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MUMBAI, India (AFP) — The death toll from flooding and landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains in India climbed to 124 Sunday, officials said, with rescuers searching for dozens more missing. The country’s western coast has been inundated by torrential rains since Thursday, with the India Meteorological Department warning of further downpours over the next few days. In Maharasthra state, 114 people have been killed, including more than 40 in a large landslide that […]
NINGBO, China (AFP) — Typhoon In-Fa lashed eastern China with high winds and heavy rain on Sunday as other parts of the country were still cleaning up following historic flooding. Sea, air and rail traffic was shut down across a swathe of China’s east coast with In-Fa expected to make landfall near the major shipping port of Ningbo sometime late Sunday afternoon or early evening. The typhoon’s effects were felt Sunday morning in the […]
By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno Philippine News Agency Nesthy Petecio’s quest for a Tokyo Olympics gold got off to a good start on Saturday after she beat Marcelat Sakobi Matshu of Congo in the first round of the women’s featherweight boxing event at the Kokugikan Arena in the Japanese capital. After a tight first round, Petecio showed her dominant form in the final six minutes to edge Matshu. In the unanimous decision favoring Petecio, one of […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam locked down eight million people in Hanoi on Saturday, the latest attempt to curb a serious coronavirus outbreak that has already forced a third of the country to stay home. Authorities reported more than 7,000 new infections across the nation on Friday — the third record number of daily infections in a week. The centre of the normally bustling capital was empty and shops were shuttered as the lockdown […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron as the Tokyo Games opened on Friday after a year’s delay due to the pandemic and with the threat of coronavirus hanging over the competition. Osaka lifted the torch to the gleaming cauldron, which had unfurled at the top of a ramp representing Mount Fuji, in the highlight of a ceremony that was stripped back over virus fears. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito officially […]
The Tokyo Olympics were declared open in an eerily empty stadium on Friday after defying a year’s pandemic delay and lingering coronavirus threats that will make them perhaps the most unusual Games in history. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito made the announcement against the backdrop of thousands of vacant seats at Tokyo’s 68,000-capacity Olympic Stadium, after Covid-19 forced organisers to ban spectators at all but a handful of venues. “I declare open the Games of Tokyo,” said […]
by Nivrita GANGULY Agence France Presse MUMBAI, India (AFP) — Thirty-six people have been killed in landslides caused by monsoon rains in India, authorities said Friday. As many as 40 other people were missing after the three separate landslides on Thursday in the Raigad district of the western state of Maharashtra. “At least 35 to 40 people are still trapped, we are trying to rescue them,” a local official said, adding that “36 […]
by Talek HARRIS Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony was fired for jokes about the Holocaust on Thursday, causing fresh embarrassment a day before the pandemic-delayed Games finally get under way. The latest row involving a senior Games figure comes at a time of widespread opposition to the 2020 Olympics as Tokyo battles its highest number of coronavirus cases since January. Japan’s Covid-19 crisis has […]
by Leo RAMIREZ / Ludovic EHRET Agence France Presse ZHENGZHOU, China (AFP) — Piles of cars were strewn across a central Chinese city Thursday as shocked residents picked through the debris of a historic deluge that claimed at least 33 lives, with more heavy rain threatening surrounding regions. An unprecedented downpour dumped a year’s rain in just three days on the city of Zhengzhou, weather officials said, instantly overwhelming drains and sending torrents of […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India is investigating its first documented human death from bird flu after an 11-year-old boy succumbed to the disease earlier this month, the health ministry said. The boy lived in Gurgaon outside New Delhi and was also suffering from leukaemia and pneumonia. He was admitted to hospital in the capital on July 2 and died 10 days later from multiple organ failure. Genome sequencing and virus isolation is in […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia announced Wednesday that a batch of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was produced for the first time in Vietnam, which is battling a new wave of Covid-19 infections. The test batch was produced in partnership with Vietnam’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Vabiotech, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which financially backed Sputnik V, said in a statement. The first samples from the batch will be shipped to the vaccine’s developer — […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has denied he was pressured by the International Olympic Committee into holding a Games that remains deeply unpopular as virus cases surge in Tokyo. And with just days until the opening ceremony, the Japanese leader said Tokyo was “in the right place, and we’re ready to go.” In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the 72-year-old insisted he was “absolutely not” pushed into going ahead […]
