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by Martyn WOOD Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka conceded the pressure of trying to win an Olympic gold at home was a “bit much” after a 6-1, 6-4 defeat to Marketa Vondrousova ended her title dreams on Tuesday. Osaka, who lit the Olympic cauldron and was one of the faces of the Games, struggled in an error-strewn display that blew the draw wide open after the earlier exits of world number one Ashleigh Barty and […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia reported a record 2,069 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours Tuesday as the Southeast Asian nation faces its deadliest Covid-19 surge since the pandemic began. Tuesday’s grim tally was nearly 600 deaths higher than the previous day and topped last week’s daily record 1,566 deaths, the health ministry said. New infections also shot up to just over 45,000, from about 28,000 on Monday. The eye-watering data comes after Indonesia this week […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The death toll from floods in central China’s Henan province rose to 71 on Tuesday as a tribute at a subway where 14 people died was sealed off in a sign of sensitivity to public criticism of the government’s handling of the disaster. Torrential downpours dumped a year’s rain in just three days last week on the hardest-hit city of Zhengzhou, flooding subway cars and trapping more than 500 commuters during […]
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 […]
