Author: Steven Sahiounie

Drug maker Johnson & Johnson asked the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday to authorize booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18. “Our clinical program has found that a booster of our Covid-19 vaccine increases levels of protection for those who have received our single-shot vaccine to 94 percent,” said Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at J&J. J&J said that when a booster was given six months after the first shot, “antibody levels increased nine-fold one week after the booster and continued to climb to 12-fold higher four weeks after…

TEHRAN, Oct. 05 (MNA) – The spokesman for Iran’s Customs Administration reported a fire on Tuesday at Iran-Afghanistan Dogharoon shared border crossing, while the latest reports suggest the fire has been brought under control. The spokesman for Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Rohollah Latifi reported a fire on Tuesday at the Dogharoon border crossing in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province, which is called Islam Qala on the other side of the border in Afghanistan’s Herat Province. According to Latifi, a lorry carrying fuel that had caught fire started the fire at around 12:00 Tehran local time after spreading it to few other…

The Taliban says its fighters have captured 11 members from “ISIS” in Kabul. The raid took place after a bomb went off outside a mosque during a gathering of Taliban officials.A spokesperson for the Taliban government, Bilal Karimi, said Islamic State operatives were detained in the capital’s Fifth Police District. The raid came after a bomb was detonated at the entrance of the Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul on Sunday, as Taliban officials gathered to mourn the passing of the mother of one of the group’s senior members. The militants said that at least five people were killed in what…

Natural gas prices jumped to historic highs in recent weeks, hitting a new all-time high of $1,427 per 1,000 cubic metres on Tuesday thanks to growing energy demand, competition with Asia, cold weather, and lower-than-expected returns on investments in energy sources such as wind and solar power.The current “hysteria and confusion” in the European energy market is the result of poor policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. “You see the hysteria and confusion taking place in Europe’s energy markets. Why? Because nobody is approaching this issue seriously, someone is engaging in speculation on the problems of climate change, someone…

Amid reported efforts by Azerbaijan to lean further towards the Israeli regime by hosting Israeli elements, a former Iranian foreign minister has strongly warned the Caucasus republic against trying to import security from abroad. Kamal Kharrazi, currently the head of the Islamic Republic’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, made the remarks on Tuesday, urging Baku to rather depend on its own people to meet its national security requirements. He denounced dependence on overseas’ sources for security as an illogical and irrational solution, “because, given their illegitimate goals and interests, this can lead to arms race in the region and even…

The new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida supports Joe Biden’s desire to enhance the US-Japan alliance. The New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated on Tuesday that he received a congratulatory message from US President Joe Biden as well as his intentions to aid Japan in defending the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands. The two countries also highlighted the importance of maintaining peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. On the list of subjects was the continued cooperation of the US-Japan Alliance for the defense of Japan’s security, in particular with…

As Algeria recalled its ambassador from Paris, Macron thinks “it’s better to talk and to make progress.” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that he hoped relations with Algeria could be repaired following a spat over visas and critical remarks made by Paris toward Algiers. “My wish is for a calming down because I think it’s better to talk and to make progress,” Macron told the France Inter broadcaster, adding that his relations with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune were “truly cordial”. What do you need to know? The diplomatic spat deepened after Algiers banned French military planes from its airspace, its…

A senior US official affirmed that “the path in Vienna for negotiations does remain open.” A senior US official expressed Monday that the US hopes to resume nuclear talks with Iran soon. “We’re hopeful we can be back in Vienna (for talks)… in a fairly short period of time,” the senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters. On his account, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday that the new round of talks could begin by early November. Iran’s nuclear program will be at the forefront of discussions between US and Israeli national security teams in Washington…

The Libyan parliament’s spokesman announced that parliament passed Monday a law on legislative elections. The Libyan parliament on Monday passed a law on legislative elections, according to spokesman Abdullah Bliheg. Parliament “passed a law on elections to the House of Representatives during Monday’s session,” the spokesman wrote on Twitter. The passing of the law comes nearly a month after the upper house of Libya’s parliament called for postponing the December-scheduled presidential elections for a year, due to controversy regarding the Libyan electoral law. Days later, parliament withdrew its confidence from interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah’s government of unity. After a transitional process led by…

Mark Zuckerberg is facing some major financial consequences, according to Forbes, losing billions of dollars, as well as his No.5-richest man rank as users continue to be shut out of Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. After mass complaints about the various platforms in the Facebook family being down, and users getting error messages when trying to log on, the company said it was working to resolve the issue. With all four now off-air for several hours, Zuckerberg has faced a pile-on on rival social media platforms, and habitual Facebook users have taken to other apps that aren’t experiencing issues, such as…