World News in Brief: July 9

At least 51 workers died as a juice factory in Bangladesh's Narayanganj district, about 20 km from capital Dhaka, caught fire on Thursday, a senior official said Friday. According to the official, 20 more people were injured in the fire and they were rushed to different hospitals.

Tourists view scenery on a vantage point at the Tibidabo Amusement Park in Barcelona, Spain, June 30, 2021. The economic growth in the European Union (EU) and in the eurozone would expand by 4.8 percent this year, and by 4.5 percent in 2022, according to the Summer 2021 Economic Forecast issued by the European Commission on July 7. (Photo: Xinhua)
Tourists view scenery on a vantage point at the Tibidabo Amusement Park in Barcelona, Spain, June 30, 2021. The economic growth in the European Union (EU) and in the eurozone would expand by 4.8 percent this year, and by 4.5 percent in 2022, according to the Summer 2021 Economic Forecast issued by the European Commission on July 7. (Photo: Xinhua)

* Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven reappointed his previous cabinet of Social Democrats and Greens on Friday following his re-election as premier this week.

* The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday that it has approved a new monetary policy strategy that adopts symmetric 2 percent inflation target over the medium term.

* US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that US military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31, days ahead of his original Sept. 11 deadline.

* The Taliban said it was discussing a possible ceasefire with the Afghan government, media reported as Taliban officials held a news conference in Moscow on Friday.

* China administered about 11.85 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on July 8, taking the total to 1.354 bln doses, data from the National Health Commission showed on Friday.

* US COVID-19 cases are up around 11% over the previous week, almost entirely among people who have not been vaccinated, officials said on Thursday, as the highly infectious Delta variant becomes the dominant COVID-19 strain in the country.

* India on Friday reported 43,393 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to data from the health ministry, with active cases at 458,727.

* Moscow's mayor said the COVID-19 situation was gradually stabilising after a surge in infections blamed on the more contagious Delta variant, but the new daily case tally remained high nationwide on Thursday.

* Thailand will announce new travel restrictions, mall closures and curbs on gatherings in the capital Bangkok and surrounding provinces starting next week, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, two government sources told Reuters.

* Malaysia reported a new daily record of 9,180 new coronavirus cases on Friday. The Southeast Asian nation's previous record was on May 29 when it saw 9,020 cases. It has now reported a total of 817,838 cases.

* From Monday Republic oKorea will for the first time tighten coronavirus curbs to the strictest level possible in Seoul and neighbouring regions, as alarm spreads with new COVID-19 cases setting a second consecutive daily record nationwide.

* Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday Pfizer will increase vaccine delivery to about one million doses a week from July 19, more than tripling shipments.

* Tourism-dependent Portugal imposed stricter rules on Thursday, requiring holidaymakers to show a negative test, a vaccination certificate or proof of recovery to stay in hotels.

* Australian authorities on Friday pleaded with Sydney residents to stay at home, warning a three week lockdown may be extended as they struggle to control a COVID-19 outbreak, with the city reporting its the biggest rise in local cases for the year.

* Flights carrying New Zealanders returning home from Australia's New South Wales region that were scheduled to start on Saturday have been called off after the COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney worsened, a New Zealand minister said.

* Mexico aims to complete vaccinations in towns and cities along the US border by August and speed up the reopening of the shared frontier to non-essential travel, the government said.

* Britain on Friday said there had been 54,268 new cases of the Delta variant in the week to July 7, a slight rise on the 50,824 new cases reported the previous week. The total number of cases of the variant reported was 216,249, a 32% increase from last week.

* More than 26 million people, or 78 percent of those eligible, have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines and 15 million people, or 44 percent of those ages 12 and older, are fully vaccinated, the Public Health Agency of Canada said Thursday.

* Egypt welcomed on Thursday Russia's decision to lift the ban on charter flights by Russian airlines to Egyptian Red Sea resorts after around six years of suspension, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a statement.

* South Africa aims to do at least 300,000 COVID-19 vaccinations a day by the end of August, senior health official Nicholas Crisp said on Friday.

* Libya's new unity government announced it was closing its borders with Tunisia for a week due to the rise in coronavirus cases in the neighbouring country, a government spokesman said.

* Zimbabwe received 2 million COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac on Thursday.

Xinhua,Reuters