Asia

Panic buying in Taiwan as COVID alert level raised with spike in virus cases

  Taipei residents started panic buying as Taiwan ordered stricter social distancing measures for its capital and surrounding areas on Saturday after a sudden spike in coronavirus cases in a place that has so far weathered the pandemic comparatively unscathed. Taipei residents stocked up on instant noodles and canned food amid the new restrictions imposed by the government. Authorities raised the alert level for Taipei and New Taipei City after 180 new domestic coronavirus infections […]

Israeli air strike flattens Gaza building hosting AP, Al Jazeera

  GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — An Israeli air strike Saturday flattened a 13-floor building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and the US news agency the Associated Press in the Gaza Strip. Israel “destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains the Al Jazeera and other international press offices,” Al Jazeera said in a tweet, with an AP journalist saying the army had warned the tower’s owner ahead of the strike. AFP journalists, […]

Two tornadoes strike China, killing at least 10

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — Two tornadoes that struck central and eastern China killed at least 10 people and injured more than 300, authorities said Saturday. Violent winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour) blasted the central city of Wuhan on Friday night. Six people died and more than 200 were injured, authorities said, adding that around 30 homes had collapsed. Vehicles were crushed by falling objects, trees uprooted, buildings […]

Singapore tightens virus curbs after infections spike

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore announced a ban on dine-ins and cut group sizes to two people on Friday as it further toughened virus curbs to stem a rise in local transmissions. After a partial lockdown and a rigorous regime of testing and contact tracing, Covid-19 had almost disappeared in the city-state, with authorities reporting hardly any local transmission in recent months. But over the last few weeks cases have risen, with officials announcing several […]

Prison outbreaks fuel Thailand virus surge

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thailand reported its largest ever spike in coronavirus infections Thursday, with more than half coming from two Bangkok prisons where prominent democracy activists have been detained. The kingdom is battling a third wave of the virus that has forced the government to impose restrictions on movement, rules on mask-wearing and close public spaces. Alarm bells sounded this week when an activist at the forefront of Thailand’s democracy movement announced she had […]

Three rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel

BEIRUT, Lebanon, (AFP) — Three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel on Thursday, a Lebanese military source said. Israel’s army said the rockets landed in the sea. Lebanese military and security sources said the rockets were launched from near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh. A source close to Israel’s arch-enemy Hezbollah said the Lebanese Shiite group had no link to the incident. Israel’s army said in a statement: “A short while ago, […]

Israel-Palestinian conflict escalates as rockets fly, street violence flares

  by Ben Simon with Adel Zaanoun in Gaza City Agence France Presse TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — Israel faced an escalating conflict on two fronts Thursday, scrambling to quell riots between Arabs and Jews on its own streets after days of exchanging deadly fire with Palestinian militants in Gaza. Despite diplomatic efforts to ease the crisis, which US President Joe Biden said he hoped would end “sooner than later”, hundreds of rockets flew across […]

Two foreign climbers die on Everest: expedition agency

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Two climbers from the United States and Switzerland have died on Mount Everest, becoming the first fatalities of this year’s season, expedition organisers in Nepal said Thursday. “Two climbers passed away on Wednesday,” Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks told AFP. The Swiss climber died near the summit after reaching the top and was suffering from exhaustion, said Chhang Dawa Sherpa from the same organisation. “We sent two additional Sherpas with […]

Palestinian killed by Israeli soldiers in West Bank

  NABLUS, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — A Palestinian man was killed during a confrontation with Israeli soldiers near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said Thursday, as violence soars in the occupied territories. The death brings the number killed in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the West Bank to three on Wednesday alone. The clashes come amid the most intense Israeli-Palestinian hostilities in seven years, which have killed […]

IS-linked militants kill four farmers in Indonesia

PALU, Indonesia (AFP) –Islamic State-linked extremists have killed four farmers in a remote village on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, police confirmed Wednesday, with one of the victims reportedly beheaded. Five sword-wielding attackers ambushed a group of farmers who were harvesting their coffee plantation in Kalimago village in Poso regency on Tuesday morning, Central Sulawesi police spokesperson Didik Supranoto said. The police blamed the attack on the Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), one of dozens […]

Over 1,000 rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel since Monday: army

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired more than 1,000 rockets towards Israel since Monday evening, when hostilities escalated dramatically following days of unrest in Jerusalem, the Israeli army said. Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters Wednesday morning that the figures related to the barrage that began at roughly 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Monday evening, when Hamas Islamist launched rockets towards Jerusalem, causing tensions to soar. Since then, 850 rockets launched […]

India Covid deaths soar past 250,000

    NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s coronavirus death toll surpassed 250,000 on Wednesday, official data showed, as the pandemic raged across the vast country of 1.3 billion people. According to the health ministry, 4,205 people died in the past 24 hours — a new record — taking total fatalities to 254,197. The number of cases rose almost 350,000 to 23.3 million, the second-highest after the United States. While the pandemic is easing in […]