There is excitement in Ghana at becoming the first country to receive coronavirus vaccines through the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative, the One campaign’s executive director for Africa has said. Edwin Ikhuoria told BBC World News the delivery of the vaccine had been long awaited and was welcome news. The Covax programme was set up by World…

A recent survey on behalf of the American Psychological Association found that 49% of adults reported feeling uncomfortable about returning to in-person interactions when the pandemic ends. The poll of 3,013 adults who reside in the US found that adults who had received a Covid-19 vaccine were almost as likely to feel the same way…

With growing concerns about a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the authorities in Turkey have stepped up security on their border and warned they won’t accept an influx of Afghan migrants and refugees. Turkey already has the world’s largest refugee population of around 4 million people – 3.6 million of whom are Syrians – but there…

The evacuation flights out of Afghanistan may have largely stopped, but with international funding largely frozen, and a humanitarian crisis escalating, thousands are still desperate to find a way out. The remote town of Zaranj, close to the borders of both Pakistan and Iran, is a major people smuggling hub. Traffickers there told BBC Afghanistan…

Israel’s military was trying to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza, but Hamas was effectively using Palestinian civilians as human shields, the Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson has said. “Hamas, purposely embeds its military infrastructure within the civilian population creating an almost impossible situation where they are using Palestinian civilians as their human shields while they fire…