Briefly

FRANCE

Facebook will pay local outlets for news

Facebook said on Thursday it had reached an agreement with the APIG alliance of national and regional newspapers to pay for news content shared by its users, months after Google announced plans to remunerate them for articles shown in web searches. France has been at the vanguard of a global push to get tech giants to pay more tax on their international revenues.

INDIA

1 billionth COVID-19 vaccine administered

India administered its 1 billionth COVID-19 vaccine dose on Thursday as it fights its way back from a devastating surge in cases that brought the health system close to collapse. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the feat as a "triumph of Indian science", but authorities remain on guard for a new pandemic wave. About three-quarters of adults in the country of 1.3 billion people have had one shot and 30 percent are fully vaccinated. But hundreds of millions of Indians under 18－who make up about 40 percent of the population－have not had a single shot.

Agencies Via Xinhua