world
August 16, 2021 – 00:00

Canadian ministers have announced that their country has suspended work at its embassy in Kabul because the situation on the ground there “poses serious challenges to our ability to ensure the security of our mission.”

Diplomatic personnel have been returning to Canada since morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today.

“Canada strongly condemns the escalation of violence,” he said. “We are deeply saddened by the situation of the Afghan people today.”

Embassy operations will resume as soon as the security situation in Afghanistan improves, officials say.

Like the US and other countries, Canada is also trying to bring Afghans who helped its troops to Canada as the Taliban advanced.

Officials said today that the work “will continue and will remain a top priority”. /Top channel

world
May 11, 2021 – 18:36

Slovakia has suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against coronavirus after a person vaccinated with the vaccine died of a blood clot.

The Ministry of Health said that only people vaccinated with the first dose will receive the second dose of AstraZeneca.

The first doses of this vaccine were suspended, the Ministry of Health said.

Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky warned last week that Slovakia would review its vaccination strategy, following the fatal blood clot of a person who was vaccinated with AstraZeneca.

Some European Union countries have restricted the use of AstraZeneca to older people only, after confirming that there is a link between the vaccine and very rare blood clots in some people, mostly younger ones.

The European Medicines Agency, however, has found that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks.

Germany last week lifted restrictions on the AstraZeneca vaccine, which for several weeks has only been recommended for people over 60 years of age.

Denmark has suspended AstraZeneca completely, while experts in Britain have recommended that people under the age of 40 be given an alternative vaccine.

Slovakia, a country of 5.4 million people, has registered over 386,000 cases of coronavirus and 12,077 victims.