Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Agnès PEDRERO Next week’s World Trade Organization ministerial conference, the global trade body’s biggest gathering in four years, was postponed at the last minute Friday due to the new Omicron Covid-19 variant. The WTO hoped the four-day gathering in Geneva would breathe new life into the crippled organisation, which has been stuck for years trying to make progress on resolving issues like fishery subsidies. New director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was also hoping, against the odds, […]
The new Covid variant, dubbed Omicron and originally detected in South Africa, poses a “high to very high” risk to Europe, the EU health agency warned on Friday. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) noted in a threat assessment report that there was still “considerable uncertainty related to the transmissibility, vaccine effectiveness, risk for reinfections and other properties of the Omicron variant.” However, the overall risk that Omicron posed to the European […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Governments across Europe rushed on Friday to bolster their defences against a fresh coronavirus spike, as South Africa announced it had detected a new Covid-19 strain that scientists fear could torpedo efforts to beat the pandemic. In recent weeks the continent has been in the throes of surging cases and violent riots, wrestling with booster programmes and dramatic lockdowns to stem the tide as its death toll surpassed 1.5 […]
by Jan Flemr PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — Czech President Milos Zeman returned to hospital hours after being released Thursday as he tested positive for Covid-19, his spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said in a statement. Zeman was expected to appoint centre-right leader Petr Fiala as prime minister on Friday, but Ovcacek said his programme would now be put on hold. The 77-year-old veteran leftwinger was hospitalised on October 10, a day after a general election, and […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Thursday said it would ban travel from six southern African countries, after South Africa detected a new Covid-19 variant with a large number of mutations. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said all flights would be suspended from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana from 1200 GMT Friday. © Agence France-Presse
by Remi BANET Agence France Presse ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Interpol elected an Emirati general accused of torture as its new president on Thursday, despite the concerns of human rights organisations who fear the agency will be at risk of exploitation by repressive regimes. The appointment follows generous funding by the United Arab Emirates for the Lyon, France-based body and accusations that Abu Dhabi has abused Interpol’s system of so-called “red notices” for wanted […]
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — More than 100,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Germany since the start of the pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute, a public health agency, announced Thursday. Europe’s largest economy is battling a fresh surge in virus cases, and recorded 351 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 100,119, according to RKI’s figures. © Agence France-Presse
by Bernard BARRON with Sylvie MALIGORNE and Stuart WILLIAMS in Paris CALAIS, France (AFP) — At least 31 migrants trying to reach England from France died on Wednesday when their boat sank off the northern French coast, the deadliest disaster since the Channel became a hub for clandestine crossings. President Emmanuel Macron vowed France would not allow the Channel to become a “cemetery” and called for an emergency meeting of European ministers on the crisis. […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand said Wednesday it will not reopen to foreign travellers for at least another five months, as it slowly relaxes some of the world’s toughest pandemic border restrictions. The Pacific nation’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said New Zealanders stranded in Australia could return home from mid-January and Kiwis travelling from elsewhere would be allowed in a month later. But foreign nationals must wait until the end of April […]
by Camille BAS-WOHLERT COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Europe remains “in the firm grip” of Covid and the continent’s death toll could top 2.2 million this winter if current trends continue, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday. Europe is battling an upsurge in the pandemic that saw Austria return to lockdown this week while Germany and the Netherlands are poised to announce new restrictions. A further 700,000 people in the 53 countries that comprise the […]
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AFP) — At least 45 people were killed in an overnight bus accident on a highway south of the Bulgarian capital, officials said Tuesday. The cause of the accident has yet to be determined. “Forty-five or 46 people were killed” on a highway about 40 kilometres (26 miles) from Sofia, Nikolay Nikolov, head of the Fire Safety and Civil Protection department at the interior ministry, told public broadcaster BNT. “Seven passengers were saved” […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — French Prime Minister Jean Castex tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday evening, his office told AFP, adding that he would isolate for 10 days while continuing to work. Castex “immediately carried out a PCR test” after finding out that one of his daughters had tested positive, his office said. Castex had been in Brussels on Monday morning, where he met his Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo. He was accompanied on the […]
