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BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Joe Biden that US support for Taiwanese independence would be “like playing with fire”, state media said Tuesday, as the two held a long-awaited video call. “Taiwanese authorities have repeatedly tried to ‘rely on the US for independence’,” Xi was quoted as saying by state media agency Xinhua, adding: “Some people in the US intend to ‘use Taiwan to control China’. This trend is very dangerous […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s junta has charged ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi with electoral fraud during 2020 polls that her party won in a landslide, state media reported on Tuesday. Suu Kyi was accused of “election fraud and lawless actions”, state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported, without giving details on when court proceedings would begin. Fifteen other officials — including former president Win Myint and the chairman of the election commission […]
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — New Delhi authorities announced Saturday a one-week closure of schools and said they would consider a “pollution lockdown” to protect citizens from toxic smog. “Schools will be shut so that children don’t have to breathe polluted air,” Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters. Delhi is ranked one of the world’s most polluted cities, with a hazardous melange of factory and vehicle emissions, and smoke from agricultural […]
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel gave the green light Sunday to start vaccinating children aged between five and 11 against Covid-19 using Pfizer/BioNTech jabs, following the example of the United States. “The director general of the ministry of health… authorised the vaccination of children aged five to 11 years,” the health ministry said in a statement. Israel was one of the first countries to launch a vaccination campaign last year using the jabs thanks to a […]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — China donated 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday to war-torn Syria, which has one of the world’s lowest inoculation rates and what the UN called an alarming rise in cases. The latest shipment raises to almost two million the number of such deliveries to Syria in a week. Less than two percent of Syria’s population have been vaccinated and cases of infection are spiking, United Nations under secretary-general Martin Griffiths […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Two strong earthquakes struck southern Iran within 90 seconds Sunday, killing at least one person and sparking scenes of panic, official sources said. The 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude earthquakes hit at a depth of 15 kilometres (9.3 miles)in Hormozgan province, the Iranian seismological centre said. A 22-year-old man was killed by a falling electricity pole, Iranian Red Crescent chief Mehdi Valipour told state television. He said several teams have been deployed […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — A suspected US drone strike on Sunday killed three people in central Yemen, including two alleged Al-Qaeda jihadists, local government officials said. “A drone that is believed to be American targeted a car carrying a man, who is likely an Al-Qaeda member, and his wife, resulting in the injury of both,” a government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. “Three people, a civilian and two […]
by Helen Roxburgh and Laurie Chen Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Top Communist Party leaders wrapped up a key meeting in Beijing by passing an important resolution on the party’s past, state media said Thursday, which is expected to cement President Xi Jinping’s legacy in Chinese history books. Xi, the uncontested leader of the world’s most populous nation, has been heading a pivotal plenary of the ruling party’s top figures since Monday […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — In what it called a world first, Israel on Thursday held a “war game drill” in case of an outbreak of a new lethal variant of Covid-19. Civilian and military officials took part in the exercises, named “Omega” after the supposed strain, held at Jerusalem’s nuclear blast-proof National Management Center. The simulation covered different aspects of a crisis, including mass inoculation, ordering curfews and imposing a flight ban, Prime Minister Naftali […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Covaxin, the first Covid-19 vaccine developed in India, is “highly efficacious” and presents no safety concerns, according to a study published in the Lancet on Thursday. Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, gained emergency approval from the World Health Organization last week and has already been cleared for use in 17 countries. The UN body has described it as “extremely suitable for low- and middle-income countries due to easy storage requirements”. Some […]
by Amber WANG TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Ken Young and Kylie Wang, hosts of a popular daily news podcast, say they feel Taiwanese and not Chinese — a belief shared by many young people on the self-ruled island. Beijing views Taiwan as part of China and has intensified pressure on Taipei in recent years, pushing political tensions between the two to dizzying heights. For younger Taiwanese people, the growing antagonism has cemented a distinct identity […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The developer of Russia’s coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V has said Moscow should make jabs mandatory as inoculation rates remain low despite record deaths and campaigning by authorities. His call came as Russia reported a record 1,239 Covid deaths in a single day Wednesday. Only 34 percent of the country is fully vaccinated, even though Sputnik V — the world’s first Covid vaccine — has been widely available since December last year. […]
