Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Peter Hutchison with Joseph Schmid in Paris and AFP bureaus Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Swathes of Europe as well as New York began the long process of reopening from coronavirus lockdowns on Monday, but a resurgence of infections in China and South Korea offered a sobering reminder of the dangers of a second wave of cases. The mixed fortunes illustrate the high-wire act governments face across the globe […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China reported no new domestic coronavirus infections on Tuesday, after two consecutive days of double-digit increases fuelled fears of a second wave of infections. China has largely brought the virus under control, but it remains on edge, fearful that a second wave could undermine its efforts to get the economy back up and running. A new cluster reappeared over the weekend in the city of Wuhan, where the pandemic first emerged, […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran warned Sunday of a resurgence of the novel coronavirus as it reported 51 new deaths, almost a month after it started to relax a nationwide lockdown. Authorities reimposed more stringent measures in the southwestern Khuzestan province, reversing a phased return to work meant to revitalize the battered economy. “The situation should in no way be considered normal” in Iran, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in televised remarks. “This virus […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea announced its highest number of new coronavirus cases for more than a month Monday, driven by an infection cluster in a Seoul nightlife district just as the country loosens restrictions. The nation has been held up as a global model in how to curb the virus, but over the weekend its capital — as well as neighboring Gyeonggi province and the nearby city of Incheon — ordered the […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — An Iranian warship was accidentally hit by a missile during exercises in the Gulf of Oman, killing at least one, state television said Monday, amid tensions with the US in the waterway. The friendly fire incident involving the Konarak vessel occurred on Sunday afternoon near Bandar-e Jask, off the southern coast of the Islamic republic, it said on its website. One report said the vessel had sunk after being hit by […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — China on Sunday reported the first case of coronavirus in over a month in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak first started in December last year. China’s National Health Commission also reported the first double-digit increase in countrywide cases in nearly 10 days, saying 14 new infections had been confirmed. Two of the cases were imported into the country from overseas, the commission said. The virus first emerged in Wuhan, a […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has sent a “verbal message” to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, state media KCNA reported Friday, after weeks of speculation about his health. The news agency did not explain what it meant by a “verbal message,” and it was not clear if Kim and Xi had spoken directly. The message was “in connection with the fact that China is registering success in preventing the COVID-19 infection,” […]
KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — Up to 190,000 people in Africa could die of coronavirus in the first year of the pandemic if containment measures fail, the World Health Organisation warned on Thursday. The UN health agency cited a new study by its regional office in Brazzaville which found that between 83,000 and 190,000 could die and 29 to 44 million be infected during the period. The research is based on prediction modelling and […]
VISAKHAPATNAM, India (AFP) — Eleven people were killed and hundreds hospitalized after a pre-dawn gas leak at a chemical plant in eastern India on Thursday that left unconscious victims lying in the streets, authorities said. Fears that the death toll from the incident on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, an industrial port city in Andhra Pradesh state, might rise significantly were not borne out however. The gas escaped from tanks at a complex owned by South […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — An earthquake jolted Tehran shortly early on Friday, causing panicked residents to flee buildings for the safety of the streets, AFP journalists reported. The quake struck the Iranian capital at around 00:45 am (2015 GMT) and lasted several seconds, the AFP journalists reported. The website of the Tehran University Seismological Centre was inaccessible. However, according to the Twitter account of the EMSC earthquake monitoring service, it was 4.8 magnitude and its […]
by Dan Martin Agence France Presse SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — At Shanghai High School, masks and social distancing have muted the adolescent buzz, classmates talk through glass in the canteen, and graduation ceremonies remain in doubt. As schools in coronavirus-hit countries worldwide ponder how the pandemic will alter campus life, China’s phased reopening of in-person classes points to a radically different atmosphere. Students in a number of cities including Shanghai and Beijing began returning to […]
by Beiyi SEOW Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — The Chinese laboratory accused by top American officials of being the source of the coronavirus pandemic conducts research on the world’s most dangerous diseases. US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have both claimed that there is evidence the pathogen came from the lab in Wuhan — the city where the disease was first detected late last year. But the World Health […]
