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KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — A roadside bomb struck a bus in Afghanistan overnight killing at least 11 people just hours before the Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire to mark this week’s Eid al-Fitr holiday, the interior ministry said Monday. The attack in restive Zabul province left another 28 people wounded, interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told reporters. © Agence France-Presse
DIWANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — An Iraqi journalist was left seriously wounded after being shot in the head early Monday, witnesses and doctors told AFP, 24 hours after leading anti-government activist Ehab al-Ouazni was shot dead. Reporter Ahmed Hassan was in intensive care after receiving “two bullets in the head and one in the shoulder,” a doctor told AFP. “He was targeted as he got out of his car to go home,” in Diwaniyah in the […]
by Laurie Chen, with Qasim Nauman in Seoul BEIJING, China (AFP) — A large segment of a Chinese rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean on Sunday, China’s space agency said, following fevered speculation over where the 18-tonne object would come down. Officials in Beijing had said there was little risk from the freefalling segment of the Long March-5B rocket, which had launched the first module of China’s new space station […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A Vietnamese woman died from Covid-19 in Laos on Sunday, according to state-run media, marking the first death from the disease in the impoverished communist country. Reclusive, landlocked Laos had appeared to escape the brunt of the pandemic in 2020, but a community outbreak uncovered last month has sent the number of cases soaring — from 49 in early April to 1,302 in less than a month. Authorities confirmed Sunday that […]
by Aishwarya KUMAR Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India recorded more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time and more states imposed lockdowns Saturday in a desperate bid to halt the devastating new surge. The 4,187 new deaths took India’s overall toll to 238,270 since the pandemic started. It added another 401,078 new cases in 24 hours taking its caseload to nearly 21.9 million — second only […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A large segment of a Chinese rocket is expected to make an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere on the weekend, but Beijing has downplayed fears and said there is a very low risk of any damage. A Long March-5B rocket launched the first module of China’s new space station into Earth’s orbit on April 29. Its 18-tonne main segment is now in freefall and experts have said it is difficult […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization on Friday approved the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use — the first Chinese jab to receive the WHO’s green light. The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world. The WHO has already given emergency use listing to the vaccines being made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, and the […]
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed agreements Saturday to improve ties, after months of strained relations between the close allies over the disputed region of Kashmir. Although the kingdom was the first foreign country Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan visited after his 2018 election, Riyadh appeared frustrated with Islamabad last year. And while the wealthy nation has supported Pakistan with billions of dollars in aid and loans in recent years, observers […]
by Aishwarya Kumar, with AFP Bureaus NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — New Covid-19 deaths surged past 4,000 for the first time in India on Saturday as it struggled with one of the world’s worst outbreaks, but the global immunization effort was boosted with WHO approval for Chinese firm Sinopharm’s vaccine. And while many Western countries have started easing restrictions thanks to rapid vaccinations, the head of the World Health Organization warned that more countries could […]
MALE, Maldives (AFP) — Former Maldives president and current parliamentary speaker Mohamed Nasheed was recovering in hospital Friday after an assassination attempt left him with shrapnel wounds. The Indian Ocean archipelago’s first democratically elected leader was hurt when a device attached to a motorcycle was detonated as he got into a car late Thursday, an official said. “Nasheed escaped an assassination attempt,” a Maldivian government official told AFP. “He is injured, but his condition is […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan will prolong a virus state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions and impose restrictions in more areas on Friday as cases surge less than three months before the Olympics. The emergency measures, less strict than the blanket lockdowns seen in other countries, focus on limiting commercial activity with malls closed and bars and restaurants told to shut or stop serving alcohol. They were imposed in Tokyo, Osaka and two […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military has deployed more heavy bombers and fighter jets to protect withdrawing American and coalition troops from Afghanistan, which have so far sustained no direct attacks, the Pentagon said Thursday. “Less than one week in, the drawdown is going according to plan,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters. Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said that to defend the departing troops, six B-52 long range bombers and 12 […]
