Briefly

UNITED STATES

Barack Obama tests positive for COVID-19

Former US president Barack Obama said on Sunday that he had tested positive for COVID-19. "I've had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise," Obama tweeted. He also wrote that he and his wife Michelle "are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and she has tested negative". The US has more than 79.5 million COVID-19 infections and more than 967,500 deaths as of Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

ARMENIA

Vahagn Khachaturyan sworn in as president

Vahagn Khachaturyan has been sworn in as Armenian president during a special parliamentary session in the capital Yerevan on Sunday. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, foreign ambassadors and NGO representatives. Khachaturyan was elected by parliament on March 3 as the fifth president of the country. Former president Armen Sarkissian resigned on Jan 23, saying that he did not have the necessary power to deal with the country's political problems.

MOROCCO

Airline RAM launches direct flights to Israel

Moroccan national airline Royal Air Maroc, or RAM, launched its first direct flight on Sunday from Casablanca to Israel's Tel Aviv. The new route will be conducted with four frequencies per week. A Moroccan delegation consisting of businessmen, artists and journalists took part in this inaugural flight. Morocco and Israel signed a normalization agreement in December 2020.

Xinhua - Agencies