
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that decisions to end the required wearing of masks, as is happening in several states, including Texas, amounted to Neanderthal thinking given the rising death toll from the coronavirus pandemic.

Merck & Co will help make rival Johnson & Johnson's single-shot Covid-19 vaccine in a partnership set to be announced on Tuesday by US President Joe Biden, a White House official said. J&J's vaccine production has been slower than promised.

Reuters – The Joe Biden administration downplayed the prospect of sharing coronavirus vaccines with Mexico, arguing it is focused on getting its own population protected against a pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.

The new administration of president Joe Biden is in “no rush” to lift U.S. sanctions on Venezuela but would consider easing them if President Nicolas Maduro takes confidence-building steps showing he is ready to negotiate seriously with the opposition, according to White House sources.

The tide is changing and willingness to get a Covid-19 vaccine is on the rise compared to last year, according to a survey of six industrialized countries published on Monday. More people in the United Kingdom, the United States and even vaccine-skeptical France now accept the idea of getting a coronavirus jab, KekstCNC, an international consultancy, said in the survey conducted in February.

A US federal judge has given final approval to Facebook's US$650 million payment to settle a privacy dispute between the California group and 1.6 million users in the US state of Illinois. The decision was issued on Friday.

The final approval for the Delta-LATAM joint venture has been given this week by Brazil. The agreement, which has also been given the nod from Uruguay, still needs approval in some other jurisdictions. The news was released by Simple Flying, an air industry specialized news agency.

Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot Covid-19 vaccine appeared safe and effective in trials, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff said in documents published on Wednesday, paving the way for its approval for emergency use.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and an alliance of faith groups urged President Joe Biden on Tuesday to back a big boost in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) emergency reserve funds to help poor countries devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The wife of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the imprisoned former leader of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, was arrested on Monday over her alleged involvement in international drug trafficking, the U.S. Department of Justice said.