Briefly

SOUTH AFRICA

De Klerk, leader who buried apartheid, dies

F.W. de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela and as South Africa's last apartheid president oversaw the end of the country's white minority rule, has died at the age of 85. De Klerk died after a battle against cancer at his home, a spokesman for the F.W. de Klerk Foundation confirmed on Thursday. He was South Africa's state president from 1989 to 1994. It was de Klerk who in a speech to South Africa's parliament on Feb 2, 1990, announced that Mandela would be released from prison after 27 years. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday mourned his death.

BELARUS

New batch of Chinese vaccines arrives

China and Belarus signed a document on vaccine transfer after a new batch of coronavirus vaccines from China arrived on Thursday. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have sincerely supported each other and exchanged experience on combating the pandemic, said Chinese Ambassador Xie Xiaoyong. Xie noted that the Chinese government has provided Belarus with four batches of vaccines, demonstrating the high-level relationship between the two countries and the friendship between the two peoples. As of Thursday, Belarus had reported 621,689 confirmed cases, with 4,805 deaths.

THE NETHERLANDS

Nation heads for 'partial lockdown' as cases jump

The government was widely expected to announce a partial lockdown on Friday amid soaring COVID-19 cases that are putting the healthcare sector under renewed strain. The move comes amid a surge in infections across Europe in recent weeks. Three weeks of measures are planned, with bars, restaurants and nonessential shops having to close at 7 pm and people again advised to work from home.

Agencies - Xinhua