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MINSK, Belarus (AFP) — At least 213 people were detained in Belarus as police cracked down on protesters claiming strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko rigged Sunday’s presidential election, a prominent rights group said on Monday. The Viasna Human Rights Centre said at least 110 people were detained in the capital Minsk, including at least 40 at or near polling stations and 70 during a pro-opposition protest. Others were detained in various cities. © Agence France-Presse
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — A baby was among seven people who died as torrential rains and floods swept the Greek island of Evia, damaging dozens of houses and blocking roads, authorities said Sunday. The eight-month-old baby was found dead in a house in the village of Politika on Sunday, said a spokesman for firefighters involved in rescue efforts. The baby’s parents were unharmed. Hours earlier, a man and woman in their 80s were found unconscious […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s health ministry on Thursday denied that the country is facing a second wave of COVID-19 infections, despite a spike in cases of the virus in recent days. According to the Spanish government’s own figures, over the past seven days there have been 19,405 new coronavirus cases registered, an average of 2,772 per day. A week earlier the rate was an average 1,913 cases per day and the week before that […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — The spread of the novel coronavirus is accelerating in Finland, health officials said Thursday, with new containment measures to be unveiled next week. According to new estimates, the reproduction rate of the virus has now risen above 1, to between 1.1 and 1.4, the health ministry’s strategic director Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki told a press conference in the capital Helsinki. “The situation is extremely delicate,” Voipio-Pulkki said, adding that “some sort of second […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A German diplomat was killed in the huge explosion in Beirut, the first confirmed German fatality, as the country’s foreign minister expressed his condolences on Thursday over the tragedy. “All of us at the foreign ministry are in deep mourning for our colleague,” said Heiko Maas in a statement. He added that the female employee had died in her apartment in the Lebanese capital. The news “confirmed our worst fears”, the […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Prosecutors in France opened an investigation Wednesday after 21 French citizens were wounded in the devastating blast at the port in the Lebanese capital Beirut, the Paris prosecutor said. The prosecutors opened a probe into “involuntary injury” using their jurisdiction to investigate acts committed abroad, Paris prosecutor Remy Heintz said in a statement. At least 113 people were killed in Tuesday’s blast with dozens still missing and 4,000 people wounded. Heitz […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — One of Belgium’s biggest meat processing plants has sent 225 staff home to quarantine Wednesday after a cluster of coronavirus cases was discovered, the firm and the local mayor said. Abbatoirs and meat-packing plants have become infection hotspots in other countries as the world deals with the epidemic and the big Westvlees facility in Staden, in northwest Belgium is now under close watch. According to a Westvlees spokesman, Manuel Goderis, a […]
by Clemence FOURNIVAL avec Julie PACOREL à Marseille MARTIGUES, France (AFP) — A forest fire Tuesday ravaged 800 hectares of vegetation near the southern French city of Marseille, forcing the evacuation of over 200 people, officials said. There were no casualties thus far from the blaze that broke out west of Marseille, as 1,200 firefighters and water bombing planes were deployed to fight the flames. Some 225 people, mostly tourists and campers, were evacuated by […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called his Lebanese counterpart Michel Aoun and announced the dispatch of French aid to Lebanon after the powerful explosions in Beirut. “He expressed his support and that of France for the Lebanese people,” said the Elysee, the presidential palace. “French aid and resources are on the way,” the Elysee said, without elaborating. © Agence France-Presse
LILLE, France (AFP) — Prime Minister Jean Castex on Monday urged France “not to let down its guard” in the fight against the coronavirus in order to prevent the need for a new national lockdown, as concern grows over a recent surge in cases. “The virus has not gone on holiday and neither have we,” the premier said on a visit to the northeastern city of Lille. “We need to protect ourselves against this virus, […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Some 45 police officers were injured in a wave of weekend demonstrations in Berlin including protests against coronavirus restrictions, police said as protesters gathered again in smaller numbers on Sunday. The unruly protests, in which many demonstrators failed to wear masks or respect social distancing rules, have sparked a chorus of condemnation including calls for tougher penalties against those who violate restrictions aimed at curbing transmission of the deadly virus. A […]
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AFP) — Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said late Sunday he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and would self-isolate for the next two weeks. “Today I did the test for the COVID-19 and tested positive,” Hoti wrote on his Facebook account. The prime minister said he had started 14 days of self-isolation, during which he would perform his duties from home. “I have no signs (of the disease), except a very […]
