International

White House defends vaccine mandate against court challenge

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Sunday issued a vocal defense of a controversial Covid-19 vaccine mandate for large companies despite a court challenge that temporarily freezes the program. “The president and the administration wouldn’t have put these requirements in place if they didn’t think they were appropriate and necessary,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said on ABC talk show “This Week.” “The administration is certainly prepared to defend them.” And White […]

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Iraqi PM escapes ‘assassination attempt’ drone blast

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi escaped unhurt from an “assassination attempt” in which an explosives-packed drone hit his Baghdad residence early Sunday, a new escalation in the country’s post-election turmoil. US President Joe Biden condemned the “terrorist attack” and said he was “relieved” Kadhemi was not injured, while Iraqi President Barham Saleh said it was an attempted “coup against the constitutional system”. The attack has not been claimed by any group. […]

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US court suspends Biden vaccine mandate for businesses

    WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A US federal appeals court Saturday halted a vaccine mandate by President Joe Biden’s administration that is intended to push millions of workers at businesses with more than 100 employees into getting Covid-19 shots. The New Orleans-based US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that because petitioners “give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate, the Mandate is hereby STAYED […]

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France’s bishops kneel in penance for decades of child abuse in Catholic Church

by Karine PERRET Agence France Presse LOURDES, France (AFP) — Senior members of France’s Catholic hierarchy knelt in a show of penance at the shrine of Lourdes Saturday, a day after bishops accepted the church’s responsibility for decades of child abuse. But some of the victims of the abuse — and lay members supporting them — said they were still waiting for details of compensation and of a comprehensive reform of the church. In Lourdes, […]

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Eight killed as crowd rushes stage at Texas rap concert

  by Francois Picard Agence France Presse HOUSTON, United States (AFP) — Authorities in Texas were investigating Saturday a tragedy in which the crowd at a huge Travis Scott rap concert surged toward the stage in a crush that killed eight people and sent 25 to the hospital. Around 50,000 people were in the audience at Houston’s NRG Park Friday night when the crowd started pushing toward the stage as Scott was performing, triggering chaotic […]

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‘Rust’ shooting may have been sabotage, say armorer’s lawyers

  LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Lawyers representing the woman who loaded Alec Baldwin’s gun said an act of “sabotage” by disgruntled crew members may have caused the tragic shooting on the set of “Rust.” Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was the armorer in charge of weapons on the Western movie set in New Mexico, where Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer last month after being told his firearm was safe. Her lawyers told the “Today” program, on […]

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Austria tightens coronavirus restrictions further

  VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria on Friday said only those vaccinated or cured from coronavirus would be allowed to frequent restaurants, hotels and cultural venues as the Alpine nation battles a surge in cases. The new rule takes effect on Monday with a four-week transition phase to incentivise people to get jabbed, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said. “No one wants to split the society, but it is our responsibility to protect the people in our […]

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Covid pandemic still on the march in Europe; daily global cases also rise for 3rd straight week

  PARIS, France (AFP) — The Covid-19 pandemic continued to pick up speed this week in Europe, bucking an improvement observed in the rest of the world. Here is the global state of play based on an AFP database. – Slight global spike – The number of new daily cases increased globally for a third week in a row, by a slight one percent to 438,000 infections, according to an AFP tally to Thursday. However, […]

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Indonesia seizes land owned by Suharto son’s company

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has seized land tied to an automaker owned by the son of its late dictator Suharto in a fresh bid to recoup money from the influential clan, the government said Friday. Military troops and police in West Java province on Friday took control of some 124 hectares (300 acres) of land controlled by Tommy Suharto and his PT Timor Putera Nasional company over some 2.6 trillion rupiah ($181 million) […]

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Japan eases border rules to allow business travellers, students

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan said Friday it will allow short-term business travellers, foreign students and other visa holders to enter the country, but tourists are still barred under pandemic border restrictions. From Monday, business visitors fully inoculated with an authorised vaccine will need to quarantine for only three days, down from a minimum of 10 days, the foreign ministry said. Daily cases in the country of 126 million have plunged from record highs […]

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Singapore urged not to hang mentally disabled trafficker

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore faced calls Friday not to hang a mentally disabled Malaysian man for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state, with campaigners criticizing the planned execution as “despicable”. Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for transporting 43 grams — equivalent to about three tablespoons — of the drug into Singapore, and sentenced to death the following year. After exhausting a series of legal challenges in the city-state, which […]

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