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by Darko DURIDANSKI with Lajla VESELICA in Brestovac Agence France-Presse VALANDOVO, Republic of North Macedonia (AFP) – Abandoned shops and mostly empty streets offer few signs of life in North Macedonia’s Valandovo, where young people are fleeing in large numbers hoping to find a better life abroad. Like much of this impoverished corner of southeastern Europe, this tiny Balkan nation is sitting on a demographic time bomb fuelled by an ageing population, sinking birth rate […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – US President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in telephone talks on Sunday that Washington and its allies would “respond decisively” if Russia moves to invade its pro-Western neighbor, the White House said. In a readout of the Biden-Zelensky call, White House press secretary Jen Psaki also said the US leader expressed support for diplomatic efforts including planned talks between high-level US and Russian officials set for […]
France will relax Covid isolation rules from Monday, the government announced, in a bid to ease their impact on society and the economy. Fully vaccinated people who test positive will only have to isolate for seven days regardless of the coronavirus variant they were infected with, but can leave quarantine after five days if they show an antigen or negative PCR test. There will be no quarantine for fully inoculated individuals who have a close […]
Children on French public transport will soon have to wear a face mask from the age of six upwards, the government decreed Saturday, as part of its latest measures against coronavirus. Masks had previously been compulsory from the age of 11, but Paris is tightening regulations given the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Children aged six and older will have to don a mask on all means of public transport within national borders from […]
Europe has recorded over 100 million coronavirus cases, more than a third of all infections worldwide, since the start of the pandemic, an AFP tally Saturday showed. The continent has once again become the pandemic’s epicentre in recent months, and is battling an upsurge of cases spurred on by the highly transmissible Omicron strain of the virus. The European region, including 52 countries and territories from the Atlantic coast to Azerbaijan and Russia, has recorded […]
Britain’s health minister insisted Saturday reimposing coronavirus restrictions in England would be “an absolute last resort” and that the country must “try to live with Covid”. The country is among those in Europe hardest hit by the pandemic, registering nearly 149,000 deaths. It counted almost 163,000 new cases Saturday, a slight dip after days of unprecedented daily tallies. The UK government, which has responsibility for health policies in England only, has so far refused to […]
by Gildas LE ROUX / Alexandria SAGE ROME, Italy (AFP) — “We are inundated,” Antonino Marchese says wearily as his Rome Covid hospital fills up with patients, most of them unvaccinated despite tougher restrictions for Italians who are not jabbed. As daily coronavirus infections in Italy hit new highs, hospital admissions across the country are surging once again due to the new Omicron variant and the persisting reluctance among some to get vaccinated. At Rome’s […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — England is building temporary hospitals to help cope with rising coronavirus cases, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday issued a stark warning to those not fully vaccinated. The new “surge hubs” would deal with a potential overspill of inpatients as surging virus cases put the country’s health service on a “war footing”, according to officials. Fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron variant, daily cases have ballooned, standing at more […]
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the Greek island of Crete on Wednesday, the Athens Observatory said, with no damage reported. The quake, which had a depth of 47 kilometres (29 miles), struck at 0508 GMT with an epicentre in the sea 48 kilometres southwest of Arvi, on the south coast of the island, the Observatory said. No damage was reported but Greek firefighters were dispatched to the scene as a precautionary measure. Some 10 […]
by Kenan Augeard with AFP Bureaus A Covid variant-driven “tsunami” threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said Wednesday as AFP data showed cases have surged across the world in the past week to levels never seen before. Highly transmissible Omicron propelled the United States, France and Denmark to fresh records on Wednesday, with AFP’s tally of 6.55 million infections reported globally for seven days through Tuesday showing the unprecedented spread. They were the highest […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The United States has ordered an aircraft carrier to remain in the Mediterranean in a bid to reassure European allies amid fears Russia will invade Ukraine, an official said Tuesday. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group to stay in the region and hold off on its scheduled onward voyage to the Middle East. The “schedule change reflects the need for a […]
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — Czech vets are due to cull 80,000 hens at a farm where over 100,000 animals have died of bird flu since late last week, the state veterinary office said Tuesday. The farm in Libotenice, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Prague, had a total of 188,000 hens before Christmas. “The culling of hens from halls affected by bird flu is under way,” State Veterinary Administration spokesman Petr Majer told […]
