Egypt Aims for Deal to Produce Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccines

A health worker shows a vial of the Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in the Positivo event center at the Barigui Park in Curitiba, Brazil January 28, 2021.
A health worker shows a vial of the Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in the Positivo event center at the Barigui Park in Curitiba, Brazil January 28, 2021.
TT

Egypt Aims for Deal to Produce Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccines

A health worker shows a vial of the Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in the Positivo event center at the Barigui Park in Curitiba, Brazil January 28, 2021.
A health worker shows a vial of the Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in the Positivo event center at the Barigui Park in Curitiba, Brazil January 28, 2021.

The Egyptian government hopes to sign an agreement with China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd before the end of March to manufacture its coronavirus vaccine in Egypt, Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Monday.

Talks between the two sides reached “an advanced stage” and Egypt has asked the Chinese government for assistance over the manufacturing price, Zayed said at a joint press conference with the Chinese ambassador in Cairo.

The planned agreement would be between Sinovac and Egypt’s Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA).

Zayed said Egypt hoped to become a center for manufacturing the vaccine, either for local use or export to African countries‮.‬

Sinovac has supplied 160 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to 18 countries and regions, including China, its CEO said on Monday.

Egypt has not received Sinovac vaccines, but has acquired 650,000 doses of another Chinese vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

Zayed said Egypt was ready to cooperate with Chinese companies that are developing new coronavirus vaccines in third phase trials. Egypt participated in similar trials of the Sinopharm vaccine last year.



Hezbollah Says Fighting Israeli Forces Who Landed in East Lebanon

This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a flag of Hezbollah installed on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a flag of Hezbollah installed on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
TT

Hezbollah Says Fighting Israeli Forces Who Landed in East Lebanon

This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a flag of Hezbollah installed on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a flag of Hezbollah installed on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)

Hezbollah said on Monday it was fighting Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon by helicopter across the Syrian border, the second such operation since the outbreak of the latest conflict with Israel.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes.

Israel, which has kept up strikes targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire, launched multiple waves of strikes last week across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas, said AFP.

In a statement on Monday, Hezbollah said it detected "the infiltration of approximately 15 Israeli enemy helicopters" from the Syrian side of the border in eastern Lebanon, an area where Hezbollah holds sway.

The group said its fighters "engaged the helicopters and the infiltrating force with appropriate weapons, and the confrontation" was ongoing.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) earlier reported "fierce clashes... towards the outskirts of the town of Nabi Sheet to repel Israeli forces that carried out a landing by helicopters" in the area.

Two Hezbollah officials in the Bekaa region, where Nabi Sheet is located, told AFP that an Israeli helicopter was downed.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the incident.

It is the second such attack after an Israeli commando operation in Nabi Sheet and its surrounding areas overnight Friday failed to find the remains of Ron Arad, an airman missing since 1986, killing 41 people.

- Beirut strikes -

In the Hezbollah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs, an AFP correspondent said a loud explosion was heard on Monday, with smoke seen rising from the area.

A brief statement from the Israeli military said it had "struck infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Beirut".

The area was pounded by Israel over the past week but had not suffered any strikes since Saturday.

The military had told residents of the Beirut suburbs as well as Lebanon's south -- both strongholds of Hezbollah -- to evacuate, warning of attacks against the militant group.

The NNA reported several strikes early Monday, including one on the town of Tayr Debba near the southern city of Tyre, which "resulted in an initial toll of three citizens martyred and 15 others wounded".

Closer to the Israeli border, Hezbollah said on Monday that it targeted Israeli soldiers entering the towns of Odaisseh and Aitaroun with artillery shells.

It also said it clashed with Israeli soldiers in Odaisseh.

Lebanon's health minister Rakan Nassereddine said on Sunday that Israeli strikes on Lebanon had killed 394 people over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women.

Israel's military said that two of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the first fatalities among its forces since the latest offensive began on March 2.


Drone Strikes on Sudan Markets Kill 33

Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
TT

Drone Strikes on Sudan Markets Kill 33

Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)

A drone attack hit two markets in RSF-controlled towns in southwest Sudan, killing 33 people, a medical source told AFP on Sunday.

The strikes targeted the markets of Abu Zabad and Wad Banda in West Kordofan state -- part of the resource-rich Kordofan region that is currently the fiercest battlefield in the nearly three-year war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces.

A doctor at Abu Zabad hospital, one of the few medical facilities still serving the area, said two drones struck the markets on Saturday, injuring 59 people.

Speaking via a Starlink connection and requesting anonymity, the doctor said 30 of the wounded remain receiving treatment. The two towns lie roughly 15 kilometres (9 miles) apart.

A resident of Abu Zabad town, Hamad Abdullah, said he helped bury 20 people on Saturday following what he described as an army drone strike on the town's market.

"Four of them were my relatives who worked in the market," he told AFP.

A military source rejected the accusations, telling AFP that the "armed forces do not bombard civilian areas".

"This is a lie with no basis. We only target rebels, their equipment and their weapons depots," the source said, requesting anonymity because they are not authorised to brief the media.

Since war broke out in April 2023, both sides have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and fuelled what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.


Lebanese Health Ministry Says Death Toll from Israeli Strikes up to 394

The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
TT

Lebanese Health Ministry Says Death Toll from Israeli Strikes up to 394

The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed 394 people over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women, the health minister said Sunday, after Israel expanded its attacks to a hotel in central Beirut.

Health minister Rakan Nassereddine said at a press conference that nine rescue workers were among the 394 dead in Lebanon, condemning attacks on medical teams and ambulances.

"These are civilians being targeted, not, as they claim, military personnel and military installations. They are targeting homes, paramedics and the health sector," Nassereddine said, adding "the pace of the massacres has increased in the past 48 hours".

"Medical teams and ambulances are under attack, this is unacceptable."

A previous toll announced on Saturday by the minister had put the number of dead at 294.

Israel never fully halted its strikes targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire that sought to end their last round of fighting, which broke out in 2023 when the group attacked Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza.

Since Hezbollah's latest attack on Monday, Israel has launched multiple waves of strikes across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.

Early Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli airstrike hit a hotel room in Beirut's city center, killing four people and wounding 10 others.

Israel's military said it had "conducted a precise strike targeting key commanders" in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, its foreign operations arm.

In Ghazieh, southern Lebanon, an Israeli attack flattened a building, with an AFP correspondent seeing destroyed solar panels above it and rescuers searching through the debris.

In Sir al-Gharbiyeh, the health ministry said at least 11 people were killed in Israeli morning strikes on the village.

The toll included children, with the minister adding that "there are still people trapped under the rubble".

Standing next to a destroyed home, resident Ali Youssef Taha told AFP that "a family was sleeping inside" before "Israeli warplanes bombed the building, resulting in a massacre".

Mayor Saadallah Mohammed Maatouk said around 500 families were staying in the town.

"What happened will not deter us, and we remain steadfast," he said.

On Sunday, the Israeli military reiterated its call for residents south of Lebanon's Litani river, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the Israeli border, to flee the area.

Sir al-Gharbiyeh is located just above the river, and Ghazieh is further north on the coast.

Israel's military, meanwhile, said Sunday that two of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the first of its troops to have died since the latest offensive began on March 2.