Thursday, May 6, 2021 - a podcast by TRT World

*) Israel's Yair Lapid gets mandate to form new government

Israel's president has chosen Yair Lapid, a centrist politician and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest rival, to try to form a new government.

While Lapid faces a difficult task, he now has the chance to make history by ending the reign of Netanyahu, who is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.

The parliamentary elections held on March the 23 ended in deadlock for the fourth time in the past two years.

*) India reports record Covid-19 cases, deaths

India has reported more than 400,000 coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by a record 3,980.

The South Asian nation's cases tally has surged past 21 million, second only to the United State. India’s death toll now stands at over 230,000.

India’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to submit a plan to meet New Delhi hospitals’ oxygen needs as the city’s health system buckles under Covid surge.

*) Hong Kong dissident Joshua Wong jailed for Tiananmen protest

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong has been handed an additional 10-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to taking part in the Tiananmen protest last year.

The annual vigil marking Beijing's deadly 1989 crackdown of protests was banned for the first time in Hong Kong last year.

Wong is already serving a 13-and-a-half-month jail sentence for attending a protest during the 2019 unrest.

*) G7 hits out at China, Russia over rights abuses after London talks

G7 foreign ministers have criticised both China and Russia, casting the Kremlin as malicious and Beijing as a bully at their summit held in London.

There was, however, little concrete action mentioned in the communique that would worry either Chinese President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On the coronavirus pandemic, the G7 pledged to work with industry to expand the production of affordable Covid-19 vaccines.

And finally ...

*) US backs waiver of Covid vaccine patents

The Biden administration has joined calls for more sharing of Covid-19 vaccine technology to help speed the end of the pandemic

This shift puts the US alongside many in the developing world who want rich countries to do more to get doses to the needy.

US announced its position amid World Trade Organization talks about a possible temporary waiver of its protections that would allow more manufacturers to produce the life-saving vaccines.

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