by Allan Garcia ACAPULCO, Mexico (AFP) — A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday near the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, leaving at least one person dead and shaking buildings in the capital several hundred kilometers away. The epicenter was 11 kilometers (seven miles) southeast of Acapulco in Guerrero state, the National Seismological Service reported. A man was killed when a utility pole fell on him in the nearby city of Coyuca de Benitez, Guerrero […]
North America
UPDATED: 7.1-magnitude earthquake shakes Mexico: seismologists
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday near the Pacific coast, the National Seismological Service said, shaking buildings in the capital several hundred kilometers away. The epicenter was 11 kilometers (seven miles) southeast of the beach resort of Acapulco in Guerrero state, the service said, upgrading its estimate of the tremor’s strength. The earthquake was felt strongly in parts of Mexico City, sending residents and tourists spilling into the streets […]
US judge tosses order hospital treat Covid patient with ivermectin
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A judge in the US state of Ohio has said a hospital cannot be forced to administer an unproven treatment to a patient with Covid-19, reversing the ruling of another court. Judge Gregory Howard had ordered West Chester Hospital to administer the antiparasitic drug ivermectin to Jeff Smith, as prescribed by his physician, for 14 days. Smith’s wife, Julie, had filed suit to force the hospital located outside Cincinnati to […]
Biden warns of climate change ‘code red’ in visit to storm damage
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday the world faces a “code red” on climate change danger as he visited damage from the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in New York and New Jersey. “We’ve got to listen to the scientists and the economists and the national security experts. They all tell us this is code red,” Biden said in the hard-hit New York borough of Queens, which he toured after visiting […]
17 patients die after floods hit Mexican hospital
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — At least 17 patients died after floods swept through a hospital in central Mexico, disrupting the power supply and oxygen therapy, authorities said Tuesday. The facility in the town of Tula in Hidalgo state was inundated after a river overflowed following heavy rain, the government said on Twitter. “In this honorable job there are good, very good, bad and very bad days; today is one of the latter days,” President […]
In world first, Cuba starts Covid jabs for toddlers
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba on Monday became the first country in the world to vaccinate children from the age of two against Covid-19, using home-grown jabs not recognized by the World Health Organization. The communist island of 11.2 million people aims to inoculate all its children before reopening schools that have been closed for the most part since March 2020. The new school year started on Monday, but from home via television programs, as […]
Marchers walk 7,000 steps for Canadian pair detained by China
by Michel COMTE OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Hundreds of supporters of two Canadian men being held in China on what Ottawa says are specious charges marched 7,000 steps through the Canadian capital on Sunday to mark the pair’s 1,000th day of “unjust” detention. Similar events in support of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were held elsewhere in Canada and across the world in cities including Brussels, New York, Washington, Seoul and Singapore. “These are unjust […]
In Covid-swamped Texas, patients die stranded in rural clinics
by François PICARD HOUSTON, United States (AFP) — Daniel Wilkinson survived two tours of duty in Afghanistan but died of gallstones, deteriorating slowly as his under-equipped doctors looked on helplessly. Wilkinson, 46, lived only 90 minutes by car or 30 minutes by helicopter from Houston, renowned for its top-flight hospitals. The problem is the Texas health care system has been utterly overwhelmed by people suffering from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. In this wealthy […]
Taliban pledge safety for humanitarian workers: UN
UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — The Taliban on Sunday pledged to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers and aid access in Afghanistan in a meeting with the UN humanitarian chief in Kabul, a UN spokesman said. Martin Griffiths was in the Afghan capital on Sunday for several days of meetings with Taliban leadership amid a looming humanitarian disaster in the country newly under the control of the hardline Islamists. “The authorities pledged that the […]
‘Freedom Tower’ – the skyscraper symbolizing New York’s resilience
by Catherine TRIOMPHE NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — It is the skyscraper that replaced the Twin Towers in New York’s skyline. Inaugurated in 2014, the One World Trade Center has become a symbol of resilience after the horror of 9/11. Commonly referred to as the “Freedom Tower,” it is America’s tallest building at 1,776 feet (541 meters) and an emblem of the US economic capital. From its conception, the tower had to testify to […]
Blinken heads to Qatar on Afghan crisis mission
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed Sunday to Qatar on his first trip since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as he seeks a united front with allies shaken by the chaos. Qatar, a major US military base, has been the gateway for 55,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan, nearly half the total evacuated by US-led forces after the Taliban’s stunningly swift victory amid a US withdrawal. Blinken will then […]
‘Silent crisis’ looms as US to end Covid aid for millions of jobless
by Chris Stein Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Spending less on food. Drawing down on retirement savings. Dropping out of the workforce altogether. Last year, the United States massively expanded unemployment aid as Covid-19 broke out. But in the coming days those benefits will end, forcing millions of jobless Americans — some of whom haven’t worked for the entire pandemic — to make hard choices about how they will get by […]





