With Alexei Navalny back in Russia five months after surviving a poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok, his courageous return presented Russian President Vladimir Putin -- who Navalny believes ordered his killing -- with two choices: allow the high-profile activist to continue to be a thorn in his side or lock him up in the hopes that he fades into obscurity. [...]

Australian Open controversy offers preview of what's to come ahead of Olympics

The quarantine controversy over tennis' Australian Open has raised questions about whether large-scale international sporting events can take place in the middle of a pandemic and could offer a preview of the difficulties facing this summer's Tokyo Olympics. [...]

UAE reports 3,491 Covid cases, 3,311 recoveries, 5 deaths

More than 23.5 million Covid-19 tests have been carried out in the UAE so far. [...]

UAE's compulsory Covid tests for unvaccinated residents

Only those that have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccines are exempted. [...]

UAE Covid vaccination doses cross two million

93,846 doses of the vaccine were administered in the last 24 hours. [...]

China rescuers drill new ‘lifelines’ to trapped gold miners

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese miners trapped underground for nine days are recovering strength after food and medical supplies were lowered to them, rescuers said Tuesday, as authorities raced to save the workers. Some 22 workers were trapped at the Hushan mine near Yantai in east China’s Shandong province after an explosion damaged the entrance. One group of the miners managed to send a note attached to a metal wire which rescuers had dropped […] [...]

PHL now bird-flu free, says Dep’t of Agriculture

(Eagle News) — There are no more cases of the Avian Influenza (AI) A(H5N6) virus or bird flu in the country, according to the Department of Agriculture. The DA said that as early as Jan. 8 this year, the World Organization for Animal Health has declared that the “country is now free of the last remaining A(H5N6) strain of the Avian Influenza (AI).” In a statement released on Tuesday, Jan. 19, the DA said that […] [...]

One in eight in England have had COVID-19: official data

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — An estimated 12 percent of people in England had been infected with coronavirus by December last year, up from nine percent in November, according to official antibody data released Tuesday. One in 10 people in Wales, one in 13 in Northern Ireland and one in 11 in Scotland were also estimated to have caught the virus, according analysis of random blood test results published by the Office for National […] [...]