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by Kyoko HASEGAWA / Sara HUSSEIN TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s ruling party votes Monday for its next leader, with top government adviser Yoshihide Suga all but certain to win and replace Shinzo Abe as the country’s new prime minister. Chief cabinet secretary Suga is heavily tipped to win the Liberal Democratic Party ballot, with a parliamentary vote Wednesday set to elevate him to the country’s top job. Even before he formally announced his run, […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia will partially lift its suspension on international flights from Tuesday, the interior ministry said, six months after travel curbs were imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The kingdom will end all restrictions on air, land and sea transport for Saudi citizens “after January 1” next year, the ministry added on Sunday, adding that an exact date will be announced in December. Gulf citizens and non-Saudis with valid […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea will temporarily ease coronavirus curbs in the greater Seoul area after a decline in cases, officials said Sunday. The country largely overcame an early Covid-19 surge with extensive tracing and testing, but has battled several spikes in recent weeks raising concerns of a second wave of infections. The new cases — mainly in the greater Seoul region, home to half the country’s 52 million population — prompted authorities […]
by Jonah Mandel Agence France Presse JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s government announced Saturday it would impose a three-week nationwide lockdown in an effort to stem one of the world’s highest novel coronavirus infection rates after a surge in cases. The lockdown order, set to go into effect on Friday, makes Israel the first developed economy to take such a drastic measure to curb a “second wave” of virus infections. Israel had initially been widely […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Greenpeace warned residents in Lebanon’s capital Thursday to protect themselves against “toxic” smoke after a huge fire broke out in a Beirut port warehouse said to be storing tyres. “Burning tyres produces a lot of fine particulates, visible smoke and ash but also a lot of volatile organic pollutants that can be inhaled even outside the smoke plume,” the environment campaigners said. “The smoke can include highly toxic and carcinogenic compounds, […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore Airlines said Thursday it was cutting about 4,300 jobs — around 20 percent of its workforce — due to the coronavirus, and warned any recovery would be “long and fraught with uncertainty”. SIA is the latest airline to announce massive layoffs as the global aviation industry faces its greatest-ever crisis due to travel restrictions to fight the spread of the pandemic. The city-state’s flag carrier said about 1,900 positions had […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Greenpeace warned residents in Lebanon’s capital Thursday to protect themselves against “toxic” smoke after a huge fire broke out in a Beirut port warehouse said to be storing tyres. “Burning tyres produces a lot of fine particulates, visible smoke and ash but also a lot of volatile organic pollutants that can be inhaled even outside the smoke plume,” the environment campaigners said. “The smoke can include highly toxic and carcinogenic compounds, […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — A flawless 102-carat oval diamond will head to auction on October 5 in Hong Kong at Sotheby’s. The auction house has not given an official price estimate for the egg-shaped stone of exactly 102.39 carats, which has the highest color grade, D, for a white diamond and is rated Type IIA for its chemical purity and exceptional transparency. Quig Bruning, Sotheby’s New York head of jewelry, said the house […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A typhoon that struck North Korea wrecked nearly 60 bridges and destroyed or inundated more than 2,000 houses, state media reported Wednesday, with leader Kim Jong Un saying the damage had disrupted central planning for the rest of the year. Typhoon Maysak brought days of heavy downpours to the country’s east coast last week even as the North was still reeling from earlier flooding and typhoon damage, and this week […]
by Didier Lauras with Jalees Andrabi in New Delhi AMBALA, India (AFP) — India’s defence minister hailed the formal commissioning Thursday of the country’s first new French Rafale jets as a “strong message” to its adversaries, amid an escalating border row with China. The first five of a $9.4-billion order for 36 Rafale aircraft formally entered service following a ceremony in Ambala in northern India. “The induction of Rafale is a strong message for the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China accused Washington of “political persecution and racial discrimination” on Thursday, after the US confirmed it had revoked the visas of more than 1,000 Chinese students under an order by President Donald Trump that accused some of espionage. Trump declared in May that some Chinese nationals officially in the United States for study have stolen intellectual property and helped modernize China’s military, as tensions between the two countries soar on multiple […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — A huge fire raged in Beirut port on Thursday, AFP correspondents said, sparking alarm among Lebanese still reeling from a devastating dockside explosion that disfigured the capital last month. Thick black columns of smoke rose into the sky, as the army said the blaze had engulfed a warehouse storing oil and tyres. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze. “Operations have begun to extinguish the fire and army helicopters […]
