News in Brief
LONDON (AFP) -- Passengers faced a third day of disruption at Heathrow Monday as British Airways cancelled short-haul flights after a global computer crash that unions blamed on the outsourcing of IT services to India.
The embattled airline said it was cancelling 13 short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, but was aiming to operate a full long-haul schedule from the hub and was operating a full service from Gatwick Airport. Thousands of passengers were left stranded over a busy holiday weekend in Britain after BA scrapped hundreds of flights worldwide. Experts warned the knock-on effects could continue for several days.
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BEIJING (AFP) -- China has urged the Group of Seven leading economies to "stop making irresponsible remarks" after the G7 summit expressed concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas.
China has a dispute with Japan over small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, while its claim to most of the South China Sea is challenged by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. In their closing communique in Italy Saturday, G7 leaders said they "remain concerned about the situation" in the two seas and are "strongly opposed to any unilateral actions that could increase tensions".
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ABUJA (AFP) -- Nigeria's ailing president was glaringly absent Monday as his deputy marked their two years in power, with no word on the head of state's health three weeks after he went on indefinite medical leave.
Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy Yemi Osinbajo were sworn into office on May 29, 2015, two months after securing the first opposition victory against a sitting president in Nigerian history. But their election pledges to defeat Boko Haram militants and tackle endemic corruption have been overshadowed, first by economic recession and increasingly by speculation about Buhari's health.
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ATHENS (AFP) -- Former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, an early proponent of austerity cuts that Greece eventually had to adopt during the economic crisis, died Monday aged 98, his family said.
A patriarch of one of Greece's most influential political families, Mitsotakis quit politics in 2004, aged 85, after serving as the country's longest-serving parliamentarian. "He died at 0100 (2200 GMT) surrounded by the people whom he loved and who loved him," a family statement said. It did not indicate the cause of death.
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KINSHASA (Reuters) -- Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry has approved the use of a new Ebola vaccine to counter an outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in its northeast that has killed four people, a spokesman said Monday.
"The non-objection was given. Now there's a Medecins Sans Frontiers team that is arriving (in Congo) today to validate the protocol with the technical teams," Jonathan Simba, a health ministry spokesman, said by telephone. The vaccine, known as rVSV-ZEBOV and developed by Merck , is not yet licensed but was shown to be highly protective against Ebola in clinical trials published last December.
The embattled airline said it was cancelling 13 short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, but was aiming to operate a full long-haul schedule from the hub and was operating a full service from Gatwick Airport. Thousands of passengers were left stranded over a busy holiday weekend in Britain after BA scrapped hundreds of flights worldwide. Experts warned the knock-on effects could continue for several days.
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BEIJING (AFP) -- China has urged the Group of Seven leading economies to "stop making irresponsible remarks" after the G7 summit expressed concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas.
China has a dispute with Japan over small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, while its claim to most of the South China Sea is challenged by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. In their closing communique in Italy Saturday, G7 leaders said they "remain concerned about the situation" in the two seas and are "strongly opposed to any unilateral actions that could increase tensions".
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ABUJA (AFP) -- Nigeria's ailing president was glaringly absent Monday as his deputy marked their two years in power, with no word on the head of state's health three weeks after he went on indefinite medical leave.
Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy Yemi Osinbajo were sworn into office on May 29, 2015, two months after securing the first opposition victory against a sitting president in Nigerian history. But their election pledges to defeat Boko Haram militants and tackle endemic corruption have been overshadowed, first by economic recession and increasingly by speculation about Buhari's health.
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ATHENS (AFP) -- Former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, an early proponent of austerity cuts that Greece eventually had to adopt during the economic crisis, died Monday aged 98, his family said.
A patriarch of one of Greece's most influential political families, Mitsotakis quit politics in 2004, aged 85, after serving as the country's longest-serving parliamentarian. "He died at 0100 (2200 GMT) surrounded by the people whom he loved and who loved him," a family statement said. It did not indicate the cause of death.
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KINSHASA (Reuters) -- Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry has approved the use of a new Ebola vaccine to counter an outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in its northeast that has killed four people, a spokesman said Monday.
"The non-objection was given. Now there's a Medecins Sans Frontiers team that is arriving (in Congo) today to validate the protocol with the technical teams," Jonathan Simba, a health ministry spokesman, said by telephone. The vaccine, known as rVSV-ZEBOV and developed by Merck , is not yet licensed but was shown to be highly protective against Ebola in clinical trials published last December.