JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel toughened its coronavirus measures on Thursday (Sept 24) as a second nationwide lockdown failed to bring down the world's highest infection rate a week after it was imposed. The new rules will close the vast majority of workplaces, shutter markets and further limit prayers and demonstrations. "Over the past two days, we've heard from experts that if we don't take immediate and harsh measures, we'll reach an abyss," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Wednesday, at the start of a cabinet meeting to thrash out the new measures. The government's latest move comes as Israel is poised to enter the second week of a three-week lockdown imposed last Friday, which included the closure of schools and restrictions on work and leisure. Under the new measures set to be approved in parliament later Thursday, synagogues will only be allowed to open on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday that begins Sunday afternoon. At other times, only outdoor prayer with a maximum of 20 people in attendance will be allowed. The same restrictions have been applied to demonstrations. "To save the lives of Israel's citizens, we need to impose
Billion Covid-19 vaccine doses administered globally More than one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered worldwide, less than five months after the first mass inoculation programmes began to be rolled out, according to an AFP tally at 17.45 GMT on Saturday. At least 1,002,938,540 doses have been administered in 207 countries and territories, according to the tally compiled from official sources. More than half, or 58 per cent, have been given in three countries: the United States with 225.6 million doses, China with 216.1 million doses and India with 138.4 million. However, in terms of the proportion of the population who have been vaccinated, Israel is in the lead, with nearly six out of every 10 Israelis fully inoculated. READ MORE HERE Biden recognises Armenian genocide, defying Turkey US President Joe Biden on Saturday recognised the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, a watershed moment for descendants of the hundreds of thousands of dead as he defied decades of pressure by Turkey. Biden became the first US president to use the word genocide in a customary statement on the anniversary, a day after informing Turkish President Recep Tayyip
CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE (AFP) - Down an overgrown country road, three startled wild horses with rugged coats and rigid manes dart into the flourishing overgrowth of their unlikely nature reserve: the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Thirty-five years after the world's worst nuclear disaster - an anniversary commemorated in the ex-Soviet country on Monday (April 26)- surging flora and fauna have taken over deserted tower blocks, shops and official buildings topped with communist icons. Ukrainian authorities say the area may not be fit for humans for 24,000 years, but for now this breed of wild horse has thrived. "It's really a symbol of the reserve and even the exclusion zone in general," said Dr Denys Vyshnevsky, head of the scientific department of the Chernobyl nature reserve created in the area five years ago. The explosion in the fourth reactor at the nuclear power plant in April 26, 1986, left swathes of Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus badly contaminated and led to the creation of a no man's land within a 30km radius of the station. Dozens of villages and towns were evacuated, turning the area into a giant reserve unprecedented in Europe by its size. More than three
