WORLD

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief said Thursday that the organization will revise down its global growth forecast amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the impact of which will contribute to downgrades for 143 economies this year. “To put it simply: we are facing a crisis on top …

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Washington has spent more than 350 million U.S. dollars “in recent years alone” on projects of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), including on military biological programs, the Russian military said Thursday. The STCU distributed grants for research in the interests of the Pentagon, …

Jerusalem, Israel | Xinhua | A new Israeli-led study has found that the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine is effective for protecting people who are 60 and older, Israel’s largest healthcare organization Clalit said on Thursday. The study found that a fourth dose can reduce the possibilities of symptomatic infection, hospitalization, …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda and China on Thursday signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement aimed at improving the livelihood of Ugandans. Matia Kasaija, the Ugandan minister of Finance, signed the document on behalf of Uganda while Zhang Lizhong, the Chinese ambassador to Uganda, signed it on behalf of …

Geneva, Switzerland | Xinhua | The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 500 million, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO). Globally, as of 8:36 p.m. CEST (1836 GMT) on Thursday, there have been 500,186,525 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 6,190,349 deaths, reported to WHO, according …

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored the importance of diversifying energy exports as supplies in the western direction will be reduced in the foreseeable future. “Therefore, it is important to consolidate the trend of recent years: step by step, reorient our exports to the fast-growing markets of …

New York, U.S. | Xinhua | Oil prices climbed on Thursday as traders weighed the prospect of a European Union (EU) ban on imports of Russian oil. The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery added 2.70 U.S. dollars, or 2.6 percent, to settle at 106.95 U.S. dollars a barrel on the …

San Francisco, U.S. | Xinhua | A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday showed that Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter. The billionaire has said he is willing to pay 54.20 U.S. dollars per share to buy 100 percent of the company. The …

Geneva, Switzerland | Xinhua | As the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths continues to decline, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that the pandemic remains a public health emergency, advising countries to be prepared to scale up COVID-19 response rapidly. “On COVID-19, there’s good news. Last week, …

United Nations | Xinhua | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for action to mitigate the global impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on food, energy and finance systems. The conflict is supercharging a three-dimensional crisis of food, energy and finance that is pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people, …