WORLD

Geneva, Switzerland | Xinhua | The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the WHO’s highest alert level. The announcement came amid the recent increase of weekly reported deaths worldwide. After its quarterly assessment meeting on the …

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that he won’t approve sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. “No,” Biden said in response to a question about the possibility of such a decision. As he spoke, Biden arrived back at the White House from a trip to …

  New Delhi, India | Xinhua |  India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Monday issued fresh guidelines directing private broadcasters to undertake public service broadcasting for 30 minutes every day. According to the guidelines, the content needs not be of 30 minutes at a stretch and could be spread …

London, UK | XINHUA | British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday fired chair of the ruling Conservative Party Nadhim Zahawi from the government after an investigation into his tax affairs found “a serious breach” of the ministerial code. Zahawi, who last year was briefly Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, …

Stockholm, Sweden | Xinhua | Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Saturday that the country’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) process has paused, local media reported. “The events of the last few weeks have temporarily caused the process to a pause,” Billstrom told Expressen newspaper, adding that the Swedish government was …

United Nations, USA | Xinhua | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged the establishment of “guardrails” to prevent hate speech, extremism and misinformation. “The online world is one of the main reasons that hate speech, extreme ideologies and misinformation are disseminating so fast around the world,” said the UN chief, calling …

How holes in an Ebola ‘firewall’ built over the last 20 years are being plugged SPECIAL FEATURE | RONALD MUSOKE |  On Jan.11, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda’s Minister of Health, declared Uganda free from the Ebola Virus Disease after a 113-day battle across nine districts. The event at the Mayor’s Gardens …

Berlin, Germany | Xinhua | Germany’s education system is facing the “biggest shortage of teachers in 50 years” as a result of education policy failures, the country’s teachers’ association said on Friday. The problem is largely “self-made,” association president Heinz-Peter Meidinger told the Rheinische Post newspaper. The number of new teachers has …

Stockholm, Sweden | Xinhua | “The migratory situation in the European Union (EU) is strained,” the member states’ justice and home affairs ministers agreed at their Council meeting here on Thursday. “There is an urgent need to strengthen the external borders, increase returns, and prevent irregular migration,” they said, according to a …

Rome, Italy | Xinhua | A spate of violence in Spain and Germany that left several people dead and many injured has drawn outrage from leaders this week. On Wednesday, one person was killed and another hospitalized after a man carrying a large machete-type knife carried out attacks at two churches in …