Sri Lanka has approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to be used against COVID-19 amid warnings from doctors that frontline health workers should be quickly vaccinated to stop the system from collapsing. A regulatory official said the British vaccine has been approved for emergency use, the first to be approved in Sri Lanka, and several other candidates are in the pipeline. It is unknown when Sri Lanka might be able to get supplies. An official from a trade union of doctors says medical professionals are testing positive, leading to quarantines.

Social media in Iran has been gripped by speculation that Bitcoin is to blame for a series of recent power blackouts across the country. The government launched a major crackdown on Bitcoin processing centers, which use immense amounts of electricity and are a huge burden on the power grid. Cryptocurrency has surged in popularity in Iran after former President Donald Trump withdrew America in 2018 from Tehran’s nuclear accord with world powers and re-imposed economic sanctions. Anonymous transactions made in cryptocurrencies allow individuals and companies to bypass banking sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Bitcoin miners say they're being targeted unfairly and that the blackouts are rooted in government mismanagement. 

Authorities in the African nation of Cabo Verde have approved transferring a jailed Colombian businessman with close ties to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to house arrest. Prosecutors in Cabo Verde announced the decision about Alex Saab on Thursday. They say it is partly based on the fact that he has remained provisionally detained longer than the maximum allowed. Saab has been held since June on a U.S. arrest warrant. He is fighting extradition to Miami, where he is charged with corruption. U.S. officials believe he holds secrets about how Maduro allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars in government contracts amid widespread hunger in the oil-rich nation.