World

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – India reported the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases in five months today, with the second wave of the disease driven by surging infections in the country’s richest state Maharastra.

 (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson has agreed to supply up to 400 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the African Union (AU) from the third quarter of 2021, the drugmaker said on Monday, as the continent struggles to get shots into arms and tame infections.

 (Reuters) – A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” as a cause, the Associated Press reported today.

(Reuters) – Myanmar security forces opened fire at a funeral yesterday, witnesses said, as people across the country gathered to mourn 114 people killed the previous day in the worst crackdown on protests since last month’s military coup.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinated the White House coronavirus task force under President Donald Trump, believes the COVID-19 death toll in the United States would have been substantially lower if the government had responded more effectively.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Mexico’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is likely at least 60% higher than the confirmed number, putting it in excess of 300,000, according to government data.

(Reuters) – Two girls, ages 13 and 15, were charged with the murder and carjacking of a Pakistani immigrant killed last week while working at his job delivering food in Washington, D.C.,

MAPUTO,  (Reuters) – Dozens of people were killed in an attack on the northern Mozambique town of Palma this week, a spokesman for the country’s defence and security forces said, including seven people when a convoy of cars was ambushed in an escape attempt.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuela’s government yesterday accused Facebook Inc of “digital totalitarianism” after it froze President Nicolas Maduro’s page for 30 days for violating its policies against spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

COX’S BAZAR,  (Reuters) – Hundreds of members of a hardline Islamist group attacked Hindu temples and a train in eastern Bangladesh today, police and a local journalist said, as violence spread across the country in the wake of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

SAN SALVADOR,  (Reuters) – El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele said yesterday that 1 million Sinovac vaccines against COVID-19 would arrive in the Central American country early today, the latest assistance against the pandemic to reach Latin America from China.

(Reuters) – Myanmar security forces killed 114 people, including some children, in a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on Saturday, the bloodiest day of violence since last month’s military coup, news reports and witnesses said.

BELGRADE,  (Reuters) – The European Union should help Montenegro repay a 1 billion euro ($1.18 billion) loan to the Export-Import Bank of China for the construction of a motorway linking it with the Serbian border, country’s deputy prime minister said on Friday.

BRISTOL, England, (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday criticised what he called “disgraceful attacks” on police officers after protests against a new policing bill in the city of Bristol turned violent, resulting in 10 arrests.

MAPUTO,  (Reuters) – Suspected Islamist insurgents attacked a convoy of fleeing civilians, including foreign workers, as fighting continued in a northern Mozambique town that is near a number of gas projects, security and diplomatic sources said.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil recorded 85,948 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 3,438 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said yesterday, the second day in a row fatalities have exceeded 3,000.

LONDON (Reuters) – American musician Jon Batiste says he set out to break the confines of genre in his new album, mixing styles and working with the likes of gospel singer Mavis Staples, guitarist Cory Wong and author Zadie Smith.

LA PAZ (Reuters) – Neydi, a Bolivian primary school student, logs on to virtual classes like many kids around the world during the pandemic.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Each sport should decide for itself how to fairly regulate transgender women competing in women’s sport, rather than follow the blanket bans proposed in dozens of U.S.

BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As the Green Climate Fund seeks to ramp up its financing for climate action and green recovery in developing nations, it needs the United States to restart contributions halted by its former president, the fund’s executive director said on Friday.