Americas

When India’s government last month asked refiners to speed up diversification and reduce dependence on the Middle East - days after OPEC+ said it would maintain production cuts - it sent a message about its clout and foreshadowed changes to the world’s energy maps.

Huawei has released its annual report and financial information for 2020, demonstrating the effect that US sanctions had on its business last year. The report shows that while revenue from North America and Europe has fallen significantly, stronger performance in China has allowed the company to record higher sales and net profit than a year ago.

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 said it received 300,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from MTN Nigeria.

Speaking during the induction and oath-taking ceremony at Elele, Rivers State, the registrar, PCN, Pharm Elijah Mohammed, congratulated the graduands while enjoining them to take their one-year internship programme very seriously as there may not be opportunities to make up for any time wasted.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Americas (NIDOA) has written to President Muhammadu Buhari seeking justice for one of its members recently murdered by kidnappers back home.

“I think it will be very premature and unrealistic to think that we are going to finish with this virus by the end of the year,” Michael Ryan, director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said at a briefing on Tuesday.

A new global study on digital quality of life has ranked Nigeria as the country with the least affordable internet service in the world.

A plan by Mexican lawmakers to put millions of cell phone users’ data in a biometric registry, billed as a tool to fight kidnapping and extortion, has sparked a backlash from telecoms companies and rights groups who warn it could lead to stolen data and higher costs.

Global life insurers are taking steps to curb payouts stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, including long-term health consequences that are not fully understood, industry sources told Reuters.

The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 90 million, reaching 90,054,813 as of Wednesday, according to the latest numbers from the World Health Organisation (WHO)

Japan said on Monday it would consider declaring a state of emergency for the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area as coronavirus cases climb, casting fresh doubt over whether it can push ahead with the Olympics and keep economic damage to a minimum.

Argentina’s Senate voted on Wednesday to legalize abortion, a first for a big country in Latin America and a triumph for women’s rights campaigners achieved over the visceral objection of the Catholic Church.

World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Friday an international team led by the U.N. agency would be going to China in the first week of January to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

The world has crossed the grim milestone of 1.5 million coronavirus deaths amid the wait for the distribution of vaccines.

In cavernous cold-storage warehouses at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, KLM workers are gearing up for a surge next year in COVID-19 vaccine cargos that will need to be flown around the world at ultra-low temperatures.

A coalition of Nigerian-American organisations in the United States has pledged its support to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris.

Criminal gangs operating in Bolivia and elsewhere in Latin America have developed sophisticated networks to smuggle jaguar parts to China, according to report published on Thursday.

Shares in Asia Pacific rose modestly on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were locked in a fierce battle for the White House.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday reprimanded the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, for the continuing maltreatment of Nigerians in the Diaspora.

A top aide to President Donald Trump, and Australia’s former finance minister are among 10 candidates to lead the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD said Monday.

Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke to his Australian counterpart Marisa Payne on Friday, weeks after the October 2 incident that saw airport staff take women off several planes to examine them to check whether they were the mother of a baby abandoned at Hamad International Airport (HIA).

Some notable Nigerians have urged their compatriots in the Diaspora to key into efforts by the Federal Government to harness their resources directly for national development.