VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

FILE PHOTO: Taiwanese and Lithuanian flags are displayed at the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius, Lithuania January 20, 2022. REUTERS/Janis Laizans/File Photo - 

A senior US official will visit Lithuania next week to discuss enhancing economic cooperation with the small Baltic nation, which has faced pressure from China for boosting ties with Taiwan.

Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez will be in Vilnius from Sunday (Jan 30) to Tuesday, and in Brussels from Wednesday to Friday, where he will also discuss efforts to counter economic "coercion" with EU officials, the State Department said in a statement.

In Vilnius, he will discuss bilateral economic cooperation, and US "strong support for Lithuania in the face of political pressure and economic coercion from the People’s Republic of China," the statement said.

Fernandez will be accompanied by US Export-Import Bank officials to discuss implementation of a US$600 million memorandum of understanding to expand opportunities for US exporters and Lithuanian buyers in areas such as high-tech manufacturing, business services and renewable energy, according to the statement.

In Brussels, Fernandez will discuss transatlantic trade and investment through the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, the statement said.

The United States, which is seeking to push back against growing Chinese influence worldwide, has backed Lithuania in its dispute with China over Taiwan, a self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

China downgraded its diplomatic relationship with Lithuania and pressed multinationals to sever ties with the country after Taiwan opened a representative office in Vilnius last year called the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, rather than using the word Taipei as is more common.

EU authorities launched a challenge at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday, accusing China of discriminatory trade practices against EU member Lithuania that they say threaten the integrity of the bloc's single market.

Lithuania's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it hopes its trade dispute with China will be solved with consultations between China and the EU//CNA

A photo of Iceland's neighbourhoods. (Photo: AFP) - 

Iceland aims to lift all its COVID-19 curbs by mid-March, which would end a three-stage easing plan that the government presented on Friday (Jan 28).

"There are real changes in our fight against the epidemic, both because the virus itself has changed and because of good vaccination coverage," Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir told a press conference.

From midnight on Friday, the cap on public gatherings will be lifted from 10 to 50 people, and bars and nightclubs, which have been closed for two weeks, will be allowed to reopen until midnight, as will restaurants.

Swimming pools, sports halls and ski resorts will also be able to accommodate up to 75 per cent of their maximum capacity, currently, they can take up to 50 per cent, and the social distancing rule will be reduced to 1m instead of 2m.

The new restrictions will remain in place until Feb 24, when the second phase will be triggered.

The capacity of public gatherings will then be increased to 200 people and swimming pools, sports halls and ski resorts will be able to function normally again.

At the same time, quarantine and isolation rules will be dropped.

"During the lifting of the measures, it can be expected that the number of domestic infections will temporarily increase, which may also increase the number of those who become seriously ill, and disrupt the operations of many businesses," the government warned in a statement.

The Icelandic authorities then intend to lift all domestic restrictions by Mar 14, provided no new strains of the virus are discovered or an increase in severe cases puts the healthcare system under pressure.

More than 80 per cent of Iceland's population over the age of five have been fully vaccinated and 52 per cent of those over 16 have already received the third dose.

The subarctic island nation has recorded 64,486 confirmed cases and 46 deaths linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The country, which has seen about 1,300 new confirmed cases a day in recent weeks, already announced a relaxation of its quarantine rules on Tuesday//CNA

A health worker inoculates a Dhaka student against Covid-19 (Photo: AFP/File/Munir Uz zaman) - 

The United States began shipping another 7.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh on Friday (Jan 28), a US official told AFP.

"Thanks to the US commitment to playing a leading role in ending the pandemic everywhere, the United States is shipping 7,434,180 doses of Pfizer vaccine to Bangladesh," a White House official said, asking not to be identified.

The latest shipment - made through Covax, the global distribution initiative co-led by public-private partnership Gavi - came as totals of US donations rose above 400 million worldwide.

Washington has pledged 1.1 billion shots to the rest of the world - more than any other country - and has already sent vaccines to countries ranging from Guatemala to Papua New Guinea.

The US shots often cross paths with shipments from China and Russia in what has been dubbed "vaccine diplomacy," although the official insisted that the US contributions "do not come with strings attached."

Bangladesh has recorded about 1.75 million COVID-19 cases and more than 28,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. One of the world's poorest countries, Bangladesh has fully vaccinated 36 percent of its approximately 165 million people.

The United States had already dispatched 28.4 million doses of vaccines to Bangladesh, not counting the latest batch, according to Kaiser Family Foundation's database//CNA

FILE PHOTO: Passenger walk next to a screen displaying face mask rules at Sao Paulo International Airport amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and after Omicron has become the dominant coronavirus variant in the country, in Guarulhos, Brazil January 12, 2022. REUTERS/Roosevelt Cassio - 

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa on Friday (Jan 28) approved the sale of COVID-19 self-tests in drugstores across the country as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is causing a record surge in new infections.

Anvisa directors said their decision aims to increase testing to help reduce the contagion rate in Brazil.

At home COVID test kits are already widely used in Europe and the United States. Until now, Brazil did not allow them to be used to detect viral diseases that require compulsory notification to health authorities.

Brazil on Thursday reported a record 228,954 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, along with 672 deaths, the highest toll since early October last year.

The South American country has registered 24,764,838 confirmed cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll stood at 625,085 as of Thursday. Both are among the highest tolls in the world//CNA