World

Brussels, Sep 13 (IANS) Belgium started a vaccination campaign with new Omicron-adapted Covid-19 shots. It is primarily a "booster" dose for people who have already received vaccines against Covid-19.

The current campaign which was started on Monday is primarily aimed at immunocompromised people, those aged 65 years and above, and health professionals in hospitals and nursing homes.

This first phase of the new Omicron-specific booster campaign will run from September 12 to October 1 in Wallonia, Flanders and the Brussels-Capital Region, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to figures published on Monday by 7sur7.be, more than 700,000 invitations have been sent to all Walloons aged above 65 years who meet the conditions for revaccination.

People in the 50-64 age group will receive their invitation later.

Coronavirus indicators remain stable in Belgium. According to the Sciensano Scientific Institute of Public Health, 1,489 new Covid-19 infections on average were recorded per day between August 29 and September 4, a decrease of 2 per cent compared to the previous week.

As autumn approaches, some experts fear a new wave and are reiterating their call for caution.

As of September 5, 25,800,728 Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered in Belgium. The vaccination coverage for the second booster dose is 5.2 per cent of the total population, and that of people aged 85 years and above is 48.2 per cent, according to Sciensano.

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London, Sep 13 (IANS) Britain's King Charles III said he felt "the weight of history" and vowed to follow the example set by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in his first address to the parliament.

"As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us, and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions, to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves with such personal commitment for the betterment of us all," he told the House of Commons and House of Lords on Monday at a ceremony in Westminster Hall, the oldest building on the parliamentary estate.

King Charles III ascended to the throne following the death of Britain's longest-reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II, aged 96, on Thursday. He was formally proclaimed Britain's new monarch at a meeting of the Accession Council at St James's Palace on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"While very young, her late Majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation. This vow she kept with unsurpassed devotion," he told the lawmakers and peers.

"She set an example of selfless duty which, with God's help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow," he said.

Charles III travelled to Edinburgh to lead a procession behind the Queen's coffin to St. Giles' Cathedral for a service of remembrance later on Monday.

The Queen's state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey on September 19, Buckingham Palace has announced.

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Beijing, Sep 12 (IANS) A total of 93 people have been killed, and 25 remain missing after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Luding county in China's Sichuan province on September 5, local authorities said on Monday.

According to the rescue headquarters, 55 of the fatalities occurred in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where Luding is located, while 38 deaths were reported in Ya'an city, reports Xinhua news agency.

Among the missing people, nine were in Luding, and 16 were in Shimian county in Ya'an.

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Johannesburg, Sep 12 (IANS) A mine dam collapsed in the central part of South Africa on Sunday morning as flooding caused by the collapse destroyed homes and infrastructure, according to the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (CoGTA).

The South African government has deployed different departments at Jagersfontein, in Free State province, following the bursting of the dam killing three and injuring over 40 people, said CoGTA spokesperson Lungi Mtshali.

According to CoGTA, they have deployed police emergency medical services, health, disaster management, social development, search and rescue personnel, and engineers, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The tailings of the abandoned local mine burst open leading to damages to infrastructure, personal property and homes. The untold damages in and around the community of Charlesville in Jagersfontein are extensive and has had negatively impacted the community. Some people are displaced, others lost property, while others are reported injured and missing," said the spokesperson.

Lungi Mtshali said the disaster management team has been deployed to assess the damage and impact and to provide direct operational support.

The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe held a virtual media briefing on Sunday saying the government will ensure that the law takes its course following the incident. He said they have sent inspectors to the scene to get details of the incident.

"The owner of the mine takes the greatest responsibility in paying compensation for fatalities and damage to infrastructure and property," he said, adding that the toxic substances on the mine dam would cause a negative impact on the environment.

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Gaborone, Sep 12 (IANS) Botswana witnessed its first-ever drop in fuel prices in 2022, said the country's energy authorities.

According to a press release from Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority, pump prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin will decrease by 1 pula ($0.076), 0.23 pula and 0.08 pula per liter, respectively, Xinhua news agency reported.

The authority said the decrease was necessitated by the fall in oil prices over the past two months. Brent Crude averaged $97.74 per barrel in August compared to an average of $105.12 a barrel in July.

The energy authority said the fall in fuel prices was influenced mainly by fears of a possible global recession, which could weaken the global demand for oil.

Four straight increases in fuel prices in the Southern African country since December 2021 have primarily contributed to rising inflation, which reached a 13-year high of 14.30 per cent in July.

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Colombo, Sep 12 (IANS) Sri Lanka's Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said that more than 200,000 Sri Lankans have left for foreign jobs in 2022 so far.

He said that these are the people who have registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, and some may have left without registering.

The minister said that remittance sent by expatriate workers to Sri Lanka reached $325 million in August, an increase of 16.4 per cent compared to July.

Around 330,000 people are expected to leave Sri Lanka for foreign jobs by the end of this year, the minister said.

