Low- and middle-income countries have opted not to order the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Bloomberg reported, citing a letter from Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla. Earlier, the World Health Organisation said that equal access to COVID-19 vaccines globally was failing. "We have asked all countries to place orders so that we can allocate doses for them. In fact, high-income...

Despite statements by China's leaders and personally by President Xi Jinping about the country's ambition to become a global leader in combating climate change, China is still one of the leaders in sponsoring deforestation. According to a coalition of non-profit organisations Forests & Finance, between January 2016 and April 2020, Chinese institutions provided $15bn in loans and underwriting...

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it would take up to $45 billion to provide vaccines against the coronavirus to most adults worldwide by 2022. He said vaccine production must also be ramped up to achieve population immunity. Mr Ghebreyesus said more cases of COVID-19 had been detected in the past two weeks than in the first six months of the...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is going to ban menthol cigarettes and cigars with any flavouring, the agency said in a statement. The FDA reportedly plans to develop new standards for tobacco products within the next year to ban menthol cigarettes as well as cigars with any flavouring. According to a press release, the agency's decision is based on a number of scientific studies that...

The heirs of South Korea's richest billionaire and ex-Samsung chief will pay nearly $11bn in inheritance tax to the state. This is more than half of the billionaire's capital at the time of his death. The family of Lee Kun-hee, the former head of Samsung has revealed how it plans to pay tax on inherited property six months after his death. The businessman's heirs will pay more than 12 trillion...

JPMorgan has expressed regret over its intention to finance the European Football Super League. The bank admitted it had misjudged the football community's reaction to the deal and its implications. U.S. bank JPMorgan said it regrets its decision to support Europe's top football clubs in creating the Super League, Reuters reports. A spokesman for the bank said the organisation had "misjudged how...

The IMF is proposing a minimum tariff on carbon dioxide emissions for large producers, the fund's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said. "Our analysis...shows that a gradually rising price on carbon emissions, combined with investment in green infrastructure, could boost global GDP by more than 0.7% a year over the next 15 years and create millions of new jobs," Georgieva said, speaking...

The US House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved legislation allowing antitrust suits against OPEC member countries in the US, now to be considered by the full House of Representatives. The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) bill, as explained on the House Legal Committee website, gives the US Department of Justice the authority to initiate antitrust suits against OPEC members and...

The container ship Ever Given has been arrested over delays in paying compensation for its March accident, Al-Shorouk newspaper reported. Last month, the ship ran aground in the middle of the Suez Canal, blocking it. This caused a massive traffic jam of ships, container ships and tankers for several days. The Suez Canal Authority estimates the damage from the accident at $1 billion. The arrest of...