World
PIA passenger aircraft 'held back' at Kuala Lumpur airport over lease dispute
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane with 170 passengers on board was held back in Malaysia over a lease dispute case between the cash-strapped national flag carrier and an Irish company pending in a UK court.
Coronavirus | Global COVID-19 death toll tops 2 million amid vaccine rollout
International: “What was never on the horizon is that so many of the deaths would be in the richest countries in the world,” said Dr. Bharat Pankhania, an infectious diseases expert at Britain’s University of Exeter
Biden taps former FDA chief Kessler to lead vaccine science
President-elect Joe Biden has picked a former Food and Drug commissioner to lead vaccine science in his drive to put 100 million shots into the arms of Americans in his administration's first 100 days and stem the Covid-19 pandemic. Kessler will work out of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, assuming responsibility for the scientific side of Operation Warp Speed, an effort launched under the Trump administration to rapidly develop vaccines and treatments.
Russia withdraws from Open Skies Treaty after US departure
Russia said on Friday it will withdraw from an international treaty allowing observation flights over military facilities following the US exit from the pact. Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement that the US withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty last year "significantly upended the balance of interests of signatory states," adding that Moscow's proposals to keep the treaty alive after the US exit have been cold-shouldered by Washington's allies.
