International

N. Korea fires suspected submarine-launched ballistic missile: Seoul

by Sunghee Hwang SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired a suspected submarine-launched ballistic missile into the sea on Tuesday, the South’s military said, the nuclear-armed country’s latest advance in weapons technology and one that could give it a second-strike capability. The test came with both Koreas building up their weapons capabilities in what could become an arms race on the peninsula, and with the Washington-Pyongyang dialogue at a standstill. The “short-range ballistic missile […]

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New Zealand Covid cases hit record despite vaccination push

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand recorded its highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic on Tuesday as a Delta-variant outbreak that dashed the nation’s “Covid Zero” hopes showed no signs of easing. Health authorities announced 94 new virus cases, exceeding the previous daily record of 89 set in April last year during the first wave of Covid-19 infections. While case numbers remain low by most international standards, they […]

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Canadian PM visits graves of indigenous school previously ran by Catholic church

Indigenous leaders still await apology from Pope; visit to Vatican in December set   Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a visit Monday, October 18, to the indigenous community of Kamloops where the remains of 215 children were found in May at a former residential school ran by the Catholic Church, apologizing for not coming sooner. The visit followed strong criticisms directed at Trudeau for ignoring an earlier invitation to the community on the first […]

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UK govt under spotlight as Covid cases rise again

by James PHEBY LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain has repeatedly trumpeted its mass vaccination program against Covid-19, hailing its early approval of jabs as a key part of the long struggle to return to normal life. But infection rates remain stubbornly high, contrasting sharply with its European neighbors and prompting fresh questions of the government. For two weeks, the number of new cases has wavered between 35,000 and 40,000 a day, and on Monday […]

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Russia’s Saint Petersburg tightens virus controls

SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s second city, Saint Petersburg, announced Monday it would tighten restrictions to battle a surge in Covid-19 cases, introducing a health pass to regulate access to crowd events. From November 1, people will need to present a QR barcode to get into sports and cultural events where more than 40 people are gathering, the city’s deputy governor Boris Piotrovski said in a Telegram post. Only people who have been fully […]

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Ecuador bus crashes into ravine, 9 dead

QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — At least nine people died and another 15 were injured when a bus veered off the road and crashed into a ravine in Ecuador, emergency services said on Monday. The bus plunged into the 200 meter (220 yards) deep ravine in the southern Chimborazo province. Authorities did not say how many people were onboard the bus that had left the port city of Guayaquil and was heading towards Ambato in the […]

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Biden leads outpouring of tributes for former US secretary of state Colin Powell

  by Frankie TAGGART Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Colin Powell, a US war hero and the first Black secretary of state who saw his trailblazing legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, died Monday from complications from Covid-19. The 84-year-old retired four-star general was fully vaccinated, his family said in a statement, making him one of the most high-profile US public figures to die of […]

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Colin Powell dies of Covid-19 complications: family

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Colin Powell, a US war hero and the first Black secretary of state who saw his legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, has died from complications from Covid-19. He was 84. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” the family said in a statement posted to social media on Monday. The retired four-star general and former […]

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EU has exported ‘over 1 billion’ Covid-19 vaccine doses

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union has exported “over one billion” doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the past 10 months, the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. “Very clearly, the European Union is the largest exporter of Covid-19 vaccines,” she said, announcing the “important milestone” in a brief broadcast and statement. Von der Leyen said that 87 million of the doses had been funnelled through the WHO-led Covax scheme to mid- […]

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Fire breaks out in Kuwait’s largest oil refinery

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AFP) — A fire broke out Monday in Kuwait’s largest oil refinery, causing several injuries but no interruptions to site operations or petrol exports. Plumes of smoke rose above the Mina al-Ahmadi facility, located on the Gulf coast just opposite Iran, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the capital Kuwait City, according to an AFP photojournalist. The Kuwait National Petrol Company, after initially stating that there were no casualties, later tweeted […]

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China says recent test was spacecraft not missile

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Monday denied a report it had recently launched a hypersonic missile, saying it tested a spacecraft to trial reusable technologies. The Financial Times reported Saturday that Beijing had launched a nuclear-capable missile in August that circled the Earth at low orbit before narrowly missing its target. FT sources said the hypersonic missile was carried by a Long March rocket and that the test had been kept under wraps. But […]

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One dead as US college endures two shootings in a week

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — One person was killed and another seven injured at a US university shooting early Sunday, police said, just days after another firearm incident at the same school left one dead. A student was among those wounded in the attack at around 1:30am (local) at Grambling State University, Louisiana State Police said, with one person in critical condition at hospital. The school tweeted the student was “treated for non-life-threatening injuries”, and […]

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