PARIS, Aug 18 (Reuters) – French health authorities reported on Wednesday that the number of patients being treated in intensive care units (ICUs) for COVID-19 has risen above 2,000 for the first time since June 14. That figure has more than doubled in less than a month as the highly[Read More…]
(Adds quotes by Trudeau, background) By David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer OTTAWA, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday called an early election for Sept. 20, saying he needed a new mandate to ensure voters approved of his Liberal government’s plan to recover from the COVID-19[Read More…]
WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, head of the largest U.S. labor organization and a key figure in Democratic politics, has died at age 72, representatives for the group said on Thursday. President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House that Trumka was a close personal[Read More…]
India will recruit hundreds of former army medics to support its overwhelmed healthcare system, the defense ministry said on Sunday, as the country grapples with record COVID-19 infections and deaths amid calls for a complete nationwide lockdown. Some 400 medical officers are expected to serve on contract for a maximum[Read More…]
A Pakistani court on Thursday ordered that a batch of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine imported by a private company be immediately made available to the public for sale, according to a court document and officials. The government had argued that pricing issues should be settled first. “Any restriction[Read More…]
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said on Wednesday it was time for politicians to make concessions to agree a new government that must rescue the country from financial crisis. Lebanon’s financial meltdown is posing the most serious threat to stability since the 1975-1990 civil war, but politicians have been unable to form[Read More…]
In a world reeling from the impact of COVID-19, investing in public transport could create 4.6 million jobs by 2030 and cut transport emissions, mayors in some 100 cities said on Tuesday. A “green and just recovery” with investment in buses and trains, particularly electric vehicles, would also reduce car[Read More…]
Mexico’s president on Monday sharply condemned the weekend killing of a Salvadoran woman in Mexican police custody who died after a female officer was seen in a video kneeling on her back. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said 36-year-old Victoria Salazar Arriaza had been subject to “brutal treatment and murdered”[Read More…]
Egypt’s SUMED pipeline operator has approached oil traders to ask if they want to book its system to transport crude oil as a stuck container ship could block the Suez Canal for weeks, three trading sources told Reuters on Thursday. The 400 m (430 yard) Ever Given, almost as long[Read More…]
A 7-year-old girl was killed in her home when security forces opened fire in Myanmar’s second city Mandalay on Tuesday – the youngest victim so far in a crackdown against opposition to last month’s military coup. The ruling junta accused pro-democracy protesters of arson and violence during the weeks of[Read More…]
