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President Joe Biden said Monday that he intends to nominate Dr. John N. Nkengasong to coordinate the U.S. response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide. Nkengasong, a U.S. citizen born in Cameroon, would be the first person of African descent to hold the position. The Senate must approve his eventual nomination. (9/27)

Cuba has begun commercial exports of its homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, sending shipments of the three-dose Abdala vaccine to Vietnam and Venezuela. President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced the arrival in Vietnam on his Twitter feed Sunday. The official Cubadebate news website said the shipment included 900,000 doses purchased by Hanoi and 150,000 more donated by Cuba. (Rodriguez, 9/27)

ImmunityBio Inc., the U.S. company controlled by biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, is planning to conduct a trial for a second Covid-19 shot in South Africa. (Sguazzin, 9/28)

Delta (B1617.2) variant transmission is complicating plans for easing COVID-19 restrictions in some Asian nations, including Singapore and South Korea, countries that have won praise for their containment efforts over the past pandemic months. (Schnirring, 9/27)

Japan’s government says the coronavirus state of emergency will end Thursday so the economy can be reactivated as infections slow. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Tuesday that virus restrictions will be eased gradually. With the lifting, Japan will be entirely free of emergency requirements for the first time in more than six months. (Yamaguchi, 9/28)

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday raised its travel advisories for Singapore and Hong Kong by one level each. Singapore was raised from Level 2 to Level 3, indicating a “high” level of Covid-19 in the country. The CDC said unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to the Southeast Asian country. (Ng, 9/28)

The Catholic state of San Marino legalized abortion procedures on Sunday with 77 percent of the vote, despite Pope Francis' disapproval. As the Catholic Church strongly opposes the procedure, Pope Francis made a public statement Monday with an audience of the Vatican's bioethics academy that abortion is murder, the Associated Press reported. (Messmer, 9/27)

Animal rights groups on Tuesday welcomed the South Korean president's offer to look into banning consumption of dog meat. Dog meat is neither legal nor explicitly banned in South Korea. Restaurants that serve it are a dwindling business here as younger people find dog meat a less appetizing dining option. But some people oppose a ban as a surrender to Western pressure. (9/28)