International

China’s Xi praises ‘strong measures’ against protesters in Kazakhstan: state media

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday praised the Kazakhstan government’s deadly crackdown on protesters as “highly responsible” in a message to Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, state media reported. “You decisively took strong measures at critical moments and quickly calmed down the situation, showing your position of responsibility and sense of duty as a politician, and of being highly responsible for your country and your people,” Xi told Tokayev in the message, […]

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How China is keeping to its strict ‘zero Covid’ strategy

by Jing Xuan TENG BEIJING, China (AFP) — The distressing case of a pregnant Chinese woman miscarrying after a strict lockdown delayed her access to medical treatment has reignited debate over the limits of China’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19. The country where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019 is now among the last places still hewing to “zero Covid”, placing millions under quarantine even as Beijing prepares to host next month’s Winter Olympics. – […]

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As cases rise, India fears another Covid catastrophe

  by Aishwarya KUMAR Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Haunted by the spectre of last year’s crisis, India is bracing for a deluge of Covid-19 cases, with authorities of various megacities bringing in restrictions in a bid to keep infections in check. Case numbers have yet to match the enormous figures seen last spring, when thousands died each day and the Hindu city of Varanasi maintained round-the-clock funeral pyres for the mass […]

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At least 20 trapped by govt office canteen blast in SW China: state media

BEIJING, China (AFP) — At least 20 people were trapped after an explosion Friday at a government office in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, according to state media. The blast occurred soon after midday and was caused by a “suspected gas leak” in an office canteen, the state-run People’s Daily reported, adding that rescue teams are en route to the site. © Agence France-Presse

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Almost 100,000 children lost parents to Covid in Peru

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Covid-19 killed at least one parent or primary caregiver for nearly 100,000 children in Peru, the country with the world’s highest coronavirus death rate, its government reported Thursday. “Unfortunately our country has almost 98,000 children who lost their father, mother or guardian during the pandemic,” said Peru’s Minister of Women Anahi Durand, citing figures published in the medical journal The Lancet. Peru leads the world in overall Covid deaths per capita, […]

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US snowstorm strands drivers for 24 hours or more

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The snow storm is over but the travel misery lingered: drivers on a major highway outside Washington reported Tuesday they were stuck in their cars in freezing weather for 24 hours or more. As families tried to return home from the long New Year weekend, I-95 in Virginia was dangerously icy, gas tanks were running low and for hours there was no help in sight, drivers said. Aerial footage showed […]

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Britain faces hospital crisis as Covid cases top 200,000

by Jitendra JOSHI / James PHEBY LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British hospitals have switched to a “war footing” due to staff shortages caused by a wave of Omicron infections, the government said Tuesday, as the country’s daily Covid caseload breached 200,000 for the first time. The 24-hour tally, after chalking up multiple records in the run-up to New Year, hit 218,724 and another 48 deaths were reported in the latest government data. Hospital admissions […]

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Japan extends US military support amid China, N.Korea ‘challenges’

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Japan moved ahead with an expansion of support to US troops as the allies held top-level talks on tensions with China and North Korea. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the two nations were signing a five-year extension of the support package provided by Japan for the hosting of nearly 50,000 US troops on its soil. The new agreement “will invest greater resources to deepen our military readiness […]

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Israel records highest daily rise in Covid infections

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel’s health ministry on Wednesday announced nearly 12,000 new coronavirus cases, constituting the largest daily rise in infections since the beginning of the pandemic nearly two years ago. According to the figures, 11,978 new Covid cases were detected over the course of Tuesday, surpassing the country’s previous record high of 11,344 cases recorded on September 2 last year. While there were currently nearly 60,000 people with Covid in Israel, the number […]

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Brazil green-lights Covid-19 vaccines for children age 5-11

BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian health authorities authorized Covid-19 vaccines for children age five to 11 on Wednesday, as South America’s most populous country faces a rapid increase in cases due to holiday gatherings and the arrival of the Omicron variant. The final green light by Brazil’s Ministry of Health comes three weeks after the nation’s independent medicines regulator, Anvisa, declared Pfizer-BioNTech’s child-size dose to be safe and effective. “To all those parents who want […]

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Macau bans international passenger flights for two weeks

  HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Macau has announced a two-week ban on any inbound passenger flights from outside of China after three coronavirus cases were found in passengers arriving from overseas. The move came the same day Hong Kong banned flights from eight nations and ramped up social distancing measures, leaving the two neighbouring Chinese territories even more cut off from the rest of the world. Like mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau have […]

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More than 1,000 wounded in Kazakhstan unrest: ministry

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — More than 1,000 people have been wounded in days of mounting unrest in Kazakhstan, the health ministry said Thursday. “More than 1,000 people were wounded following riots in different regions of Kazakhstan, nearly 400 among them were hospitalised and 62 people are in intensive care,” deputy health minister Azhar Guiniyat said on Khabar-24 television, according to Russian news agencies Interfax and TASS. © Agence France-Presse

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