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by Talek HARRIS Eliud Kipchoge produced a marathon masterclass and the USA edged China at the top of the Tokyo Olympics medals table as the curtain fell on the biggest sports event since the pandemic on Sunday. After Kipchoge’s marathon win for Kenya, the United States scored victories in volleyball, track cycling and basketball to top the medals tally with 39 golds, just one ahead of China. The 339th and final gold medal went to […]
The pandemic affected almost every part of Tokyo’s Olympics, forcing a historic postponement, the banning of almost all spectators, and ending the dreams of more than a few athletes. As the Games wrap up, AFP looks at some questions and answers about how virus concerns played out during the pandemic Olympics. How many cases were there? From July 1 to Sunday, the final day of the Games, Tokyo 2020 says it identified 430 positive cases […]
Afghan forces and the Taliban were fighting fiercely Sunday in the centre of Kunduz, officials and residents said, after the insurgents captured two other provincial capitals in the last 48 hours. The fall of the northern city would be a major blow for the central government, which has largely abandoned fighting in the countryside to defend urban centres against Taliban attacks. “Fierce street-to-street fighting is ongoing in different parts of the city,” Amruddin Wali, a […]
Hundreds of firefighters fought fires that have devoured record numbers of woodlands in Greece on Saturday and left hundreds of families homeless, but heavy rains brought respite to hard-hit Turkey. More than 1,450 Greek firefighters backed by at least 15 aircraft were battling the blazes, with reinforcements arriving from abroad, the fire service said. In Pefkofyto, in the north of Athens, pensioner Tasos Tsilivakos struggled to contain his tears. “This is a horrible disaster,” he […]
by Kadir DEMIR IKIZCE, Turkey (AFP) — They grabbed their rakes, shovels and axes, donned high-vis helmets and went off into the mountains, helping exhausted firefighters battling Turkey’s deadly blazes pick their way through unfamiliar terrain. Residents of the rolling hills and pine forests hugging the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts have turned into the unsung heroes of Turkey’s battle against its deadliest and most destructive wildfires in generations. “You see that little fire over there? […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thai police fired tear gas and rubber bullets Saturday at hundreds of protesters in Bangkok demanding political reform and calling for a change to the country’s coronavirus vaccination program. Demonstrators defied restrictions on public gatherings introduced as Thailand battles its worst outbreak of the virus to call for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha to quit. The Thai government has come under fire for the sluggish rollout of its covid vaccination programme, and […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India gave emergency approval to Johnson and Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine Saturday to ramp up its flailing immunization campaign as fears grow of a new wave of infections. Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the approval will boost the fight against the pandemic in India, where at least 200,000 people died in a brutal two-month wave up to mid-June. “India expands its vaccine basket! Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — More than a thousand homes were damaged and about 5,000 people evacuated in North Korea after flooding caused by heavy rains, the country’s state broadcaster reported, with swathes of farmland also inundated by the deluge. The TV report comes as the impoverished North in June admitted it was tackling a food crisis, sounding the alarm in a country with a moribund agricultural sector that has long struggled to feed itself. […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: Sydney’s new daily record Australia’s hope of returning to “Covid zero” suffers a fresh blow as Sydney reports another record number of new infections and authorities warn residents to brace for worse to come. Manila lockdown The Philippine capital Manila returns to lockdown as authorities seek to slow the spread of the hyper-contagious Delta variant and ease pressure on hospitals while trying […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations said Friday it urgently needed funds to feed people in Myanmar amid fears that up to 6.2 million could be plunged into hunger by October. The UN’s World Food Programme said it was 70 percent short of the $86 million needed over the next six months, as the country goes through multiple crises. A major wave of Covid-19 infections is surging through Myanmar, compounding hunger, rising food and […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Four people were injured on Friday in a stabbing attack on a train in Tokyo, with the suspect captured after fleeing the scene, leaving his weapon behind, local media said. Violent crime is vanishingly rare in Japan, and the reported attack comes with the capital on heightened security alert as it hosts the Olympic Games. The attack took place on an evening commuter train in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward, in the west […]
by AFP bureaus ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze on the outskirts of Athens on Friday as dozens of fires raged in Greece in what the prime minister dubbed a “critical situation,” while neighboring Turkey came under increasing pressure over its handling of wildfires. Greece and Turkey have been fighting blaze upon blaze over the past week, hit by the worst heatwave in decades, a disaster that officials and experts have […]
