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by Holmes Chan and Jerome Taylor © Agence France-Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam announced Monday that she will step down in June, ending a divisive term that saw democracy protests squashed and strict pandemic curbs plunge the business hub into international isolation. Ending months of speculation, Lam confirmed she would not seek a second term when a committee made up of the city’s political elite chooses a new leader […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore fully reopened its borders to all vaccinated visitors Friday after a two-year coronavirus closure, with arrivals saying it felt “wonderful” to travel again without onerous restrictions. The aviation hub, a key gateway for people arriving in Asia, joins other countries in the region that have recently dropped travel curbs as they shift to living with Covid-19. Previously, only travellers from a handful of places could enter Singapore without quarantining but […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai residents voiced growing frustration on Friday at confusion over a week of snap Covid lockdowns, taking to social media to complain about food shortages and bewildering stay-at-home orders. After initially vowing they would avoid a city-wide lockdown, officials changed tack this week and announced a phased shutdown which divided China’s financial centre in two so authorities can test its 25 million residents. A four-day lockdown of the Pudong area […]
by Julien GIRAULT with Patrick BAERT in Beijing © Agence France-Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU holds a virtual summit with China on Friday amid increasing alarm over Beijing’s growing proximity with Moscow and its reluctance to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold the videoconference with EU leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, carrying through on an annual exercise that was skipped last year as tensions simmered. […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — A top Shanghai official conceded Thursday that the Chinese financial hub had been “insufficiently prepared” for its latest Covid outbreak, as criticism mounts over lockdowns that have caught residents off guard. The eastern megacity of 25 million has been split in two as part of a rolling lockdown plan to battle China’s worst outbreak in two years. The spread of the Omicron variant is testing the country’s zero-Covid strategy, which […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka on Wednesday began imposing record nationwide 10-hour daily power cuts as it ran out of hydro-electricity on top of a severe shortage of fuel. The South Asian nation of 22 million people is in its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, because of a severe shortage of foreign currency to pay for imports. The state electricity monopoly said it was imposing the 10-hour power cut, up from […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in China on Wednesday in his first visit to the key ally since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine last month. In a post on its Weibo social media account, the Russian embassy in Beijing confirmed Lavrov had landed in the eastern city of Huangshan, posting photos of delegates descending from a plane and being met by health officials in hazmat suits. Lavrov will attend […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – North Korea faked the launch of what analysts have dubbed its “monster missile” last week, Seoul’s military said Wednesday, adding that the test was, in reality, likely the same intercontinental ballistic missile Pyongyang fired in 2017. North Korea last Friday claimed to have successfully test-fired a Hwasong-17 missile — a long-range ICBM that analysts say may be capable of carrying multiple warheads — which it first unveiled at a military […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The United Arab Emirates on Monday urged Western countries to be “reasonable” in their expectations, underlining its commitment to the global OPEC+ energy alliance. The grouping of the 13 members of the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their 10 allies, including Russia, is an “alliance to stay”. “We always believe that whatever we do as countries, when it comes to production and this work, it […]
BNEI BRAK, Israel (AFP) — Five people were killed in gun attacks Tuesday near the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, emergency responders said, in the third fatal gun or knife spree in the Jewish state in a week. Residents of the ultra-orthodox town of Bnei Brak and the neighboring town of Ramat Gan reported that a man had driven around and opened fire at passers-by, and Israeli police later said that security forces killed […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai recorded a steep climb in Covid-19 cases Tuesday as spreading anxiety in the Chinese city of about 25 million prompted panic-buying at supermarkets. Millions endured a second day of lockdown after authorities effectively split the country’s biggest urban area in two, with residents of the city’s eastern half confined to their homes for four days and subjected to mandatory testing. China reported 6,886 domestic Covid cases nationwide on Tuesday, with more […]
by Dan Martin SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai authorities on Wednesday called for calm as worried citizens swamped online grocery platforms to stock up on food over fears of impending lockdowns in a city struggling to halt a Covid spike. China is experiencing its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago, with Shanghai posting record-high case counts as the highly transmissible Omicron variant frustrates authorities. China’s biggest city […]
