Covid-19: Kenya to manufacture vaccines starting next year

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe NAIROBI, Sept 16 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — Kenya will next year start manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines locally in collaboration with unnamed pharmaceutical firms in a move aimed at easing supply hitches that have derailed mass innoculation. Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe revealed in an internal vaccination blue print…

Covid-19: France suspends 3,000 unvaccinated health workers

A nursing staff member wears a handmade mask during a demonstration against mandatory health passport for hospital workers PARIS, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of health workers across France have been suspended without pay for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of a deadline this week, Health Minister Olivier…

EU must step up and build defence – European Commission President Von Der Leyen

STRASBOURG, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU should seek to beef up its military capabilities to confront security threats and global crises. She told the European Parliament she believed EU military forces would be “part of the solution”. After the Afghan pull-out…

Covid-19: Russian Pres Vladimir Putin says “several dozen” people in his circle have covid

MOSCOW, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that dozens of people in his entourage tested positive for the coronavirus before he went into self-isolation earlier this week. The Russian leader, who announced in March he had been vaccinated, started self-isolating on Tuesday after being identified as…

Storm Nicholas moves over Louisiana, drenching US Gulf coast

BATON ROUGE (Louisiana, US), Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Storm Nicholas has weakened to a tropical depression as it crawls from Texas into southern Louisiana on Wednesday, unleashing heavy rain across a landscape where Hurricane Ida recently destroyed thousands of rooftops, now covered with flimsy tarpaulins. Forecasters said Nicholas would slow to a stall over…

Unvaccinated children suffering COVID-19 impact, Pan American health agency warns

A 14-year-old boy gets a dose of the Soberana 02 vaccine during its clinical trials at a hospital in Havana, Cuba WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As more adults get their COVID-19 vaccines, children who are not yet eligible for vaccination in most countries are representing a larger percentage of hospitalisations and even…

Thousands of Salvadorans march against President Bukele

People take part in a protest against the use of Bitcoin as legal tender and legal reforms to extend president Nayib Bukele’s term SAN SALVADOR, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of Salvadorans took to the streets to protest against President Nayib Bukele, who they accuse of a power grab aimed…

Serbia’s new national holiday triggers unease in Balkans

BELGRADE, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Serbia kicked off a new national holiday with a display of military power and calls for all Serbs in the Balkans to unite under one flag, triggering unease among its neighbors decades after similar calls led to the bloody wars in the 1990s.Serbs were told to…

Mexico: 22 foreigners abducted from hotel abandoned by captors

MEXICO CITY, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in northern Mexico have found 38 people, including 22 Haitians and Cubans, who were abducted from a hotel, authorities have said.The chief prosecutor of the northern state of San Luis Potosi said the victims were found alive on a roadside late Tuesday, apparently…

WHO aims for 30 percent of needed Africa coronavirus jabs by February

The African Union and its partners had expected to buy half the doses needed GENEVA, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have said they hope to provide Africa with about 30 percent of the COVID-19 vaccines the continent needs by February, badly missing the 60 percent…