Healthcare workers are seen on a COVID-19 "vaccine bus" at Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, on July 30, 2021. The "vaccine bus" is part of "Vax for B.C." campaign in British Columbia aimed at boosting up the vaccination rate. (Photo: Xinhua)   

Ministers from the Group of 20 countries on Friday concluded two days of talks on the role of culture in the world, saying that investing in cultural initiatives can be a driver of sustainable economic growth and that they should be a part of future G20 negotiations.

* China will maintain a prudent, flexible and targeted monetary policy in the second half of the year, its central bank said on Saturday, as it seeks to support growth while keeping the digital economy in check.

* Gross domestic product (GDP) in the eurozone rebounded two percent in the second quarter (Q2) of this year compared to the previous one on the back of two consecutive quarterly declines, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU) said on Friday. In Q2 2021, seasonally adjusted GDP in the 27-member EU grew by 1.9 percent.

* Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Friday afternoon asked There Is Such a People (ITN) party, the largest political force with 65 seats in the newly elected 240-member Parliament, to form a new government. Radev handed the exploratory mandate to Plamen Nikolov, the ITN's nominee for prime minister.

* India's COVID-19 tally rose to 31,613,993 on Saturday as 41,649 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data. Besides, as many as 593 deaths due to the pandemic since Friday morning took the total death toll to 423,810.

* Russia reported 23,807 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, including 3,514 in Moscow, taking the national tally of infections to 6,265,873. Russia's coronavirus task force said that 792 more deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, raising the country's COVID-19 death toll to 158,563.

* World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Cambodia Li Ailan has called for swift and collective actions as Cambodia is racing against COVID-19 variants.

* Malaysia extended a state of emergency in the eastern state of Sarawak until February 2022 to suspend regional elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic, state news agency Bernama reported on Saturday. Malaysia is under emergency rule nationally to prevent the spread of COVID-19 but that is set to expire on Sunday.

* Thailand's plan to reopen the country in mid October is going ahead despite a surge in COVID-19 infections, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.

* Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Friday further extended the entry restrictions for all travelers to the end of August amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Brazilian state governors met with US climate envoy John Kerry on Friday, sidestepping the country's President Jair Bolsonaro in the first of several meetings with foreign powers to request funding for conservation projects aimed at combating climate change.
* Anti-government protesters on Friday blocked intersections across Guatemala for the second day in a row as calls intensified for President Alejandro Giammattei and the attorney general to step down after the ousting of a top anti-corruption official.

* The war against COVID-19 has changed because of the highly contagious Delta variant, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, proposing a clearer message, mandatory vaccines for health workers and a return to universal masking.

* Mexico's economy rebounded 19.7 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2021, buoyed by good performance across all sectors, according to preliminary figures released Friday by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

* The protection that vaccines give against coronavirus infection, and potentially severe disease, is highly likely to wane over time so vaccine campaigns will continue for years to come, scientists told the British government's advisory group.

* The European drugs regulator approved a ramp-up in production of active substances used to make COVID-19 shots at Moderna's sites in the United States.

* Newly reported COVID-19 cases in Olympic host city Tokyo surged to a record high of 4,058 on Saturday, the metropolitan government said, exceeding 4,000 for the first time and overshadowing the Games.

* Canada must vaccinate as many people as possible and cautiously relax public health measures as case numbers creep higher at the start of what could be a fourth wave, the country's top health official said.

* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 2,400 to 3,769,165, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. The reported death toll rose by 21 to 91,658, the tally showed.

* Sydney's coronavirus cases continued to surge on Saturday as police cordoned off the city's central district, preventing a planned anti-lockdown protest from taking place.

* Germany will require all unvaccinated travellers arriving in the country from Sunday to present a negative COVID-19 test result.

* The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus has gained dominance in Italy, the National Health Institute said.

* The Czech government on Friday approved a measure to provide two additional days of paid vacation to civil servants who get vaccinated against COVID-19, in a bid to boost the country's vaccination rate, the government announced.

* Uganda partially eased a tight lockdown imposed 42 days ago to help stem a raging second wave.

* Kuwait prepares to receive vaccinated expatriates from Aug. 1, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

* Costa Rica's central bank on Friday raised its growth forecast to 3.9% from 2.9%, citing a rebound in manufacturing activity and a slight rise in the performance of the tourism sector despite the pandemic.

* The International Space Station (ISS) is functioning well after Russia's Nauka module accidentally restarted its engines after docking with the ISS on Thursday, Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos said Friday.

Xinhua,Reuters