World

Britain's GlaxoSmithKline and German biotech firm CureVac have teamed up in a 150 million euro ($180 million) deal to develop a COVID19 vaccine from next year that could target several variants with one shot.

Staff at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns across Myanmar stopped work on Wednesday to protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the newly formed Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement said.

It all started when the 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner was hospitalised in the Siberian city of Omsk after losing consciousness on a flight in August last year.

A cacophony of the striking of pans and honking of vehicle horns was heard around Myanmar's biggest city Yangon on Tuesday, in one of the biggest signs of public action to reject a military coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government.

The UK variant of the coronavirus has developed a new, concerning mutation in a small number of cases, which scientists said makes it similar to the South African and Brazilian variants and could reduce the efficacy of vaccines.

Malaysia said on Tuesday it expects its COVID19 vaccination plan to proceed as scheduled after the government received assurances from the EU and Belgian ambassadors about the delivery of Pfizer's vaccine.

Malaysia's government on Tuesday extended a lockdown and broad movement restrictions by two weeks, as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with a surge in coronavirus infections that has pushed the cumulative total past 200,000 cases.

Less than two weeks in office, President Joe Biden is facing two critical tests of whether the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol has damaged Americas standing as a beacon for democracy.

Chicago Public Schools and the city's teachers union said progress was made on Monday in talks on a COVID19 safety plan, putting on hold a threatened confrontation over the district's plan to resume inperson classes for thousands of students.

The U.S. government says it wont be making routine immigration enforcement arrests at COVID19 vaccination sites.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, marking her first call to a foreign leader since entering the White House.

Israel and Kosovo established diplomatic relations on Monday, via online links due to the coronavirus crisis, under a U.S.brokered deal that includes a pledge by the Muslimmajority country to open an embassy in Jerusalem.

However, anti-Israel content is still a part of the curriculum.

South Korea will extend its social distancing curbs by two weeks until the end of the Lunar New Year holidays as new infection clusters emerge in the country, Prime Minister Chung Syekyun said on Sunday.

China has temporarily banned entry of foreign nationals travelling from Canada, even if they hold valid Chinese residence permits for work, the Chinese consulate in Toronto said.

While the British-Swedish company promoted the cause of the vaccine calling it safe for use, Germany’s disease control agency said there was insufficient data to judge how effective the vaccine is for people above 65.