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By Theodore Shoebat My pontifications on my past experiences in the Catholic Church and its corrupt bureaucracy: [embedded content] so...

Covax Signs Deal For 500 Million Moderna Covid Vaccine Doses

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Covax has so far shipped more than 49 million Covid-19 vaccines globally.
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Geneva:
The Covax global vaccine equity programme said Monday it has struck a deal to buy 500 million doses of Moderna's Covid-19 jabs.
The doses, to come on stream from October at the earliest, will broaden out the portfolio of vaccines in the Covax scheme, which has so far been heavily reliant on the AstraZeneca vaccine and hit by delays.
The Moderna doses are expected to start supplying Covax in the final quarter of 2021, with 34 million doses available before the end of the year, the Covax scheme's co-leader Gavi announced in a statement.
A further 466 million doses will follow in 2022.
The Covax facility ensures access to jabs in poor countries, with the cost covered by donors. Wealthier countries can bulk-buy through the scheme.
Covax is co-led by the World Health Organization, the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
The scheme aims to distribute enough doses to vaccinate up to 27 percent of the population in the 92 poorest territories participating in the program by the end of the year.
"We are very pleased to sign this new agreement with Moderna, giving Covax facility participants access to yet another highly efficacious vaccine," said Gavi chief executive Seth Berkley.
"Expanding and having a diverse portfolio has always been a core goal for Covax, and to remain adaptable in the face of this continually evolving pandemic -- including the rising threat posed by new variants. This agreement is a further step in that direction."
The agreement also contains options for potential future access to Moderna vaccines that have been adapted to variants of the virus.
- 'Milestone' -
For vaccines to be eligible for the Covax programme, they must be authorised by the WHO.
The UN health agency signed off on the Moderna vaccine on Friday.
Covax has so far shipped more than 49 million Covid-19 vaccines globally.
The Moderna jab is already in use in 46 territories around the world, according to an AFP count.
Welcoming the Covax agreement, Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said: "This is an important milestone as we work to ensure that people around the world have access to our Covid-19 vaccine.
"We recognise that many countries have limited resources to access Covid-19 vaccines.
"We support Covax's mission to ensure broad, affordable and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and we remain committed to doing everything that we can to ending this ongoing pandemic with our mRNA Covid-19 vaccine."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covax-signs-deal-for-500-million-moderna-covid-vaccine-doses-2427175">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covax-signs-deal-for-500-million-moderna-covid-vaccine-doses-2427175</a>

news world Covax Signs Deal For 500 Million Moderna Covid Vaccine Doses

Covax has so far shipped more than 49 million Covid-19 vaccines globally. Geneva: The Covax global vaccine equity programme said Monday...

German Police Bust Darknet Child Porn Network With 400,000 Members

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3 of the men are accused of managing the platform as administrators, police said. (Representational)
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Berlin:
German police said Monday they had shut down "one of the biggest darknet child pornography platforms in the world" and arrested four of its members in a series of raids in mid-April.
The platform, named as "Boystown", had existed since 2019, counted over 400,000 members and was "set up for the worldwide exchange of child pornography", federal police said in a statement.
The darknet forum allowed users to communicate with others and share graphic image and video content which included "serious sexual abuse of toddlers", the statement said.
Three men between the ages of 40 and 64 were arrested in seven raids in Germany, while a further suspect was detained in Paraguay on the request of German authorities.
The suspect in Paraguay's Concepcion region, also a German citizen, is to be extradited back to Germany on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by a court in Frankfurt.
Three of the men are accused of having managed the platform as administrators, providing technical support and advice to members on how to avoid being discovered by the authorities, while another was "one of the platform's most active users", police said.
Investigators added that the months-long, German-instigated operation had been coordinated by Europol and supported by law enforcement in the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States and Canada.
Both "Boystown" and other chat platforms were taken offline following the raids.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/darknet-child-pornography-2427115">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/darknet-child-pornography-2427115</a>

news world German Police Bust Darknet Child Porn Network With 400,000 Members

3 of the men are accused of managing the platform as administrators, police said. (Representational) Berlin: German police said Monday ...

25 Killed In Boat Accident In Bangladesh: Police

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Twenty-five people have been rescued so far, the police said. (Representational image)
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At least 25 people were killed in a collision between two boats in central Bangladesh on Monday, police said.
"We have rescued five people and retrieved 25 bodies," local police chief Miraz Hossain told AFP.
The collision was between a packed boat carrying at least 30 passengers and a vessel transporting sand in the Padma river near the town of Shibchar.
More people were reportedly missing while fire service officials and locals continued rescue operations, another policeman said.
Maritime accidents are common in Bangladesh, a delta nation crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers. 
Experts blame poor maintenance, lax safety standards at shipyards and overcrowding for many of the accidents.
Vessels transporting sand sit low in the water and can be hard to see in choppy conditions, particularly when light is poor.
In early April, more than 30 people died when a packed ferry with around 50 passengers hurrying home from the central city of Narayanganj ahead of an impending coronavirus lockdown collided with a larger cargo vessel.
In June last year, a ferry sank in Dhaka after it was hit from behind by another ferry, killing at least 32 people.
In February 2015, at least 78 people died when an overcrowded ship collided with a cargo boat.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/25-killed-in-boat-accident-in-bangladesh-police-2426843">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/25-killed-in-boat-accident-in-bangladesh-police-2426843</a>

news world 25 Killed In Boat Accident In Bangladesh: Police

Twenty-five people have been rescued so far, the police said. (Representational image) At least 25 people were killed in a collision bet...

