Feb 24 South Africa to spend $712 million on mass vaccination drive By Mogomotsi Magome, Associated Press South Africa plans to spend $712 million to vaccinate some 67% of its 60 million people to control the country’s COVID-19 battle and get the economy to rebound from its decline of 7.2% last year. Continue reading
Feb 24 Sanctions prompt Venezuela to expel head of EU delegation By Jorge Rueda, Associated Press Venezuela's government has ordered the expulsion of the head of the EU delegation in the South American nation following the bloc's decision to impose sanctions on several Venezuelan officials accused of undermining democracy or violating human rights. Continue reading
Feb 24 WATCH: Harris swears in Linda Thomas-Greenfield as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations By News Desk and Associated Press Senators voted 78-20 to confirm Thomas-Greenfield to the post, which will be a Cabinet-level position. Some Republicans said they feared she was soft on China and would not stand up for U.S. principles at the U.N. Continue reading
Feb 24 Ghana becomes first country to receive coronavirus vaccines from COVAX program By Francis Kokutse, Carley Petesch, Associated Press The arrival of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the West African country marks the beginning of the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Continue reading
Feb 23 Watch 5:51 News Wrap: Biden holds first bilateral meeting as president with Canada’s Trudeau In our news wrap Tuesday, President Biden held the first bilateral meeting of his administration with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Biden's pick for U.N. ambassador was confirmed by the Senate, former Sen. David Perdue will not run for his… Continue watching
Feb 23 Watch 6:23 Supply shortages and delays leave Europe’s vaccination campaign in crisis By Lucy Hough Europe’s vaccination rollout is in crisis with manufacturing delays causing supply shortages and thousands of appointments cancelled indefinitely. The European Union wants to see 70 percent of its population inoculated by the fall. But frustration is growing amongst its citizens… Continue watching
Feb 23 Watch 7:25 Britain cautiously plans to ease rigid lockdown restrictions By Malcolm Brabant Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a cautious timetable ending the country’s COVID lockdown, one of the strictest in the world with almost all foreign travel outlawed under the guidelines. But the full lockdown isn’t due to finish until… Continue watching
Feb 23 Human rights will be ‘central’ to relations with Egypt, U.S. says By Matthew Lee, Associated Press The Biden administration on Tuesday told Egypt that human rights will be “central” to its policy in dealing with the key Arab state and major American partner in the Middle East. Continue reading
Feb 23 WATCH: Biden and Trudeau give statements on bilateral meeting By Aamer Madhani, Rob Gillies, Associated Press In pre-pandemic times, such a meeting would have been held with fanfare. But with Biden and Trudeau stressing caution to their citizens, both leaders are foregoing the typical pomp and holding their talks by video conference. Continue reading
Feb 23 Facebook to lift Australia news ban after dispute over paying for journalism By Rod McGuirk, Associated Press The social media company caused alarm with its sudden decision last week to block news on its platform across Australia. Continue reading