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Hong Kong police charged dozens of dissidents with subversion on Sunday in the largest use yet of Beijing's sweeping new national security law, as authorities move to cripple the finance hub's democracy movement.

The United States on Saturday authorized Johnson & Johnson's COVID vaccine for emergency use, giving the nation a third shot to battle the outbreak that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.

PARIS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in France rose by 23,996 in the past 24 hours, according to figures released by the country's Public Health Agency on Saturday.

Myanmar police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters in Yangon on Saturday, according to an AFP reporter, after the country's ambassador to the United Nations broke ranks to make an emotional plea for action against the military junta.

Pope Francis expects to die in Rome, still the Catholic pontiff, without returning to spend his final days in his native Argentina, according to a new book titled "The Health of Popes."

South Africa on Saturday received its second consignment of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, the health minister said, as the continent's hardest-hit country scrambles to shore up its inoculation drive.

The United States on Friday for the first time publicly accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of approving the gruesome murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but stopped short of targeting the powerful heir apparent.

Myanmar police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters in Yangon on Saturday, after the country's ambassador to the United Nations broke ranks to make an emotional plea for action against the military junta.

The US House passed an enormous, $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday, hailed by Democrats as a critical step in funneling new funding toward vaccinations, overburdened local governments, and millions of families devastated by the pandemic.

All a Canadian woman wants for her 94th birthday is a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a handwritten sign outside her home in Toronto.

Canada on Friday authorized a third COVID-19 vaccine, adding AstraZeneca's candidate to its approved list alongside the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots.

The US will begin in mid-March a clinical trial of a version of Moderna's COVID vaccine specific to the South Africa variant, Anthony Fauci, the top advisor to the White House on the pandemic, said Friday.

A US panel of independent experts voted unanimously Friday in favor of recommending Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 shot for emergency approval, clearing the way for a third vaccine to soon begin shipping in the world's hardest hit country.

The WHO on Friday urged the UN Security Council to back up its call for increased vaccine supply to poorer nations with concrete action to ensure production gets ramped up.

Brazilian cities and states have been imposing a new round of restrictions in a bid to contain a surge of COVID-19 cases threatening to overwhelm their already stretched hospitals.

Hong Kong and South Korea kicked off coronavirus vaccination drives on Friday, as momentum builds for inoculation rollouts across the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan will end a coronavirus state of emergency early in some regions as the pace of infection slows, reports said Friday, less than five months before the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics.

Twenty-five years after Pokemon first began delighting children and adults alike, the phenomenon is still capturing hearts, with smartphone craze Pokemon Go enjoying record success in virus-hit 2020.