International

Saturday, February 20th 2021 - 08:42 UTC
Impressive pictures from the Perseverance rover successful landing in Mars

Less than a day after NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars, engineers and scientists at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California were hard at work, awaiting the next transmissions from Perseverance. As data gradually came in, relayed by several spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet, the Perseverance team were relieved to see the rover’s health reports, which showed everything appeared to be working as expected.
Saturday, February 20th 2021 - 08:40 UTC
Some 45 pilot whales stranded on an Indonesian beach: three survive

Regional officials on the northeastern Indonesian island of Madura said on Friday at least 45 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a beach there have died, while rescuers managed to push three back out to sea.
Saturday, February 20th 2021 - 08:39 UTC
Coronavirus will be beaten when everyone in the world has been immunized, Angela Merkel

The coronavirus pandemic can only be considered beaten once everyone in the world has been immunized against Covid-19, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said, after she'd met with the G7 leaders at a virtual summit on Friday.
Friday, February 19th 2021 - 10:30 UTC
Pfizer is testing its vaccine in 4,000 volunteer healthy pregnant women

Pfizer and BioNtech have started an international study with 4,000 volunteers to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccine in healthy pregnant women, the companies said on Thursday.
Friday, February 19th 2021 - 10:19 UTC
Ascension Island vaccinated with AstraZeneca, first BOT to complete inoculation

A remote UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic could become the first whole island vaccinated against coronavirus, after the Royal Air Force flew 4,000 miles to deliver doses from RAF Brize Norton.
Friday, February 19th 2021 - 08:33 UTC
UK wants to coordinate the development of future pandemic vaccines to 100 days

Britain which holds the presidency of the Group 7 will challenge fellow members to help speed up the development of future vaccines to 100-days. On Friday Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts a virtual meeting of leaders including US President Joe Biden.
Friday, February 19th 2021 - 07:58 UTC
US will keep Trump tariffs on Chinese goods, Treasury Secretary Yellen

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday that US will keep tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by the Trump administration in place for now, but will evaluate how to proceed after a thorough review.
Friday, February 19th 2021 - 07:45 UTC
WHO urges nations producing vaccines to donate them to the Covax scheme

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday urged nations producing Covid-19 vaccines not to distribute them unilaterally but to donate them to the global Covax scheme to ensure fairness.
Friday, February 19th 2021 - 07:45 UTC
Canada determined to follow Australia and France, and make Facebook pay for news content

Canada is following Australia and vowed on Thursday to make Facebook Inc pay for news content, seeking allies in the media battle with tech giants and pledging not to back down if the social media platform shuts off the country's news.
Friday, February 19th 2021 - 07:38 UTC
Biden will pledge US$ 4bn to the COVAX vaccination program at the G7 summit

United States will pledge US$4 billion to a vaccination program for poorer countries at a global economic summit this Friday and hopes other countries will follow and contribute additional funds, the White House anticipated.