Author: News Desk

Authorities in Vietnam have detected a new coronavirus variant that is a combination of the Indian and UK COVID-19 variants and spreads quickly by air, the health minister said on Saturday. After successfully containing the virus for most of last year, Vietnam is grappling with a rise in infections since late April that accounts for more than half of the total 6,856 registered cases. So far, there have been 47 deaths. “Vietnam has uncovered a new COVID-19 variant combining characteristics of the two existing variants first found in India and the UK,” Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said, describing it as a hybrid of…

EU approves Pfizer jab for 12-15 year olds The EU’s medicines agency (EMA) has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12-15 year olds – the first jab allowed for this age group in the bloc. Individual member states must now decide if they will offer the jab to children. German leaders gave the green light on Thursday. The US and Canada approved the Pfizer jab for adolescents earlier this month. Friday’s announcement came as the World Health Organization (WHO) said Europe needed to speed up its vaccine rollout. WHO Europe director Hans Kluge warned that the pandemic would not be over…

BRAVE Combat Federation’s Muhammad Mokaev is arguably one of the biggest up-and-coming international MMA stars today. The 20-year-old has been standing out from the pack since his amateur days and now, as an undefeated professional Mixed Martial Artist, he’s been drawing more and more attention. But that doesn’t mean that it was all rainbows and unicorns for the MMA prodigy, as he made clear in an exclusive unseen footage from his Road To Greatness interview, a mini documentary produced by BRAVE Films. The level of abdication in order to thrive in the highly competitive Mixed Martial Arts world left some…

The EU’s medicines agency (EMA) has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12-15 year olds – the first jab allowed for this age group in the bloc. Individual member states must now decide if they will offer the jab to children. German leaders gave the green light on Thursday. The US and Canada approved the Pfizer jab for adolescents earlier this month. Friday’s announcement came as the World Health Organization (WHO) said Europe needed to speed up its vaccine rollout. WHO Europe director Hans Kluge warned that the pandemic would not be over until at least 70% of the population had been vaccinated.…

Russia said on Friday a U.S. decision not to rejoin the Open Skies arms control pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member states, is a “political mistake” ahead of a summit between the countries’ presidents. The original U.S. decision to quit the pact was taken last year by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, but Moscow had hoped his successor Joe Biden would reverse it. On Thursday, however, the Biden administration informed Moscow that it would not re-enter the pact, accusing Russia of violating it, something Moscow denied. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said on Friday that…

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday inaugurated the Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) that would create at least 200,000 job opportunities and give new impetus to Pakistan’s export-oriented industrialisation. Rashakai, one of the nine SEZs under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), will begin a new era of industrialisation in Pakistan, PM Imran Khan said. The SEZ is being constructed in Nowshera, Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The zone is being built at the cost of $242 million with the collaboration of China’s state enterprise China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and KP Economic Zone Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC).…

Saudi Arabia has announced radical changes to its education system by introducing new subjects that will be taught for the first time, local media reported. The new subjects that will be taught starting next year include digital skills, English for elementary grades, social studies, self-defense and critical thinking. Also, according to the new changes, the two-semester school system will now be converted into three with short vacations, in order to keep pace with international best practices, local media reported. Dr. Hamad Al Sheikh, Saudi Minister of Education, said that this transformation would also include the development of curricula and educational plans. “Over…

A man who smashed his way into another man’s flat and dragged him out of bed and beat him has been jailed. Callum Radcliffe, 30, previously admitted causing actual bodily harm. The court heard he and two friends smashed a glass panel on the back door of a flat on Wesley Terrace, Douglas before the attack at about 02:40 GMT on 2 November 2019. Deemster Graeme Cook sentenced him to 20 months in prison for the “sustained attack”. The court heard one of Radcliffe’s friends had received a text message from the victim’s girlfriend and the trio had decided to…

Africa urgently needs 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to make sure everyone who has had a first jab can get a second within the recommended eight- to twelve-week window, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Another 200 million doses of any coronavirus vaccine are needed to get 10 percent of the continent’s population vaccinated by September, the WHO said. WHO data shows 28 million doses from various manufacturers have reached Africa, which corresponds to fewer than two doses per 100 people, the Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) reported. Meanwhile, 1.5 billion coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered globally.…

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday he planned to stand for a second term for the largely ceremonial post. A former foreign minister and senior adviser to centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the 65-year-old Steinmeier has occupied the president’s office since 2017, said dpa. A trained lawyer, Steinmeier’s term is due to expire in 2022, which is after the next election in September, when a new national parliament will to be voted in. Born in western Germany, Steinmeier also headed up the SPD’s election campaign in 2009 as the party’s chancellor candidate, losing to the conservative Christian Democrats headed by…