World News in Brief: May 12

* Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine could potentially receive European approval for use in 12-year old children as early as the end of this month, the EU drug regulator’s executive director told the Handelsblatt daily.

* China carried out about 9.7 million vaccinations against COVID-19 on May 11, bringing the total number of doses administered to 342.70 million, according to data released by the National Health Commission on Wednesday.

* India said on Wednesday a record number of people were killed by the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, pushing its overall death toll over a quarter million.

* The White House on Tuesday announced a series of steps aimed at boosting US COVID-19 vaccination rates, including a partnership with ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft, as it seeks to achieve President Joe Biden’s July 4 reopening deadline.

* Brazil’s federal government on Tuesday nationally suspended the vaccination of pregnant women with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot, after an expectant mother in Rio de Janeiro died from a stroke possibly related to the inoculation.

* Mexico plans to start a late-stage clinical trial this month for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by China using similar technology to shots from Moderna and Pfizer, foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said.

* Britain is open to talks with the United States and other World Trade Organization members on the issue of IP waivers for COVID-19 vaccines, a government spokesman said.

* The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Ontario said they would stop offering first doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, with Ontario citing evidence that the risk of rare blood clots is somewhat higher than previously estimated.

* The European Union launched a lawsuit against AstraZeneca that could lead to financial sanctions for the company which the EU alleges has breached a supply contract for COVID-19 vaccines. The company’s lawyer said the lawsuit was not needed as there was already one under way against AstraZeneca.

* The European Commission expects to finish work soon on a COVID-19 certificate that could allow citizens to travel more easily this summer in the 27-nation bloc.

* Australia’s budget will be in the red for the foreseeable future, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, as he defended the government’s big spending plans as necessary to secure an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Some 4,000 people watched singers Dua Lipa and Arlo Parks triumph as well as perform at the BRIT Awards on Tuesday, in the first major indoor music event with a live audience held in London in over a year.

* Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into Wednesday morning as the Islamist group Hamas and other Palestinian militants fired multiple rocket barrages over the border at Tel Aviv and the southern city of Beersheba. At least 35 people have been killed in Gaza and five in Israel in the most intense exchanges for years.

* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 14,909 to 3,548,285, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday. The reported death toll rose by 268 to 85,380, the tally showed.

* The Republic of Korea’s employment growth hit an 80-month high in April, indicating an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic shock, statistical office data showed Wednesday. The number of those employed totaled 27,214,000 in April, up 652,000 from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea. It was the fastest increase in over six and a half years since August 2014.

* The New Zealand government moves to reduce merchant service fees, estimated to save New Zealand businesses approximately NZD74 million (US$53.6 million) each year. Businesses’ merchant service fees are charged by banks when customers use a credit or debit card to pay.

* New measures implemented by governments to promote post-pandemic economic recovery offer an opportunity for a more sustainable and inclusive development model, the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena, said Tuesday.

* The United States and Ukraine held naval drills together in the Black Sea, Ukraine’s navy reported Tuesday. According to the navy’s press service, an island-class patrol boat and an anti-submarine helicopter of the Ukrainian Naval Forces, a flagship of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, and a Legend-class cutter of the US Coast Guard took part in the drills.

* Presidents of Romania and Poland attended on Tuesday a joint military exercise within the “Justice Sword 21” drills in Smardan firing range, southeastern Romania, according to a press release from the Romanian Presidential Administration.

* Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said one million people lost their jobs due to the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 over the past year, RBC-Ukraine reported on Tuesday. According to Shmyhal, 500,000 jobs have been saved thanks to the support provided by the government to businesses and individuals during the pandemic. In addition, investments in infrastructure development helped preserve or create another 160,000 jobs.

* Libya and Malta have agreed to hold an economic forum between the chambers of commerce and businessmen councils in the two countries “to enhance and support bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy and trade,” the Libyan Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday approved the Suez Canal Authority (SCA)’s plan to expand and deepen the southern stretch of the waterway, state-run TV reported. The project will widen and deepen 40 km of the international waterway, including the part where a container ship, Ever Given, became jammed and blocked traffic for six days in March.

Source: Nhan Dan Online