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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — A high-profile shaman who tried to end Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 outbreak with “blessed” water has died of the virus, his family said Thursday. Eliyantha White, 48, who treated sports stars and top politicians including the country’s prime minister, claimed in November he could end the pandemic in Sri Lanka and neighbouring India by pouring pots of his “blessed” water into rivers. Health minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi endorsed the water treatment, but […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The EU’s drug watchdog said Thursday it expected to decide in early October whether to approve boosters of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for over 16s. A decision on further jabs of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for at-risk people and the elderly is due at the same time, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said. Protection against coronavirus is shown to decrease in the months following the first jabs, the […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday recommended the synthetic antibody treatment Regeneron for Covid-19, but only in patients with specific health profiles. Persons with non-severe Covid-19 who are nonetheless at high risk of hospitalization can take the antibody combo, as should critically ill patients unable to mount an adequate immune response, according to a WHO finding published in BMJ. Regeneron is only the third treatment for Covid to be recommended […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A shooter opened fire Thursday at a supermarket near Memphis, Tennessee, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others before he shot himself dead, police said. The rampage occurred at a Kroger grocery store in Collierville, a suburban town east of Memphis. One victim was killed, while the shooter died of a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane told reporters. Lane said some of the victims had […]
by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is shipping another 2.5 million Covid vaccine doses to hard-hit Bangladesh, a White House official told AFP on Thursday, after the Biden administration announced a ramping up of global donations. The latest shipment — 2,508,480 Pfizer doses — brings the total of US shots to the country above nine million. Packing was underway and first deliveries, made through the World Health Organization’s Covax program, […]
GUATEMALA CITY, Guetamala (AFP) — Guatemala’s Fuego volcano spewed lava and ash Thursday in a series of explosions that have not yet forced any evacuations, authorities said. The eruption produced a long river of lava flowing down to the base of the volcano, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) southwest of the capital Guatemala City, said Emilio Barillas of the Insivumeh volcano institute. Fuego, 3.7 kilometers high (12,240 feet), is one of three active volcanoes in […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — China on Thursday voiced opposition to Taiwan joining a major trans-Pacific trade deal as it flew 24 planes including two nuclear-capable bombers into the self-ruled island’s air defence zone, the biggest incursion in weeks, Taiwanese officials said. Last week Beijing submitted its own application to become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Taiwan has lobbied for years to join and announced on Thursday that it […]
by Michelle FITZPATRICK Agence France Presse FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Germany goes to the polls on Sunday in an election that will see Angela Merkel step down after 16 years in power, sparking a knife-edge race to lead Europe’s biggest economy. The first chancellor not to seek re-election since 1949, Merkel’s decision to bow out sets the country synonymous with stability on course for change no matter who wins when the final count is […]
by Hashem Osseiran BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — The phones at Lebanon’s only suicide hotline hardly ever stop ringing as people grow more and more desperate in the face of a financial downturn that has spurred a mental health crisis. In one call, a father says he is thinking of taking his own life because he is unable to feed his children, and in another, a man recently made homeless says he has lost all hope. […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan has applied to join a major trans-Pacific trade deal, officials confirmed Thursday, days after China said it also wanted to become a member of the agreement. Signed by 11 Asia-Pacific countries in 2018, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is the region’s biggest free-trade pact and accounts for around 13.5 percent of the global economy. “Most of (the CPTPP’s) member countries are Taiwan’s key trade partners, accounting […]
by Stuart Williams with Sebastian Smith in Washington PARIS, France (AFP) — US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron had a “friendly” phone call Wednesday to defuse a deep row over submarine sales to Australia, promising to meet in person to repair the transatlantic relationship. The call, which the White House said lasted about 30 minutes, was the first between Biden and Macron since France recalled its ambassador over the surprise US […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Wednesday authorized the use of boosters of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for people aged over 65, or adults at high-risk of severe disease as well as those in high-exposure jobs. The announcement means tens of millions of Americans are now eligible for a third shot once six months have passed since their second. “Today’s action demonstrates that science and the currently available data continue to guide the […]
