While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, April 27
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Crowds of people walk on the south bank of the River Thames in London, on April 15, 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
WHO chief Tedros says we are 'increasingly blind' on Covid-19 transmission with less testing
A dramatic drop in testing for Covid-19 has left the world blind to the virus’s continuing rampage and its potentially dangerous mutations, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday.
The UN health agency said that reported Covid cases and deaths had been dropping dramatically.
“Last week, just over 15,000 deaths were reported to WHO – the lowest weekly total since March 2020,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
While this is “a very welcome trend,” he warned that the declining numbers could also be a result of significant cuts in testing for the virus.
US Vice-President Kamala Harris tests positive for Covid-19
Ms Kamala Harris has not been in close contact with President Joe Biden.
PHOTO: AFP
US Vice-President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday but is not exhibiting symptoms, a spokesperson said, at a time when there has been an increase in cases among White House staffers.
Harris has not been in close contact with President Joe Biden, her press secretary Kirsten Allen said.
She will isolate and return to the White House when she tests negative, Allen said.
Sri Lanka granted $826 million of aid by World Bank amid economic crisis
People stand in a queue to buy liquefied petroleum gas cylinders in Rathgama, on March 27, 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
The World Bank has agreed to provide Sri Lanka with US$600 million (S$826.29 million) in financial assistance to help meet payment requirements for essential imports, the Sri Lankan president’s media division said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The World Bank has agreed to provide US$600 million in financial assistance to address the current economic crisis,” the statement said.
The World Bank would release US$400 million “shortly”, it said.
According to the statement, the World Bank said it would continue to help Sri Lanka to overcome the current economic crisis.
Russia to cut gas to Poland and Bulgaria, making energy a weapon
Moscow is making good on a threat to halt gas supplies to countries that refuse Putin's new demand to pay for the fuel in roubles.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Russia will cut off the gas to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday in a major escalation in the standoff between Moscow and Europe over energy supplies and the war in Ukraine.
Moscow is making good on a threat to halt gas supplies to countries that refuse President Vladimir Putin's new demand to pay for the fuel in roubles.
The European Union has rejected the demand in principle but now payment deadlines are starting to fall due, governments across Europe need to decide whether to accept Putin's terms or lose crucial supplies - and run the risk of energy rationing.
Putin tells UN chief Guterres he still has 'hope' in Ukraine talks
Mr Vladimir Putin said efforts at talks with Ukraine had been derailed by claims of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha.
PHOTO: AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the visiting UN chief Tuesday that he still had hope for negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine.
"Despite the fact that the military operation is ongoing, we still hope that we will be able to reach agreements on the diplomatic track. We are negotiating, we do not reject (talks)," Putin told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was visiting Moscow, in televised remarks.
Sitting across from Guterres at a long table at the Kremlin, Putin said efforts at talks with Ukraine had been derailed by claims of atrocities committed by Russian forces in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv.
