MOSCOW — What do you do when Vladimir Putin offers you Russia’s new coronavirus vaccine, for free? United Nations staff in New York and around the world are now facing that choice, after the Russian president offered Tuesday to provide them the Sputnik-V vaccine in a speech to this year’s General Assembly marking the body’s 75th birthday. Only results from small early studies on the…

Britain was put under tough new lockdown measures Tuesday because of an alarming second wave of the coronavirus — with the nation’s beloved pubs forced to close early and the military put on standby. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that the stringent new measures were needed because the nation had “reached a perilous turning point” soon after relaxing earlier lockdowns. Confirmed…

The claim: Eight people in Indonesia who refused to wear masks in public settings were forced to dig graves for COVID-19 patients Many health experts and studies encourage mask-wearing to minimize the spread of COVID-19, but controversy surrounding mask effectiveness remains as some people refuse to wear a face covering regardless of rules in place.  While countries have taken different approaches on how to enforce…

Two new studies published in a scientific journal raise questions about whether transmission of the coronavirus on lengthy commercial airline flights might be more common than earlier thought. One looked at two passengers and two flight attendants on the same 15-hour flight from Boston to Hong Kong who later tested positive for COVID-19. It was found that the virus’ genetic sequence in all four was identical,…

Some 125,000 bikers from across the nation descended on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks for a weekend rally, fueling fears that the gathering could spread the coronavirus far and wide. Most attendees of the 14th annual Bikefest Lake of the Ozarks went maskless and flouted social-distancing precautions during the event, photos and videos show. “It’s what we get dealt with in life,” attendee Bubby Fischer…