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TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s government approved new coronavirus restrictions on a large part of the country, including Tokyo, on Wednesday as it battles record infections fuelled by the Omicron variant. The restrictions in 13 regions, which mainly target nightlife and are far less strict than a blanket lockdown, will be in place from Friday until mid-February. The move allows each region to decide what specific measures to implement, with most places urging bars and […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he did not anticipate the level of obstruction he has encountered from Republicans in Congress. “I didn’t overpromise,” Biden said at a press conference held to make his first year in the White House. “I did not anticipate that there’d be such a stalwart effort (by Republicans) to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done,” […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan said Wednesday its deputy leader will go to the inauguration of Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro as the island faces the potential loss of yet another diplomatic ally in Latin America. Castro said during campaigning that she would “immediately open diplomatic and commercial relations with mainland China” if she won. Last month, neighbouring Nicaragua switched its allegiance to Beijing, leaving Honduras as one of just 14 countries that still diplomatically recognize […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Five people have died and several were injured after a fire early Wednesday morning at a retirement home in eastern Spain, emergency services said. The fire broke out around midnight Tuesday at the facility in Moncada in Valencia, with six fire engines deployed, the region’s firefighters tweeted. They said “five people are dead”, while 11 people were taken to hospital because of smoke inhalation. Firefighters had to rescue 25 people from […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France’s daily reported new coronavirus cases broke a new record on Tuesday with an average of over 300,000 a day in the past week, with the headline figure approaching half a million. The latest data issued by Public Health France showed that there were 464,769 new cases in the last 24-hour period as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spread unabated. A day earlier, 102,144 people had tested positive for the virus. […]
SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — The Saudi-led coalition killed 14 people in air strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital, a medical source said Tuesday, after an attack by Huthi insurgents on the United Arab Emirates sent regional tensions soaring. Sanaa residents were combing the rubble for survivors of the strikes that levelled two houses, hours after the Huthis had killed three people Monday in a drone and missile attack on the UAE capital Abu Dhabi. Huthi Brigadier […]
DOHA, Qatarr (AFP) — A three-week-old baby has died from Covid-19 in Qatar, the health ministry said on Sunday, reporting a rare child fatality from the illness in the Gulf country. “A three-week-old baby has sadly died as a result of severe infection from Covid-19,” the emirate’s public health ministry said in a statement. “The baby had no other known medical or hereditary conditions”, and was the second child to have died in the country […]
HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — Rescue workers on Tuesday searched for survivors after an earthquake in a remote western region of Afghanistan killed at least 26 people and damaged hundreds of houses, officials said. Monday’s 5.3-magnitude shallow quake jolted the province of Badghis and wrecked houses, mostly in Qadis district — a rural area not easily accessible by road. “The earthquake caused massive damage to houses, about 700 to 1,000 have been damaged,” Badghis provincial spokesman […]
HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — At least 26 people were killed after an earthquake hit western Afghanistan on Monday, an official said. The victims died when roofs of their houses collapsed in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis, spokesman for the province Baz Mohammad Sarwary told AFP. The shallow quake was magnitude 5.3, according to the US Geological Survey. “Five women and four children are among the 26 people killed in the earthquake,” said […]
by Cat Barton and Kang Jin-kyu SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Monday, Seoul said, its fourth weapons test this month as Pyongyang flexes its military muscle while ignoring offers of talks from the United States. Despite biting international sanctions, Pyongyang has conducted a string of weapons tests this year, including of hypersonic missiles, as leader Kim Jong Un pursues his avowed goal of further strengthening the military. Reeling […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Fourth doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against Covid-19 are only “partially” effective for the Omicron variant of the virus, the authors of an Israeli trial said Monday. A team from Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv began conducting a trial in December on fourth doses of coronavirus vaccines, inoculating 154 hospital personnel with Pfizer jabs and 120 other volunteers with Moderna doses. Preliminary results of the trial “have shown […]
by David WILLIAMS / Andrew BEATTY SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The first death from a massive underwater volcanic blast near the Pacific island nation of Tonga has been confirmed, as the extent of the damage remained unknown Monday. Tonga remained virtually cut off from the rest of the world, after the eruption crippled communications and stalled emergency relief efforts. It is two days since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano exploded, cloaking Tonga in a film […]
