Covid-19 vaccine: Finger-pointing will not save a single life, says WHO
Addressing a special session of the executive board of World Health Organization, director general Tedros Adhanom said finger-pointing will not save a single life. “We are all in this together. History will not judge us kindly if we pour millions and millions of dollars as our domestic stimulus while the global community needs help,” Tedros said.
Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, who is also the executive board chairman of the World Health Organisation, has emphasised on the need of global collaboration to tide over the present pandemic situation. “Therapeutic, diagnostics & vaccines for whole world, only way out of this pandemic. Global collaboration is paramount,” Vardhan said.
Amid a new trend of vaccine nationalism, which is marked by countries rushing to make agreements with vaccine manufacturers for a specific number of vaccine doses once they are ready and proved to be effective, WHO has been emphasising on global solidarity. India and south Africa have urged World Trade Organisation to look into Intellectual Property Rights laws and patents so that they don’t become hindrance to an equal distribution of vaccines.
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China’s life expectancy now stands at 77.93 years, health indicators doing well
The life expectancy of Chinese citizens now stands at 77.93 years and is within the category of upper-middle-income countries, the national health commission, said on Tuesday. The life expectancy of Chinese citizens had risen to 77.3 years in 2019, compared with 35 years in 1949, the beginning of the Communist Party of China's rule, according to a white paper released last year. According to World Bank data, India's life expectancy stood at 70 in 2020.
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Kaali poster row: India urges Canada to withdraw provocative material
Hindu groups in Canada have complained to the country's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and are also exploring legal options over the poster of a film screened in Toronto on Sunday that they deem offensive. The film, Kaali, made by Leena Manimekalai, was shown at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto as part of a multimedia storytelling project, Under the Tent. The community was upset over the poster depicting Goddess Kali smoking a cigarette.
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Sydney floods: 50K residents told to evacuate, power cuts at 19K homes| Top 10
Heavy rains have battered the eastern coast of Australia, resulting in floods across Sydney and other parts of New South Wales province. Nearly 50,000 residents across the state have been told to either evacuate or warned about evacuation order from the authorities, Reuters reported. Due to floods, more than 19,000 homes are facing power cuts, AFP reported. Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Sydney in the flood emergency, Reuters reported.
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Chicago shooting victims: Mexican grandfather, teacher among those killed
A teacher and a man in his 70s who had travelled from Mexico to visit his family were among the six people shot dead in Chicago's wealthy Highland Park suburb late Monday night after yet another horrific mass shooting incident in the United States. A 'person of interest' - Robert E Crimo III - was taken into custody shortly after the shooting and a high-powered rifle was recovered.
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China accuses NASA chief of 'lying through his teeth' as race to Moon get heated
The competition between the US and China to explore outer space turned prickly after Chinese diplomats blasted the head of NASA and encouraged neighboring countries to support Beijing's plan for exploring the moon. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian on Monday accused NASA Administrator Bill Nelson of lying “through his teeth” in response to reported comments in a German tabloid about the space competition between the two countries.
_1657004809224_1657004843594.jpg "China also slammed the Artemis Accord, calling it US effort to create a NATO in outer space.")