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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — At least 26 people were killed when a speedboat packed with passengers collided with a vessel transporting sand on Monday in the latest maritime disaster to hit Bangladesh. Police said the speedboat carrying about three dozen passengers from the town of Mawa rammed into the other vessel in the Padma river as it neared the main river station in the central rural town of Shibchar. “We have so far recovered 26 […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s total Covid caseload neared 20 million on Monday as oxygen shortages in hospitals exacerbated a devastating second wave and much-needed foreign assistance continued to pour in. Infections have soared by around eight million since the end of March, according to official data which many suspect are a considerable underestimate. India’s underfunded health care system is under severe strain, with fatal shortages of beds, drugs and oxygen leaving some to […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistan has closed land crossings with Iran and Afghanistan for travellers and slashed international flights as the government warned of a “critical” few weeks ahead in the battle against Covid-19. The border restrictions were announced Sunday as the country prepared to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which usually sees the mass movement of people between cities and villages as well as the return of migrant workers and overseas Pakistanis […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An increasingly powerful China is challenging the world order, acting “more repressively” and “more aggressively” as it flexes its influence, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired Sunday. “What we’ve witnessed over the last several years is China acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. That is a fact,” the top American diplomat said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes.” His […]
by Glenda KWEK / Atish PATEL Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — More emergency medical aid from foreign donors to alleviate a dire oxygen shortage arrived in India on Sunday, as Covid-19 deaths in the South Asian nation rose to a new record. India is setting almost-daily records for new infections and deaths as the virus crisis engulfs overstretched hospitals in cities and spreads into rural regions. The country of 1.3 billion […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia will permit citizens immunised against Covid-19 to travel abroad from May 17, the interior ministry said Sunday, more than a year after Saudis were barred from external trips. The ministry said three categories of people would be considered immunised — those who have received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine, those administered a single dose at least 14 days prior to travel, and people who have recovered from […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong migrant worker groups on Saturday criticized plans to make coronavirus vaccines compulsory for all foreign domestic helpers, labelling the move “discriminatory and unjust”. Health officials said they were planning to roll out mandatory inoculations for the 370,000 domestic helpers in the city, mostly poorly-paid women from the Philippines and Indonesia. Those wanting to apply for work visas — or renew their current ones — would need to […]
AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) — At least 16 Covid-19 patients and two nurses died Saturday in the latest in a series of hospital fires in India, officials said, as the country’s health care system buckles under a surge in cases. There were around 50 other patients at the four-storey hospital in Bharuch in the western state of Gujarat when the blaze began at 1:00 am (0730 GMT). It has since been put out. The death […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India recorded on Saturday over 400,000 new Covid cases in 24 hours for the first time, the first country to do so in the pandemic, official data showed. According to the health ministry, 401,993 new infections were registered taking the total caseload to 19.1 million. There were 3,523 deaths, bringing the toll to 211,853. Many experts suspect that because of insufficient testing and inaccurate recording of cause of death, […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northeastern coast on Saturday but no tsunami warning was issued, Japanese and US authorities said, with no immediate reports of damage. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the mid-morning quake hit at a depth of 47 kilometres (29 miles) in the Pacific, off Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture — near the epicentre of a huge 2011 quake which triggered a towering tsunami, killing more than […]
MERON, Israel (AFP) — A massive stampede at a densely packed Jewish pilgrimage site killed at least 44 people in northern Israel on Friday, with rescue workers facing chaotic crowds while trying to evacuate the injured. The disaster occurred in Meron at the site of the reputed tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second-century Talmudic sage, where mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews flock to mark the Lag BaOmer holiday. Closed last year due to coronavirus […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A US military plane on Friday brought the first emergency coronavirus supplies to help India battle its devastating surge in the pandemic. The military jet carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders and other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests landed at New Delhi’s international airport as the Indian capital battles a major pandemic crisis. © Agence France-Presse
