News in Brief

Algeria approves new constitution

ALGIERS, Nov 03: The head of the Algerian Independent National Elections Authority for Elections, Mohamed Charfi, on Monday announced that the amended constitution voted through popular referendum on Sunday has been approved with a rate of 66.8 percent. Charfi told a press conference that the total number of voters reached 5.6 million out of 24.4 million eligible voters, which constituted a turnout of 23.7 percent. — Xinhua

WHO let China take charge in hunt for virus source

NEW YORK, Nov 03: On a cold weekend in mid-February, when the world still harboured false hope that the new coronavirus could be contained, a World Health Organisation team arrived in Beijing to study the outbreak and investigate a critical question: How did the virus jump from animals to humans? At that point, there were only three confirmed deaths from COVID-19 outside China and scientists hoped that finding an animal source for the coronavirus would unlock clues about how to stop it, treat it and prevent similar outbreaks. — New York Times

Argentina to buy 25m doses of Russian Covid vaccine

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 03: Argentina could obtain 25 million doses of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine "Sputnik V" between December 2020 and January 2021, President Alberto Fernandez told Russian media on Monday. "They would be in a position to give us 10 million of each of the two doses (required). We can have them here in December, and in the first days of January we could have, they tell me, 15 million more doses," Fernandez said. — Xinhua

Firebrand monk surrenders to police in Myanmar

YANGON, Nov 03: A nationalist Buddhist monk in Myanmar noted for inflammatory rhetoric surrendered on Monday to police, who have been seeking his arrest for over a year for insulting comments he made about the country's leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. The surrender of the monk Wirathu came just days ahead of a general election on Sunday which Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy party is expected to win. — AP

Ukraine opens call centre for combating Covid-19

KIEV, Nov 03: Ukraine's health ministry has opened a round-the-clock call center to offer advice to the public in the fight against COVID-19, the ministry reported on its official website on Monday. "Today, the All-Ukrainian Call Center of the Ministry of Health for Combating Coronavirus Disease has started working," Ukrainian Health Minister Maxym Stepanov said at a briefing. — Xinhua