Author: staff
Despite a declining trend since 1997, a significant resurgence of measles was recorded in 2023 and 2024 following backsliding in immunization coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Vaccination rates in many countries are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, increasing the risk of outbreaks,” the report said. “Less than 80 percent of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania were vaccinated with MCV1 in 2023 — far below the 95 percent coverage rate required to retain herd immunity,” the report said. Measles infects the respiratory tract and then spreads throughout the body. Symptoms include a high fever,…
Updated: 13/03/2025 – 15:15 GMT+1Thousands in Kathmandu celebrated Holi, widely known as the Hindu festival of colours, with vibrant colours, music, and dance, honouring the arrival of spring and the divine love of Krishna and Radha. … More Thousands gathered in Kathmandu on Thursday to celebrate the Hindu festival of Holi, dancing to festive music, drumming, and smearing each other with vibrant colours. Known as the festival of colours, Holi marks the arrival of spring in Nepal, India, and other South Asian countries. The celebration honours the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha, symbolising rebirth…
A confidential document outlining the coalition talks between the conservative Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party (CDU/CSU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), reveals just how different this process will be from the chaotic, leak-prone negotiations of 2021. In Germany, coalition talks are long, messy affairs. After the 2021 election, the SPD, Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) formed an alliance known as the Ampel (traffic light) coalition — named after their party colors. To signal fresh cooperation, their leaders took a now-famous selfie, an image that quickly went viral as a symbol of unity. But the unity didn’t…
EU senior officials including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to go on a scoping trip to intensify trade bonds with Vietnam five years after signing a free trade agreement with the south-east Asian country. Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Vietnam in the coming months, the Commission President’s spokesperson has confirmed, as the executive seeks to pin down trade ties with third countries against a fraught geopolitical backdrop.“There are plans to visit Vietnam notably to strengthen economic ties,” EU chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said, adding that no date had been set for the trip yet. Trade Commissioner Maroš…
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to slap a 200 percent tariff on all “wines, champagne and alcoholic products” from France and other EU countries. The threat comes after the White House put global tariffs on steel and aluminum, with the EU readying retaliatory tariffs of its own. These will be imposed in two stages in April, the European Commission announced Wednesday morning. In his post on Truth Social, Trump claimed the EU “put a nasty 50 percent tariff on whisky,” even though the EU’s bourbon tariff will only kick in from April 1. This story is being updated.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund will purchase Pokémon Go as part of a major mobile game company acquisition. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is set to pay $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion) to buy the gaming division of Niantic. The San Francisco-based software development company is best known for its mobile games Pokémon Go and Monster Hunter Now. Pokémon Go is one of the world’s most popular mobile games. Launched in 2016, the augmented reality game was developed in collaboration with The Pokémon Company and Nintendo. Its usership peaked at 232 million active monthly players in…
Ladois has also held jobs in Geneva, New York and Paris, where he worked at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ladois is expected to start work next week. He’ll take over from Anastasia Colosimo, who joined the Elysée in 2023 and was known in media circles for her candor as well as her biting — and sometimes combative — language. The 34-year-old is set to start work for the infrastructure company Ellipse Projects. “I don’t come from the world of communications and I’m going back to my former activities,” said Colosimo in an interview with the French daily L’Opinion,…
This article was originally published in Arabic In recent years, women in Arab markets during Ramadan have been increasingly wearing the abaya, a traditional, loose-fitting symbol of chastity and dignity. With designers giving it a modern and chic twist, it’s now become has become a hallmark of the fasting month. In Arab countries, the abaya is known by many names, such as Jalaba, Jalabiya, Omani and Qaftan, but it is basically a simple and loose garment – often black in colour – worn by women in the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East and North Africa, as it is considered suitable for…
According to archaeologists, the head of the same statue was dug up in 1927 and is now in Cambodia’s National museum in the capital Phnom Penh. The two parts may be reattached for display. Archaeologists in Cambodia are celebrating an unexpected find at the country’s centuries-old Angkor temple complex: the torso of a statue of Buddha that matches a head found nearly a century ago at the same site.The torso, believed to be from the 12th or 13th century, stands at 1.16 meters tall and is in the Bayon art style, associated with Angkor’s Bayon temple.It was found along with…
Belgian federal police conducted raids in the early hours of Thursday, as part of a corruption probe involving the European Parliament. “We can confirm that we have an ongoing investigation on preliminary charges of active corruption, forgery of documents, money laundering at the European Parliament,” said a spokesperson for the Belgian Prosecutor’s office. Police conducted raids on 21 addresses in Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia and in Portugal, the spokesperson added. Several individuals have been arrested.