South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and US President-elect Joe Biden are eager to boost relations between America and the African continent, the presidency said after a phone call between the two leaders. Ramaphosa, who is also the current chairman of the African Union, “is hopeful of a strong partnership between the United States and the African […]Read More
The biotech company Pfizer said Wednesday that a completed study of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine showed it is 95 percent effective. Pfizer said the vaccine had no serious side effects and that the company will apply for emergency use authorization from US regulators “within days.” The announcement came as coronavirus cases are surging in the […]Read More
Iraq and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday reopened their Arar desert crossing, a long-awaited sign of closer trade ties after 30 years of sealed land borders between the two countries. Top officials including Iraq’s interior minister and the head of its border commission travelled from Baghdad to formally open Arar, where a line of cargo trucks […]Read More
Donald Trump on Tuesday fired the US government’s top election security official, who had rejected the president’s unsubstantiated claims of “massive” fraud in the vote he lost to Joe Biden. Trump announced on Twitter the termination “effective immediately” of Chris Krebs, who led the agency that jointly declared “the November 3rd election was the most […]Read More
DR Congo on Wednesday declared the end of its latest Ebola epidemic, closing the file on an outbreak in the northwestern province of Equateur that claimed 55 lives in nearly six months. “I am happy to solemnly declare the end of the 11th epidemic of the Ebola virus,” Health Minister Eteni Longondo told journalists. The […]Read More
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in self-isolation Monday after a contact tested positive for the coronavirus while spiralling infections in the United States saw stay-at-home measures imposed on Chicago, its third-biggest city. Global infections have soared past 54 million with more than 1.3 million deaths, spurring governments to reimpose unpopular and stifling restrictions on […]Read More
Police in Philadelphia are investigating an alleged plot to attack the Pennsylvania Convention Centre where election ballots are being counted. They received a tip that either an individual or a group was travelling to the city from Virginia in a Hummer with the intention of attacking the convention hall. A man has been taken into custody and a weapon recovered. It […]Read More
South Korea has accepted just 164 asylum seekers this year from nearly 6,000 who applied despite coronavirus travel curbs, according to government data. Immigration is a contentious issue in South Korea, where many pride themselves on ethnic homogeneity, even as its population of 51 million rapidly ages and the labour force shrinks. The figure of […]Read More
Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia kicked off Sunday the latest round of talks over Addis Ababa’s controversial dam on the Blue Nile, waters critical to the two downstream nations. The week-long negotiations, held via videoconference, include water ministers from the three countries, as well as representatives from the African Union, European Union and the World Bank. […]Read More
US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has criticised Donald Trump’s handling of Covid-19, while courting elderly voters in the key battleground state of Florida. He told them that the president saw seniors, who have been more at risk in the pandemic, as “expendable”. There are sharp policy differences between the two candidates on Covid-19. In […]Read More