Italy Unveils Plan For New floor For Colosseum With Gladiator's View

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The 2,000 year old structure is currently floorless.
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The Italian minister of culture announced the winning bid to restore the Colosseum's arena on Sunday, a project that will allow visitors to view the archeological wonder from ground level as soon as 2023.  
The 2,000 year old structure is currently floorless, the ruins of the underground levels' walls and tunnels exposed to the open air save for a small platform.
A Milan engineering firm beat 10 competitors who answered a 2020 call for submissions with its vision involving rotating wooden slats that would allow natural ventilation and lighting of the lower levels. 
"It's another step forward towards rebuilding the arena, an ambitious project that will aid the conservation of the archeological structures while getting back to the original image of the Colosseum and its quality as a complex scenographic machine," said culture minister Dario Franceschini.
With the new floor, visitors to the Colosseum will be able to admire the treasured monument from the centre of the arena -- a view once reserved for gladiators and slaves as they prepared to meet their doom.  
Franceschini plans to host the Rome G20 culture summit at the Colosseum in July and it may serve as a venue for other major cultural events.
The Colosseum's executive archaeologist Alfonsina Russo said construction of the arena -- which will be the subject of a Europe-wide call for bids of about 15 million euros -- should begin by the end of the year or early 2022.
She said the new 3,000 square metre (32,300 square foot) floor should be ready for visitors in 2023.
Before the pandemic around 25,000 people toured the world-famous monument daily, and some 18.5 million euros have been set aside for the project.
The plan presented on Sunday consists of an entirely removable structure made of accoya, a modified, durable wood.
The slats will be rigged with a rotation system meant to permit light and air to circulate to underground passages below the area.
The rain water that currently pools there will be collected and used to supply the toilets of Rome's most visited monument.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/italy-unveils-plan-for-new-floor-for-colosseum-with-gladiators-view-2426826">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/italy-unveils-plan-for-new-floor-for-colosseum-with-gladiators-view-2426826</a>

news world Italy Unveils Plan For New floor For Colosseum With Gladiator's View

The 2,000 year old structure is currently floorless. The Italian minister of culture announced the winning bid to restore the Colosseum...

US Denies Reports Iran Poised To Free Four Americans

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"There is no agreement to release these four Americans," Rob Klain said (Representational)
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Washington:
A senior White House official on Sunday denied reports from Tehran that an agreement had been reached with Iran for the release of four Americans detained there.
"I can tell you, unfortunately, that report is untrue," White House chief of staff Ron Klain said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"There is no agreement to release these four Americans. We're working very hard to get them released. So far there is no agreement to bring these four Americans home."
Klain's comments followed reports on Iranian state television, quoting "an informed source," that the US side had agreed to release $7 billion in frozen Iranian funds and free four Iranians accused of bypassing sanctions in exchange for the release of four Americans accused of spying.
State TV also reported that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national who has been held in the country since 2016, was being freed after "payment of military debt."
But British officials played down the report, with the foreign office saying discussions were "ongoing."
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard Ratcliffe told AFP that they "haven't been given any private indication that an agreement is close."
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was initially detained while on holiday in Iran in 2016, when she was working as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the news agency and data firm's philanthropic wing.
Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei made no mention of any agreement in a speech Sunday.
Klain, the US chief of staff, was asked on CBS whether Iranian officials might have leaked the reports to increase political pressure on the Biden administration.
"No," he replied. "Again, we're working hard to bring these Americans home. When we get that done, we'll obviously be delighted to announce that news."
The dueling reports came a day after parties to the Iran nuclear agreement adjourned a third round of negotiations in Vienna aimed at bringing the US back into the accord, and as Russian delegates expressed "cautious and growing optimism" for a solution.
The agreement, which curbs Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, has been on life support since then US president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
The remaining partners to the 2015 accord have been engaged in negotiations since early April to try to revive it.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-denies-reports-iran-poised-to-free-four-americans-2426788">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-denies-reports-iran-poised-to-free-four-americans-2426788</a>

news world US Denies Reports Iran Poised To Free Four Americans

"There is no agreement to release these four Americans," Rob Klain said (Representational) Washington: A senior White House o...