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by Bassem al-Rikabi NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — At least 41 people died when fire engulfed the coronavirus isolation ward of an Iraqi hospital on Monday, the second such deadly blaze in three months, a health official said. The fire broke out at the Al-Hussein hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah late Monday and was brought under control by local civil defence forces. Another health official, Haydar al-Zamili, told AFP that the “fire… ripped […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A hotel collapsed in eastern China Monday, leaving at least one person dead and 10 others missing, the local government said. Rescuers had pulled seven survivors from the rubble of the budget Siji Kaiyuan hotel in the popular tourist city of Suzhou, according to a statement on the city government’s official social media account. The Suzhou government said it was “sparing no effort to treat the injured”, adding that authorities were […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — More than 50 people were killed in lightning strikes across several states in India, authorities said Monday, including 11 people at a historic fort. Hundreds of people are killed each year in intense storms at the start of the monsoon season, which bring respite from the summer heat across the northern Indian plains. Media reports said about 10 other people were killed Sunday in the desert state of Rajasthan and […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Over ten million people were placed under fresh Covid-19 restrictions and a curfew in the Thai capital Monday, as the kingdom battles a surge of cases worsened by the highly infectious Alpha and Delta variants. Thailand has so far recorded more than 345,000 cases and 2,791 deaths — with the bulk of them coming in this latest wave that kicked off in April. First detected in clubs frequented by the Thai […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Hundreds of flights were cancelled in Beijing as schools and tourist sites were shut due to torrential downpours and gale-force winds on Monday. City authorities issued warnings to residents to stay home as the Chinese capital faced its biggest storm this year. As much as 100 millimetres of rain is predicted through the day in some areas, and aviation tracker VariFlight recorded some 700 flights cancelled at the city’s two airports. […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea reported 1,378 new coronavirus cases Saturday, a record high for the third day in a row as the country prepared to impose its highest-level curbs in the greater capital area next week. The country had previously been held up as a model of how to combat the pandemic, with the public largely following social distancing and other rules, but it was slow to start its vaccine roll-out due […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have vowed to bring their relations to a “new stage” as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of a friendship pact, Pyongyang’s state media reported Sunday. China is North Korea’s longtime ally and economic benefactor, their relationship forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War, when Mao Zedong sent millions of “volunteers” to fight US-led United Nations forces […]
by Sam Jahan and Shafiqul Alam DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — The owner of a factory where 52 people died in a fire was arrested for murder Saturday as it emerged that children as young as 11 had been working there. Police said Abul Hashem and four of his sons were among eight people detained over the inferno, which broke out Thursday and raged for more than a day. A separate inquiry has been launched into […]
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AFP) — An earthquake struck eastern Tajikistan on Saturday morning, killing at least five people, according to authorities in the mountainous Central Asian country. Tremors from the 5.9 magnitude quake could be felt in the capital of Dushanbe, 165 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of the epicentre. “Dozens of houses were destroyed,” the Tajik committee for emergency situations said. “Power lines were also partly damaged” in three villages in the district of Tajikabad, […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Sulawesi island Saturday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage. The strong quake hit 258 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of the city of Manado in North Sulawesi at a depth of 68 kilometres. Indonesia experiences frequent quakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Health workers in coronavirus-hit Indonesia will get a third booster jab using the Moderna vaccine, authorities said Friday, after several fully inoculated medics died from Covid-19. The Southeast Asian nation, battling its most serious outbreak to date driven by the Delta variant, has relied heavily on the Chinese-made Sinovac jab in its vaccine roll-out. But out of 1,000 medical workers who have died of Covid-19, more than a dozen were […]
by Agnes Anya / Haeril HALIM Agence France Presse JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesians have ignored health warnings to stock up on a “miracle cure” for Covid-19 backed by leading politicians and social media influencers, as an out-of-control virus surge sweeps the country. Authorities are reporting hundreds of deaths every day as the world’s fourth-most populous nation struggles with its worst outbreak since the pandemic began. Pharmacies across the country are running out of […]
