WORLD

Once the bill clears the Senate, senior lawmakers will have until March 11 to reach an agreement on how to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a short-term bill to extend federal government funding …

New York, U.S. | Xinhua | Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 400 million on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The global case count amounted to 400,244,031, with 5,761,208 deaths worldwide, as of 5:21 p.m. local time (2221 GMT), showed the data. The United States reported 77,025,027 cases and 908,262 …

New York, U.S. | Xinhua | U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. on Tuesday presented weaker-than-expected operating guidance for 2022 leading to material loss of its stock price. Pfizer expects to realize 98 billion to 102 billion U.S. dollars of revenues in 2022 and the mid-point of the guidance range represents a …

Beijing, China | Xinhua | China’s top economic planner said on Tuesday that it is ready to stockpile pork, the country’s staple meat, for state reserves, as an index monitoring pork prices triggered a second-level warning. The index, the national average of pork prices against grain prices, came in at 5.57 …

Brussels, Belgium | Xinhua | Weaker economic activity in the Eurozone during the first months of the year will give way to a rebound in the second quarter as the Omicron variant proves milder and governments become wary of imposing strict restrictions, said a Dutch banking company expert. However, higher inflation, …

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed Monday that a joint gas pipeline project between Germany and Russia won’t advance if Russia invades Ukraine, stopping short of explaining how it will be achieved if Germany has reservations for that decision as a deterrence against Moscow. With visiting German …

Seoul, Korea | Xinhua | South Korea’s imported car sale logged a double-digit fall last month owing to the global supply shortage of semiconductors used to make vehicles, industry data showed on Monday. The number of imported vehicles, sold in the local market, was 17,361 in January, down 22.2 percent …

Warsaw, Poland | Xinhua | A plane carrying U.S. soldiers landed in southern Poland on Sunday, on U.S. President Joe Biden’s order to deploy additional U.S. troops to Poland, Romania and Germany this week, amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The 1,700 U.S. soldiers sent to Poland will operate …

Lisbon, Portugal | Xinhua | The Portuguese Council of Ministers decided on Saturday that a negative COVID-19 test is no longer required to enter Portugal from Feb. 7. From that date onwards, it is only necessary to present the digital vaccination certificate from the European Union or another proof “duly …

The Other Threat to Democracy  COMMENT | FEDERICO FUBINI | The emergence of illiberal politicians across the West has led to prophecies about the end of democracy. In the United States, Donald Trump is maneuvering to return to the White House in 2025, after attempting to overturn an election that …