International

WHO sounds alarm over rising Covid deaths in Europe

by Camille BAS-WOHLERT COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — The World Health warned Monday that 236,000 more people could die from Covid in Europe by December, sounding the alarm over rising infections and stagnating vaccine rates across the continent. The warning came as the world passed the grim milestone of 4.5 million deaths from Covid since the start of the pandemic, according to an AFP tally Monday. Infections rates are ticking up globally again, as the highly […]

Raging wildfire forces evacuation of major US tourist spot

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, United States (AFP) — Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate Monday as a huge wildfire loomed down on a major US tourist spot, filling the air with choking smoke. The Caldor Fire has already torn through more than 270 square miles (700 square kilometers), razing hundreds of buildings. On Monday it was roaring towards South Lake Tahoe, the main resort town in the popular holiday area that straddles the California and […]

US commander, ambassador were last to board evacuation flight: general

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The commander of American military forces on the ground in Afghanistan and Washington’s ambassador there were the last to board the final evacuation flight from Kabul on Monday, the head of US Central Command said. “On the last airplane out was General Chris Donahue, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and my ground force commander there,” McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon. “And he was accompanied by Ambassador Ross […]

Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana, knocks out power in New Orleans

Powerful Hurricane Ida battered the southern US state of Louisiana, leaving at least one dead and knocking out power for more than a million people, including the whole of New Orleans. Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, but had weakened to a tropical storm early Monday. The storm knocked out power for all of New Orleans, with […]

Rockets fly in Kabul as US evacuations wind down

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Rockets flew across the Afghan capital on Monday as the United States raced to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the evacuation of civilians all but over and terror attack fears high. President Joe Biden has set a deadline of Tuesday to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan, drawing to a close his nation’s longest military conflict, which began in retaliation for the September 11 attacks. The return of the hardline […]

North Korea appears to have restarted nuclear reactor: UN agency

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Nuclear-armed North Korea appears to have restarted its plutonium-producing reprocessing reactor in a “deeply troubling” development, the UN atomic agency has said, a possible sign Pyongyang is expanding its banned weapons programme. The development on the 5-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon — North Korea’s main nuclear complex — comes with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington at a standstill. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered to dismantle part of the […]

Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana as Category 3 storm

by Daxia ROJAS NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) — Hurricane Ida battered southern Louisiana Sunday, 16 years to the day after deadly Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern US city of New Orleans. Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 storm, and was downgraded to a Category 3 by evening — the same strength Katrina was when it came ashore in 2005. “Ida is a dangerous category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane […]

UAE says it will resume visas for tourists vaccinated against Covid

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The United Arab Emirates announced it will resume issuing visas to all tourists fully vaccinated against Covid from Monday, a month before Dubai hosts the delayed Expo 2020 trade fair. The move comes amid a drop in coronavirus infections in the oil-rich Gulf country, after it reported less than 1,000 cases per day last week for the first time in months. The UAE’s decision to reopen its doors to […]

Milan tower block goes up in flames

MILAN, Italy (AFP) — Fire ripped through a 20-storey residential building in Milan, northern Italy, on Sunday, leaving rescue workers scrambling to make sure no one had been caught in the spectacular flames and thick smoke. The blaze started on the upper floors of the tower on the southern outskirts of the capital of the Lombardy region. “The flames then spread to the lower levels,” causing thick smoke, the fire services said on a Twitter […]

Israel offers Covid vaccine booster to ages 12 and up

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel Sunday widened access to a third coronavirus vaccine jab to anyone aged 12 and up, with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett insisting it was an effective way to contain an infection surge. Moves by several nations to offer third jabs have faced criticism including from the World Health Organization, which insists poorer countries should gain wider access to vaccines before wealthy ones offer booster shots. But with Israel, a country of […]

Greek police fire tear gas as 7,000 protest vaccine rules

ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Around 7,000 people protested in Athens on Sunday against a new rule obliging health workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19, said police who fired teargas to quell violence among the demonstrators. The rule change, which came into effect on Wednesday requires that all personnel working in hospitals be vaccinated. The demonstrators waved Greek flags and brandished placards declaring: “We are not against vaccines, but against fascism” and “Long live democracy”. “It’s […]

In New Orleans, Ida brings trauma of Katrina flooding back

by Daxia ROJAS NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) — Chester Lastie clearly recalls Hurricane Katrina, which devastated his neighborhood in eastern New Orleans, 16 years ago to the day. The memories are made all the more vivid by the gusts of wind from Hurricane Ida currently battering his white house. “We were sitting in the yard about 11:00 when the levees broke” on August 29, 2005, he tells AFP. He quickly jumped in his truck […]