International

Explosion in western Iran injures more than 200

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — The explosion of a chlorine gas canister being transported by a truck in western Iran has injured 217 people but caused no deaths, state news agency IRNA reported. The blast struck late Friday in Chardavol county in Ilam province, the news agency said. The head of the province’s medical university, Mohammad Karimian, told IRNA driver “carelessness” was suspected. The incident is the latest in a series of fires and explosions that […]

Filipino crewman killed as oil tanker fire rages off Sri Lanka coast

    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — A Panamanian-registered oil tanker burned out of control for a second day off Sri Lanka on Friday as authorities confirmed a Filipino crew member was killed in an explosion and fears grew of a major new oil spill in the Indian Ocean. Sri Lankan navy and Indian coastguard vessels fired water cannon at the blaze on the New Diamond, which issued a distress call Thursday after its engine […]

US vote-by-mail begins as White House campaign turns ugly

  by Jerome Cartillier with Michael Mathes in Wilmington, Delaware Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US election is officially open: North Carolina on Friday launched vote-by-mail operations for the November 3 contest between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, which is getting uglier by the hour. With two months until Election Day, Trump is seizing on fears over violent protests in US cities and questioning the integrity of voting by […]

‘Pulse’ sparks hunt for survivor one month after Beirut blast

  by Layal Abu Rahal and Dylan Collins Agence France Presse BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Rescuers resumed a search Friday for a possible survivor under the rubble in Beirut, buoyed by faint hopes of a miracle a month after a monster blast ripped through the city’s port. The cataclysmic August 4 explosion killed 191 people, making it Lebanon’s deadliest peacetime disaster. One month on, Lebanese across the grieving country observed a minute of silence on […]

India becomes third country to pass four million coronavirus cases

  NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India has become the world’s third country to pass four million coronavirus infections, setting a new record daily surge in cases on Saturday as the crisis shows no sign of peaking. The 86,432 new cases took India to 4,023,179 infections, third behind the United States which has more than 6.3 million and just trailing Brazil on 4.1 million. While the government has eased restrictions in a bid to revive […]

California braces for record-setting heatwave, more fires

by Jocelyne ZABLIT Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — California is bracing for record-breaking temperatures and dangerous fire weather conditions this Labor Day weekend, with the National Weather Service urging people to limit outdoor activity and to stay hydrated. “Saturday and Sunday will be about 20 to 30 degrees above normal across the entire area,” Frank Fisher, a NWS meteorologist for the southern part of the state, told AFP. “By Monday, we […]

Palau invites US military to build bases as China seeks regional clout

  by Bernadette CARREON Agence France Presse KOROR, Palau (AFP) — The tiny Pacific nation of Palau has urged the United States military to build bases on its territory — which lies in a region where Washington is pushing back against growing Chinese influence. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited the island nation last week and accused Beijing of “ongoing destabilising activities” in the Pacific. Palau President Tommy Remengesau later revealed he told Esper the […]

New Zealand records first Covid-19 death in over three months

  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 death in more than three months on Friday when a man in his 50s succumbed to the virus. Health officials said the man was part of a second-wave cluster of infections that emerged in Auckland last month, ending a spell of 102 days free of community transmission in the South Pacific nation. The death at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital on Friday afternoon takes New […]

Man found unresponsive after ship sank in typhoon off Japan

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s coast guard said Friday they found a man floating face-down and unresponsive at sea as they searched for survivors from a ship that sank during a typhoon with 43 crew on board. One survivor has so far been rescued from the ship, and early Friday morning, a coast guard vessel “discovered a man face-down adrift at sea,” a statement said. It was unclear if the man, described as “unconscious”, was […]

Nana downgraded to tropical storm over Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) — Nana was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday as it hit Guatemala, several hours after making landfall in Belize as a hurricane. “Nana has weakened to a tropical depression, moving westwards,” said David de Leon, the spokesman for Guatemala’s Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED.) De Leon said winds had reduced to a maximum of 55 kilometers per hour. “Continued weakening is expected, and Nana is expected to degenerate to […]

Brazil tops 4 million cases amid signs pandemic slowing

by Eugenia LOGIURATTO RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil topped four million Covid-19 cases on Thursday as health ministry officials said infections were beginning to slow in the world’s second worst-hit country. Since the first case came to light on February 26, the South American colossus has registered more than 4.04 million infections and over 124,600 deaths, second only to the United States. There were almost 44,000 new cases over the previous 24 hours […]

Over 7,000 health workers dead from coronavirus, Amnesty says

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — At least 7,000 health workers worldwide have died after being infected with the coronavirus, including more than 1,300 in Mexico alone, the most for any country, Amnesty International said Thursday. “Every health worker has the right to be safe at work, and it is a scandal that so many are paying the ultimate price,” said Steve Cockburn, head of economic and social justice at the London-based rights group. “Many months […]