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by Guillaume LAVALLÉE and Michael BLUM Agence France Presse JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israelis stepped into the streets without masks on Sunday for the first time in a year, a key milestone as the country vaccinates its way out of a coronavirus nightmare. “It’s very strange but it’s very nice,” said Eliana Gamulka, 26, after getting off a bus near the busy Jerusalem shopping boulevard of Jaffa Street and removing her face covering. “You can’t […]
by Bhuvan Bagga with Sailendra Sil in Kolkata Agence France Presse NEL DELHI, India (AFP) — New Delhi led major cities across India into a weekend lockdown Saturday as the country confronts a fierce new coronavirus wave, with more than 230,000 fresh daily cases and families clamouring for drugs and hospital beds. Hopes that South Asia might have beaten the pandemic have been dashed with India seeing over two million new cases this month […]
by Shaun TANDON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Friday welcomed Japan’s prime minister as his first guest, pledging a united front faced with a rising China and greater cooperation on 5G technology and climate change. Waiting nearly three months for his first summit due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Biden told Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that Japan had “our iron-clad support” on security issues and beyond. “We’re […]
by Anastasia CLARK Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Friday banned top officials from US President Joe Biden’s administration from entering the country and announced a wave of tit-for-tat sanctions and expulsions of diplomats, as tensions soar between the rivals. The wave of Russian action comes a day after the Washington announced sanctions against Moscow and the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats, in retaliation for what it says was interference by the […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran said Friday it has begun producing uranium at 60 percent purity, in another breach of its commitments to the international community which is concerned about its nuclear programme. The Islamic republic had declared it would sharply ramp up its enrichment of uranium on Tuesday, two days after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that it blamed on arch-foe Israel. The incidents cast a shadow over talks in Vienna aimed […]
MUMBAI, India (AFP) — The head of the world’s largest vaccine maker directly tweeted US President Joe Biden on Friday urging him to lift an export ban on raw materials desperately needed to make more coronavirus shots. The unusual step by Serum Institute (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla underlined the crisis in providing vaccines to developing nations, many of which rely heavily on the firm for supplies. “Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite […]
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN said Thursday it will maintain its political and humanitarian mission to Afghanistan despite the departure of US and NATO troops later this year. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman to the UN secretary-general, said it was “clear and obvious” that the troops’ departure “will have an impact on the country as a whole,” in response to questions about the mission’s future. “We will continue to study the situation, but our work […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A senior Japanese politician said cancelling the Tokyo Olympics over the coronavirus remains a possibility on Thursday, as a surge in cases renews concerns about the Games with less than 100 days to go. Toshiro Nikai, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s number two, said the Olympics must be cancelled “without hesitation” if the virus situation is too severe. A year after their historic postponement, the 2020 Olympics remain beset by pandemic […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan’s government on Thursday said it had accepted the resignation of its transport minister following a train crash earlier this month that killed 49 people, the island’s deadliest in decades. The 2 April crash was caused by a railway maintenance truck that slid down an embankment and onto the track moments before a high-speed train passed by. The accident, which left more than 200 injured, plunged Taiwan into mourning. Transport […]
by Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s prime minister heads to Washington on Thursday to become the first foreign leader to hold face-to-face talks with US President Joe Biden, with concerns about China topping the agenda. Yoshihide Suga will be hoping to renew the all-important alliance with Washington after the Trump era, as well as compare notes on an increasingly assertive Beijing. The trip comes after two top US officials visited Japan in March, […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Debris from missiles fired by Yemen’s Huthi rebels into Saudi Arabia caused a small fire on a university campus in the kingdom’s south, the Riyadh-led military coalition operating in Yemen said. Saudi air defence intercepted five ballistic missiles and four drones deployed by Yemeni rebels on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to the coalition. The missiles were fired and drones sent from Yemen’s Sa’ada province, a rebel stronghold in […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — US President Joe Biden sent an unofficial delegation of former US officials to Taiwan on Wednesday in a signal of support for the democratic island as it faces increasingly hostile moves by China. Taipei said former senator Christopher Dodd and former deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg would land in the capital on Wednesday afternoon. “Once again this visit demonstrates the firm relationship between Taiwan and the […]
