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ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday warned that the United States risked “losing a precious friend” if it tries to corner his country, speaking two weeks before his first meeting with US counterpart Joe Biden. Already tense, relations between the two NATO states have further deteriorated since Biden replaced Erdogan’s ally Donald Trump in January, with the new president making a point of highlighting Turkey’s dire human rights record. When […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — An Iranian naval vessel sank in the Gulf of Oman Wednesday after efforts to put out a fire failed, but the crew safely disembarked, the navy said. The fleet replenishment tanker Kharg had caught fire on Tuesday near the port of Jask on the Gulf of Oman, the navy said, adding that firefighting efforts had gone on for 20 hours before the ship went down. © Agence France-Presse
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China reported the world’s first human infection of the H10N3 bird flu strain on Tuesday but said the risk of it spreading widely among people was low. A 41-year-old man was admitted to hospital with fever symptoms in the eastern city of Zhenjiang on April 28 and was diagnosed with H10N3 a month later, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in an online statement. “The risk of large-scale spread is extremely […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — International flights to Vietnam’s two biggest cities are to resume, officials said Wednesday, reversing a short-lived ban imposed over fears of a new coronavirus wave. The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam on Monday announced a temporary suspension for international passenger arrivals at Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport from June 1-7. A similar decision was in force for the airport in commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City until June 14, as the country […]
by Amal JAYASINGHE COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — A fire aboard a ship that triggered Sri Lanka’s worst-ever marine ecological disaster was finally extinguished Tuesday after a 13-day international operation, the navy said. The near two-week inferno prompted a mammoth clean-up operation as huge volumes of microplastic granules from the Singapore-registered ship’s containers inundated 80 kilometers (50 miles) of beach. The unprecedented pollution forced a fishing ban and saw thousands of troops deployed to scoop […]
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Low pay, 24-hour shifts and severe shortages of staff and protective gear have left many doctors on the frontlines of India’s brutal pandemic surge near breaking point and fearful for their lives. Coronavirus infections have killed at least 165,000 people in the vast South Asian nation — home to some of the world’s most densely populated cities — since the start of April. Although India’s latest Covid-19 […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia scrambled jets to intercept 16 Chinese military aircraft off the country’s coast in the South China Sea, a rare incident that the foreign minister angrily denounced Tuesday as an “intrusion”. It took place Monday off the Malaysian part of Borneo island over the fiercely contested waters, where China and Malaysia have overlapping territorial claims. The Chinese air force transport planes approached Malaysian airspace in “tactical formation” and flew to […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel inched closer to lifting Covid restrictions Tuesday as its caseload remains tiny following a sweeping nationwide vaccination campaign. People are no longer required to show vaccination certificates to enter restaurants and entertainment venues, and capacity limits on businesses have been lifted. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said his office would discuss ending an indoor mask requirement over the coming two weeks. “The Israeli economy and public may have some more breathing” […]
by M. Jegathesan KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia imposed a tough nationwide lockdown on Tuesday to battle a worsening coronavirus outbreak, as countries across Southeast Asia struggled with a resurgence in cases driven by infectious variants. Much of the region escaped the pandemic’s first wave last year relatively unscathed by rapidly closing borders and introducing curbs. But countries from Thailand to Vietnam are being hammered by fresh surges, with efforts to quell outbreaks hampered […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Schools in Myanmar will open on Tuesday for the first time since the military seized power, but teachers and students are set to defy the junta’s calls for full classrooms in a show of resistance. Four months of national turmoil have followed the February ouster of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with more than 800 people killed by security forces and a nationwide strike crippling the economy. Public school teachers […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese authorities imposed fresh travel limits, cancelled flights and tested thousands of residents in Guangdong Monday after the Indian variant of the coronavirus was reported in the country’s most populous province. Travellers leaving Guangzhou — the capital of the southern province home to 100 million people — must show negative Covid-19 test results from the past 72 hours, starting from 10:00 pm on Monday, the city said in an announcement late […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — The international airport of Vietnam’s capital will suspend inbound flights from abroad beginning Tuesday, the country’s aviation body announced, as it grapples with a fresh wave of virus outbreaks. A “temporary suspension of receiving international flights” will begin at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport from June 1 at midnight until June 7, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said in a statement on Monday. Vietnam’s health minister said over the […]
