Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A wall of sand over 100 metres high swallowed a city on the fringes of the Gobi desert in northwestern China, in scenes reminiscent of a disaster film. Dunhuang, a tourist draw with a colourful history as a Silk Road outpost, momentarily disappeared in the dust clouds as the storm hit on Sunday. A resident surnamed Zhang told local media Jimu News that the sandstorm came abruptly and swept through the […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North and South Korea said Tuesday they had restored cross-border communications, more than a year after Pyongyang severed all official hotlines between the two rivals, who technically remain at war. The North unilaterally cut off all official military and political communication links with the South in June last year after threats over activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border. The suspension came with inter-Korean ties at a standstill, despite three […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Small shops, streetside restaurants and some shopping malls reopened in coronavirus-battered Indonesia on Monday after the government loosened a shutdown despite warnings it could unleash another Covid-19 wave. President Joko Widodo said Sunday that a partial lockdown imposed in early July would continue until August 2 even as the highly infectious Delta variant tears across the vast archipelago nation, which has overtaken India and Brazil to become the global pandemic epicentre. […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A tropical storm was barrelling towards northeastern Japan on Monday, forcing Tokyo Olympics organizers to reschedule rowing and archery that could be affected by high winds. Tropical Storm Nepartak, packing gusts up to 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour, was expected to make landfall Tuesday, Japan’s meteorological agency said. The storm is shifting its course from the Tokyo area to northeastern regions, including Fukushima. But the agency warned of heavy rain, […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island Monday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage. The strong quake hit offshore at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), about 100 kilometres west of the town of Luwuk. Tremors were felt in Palu on Sulawesi, some 200 kilometres from the epicentre, an AFP journalist in the city said. […]
MUMBAI, India (AFP) — Rescuers waded through waist-deep mud in western India Monday to reach injured residents and start a massive clean-up as the death toll from monsoon-triggered landslides and floods climbed to 198. In the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, rescuers halted search operations in the hillside village of Taliye, southeast of Mumbai, where 53 bodies have been recovered. Local authorities said efforts to retrieve the bodies of 31 others still missing — after a […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s daily Covid caseload crossed the 30,000 mark for the first time on Monday, its health ministry said, marking a second record daily high within a week. In the past 24 hours, the Islamic republic registered a record 31,814 new infections to bring its total number of positive cases since the start of the pandemic to 3,723,246. It also recorded 322 additional coronavirus-related deaths, taking the total to 89,122. Iran’s daily […]
Japan’s Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest individual Olympic champions in history when she won the inaugural women’s skateboarding gold at the age of 13 years and 330 days on Monday. Nishiya finished ahead of Brazil’s Rayssa Leal — who at 13 years and 203 days could have become the youngest ever individual Olympic champion — and Japan’s Funa Nakayama, 16. Nishiya starred in the tricks section to score 15.26 and give the hosts […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s government will not extend a controversial coronavirus state of emergency beyond August 1, a minister said Monday, as parliament convened after a months-long suspension that sparked widespread anger. The king in January declared the country’s first nationwide state of emergency in more than half a century to fight Covid-19, following the advice of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. It allowed the government to rule by decree and suspend parliament, prompting […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Monday reported 76 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily rise since January, including 40 domestic transmissions prompting authorities to test millions in eastern Jiangsu province. Beijing has a zero-risk approach to the virus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. It locks down cities and mass tests whenever small clusters appear. Tens of thousands of people are under lockdown in Jiangsu’s provincial capital Nanjing […]
Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam opened his bid for the Tokyo Olympic gold on a good note after beating Irish opponent Brendan Irvine in the first phase of the men’s flyweight event at the Kokugikan Arena in the Japanese capital on Monday. Paalam dominated Irvine in the first round, gaining the nod of all five judges. Irvine somehow got his bearing in the second round, impressing Judges Wulfren Olivares and Bakytzhan Bekpenbetov enough to give him […]
Ariarne Titmus upset Katie Ledecky to claim the Olympic 400m freestyle gold medal Monday in the second-fastest time ever swum, with the American great having to settle for second. The Australian inched clear over the final 50m to touch in 3min 56.69sec. Only world record holder Ledecky has ever gone quicker. Ledecky hit the wall for silver in 3:57.36, with China’s Li Bingjie a distant third in 4:01.08. “At the 200, I was a little […]
