Asia

UAE rejects Iran ‘threats’ after Israel deal

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The UAE on Sunday summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Abu Dhabi to protest “threats” by the Islamic republic’s president over the Emirati decision to normalize ties with Israel, state media reported. The foreign ministry “summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires (and) handed him a strong note of protest against the threats contained in Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speech regarding the UAE’s sovereign decisions,” the official WAM news agency reported. That […]

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Russia produces first batch of virus vaccine: ministry; Putin says one of his daughters inoculated

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Saturday that it has produced the first batch of its coronavirus vaccine, after President Vladimir Putin announced it had been first in the world to approve a vaccine. Putin’s announcement on Tuesday about the vaccine was met with caution from scientists and the World Health Organization who said it still needed a rigorous safety review.afety review. “The first batch of the novel coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research […]

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South Korea tightens curbs in capital to control virus surge

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea tightened coronavirus measures on Saturday in Seoul and its surrounding areas as the country reported the highest number of new daily infections in more than five months. The stricter social distancing guidelines include restrictions on gatherings and activities including professional sports, which will be played behind closed doors in the capital area again. The move came as South Korea reported 166 new cases on Saturday, the highest […]

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Trump announces ‘historic peace agreement’ between Israel, UAE

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump, in a surprise announcement, said Thursday that Israel and the United Arab Emirates had reached a peace agreement. The normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel is a “HUGE breakthrough” Trump tweeted, calling it a “Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends.” Speaking to reporters later, Trump suggested that more diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and its Muslim neighbors in the region were expected. “Things […]

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Buses and trains disinfected as North Korea ramps up virus measures

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Temperature checks, hand sanitizers, and face masks are being enforced across Pyongyang’s public transport system as North Korea intensifies its fight against the coronavirus pandemic. North Korea — whose crumbling health system would struggle to cope with a major outbreak — has long insisted it has not had cases of the disease. But it raised its state of emergency to the maximum level in July, saying it had discovered what […]

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Russian region orders mass vaccination against bubonic plague

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The head of a remote Russian region on Thursday said that herders and other residents of two districts on the border with Mongolia should be vaccinated against bubonic plague. The order was issued after Mongolia’s health ministry said Wednesday that bubonic plague killed a man in the country’s west. It was the latest in a handful of cases to emerge there and in neighboring China this year. The leader of the […]

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Flight warning as Indonesia’s Mt Sinabung erupts again

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung erupted again Thursday with a string of blasts that sent plumes of ash two kilometres (1.2 miles) into the sky, triggering a flight warning and fears of lava flows. The activity marked at least the eighth time that the rumbling volcano on Sumatra island has erupted in less than a week, although there were no injures or major damage reported. Authorities issued a warning to planes flying near […]

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Man dies of bubonic plague in Mongolia

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AFP) — Bubonic plague has killed a man in western Mongolia, the country’s health ministry said Wednesday, the latest in a handful of cases to emerge there and in neighbouring China this year. At least one person dies of the plague every year in the landlocked Asian country, where the rare bacterial disease is usually spread by fleas clinging to the hair of the marmots native to the region. The government has responded […]

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More than 170 dead in Yemen floods

SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 172 people across Yemen over the past month, damaging homes and UNESCO-listed world heritage sites, officials said. The destruction has dealt a new blow to a country already in the grips of what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis after years of war between a Saudi-backed government and Iran-allied rebels. In the mainly government-held province of Maarib […]

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Bus stop newest front in South Korea’s coronavirus battle

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea has opened a high-tech new front in the battle against coronavirus, fortifying bus shelters with temperature-checking doors and ultraviolet disinfection lamps. Ten advanced facilities have been installed in a northeastern district of Seoul, offering protection from monsoon rains, summer heat, and the novel coronavirus. To enter, passengers must stand in front of an automated thermal-imaging camera, and the door will only slide open if their temperature is below […]

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Beirut blast death toll rises to 171: health ministry

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — The death toll from Beirut’s massive August 4 explosion has climbed to 171, a health ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. The new figure, up from 160, came exactly one week since the mega-blast ravaged swathes of the Lebanese capital, wounding more than 6,000 and temporarily displacing 300,000 people from their homes. © Agence France-Presse

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Russia dubs new coronavirus vaccine ‘Sputnik’ after Soviet satellite

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Moscow has dubbed its new coronavirus vaccine “Sputnik V” after the Soviet satellite, the head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund said Tuesday, after Russia declared itself the first country to develop a vaccine. Kirill Dmitriyev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund which finances the vaccine project, said Phase 3 trials would start on Wednesday and industrial production was expected from September. “We’ve seen considerable interest in the Russian […]

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