on domestic vaccination needs.Earlier criticism about Russia’s vaccine have been largely quieted by data published in the British medical journal The Lancet that…
US lawmakers, including those from the opposition Republican party, on Monday praised President Joe Biden for his assistance to India to combat the coronavirus crisis.India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.Biden over the past one week has galvanised his entire administration to help India, which is experiencing the worst outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.“Glad to see the US providing lifesaving support to our friends and partners in India,” Congressman Michael…
Issues related to Iran are set to feature in talks later Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his host in London, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.The bilateral talks come a day ahead of the first face-to-face discussions in two years of foreign and development ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations and other invited representatives. The U.K. holds this year’s presidency of the G-7.Blinken’s visit to London, his first since being appointed by President Joe Biden, comes amid mounting speculation of a prisoner exchange deal with Iran. Prisoner exchanges are not uncommon and were a…
Indonesia has recorded its first cases of a highly infectious Covid-19 variant first detected in India, the health minister said on Monday, as authorities implored people not to travel to their hometowns for the end of the Muslim fasting month.Indonesia, which has been trying to contain one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in Asia, stopped issuing visas last month for foreigners who had been in India in the previous 14 days.The two cases of the Indian variant, known as B.1.617, were found in Jakarta, while the minister said a variant first discovered in South Africa was also detected in Bali.”We…
Bavarian officials on Monday canceled Oktoberfest festivities for a second year in a row due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, saying that there are too many risks in hosting the celebrations, which traditionally bring in visitors from around the world, during a global pandemic.Bavarian Governor Markus Soeder said it was with “heavy hearts” that they decided to call off the festival for which the state is known globally, but that with coronavirus numbers still stubbornly high and hospitals already struggling, it had to be done.“Oktoberfest will be held again, and will be big again,” he pledged.Germany is…
Nearly 1.67 million people were screened at U.S. airport checkpoints on Sunday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. That was the highest number screened since March 12 of last year when air travel began to plummet. AP | PUBLISHED ON MAY 03, 2021 08:56 PM IST The United States set another record for the number of air travelers since the pandemic set in, although passenger numbers remain far below 2019 levels.Nearly 1.67 million people were screened at U.S. airport checkpoints on Sunday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. That was the highest number screened since March 12 of last year…
Malaysia will begin a parallel Covid-19 innoculation programme this week for people who chose to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, after it was removed from an ongoing rollout due to public fears over its safety, a minister said on Monday.Reports of possible links to very rare blood clots have dented confidence in the shot in Malaysia and elsewhere.AstraZeneca has pointed to regulator recommendations that the vaccine is safe and effective, though some countries have suspended its use due to rising unease or limited it to certain age groups.Malaysia, which received its first 268,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses in April, said it would…