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by Michael Mathes Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden said Wednesday he will make Covid-19 booster shots available to all American adults beginning next month, as his administration warned that vaccines are showing a declining effectiveness against infection. The move comes as scientists and health experts grapple with how to beat back the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus, and follows extensive debate over whether a third injection […]
by David FOX KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — The Taliban have offered a pledge of reconciliation, vowing no revenge against opponents and to respect women’s rights in a “different” rule of Afghanistan from two decades ago. The announcements came on Tuesday night shortly after the return to Afghanistan of their co-founder, crowning the group’s astonishing comeback after being ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001. With huge concerns globally about the Taliban’s brutal human rights record […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Afghanistan’s return to Taliban rule following the withdrawal of US forces shows Taiwan needs to be “stronger and more united” in ensuring its own defense, President Tsai Ing-wen said Wednesday. Democratic Taiwan’s 23 million people live under the constant threat of invasion from authoritarian Beijing which views the island as its own territory and has vowed to one day seize it. Washington remains Taiwan’s most important unofficial ally and is bound […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — New restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid took effect in Israel on Wednesday, after the largely vaccinated country saw the highest daily infection rate since January. The measures, announced Sunday, require vaccination certificates or negative coronavirus tests to enter a range of public spaces, including restaurants and bars, cultural and sports venues, hotels and gyms, the health ministry said. The same applies to worshippers wishing to enter synagogues, mosques […]
by Emeline BURCKEL PARIS, France (AFP) — People refusing to get Covid vaccines in France are coughing up hundreds of euros for fake health passes in an online black market that has flourished since the government required them to enter cafes, inter-city trains and other public places. People have had to show proof they have either been vaccinated, tested negative for Covid or have recovered from the disease in order to enter a museum, cinema […]
A tsunami alert has been lifted after a 6.8-magnitude quake which struck Wednesday off the coast of the Pacific island nation Vanuatu. The earthquake was detected at a depth of 94 kilometres (56 miles) and was about 340 kilometres northwest of Port Vila, according to the US Geological Survey. The risk of dangerous tsunami waves “has now passed”, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said after revising its initial assessment. A resident of Vanuatu’s largest island […]
A US monitor issued a tsunami alert Wednesday after a large 6.8-magnitude quake struck off the coast of Vanuatu. The earthquake was recorded at a depth of 91 kilometres and was about 340 kilometres (210 miles) northwest of the capital Port Vila, the US Geological Survey said. Hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 300 kilometres of the epicentre, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said in a preliminary assessment. © Agence France-Presse
by David FOX Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — The Taliban have pledged not to seek “revenge” against their opponents in Afghanistan in their first press conference since taking power, as the United States said they would hold the insurgents to their promises to respect human rights. The Taliban announcements came Tuesday after the return to Afghanistan of their co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, crowning the group’s astonishing comeback after being ousted in a […]
by Sebastian Smith Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden is being called everything from reckless to incompetent over the panicky retreat from Afghanistan, but the White House has a different portrayal: a leader who simply dared to make the tough calls. The Democrat is taking a pounding, including from some in his own party, for the extraordinary meltdown in Kabul. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, facing journalists for the […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s medicines watchdog on Tuesday said it had approved the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 17, after previously giving the green light to Pfizer. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said in a statement that the jab was “safe and effective in this age group”. But it added it would now be up to government advisory body the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to […]
LISBON, Portugal (AFP) — More than 600 firefighters on Tuesday managed to bring a blaze under control a day after it broke out in southern Portugal, forcing dozens of people to flee their homes. The civil protection authority said the still active blaze in the tourist region of Algarve had been brought under control — although it has already torn through at least 9,000 hectares (22,000 acres) of forests, orchards and brushland. Portugal is the […]
by Jay DESHMUKH KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Outside the main iron gate of the Indian embassy in Kabul, a group of Taliban fighters waited — armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Inside the compound were 150 Indian diplomats and nationals — growing increasingly nervous as they watched news of the Taliban tightening their grip on the capital, which they took a day earlier without a fight. Their position was a precarious one. Pakistan […]
