Thousands protest in Vienna against mandatory Covid-19 vaccination
Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital on Saturday to protest against government plans to introduce mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for all next month.
"The government must go!" crowds chanted at one rally in central Vienna in what has become a routine Saturday event.
Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the issue, which has polarised the country as coronavirus cases surge.
In November 2021, the government announced a fourth national lockdown and said it would make vaccinations compulsory for all Austrians, the first European Union country to do so.
Tsunami warnings triggered in Japan, Pacific islands after Tonga volcano eruption
An underwater volcano off Tonga erupted on Saturday, triggering tsunami warnings and evacuation orders in Japan and causing large waves in several South Pacific islands, where footage on social media showed waves crashing into coastal homes.
Japan’s meteorological agency issued tsunami warnings in the early hours on Sunday and said waves as high as three metres were expected in the Amami islands in the south.
Waves of more than a metre were recorded there earlier.
Woman dies after being pushed onto subway tracks in New York's Times Square
An Asian woman was killed Saturday morning after she was pushed in front of an oncoming subway train at the Times Square station in New York city, the police said.
The woman was standing on the platform around 9.30am waiting for the train to arrive at the station at 42nd Street in Manhattan, police said.
As a Brooklyn-bound R train pulled into the station, she was pushed onto the tracks and struck by it.
Global Covid-19 vaccine-sharing programme reaches milestone of 1 billion doses
The Covax global vaccine-sharing programme has delivered 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, one of the organisations which manages it said on Saturday.
Supplies to poorer nations have long been very limited because of lack of vaccines, as wealthier states secured most of the doses initially available from December 2020.
But in the last quarter shipments have exponentially increased, allowing Covax to reach the milestone of 1 billion doses shipped to 144 countries, said Gavi, which co-leads the programme alongside the World Health Organization
Celine Dion cancels North America tour due to health troubles
Quebec superstar Celine Dion announced on Saturday she would not be able to perform the North America leg of her Courage World Tour, citing persistent health problems.
"I was really hoping that I'd be good to go by now, but I suppose I just have to be more patient," the singer wrote on Twitter.
After a pause due to the pandemic, Dion had been scheduled to resume her world tour in November 2021 with a slate of performances in Las Vegas.
