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KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainian firefighters have brought under control forest fires that have killed five people and left dozens homeless, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Large-scale blazes erupted on Monday in the eastern Lugansk region and engulfed a village not far from the front line of Ukraine’s war with Moscow-backed separatists. On Thursday, interior ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko told AFP the situation was “better” and that the fires had been localized but declined […]
by Yuliya Silina SMOLYANYNOVE, Ukraine (AFP) — Forest fires in eastern Ukraine that have killed five people and left dozens homeless are being brought under control by firefighters, officials said on Wednesday. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the situation was improving and he had seen no new fires during a fly-over with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials. The blaze began on Monday in Lugansk region and engulfed Smolyanynove, a village just 20 kilometres […]
by Roland JACKSON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The British government will on Wednesday unveil a mini-budget to kickstart economic growth after the coronavirus shutdown, with a jobs scheme for young people and investment in infrastructure among the big ticket measures. Britain has suffered Europe’s deadliest outbreak of COVID-19 and a nationwide shutdown led to the worst economic contraction among the G7 leading industrialized states. In a statement to parliament at 1130 GMT, finance minister […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The French government said Wednesdeay it is preparing for a second wave of COVID-19 cases that could emerge in the coming months, but will not respond with another nationwide lockdown to contain the outbreak. “My aim is to prepare France for an eventual second wave, while preserving our daily life, our economic and social life,” new Prime Minister Jean Castex said in an interview on RTL television. “But we’re not going […]
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers rushed to deal with a forest fire that has killed six people in eastern Ukraine, the interior minister said on Tuesday. Water-bombing planes were also sent to the scene of the blaze in the Lugansk region, which is partially under the control of pro-Russia separatists, Arsen Avakov said. Firefighters initially battled back the flames but it spread again, helped by gusts of wind and soaring […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The WHO said Tuesday it would study fresh evidence on airborne transmission of the coronavirus, after an international group of scientists concluded it could spread far beyond two metres. The World Health Organization said it would put out a new scientific brief within days, rounding up the knowledge about how the virus can be transmitted and ensuring its guidance stays in line with the evidence. The two-metre (yard) […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday it was monitoring a case of bubonic plague in China after being notified by the authorities in Beijing. A herdsman in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region was confirmed at the weekend to have the bubonic plague. Two other cases were confirmed in Khovd province in neighbouring Mongolia last week involving brothers who had eaten marmot meat, China’s state news agency Xinhua said. “Bubonic plague […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Eight passengers were injured in a train derailment outside of the Greek capital Athens Tuesday, emergency services said. An electric train linking the port of Piraeus near Athens to the northern suburbs derailed as it entered the station at Kifissia just after midday, according to initial reports from firefighters. “Seven women and one man were slightly injured and transferred as a precaution to two hospitals in Athens,” a manager of the […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The US drone strike that killed Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani was “unlawful”, the United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings concluded in a report released Tuesday. Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, concluded it was an “arbitrary killing” that violated the UN charter. The US had provided no evidence that an imminent attack against US interest was being planned, she wrote. The independent rights expert […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Ennio Morricone, one of the world’s best-known and most prolific film composers, died in Rome on Monday. Morricone, who was 91, died in hospital where he was being treated for a fractured femur following a fall, media reports said, quoting a statement from a lawyer. He composed the music for about 500 films, including his old schoolfriend Sergio Leone’s 1966 spaghetti western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and Quentin […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The Louvre, the world’s most visited museum, reopens after its coronavirus closure Monday, but with nearly a third of its galleries still shut. The vast former palace of France’s kings has lost more than 40 million euros ($45 million) in ticket sales during the near-four-month lockdown, and director Jean-Luc Martinez admitted it could have a few more lean years ahead as the world adapts to the virus. Although most of the […]
by Laurence BENHAMOU and Stuart WILLIAMS PARIS, France (AFP) — France’s new Prime Minister Jean Castex was on Monday expected to unveil a reshuffled government tasked with helping the economy brave its worst crisis since World War II and injecting fresh momentum into the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. Castex, a senior bureaucrat and provincial mayor almost completely unknown to the French before his appointment Friday, is seeking to move quickly and decisively to convince sceptics […]
