Hundreds battle deadly Ukraine forest fire

KIEV, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers rushed to deal with a forest fire that has killed six people in eastern Ukraine, the interior minister said on Tuesday. Water-bombing planes were also sent to the scene of the blaze in the Lugansk region, which is partially…

Covid-19: US posts new daily virus case record of 60,209 as Latin America, Caribbean surpass 3 mn virus cases

WASHINGTON, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States, the country hardest hit by the coronavirus, on Tuesday posted 60,209 new cases, a record for a 24-hour period, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. The country was just shy of three million cases, at 2,991,351, the Baltimore-based university said…

Mexican leader in rare trip to see Trump under virus cloud

WASHINGTON, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico’s leader is paying his first foreign visit Wednesday in the unlikeliest of circumstances — in the midst of the raging coronavirus pandemic to see US President Donald Trump, who has disparaged his country. A left-wing populist, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in…

Covid-10: WHO wishes Brazilian Pres Bolsonaro swift recovery; president says using unproven hydroxychloroquine for quick recovery

GENEVA/BRASILIA, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) –– The World Health Organization sent its best wishes to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, saying it “brings home the reality of this virus. “No-one is special in that regard: we are all potentially exposed,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan…

Covid-19: US awards $1.6 billion to Novavax for vaccine

WASHINGTON, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US announced it was providing $1.6 billion in funding for the development and manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate produced by biotech firm Novavax, the largest amount awarded under Operation Warp Speed. Separately, the US also said it was providing $450 million to Regeneron…

Covid-19: ‘I disagree’ with Fauci on coronavirus in the US, says Pres Trump

WASHINGTON, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump said he disagrees with the assessment of the country’s top immunologist, Anthony Fauci, on the dire situation the United States faces as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to spread. “The current state is really not good,” the highly respected Fauci, head…

Covid-19: Harvard, MIT sue Trump govt over order revoking visas for foreign students

NEW YORK, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) –– Harvard and MIT asked a court to block an order by President Donald Trump’s administrationthreatening the visas of foreign students whose entire courses havemoved online because of the coronavirus pandemic. The universities’ lawsuit was in response to an announcement Mondayby the US Immigration and…

Covid-19: Volunteers feel well two weeks after vaccine trials – Russian defense ministry

MOSCOW, July 7, 2020 (BSS/TASS) – Volunteers, who tested a vaccine against the coronavirus two weeks ago at Burdenko military hospital, are feeling well and have not experienced any side effects, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “Two weeks since the vaccination the second group of participants of coronavirus vaccine trials,…

Opposition candidate wins Dominican Republic presidential poll

SANTO DOMINGO, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Opposition candidate Luis Abinader swept to victory in the Dominican Republic’s presidential election, ending 16 years of unbroken rule by the Caribbean nation’s PLD party after voters braved a worsening coronavirus outbreak to cast their ballots. Abinader, the candidate of the Modern Revolutionary Party…

US virus death toll passes 130,000: Johns Hopkins

WASHINGTON, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States passed another grim coronavirus milestone Monday as the death toll from the virus climbed past 130,000, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. The country also posted a worrying number of new daily infections, at 54,999 — a few thousand…