International

Biden plans to roll back Trump’s refugee, asylum crackdowns

February 3, 2021

A Honduran child draws in a coloring book while waiting with his family along the border bridge after being denied entry into the Texas city of Brownsville which has become dependent on the daily crossing into and out of Mexico on June 25, 2018 in Brownsville, Texas. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)...

International

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine 91.6% effective in late-stage trial

February 3, 2021

The 'Gam-COVID-Vac', also known as 'Sputnik V', COVID-19 vaccine. LONDON / WASHINGTON / GENEVA / JOHANNESBURG / BERLIN / VIENNA / LISBON / PARIS / VILNIUS / ADDIS ABABA / SAO PAULO / BUENOS AIRES / HAVANA / ABUJA - Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine provided strong protection against COVID-19 in...

International

Trump impeachment defense to dispute process, incitement charge

February 3, 2021

This undated photo shows former US president Donald Trump. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG) Donald Trump’s lawyers will mount a double-barreled defense of the former president in his impeachment trial next week, arguing that the process was rushed and partisan, and that his rhetoric to supporters who later stormed the US Capitol...

International

Rocky weekend in US for jabs after protests and Guantanamo reversal

February 3, 2021

People in wheelchairs are directed by a volunteer to a waiting area after getting a COVID-19 vaccine at Lincoln Park in Los Angeles, California on Jan 28, 2021. (FREDERIC J BROWN / AFP) The US coronavirus vaccine landscape was rocked by controversy over the weekend as a group in Los...

International

Mandarin proves a winner in English schools

February 3, 2021

Year 7 students in the Mandarin Excellence Programme attend a study day at the University College London. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY) Mandarin classes in secondary schools in England over the past five years have proved so popular that the numbers of students studying the language are on course to...

International

Navalny jail term sought as Kremlin tells US to back off

February 2, 2021

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits before a welcoming ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov (both not pictured) in Bishkek on March 28, 2019. (MAXIM SHEMETOV / POOL / AFP) MOSCOW - Russian state prosecutors said they would back an effort to jail opposition politician...

International

Portugal reports nearly half of all its virus deaths in Jan

February 2, 2021

Funeral workers wearing protection suits carry a body of a COVID-19 victim outside a nursing home in Casal de Cambra, in the outskirts of Lisbon, on Jan 29, 2021. (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP) RUSSELS / TBILISI / NEW YORK / ADDIS ABABA / SAO PAULO / BOGOTA /...

International

Italy coalition talks carry on in race to avoid vote

February 2, 2021

Italy's Senate, the upper house of parliament, stands during Giuseppe Conte, Italy's prime minister's debate in Rome, Italy, Jan 19, 2021. (ALESSANDRA BENEDETTI / CORBIS / BLOOMBERG) Talks aimed at building support for a new Italian government will continue, after consultations over the weekend failed to produce an agreement on...

International

Trump impeachment defense squeezed by team remake on trial eve

February 2, 2021

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, Jan 20, 2021. (AL DRAGO / BLOOMBERG) Former President Donald Trump’s last-minute remake of his impeachment defense team leaves little time to prepare for...

International

US to phase out privately operated federal prisons

February 2, 2021

Inmates sew protective masks at Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility in Santee, California, on April 22, 2020. (SANDY HUFFAKER / AFP) The United States is phasing out the use of private prisons in a move advocates are applauding but also criticizing as not shrinking the federal prison system but just...

International

UK set to formally apply for trans-Pacific trade bloc membership

February 1, 2021

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives a double thumbs up after signing the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement at 10 Downing Street, London, on Dec 30, 2020. (LEON NEAL / POOL VIA AP) LONDON - Britain will next week formally apply to join a trans-Pacific trading bloc of 11 countries,...

International

Brazil COVID-19 outbreak shows signs of slowing

February 1, 2021

A passenger is seen at El Dorado international airport after the Government suspended flights from Brazil due to the Brazilian variant of Sars-Cov-2 in Bogota, on Jan 28, 2021. (RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP) NEW YORK / ADDIS ABABA / SAO PAULO / BOGOTA / HAVANA / QUITO / PARIS /...

International

Italy’s Renzi ‘may seek new finance chief to back Conte’

February 1, 2021

"Italia Viva" party leader Matteo Renzi leaves after a press conference at the Quirinale palace in Rome on January 28, 2021, after a meeting with the Italian president on forming a new government following the resignation of the prime minister. (ANDREAS SOLARO / POOL / AFP) Former Premier Matteo Renzi...

International

UN lists candidates to run Libya’s transitional government

February 1, 2021

A Libyan woman stands on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the capital Tripoli on January 26, 2021. Mahmud (TURKIA / AFP) TUNIS - Participants at Libya’s UN-sponsored peace talks have approved a list of candidates seeking to lead a transitional government that will prepare the North African state...

International

Washington says it’s ready to engage on WTO reform

January 31, 2021

The headquarters of the World Trade Organization in Geneva. (PHOTO / IC) GENEVA - The United States is committed to “positive, constructive and active engagement” with all members of the World Trade Organization on reforming the body and is actively considering who to choose as its next chief, a US...

International

World Bank commits US$12b for virus vaccinations in Africa

January 31, 2021

A medical worker prepares a dose of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Rabat, Morocco, Jan 29, 2021. (CHADI / XINHUA) BRUSSELS / LONDON / PARIS / GENEVA / BOGOTA / ADDIS ABABA / RIO DE JANEIRO / BUCHAREST / OTTAWA / MEXICO CITY / NAIROBI / ROME / ALGIERS /...

International

For locked-down Parisians, taxis are a ticket to freedom

January 31, 2021

This photo shows the Champs Elysees avenue amid an 8 pm-6 am curfew in Paris, France, on Dec 31, 2020. (STEFANO RELLANDINI / AFP) PARIS - Boris Czajka, a 32-year-old driver with a Paris ride-hailing service, now has a new category of clients because of the COVID-19 pandemic: people who...

International

Putin signs law extending arms control treaty with US by 5 years

January 31, 2021

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the virtual World Economic Forum via a video link from Moscow on Jan 27, 2021. (MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP) MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law extending the New START nuclear arms control treaty, the last major pact of...

International

Italy blocks sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia and UAE

January 30, 2021

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio attends a news conference in Moscow on Oct 14, 2020. (HANDOUT / RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP) ROME - Italy has halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday,...

International

Hungary first in EU to approve China’s Sinopharm vaccine

January 30, 2021

A health worker injects a syringe with a vial of the Phase 3 Novavax coronavirus vaccine for use in the trial at St. George's University hospital in London, Oct 7, 2020. (ALASTAIR GRANT / AP) WASHINGTON / NAIROBI / CHICAGO / LONDON / MEXICO CITY / LISBON / BUENOS AIRES...