The Daily Populous

Oct 15 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority's official news agency published comments on Sunday by President Mahmoud Abbas that criticized Hamas over its actions but later removed reference to the militant group without providing an explanation.

The comments, published by WAFA on its website, came during a phone call between Abbas and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The original WAFA report on Abbas' call included the line: "The president also stressed that Hamas' policies and actions do not represent the Palestinian people, and the policies, programs and decisions of the (Palestine Liberation Organization) represent the Palestinian people as their sole legitimate representative.". »

“Israel’s actions have gone beyond self-defence,” Wang told Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout released early on Sunday.

Israel should stop its “ collective punishment ” of Gaza’s civilians with actions beyond self-defence, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, warning it would worsen regional tensions and lead to humanitarian disaster.

“China opposes and condemns all actions that harm civilians because they violate basic human conscience and basic norms of international law,” Wang said. »

Vaccinations estimated to have averted 19.8 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide in their first year, according to the latest Imperial modelling study.

In the first year of the vaccination programme, 19.8 million out of a potential 31.4 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented worldwide according to estimates based on excess deaths from 185 countries and territories.

Of the almost 20 million deaths estimated to have been prevented in the first year after vaccines were introduced, almost 7.5 million deaths were prevented in countries covered by the COVID-19 Vaccine Access initiative (COVAX). »

Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries says that “informal conversations” are taking place that could lead to a “bipartisan governing coalition” to elect a House speaker.

“When we get back to Washington tomorrow, it’s important to begin to formalize those discussions,” he said.

“We can change the rules to facilitate bipartisanship, and that should be the starting point of our conversation. »