The minister expressed gratitude to workers who have sent money through the banking system at a time when the country is facing a foreign exchange shortage.

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By Ashe O.
Washington, Sep 11 (IANS) US President Joe Biden attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon on Sunday to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, saying: "What was destroyed, we have repaired. What was threatened, we fortified. What was attacked, the indomitable spirit, has never, ever wavered."


Amid inclement weather here with a steady drizzle, he attended a wreath-laying ceremony ahead of his remarks. The event began with a reading of the names of all of the men and women killed in the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, per a White House pool report.

"To all the families and loved ones who still feel the ache of that missing piece of your soul, I'm honoured to be here with you once more to share this solemn rite of remembrance," Biden said at the ceremony.

"So many heroes were made here. So many of your loved ones were those heroes. Again, almost immediately, with civilians and service members leaping into action as the walls collapsed and the roof began to crumble," he said.

Biden said the Pentagon "was both the scene of a horrific terrorist attack and the command centre for our response to defend and protect the American people," adding that "Pentagon staff showed up to work on September 12 more determined than ever to keep the country secure".

He feted the ideal of American democracy in his speech and invoked the duty of everyday Americans to protect it. "We don't always live up to it. But we have never walked away from it. That's what makes us strong. That's what makes us who we are. And that's what those hijackers most hoped to destroy," Biden said, adding, "they failed."

"We have an obligation, a duty, a responsibility, to defend, preserve and protect our democracy. The very democracy that guarantees the rights of freedom that those terrorists on 9/11 sought to bury in the burning fire and smoke and ash," he said.

"That takes a commitment on the part of all of us."

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Karachi, Sep 11 (IANS) Pakistan is continuing to report more and more dengue virus cases daily, with panic and fear spreading among the public as a shortage of fever medicines has also surfaced, media reports said.

In Pakistan's Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, dengue has started to take a dangerous turn, Geo News reported.

Karachi reported another death from dengue virus in the last 24 hours, with over 2,000 people affected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after excessive rains left breeding sites for mosquitoes, the report stated.

The wards reserved for dengue patients in Karachi's hospitals have been are full. Punjab reported 125 new cases of the mosquito-borne disease. Moreover, dengue claimed four lives in the province, data from the Health Department showed.

Meanwhile, a shortage of medicine for fever remains persists in most areas of the country, with pharmacies in Punjab awaiting a resumption in the supply of the drug in Punjab for the last four weeks, Geo News reported.

In Peshawar, the price of a leaf of fever pills has increased from Rs 17 to Rs 30.

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Karachi, Sep 11 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the international community that all countries would suffer damages "beyond their capacity to adapt" if the world failed to respond to the challenge of climate change, Samaa TV reported.

After a two-day Pakistan visit, the UN chief took to Twitter to write that he had "never seen climate carnage on the scale of the floods here in Pakistan".

"This is a global crisis. It demands a global response," he said.

The monsoon rainfall and subsequent floods have killed 1,396 people across the country between June 14 and September 9, and have left 12,728 injured. More than 30 million have also been displaced, Dawn reported.

Sindh is the worst-hit province so far, accounting for the most deaths and injuries. Of the 1,396 fatalities countrywide, Sindh's total is 578. Injuries number is 8,321 of the countrywide total of 12,728.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday said his organisation would strongly advocate for 'debt swaps' with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank through which developing countries, including Pakistan -- instead of paying back loans to foreign creditors -- would be able to use that money to invest in climate resilience, investments in sustainable infrastructure, and green transition of their economies, Express Tribune reported.

"We will go on strongly advocating for these solutions in the meetings with the IMF and World Bank that will take place soon as well as at the G-20 meeting," Guterres told the media on his arrival at the old airport of Karachi.

The UN chief appealed to the international community to scale up its support for flood-hit Pakistan, Express Tribune reported.

"We see here in Pakistan, the nature is striking back with devastating consequences," he observed, adding: "I have seen many disasters in the world but I have never seen climate carnage on these scales."


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Kiev, Sep 11 (IANS) The Russian amy hit five hromadas (an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories) of Sumy Oblast in Ukraine in a day. There have been no casualties, however, a few buildings have been damaged, said Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, Head of Sumy Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram.

On the morning of September 10, Russian forces conducted three artillery strikes on Mykolaivka hromada, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

The Russian army attacked Krasnopillia hromada delivering four mortar strikes, and later the Russian troops performed 14 artillery strikes. And later, a two-hectare hay field caught fire due to mortar shelling (a total of six strikes).

In Seredyna-Buda hromada, there were two strikes using a 120-mm mortar and 15 strikes using a grenade launcher, as well as 16 strikes from self-propelled artillery. A private home, the windows of a neighbouring home, a power grid, gardens and a car were damaged.

There were five artillery strikes on Velyka Pysarivka hromada.

Esman hromada was hit with four bombs.

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