Morning news brief: Biden announces new COVID-19 vaccine mandates, UN dialogue with Taliban and more
Morning news brief
US President Joe Biden has announced sweeping mandates to ''turn the tide'' in the battle againstcoronaviruspandemic.Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko haveagreed on economic policies that are aimed at integrating the two ex-Soviet countries more closely.United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres pleaded for countries to continue dialogue with the Taliban.
Click on headlines to read more
Lambasting the people who refuse to receive a vaccine Biden said in a harsh tone that ''your refusal cost us.''
Guterressaid that the world must avoid an "econnomic collapse" in Afghanistan.
After talks in the Kremlin, Putin said the agreements mean the countries will eventually have a unified "macro-economic policy".
Australia is in the grip of a third wave of infections with the Delta outbreak forcing officials to ditch their COVID-zero strategy in favour of suppressing the virus.