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A registered nurse applies a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Sarasota Hospital patient technician Carol Garcia at the Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida, U.S., September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton - 

The United States has administered 389,372,689 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday  (Sep 25) morning and distributed 471,821,155 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Those totals are up from the 388,567,109 vaccine doses the CDC said had been administered by Sep 24, out of 470,630,875 doses delivered.

The agency said 213,177,462 people had received at least one dose, while 183,353,326 people were fully vaccinated as of 6:00am ET on Saturday.

The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine.

Over 2.5 million people received an additional dose of either Pfizer or Moderna's vaccine since Aug 13, when US authorities authorised a third dose of the vaccines for people with compromised immune systems who are likely to have weaker protection despite the two-dose regimens//CNA

People hold placards calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig outside a court hearing for Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, Canada on Mar 6, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Lindsey Wasson) - 

The two Canadians who were detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days returned home on Saturday (Sep 25), local media reported, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received them.

Footage from TV channel CTV showed Trudeau welcoming businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig when they arrived in the western Canadian city of Calgary.

The Prime Minister's Office did not offer an immediate comment.

Late on Friday, Trudeau told reporters the two Canadians had left Chinese airspace, shortly after Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou flew out of Canada after reaching an agreement with US prosecutors, ending her extradition hearing//CNA

People take part in a protest on the day the Dutch authorities introduce a mandatory "corona pass" on Sep 25, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Eva Plevier) - 

Hundreds of protesters marched against the introduction of a "corona pass" in the Netherlands on Saturday (Sep 25), as proof of COVID-19 vaccination became compulsory to get into bars, restaurants, theatres and other venues.

The new requirement to show the pass or a recent negative coronavirus test came into force on Saturday, coinciding with the lifting of almost all social distancing measures in the country, where 72 per cent of the population has received at least one vaccine dose.

While face masks will still be mandatory on public transport, students and teachers will no longer have to wear masks in schools, and a rule for 1.5m distancing in public places was also scrapped.

A crowd of several hundred people weaved through the streets of the Dutch government capital, The Hague, with techno music playing over mobile loudspeakers.

They carried banners denouncing vaccines and some compared the COVID-19 restrictions to measures imposed by repressive governments. "Medical Apartheid. Stop vaccine passports," one sign read.

Most Dutch people support the corona pass, which also faced opposition when introduced in other European countries such as Italy and France. The move has mainly drawn criticism from the hospitality sector in the Netherlands.

More than 40 per cent of bar and restaurant owners do not plan to ask customers for a certificate, the country's Horeca Nederland hospitality industry association said, citing a survey of its members.

It said many businesses saw the requirement as a "political tool" aimed at boosting vaccination take-up.

"It is not only impossible to enforce, but will financially damage a sector that is just starting to recover," the association added in a statement.

The decision to introduce the pass also drew criticism from within the government of caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

"If we end up in a society where we have to be afraid of each other unless we can show proof, then you really have to scratch your head and ask yourself: Is this the direction we want to go?" Deputy Economic Affairs Minister Mona Keijzer said in a newspaper interview//CNA

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Governor Armin Laschet, top candidate for the upcoming election, wave to supporters at the final election campaign event of the Christian Democratic Party, CDU, ahead of the German general election in Aachen, Germany on Sep 25, 2021. (Photo: AP/Martin Meissner) - 

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday (Sep 25) urged Germans to give her would-be successor Armin Laschet the vote to shape Germany's future, in a last-ditch push to shore up his beleaguered campaign 24 hours before Germans vote.

Laschet, 60, has been trailing his Social Democrat challenger Olaf Scholz in the race for the chancellery, although final polls put the gap between them within the margin of error, making the vote one of the most unpredictable in recent years.

Merkel had planned to keep a low profile in the election battle as she prepares to bow out of politics after 16 years in power. But she has found herself dragged into the frantic campaign schedule of the unpopular chairman of her party, Laschet.

In the last week of the campaign, Merkel took Laschet to her constituency by the Baltic coast and on Friday headlined the closing rally gathering the conservatives' bigwigs in Munich.

Merkel tugged at the heartstrings of Germany's predominantly older electorate on Friday, calling on them to keep her conservatives in power for the sake of stability - a trademark of Germany.

"To keep Germany stable, Armin Laschet must become chancellor, and the CDU and CSU must be the strongest force," she said.

A day before the vote, she travelled to Laschet's hometown and constituency Aachen, a spa city near Germany's western border with Belgium and the Netherlands, where he was born and still lives.

"It is about your future, the future of your children and the future of your parents," she said, urging strong mobilisation for her conservative alliance.

She underlined that climate protection will be a key challenge of the next government, but said this would not be achieved "simply through rules and regulations".

"For that we need new technological developments, new procedures, researchers, interested people who think about how that can be done, and people who participate," she said.

Laschet is a "bridge-builder who will get people on board" in shaping Germany to meet those challenges, she said.

Hundreds of thousands of people had descended on the streets on Friday urging change and greater climate protection, with a leading activist calling Sunday's election the vote "of a century".

With the clock ticking down to the election, Scholz was also staying close to home at the other end of the country to chase down last votes.

Scholz will be holding "dialogues on the future" with voters in his constituency of Potsdam - a city on the outskirts of Berlin famous for its palaces that once housed Prussian kings.

Scholz, currently finance minister in Merkel's coalition government, has avoided making mistakes on the campaign trail, and largely won backing as he sold himself as the "continuity candidate" after Merkel in place of Laschet.

Also on the campaign trail on Friday, Scholz demanded a "fresh start for Germany" and "a change of government" after 16 years under Merkel.

Described as capable but boring, Scholz has consistently beaten Laschet by wide margins when it comes to popularity.

As election day loomed, Laschet's conservatives were closing the gap, with one poll even putting them just one percentage point behind the SPD's 26 per cent.

Laschet went into the race for the chancellery badly bruised by a tough battle for the conservatives' chancellor candidate nomination.

Nevertheless, his party enjoyed a substantial lead ahead of the SPD heading into the summer.

But Laschet was seen chuckling behind President Frank-Walter Steinmeier as he paid tribute to victims of deadly floods in July, an image that would drastically turn the mood against him and his party.

As polls showed the lead widening for the SPD, the conservatives turned to their greatest asset - the still widely popular Merkel.

Yet roping in the chancellor is not without risks, said political analyst Oskar Niedermayer of Berlin's Free University.

"Merkel is still the most well-liked politician. But the joint appearances can become a problem for Laschet because they are then immediately being compared to each other," he said.

"And it could therefore backfire because people could then think that Merkel is more suitable than Laschet."//CNA