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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US pharmaceutical giant Merck said Monday that it has applied for emergency use authorization of its oral anti-Covid drug in the United States, a major step towards finding a simple pill to treat the disease. Merck has submitted the application for molnupiravir, which it said earlier this month was shown to reduce hospitalisations by 50 percent. It said it was working “with regulatory agencies worldwide to submit applications for emergency […]
by Jastinder KHERA VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria’s top diplomat Alexander Schallenberg took over as chancellor on Monday as the ruling party tries to emerge from a corruption scandal that cost the job of one of Europe’s youngest leaders. Sebastian Kurz, a 35-year-old once feted as a “whizz kid”, said late Saturday he was quitting the top job after being implicated in a corruption scandal. Schallenberg, 52, was sworn in by President Alexander Van der […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Firefighters in Lebanon put out a huge blaze that raged at a key fuel storage depot Monday to the relief of many in the country gripped by desperate energy shortages. There was no immediate report of casualties from the fire that sent large plumes of dark smoke billow into the sky. The fire broke out around 8:00am (0500 GMT) in a large petrol tank belonging to the army at the Zahrani […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — More than 120,000 people have been evacuated, coal mines shut and crops destroyed after unseasonably heavy rainfall flooded north China’s Shanxi province over the weekend, state media reported Monday, with more rain forecast. The deluge comes just months after record floods hit the country’s central Henan province in July — killing more than 300 people — and raises fears about ensuring the supply of energy ahead of the winter. Many parts […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa admitted his government is “not delivering” as shortages persist of food, medicines and other essential items because of a dire foreign exchange squeeze. “The people may have a sense of displeasure towards me and the government for not delivering as they expected,” Rajapaksa’s office quoted him as saying on Sunday. “I accept that. Not only me, but all ministers and Members of Parliament should accept […]
SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — One person died and 17 others were injured Sunday as riot police clashed with protesters in the Chilean capital during a rally by the indigenous Mapuche community. About a thousand activists — many wearing ponchos and traditional headbands, and playing ceremonial drums — marched near Plaza Italia in the center of Santiago, demanding autonomy for the Mapuche. When police moved in to disperse the protest with water cannon and tear gas, protesters […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Dozens of Hong Kong triad members have been arrested in a series of operations targeting gangs using high-powered speedboats to smuggle contraband to the Chinese mainland, police said Monday. Smuggling has been a mainstay of the triad organised crime gangs operating on both sides of the border for years but the phenomenon has surged during the coronavirus pandemic. Police embarked on a crackdown after a marine officer was killed last […]
by Alfred Acenas (EBC Hawaii-Pacific) Eagle News Service HONOLULU (Eagle News) – The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) recorded an offshore magnitude-6.2 earthquake southwest of Hawaii’s Big Island on Sunday, October 10, at 11:48am, Hawaii Standard Time (5:48 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11 Manila time) The said phenomenon was centered about 27 kilometers (17 miles) south-southeast of the town of Nāʻālehu at a depth of 35 kilometers (22 miles). The state’s Department […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand announced Monday a sweeping “no jab, no job” policy for most healthcare workers and teachers to prevent the spread of Covid-19. “We can’t leave anything to chance so that’s why we are making it mandatory,” said Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, who is also the education minister. Doctors, nurses and other frontline health workers must be double-jabbed by December 1 while everyone working in the education sector who […]
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AFP) — Iceland on Friday suspended the Moderna anti-Covid vaccine, citing the slight increased risks of cardiac inflammation, going further than its Nordic neighbours which simply limited use of the jabs. “As the supply of Pfizer vaccine is sufficient in the territory … the chief epidemiologist has decided not to use the Moderna vaccine in Iceland,” said a statement published on the website of the Health Directorate. This decision owed to “the increased […]
by Andrew BEATTY SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Elated Sydneysiders were emerging from almost four months of “blood, sweat and no beers” early Monday as a long coronavirus lockdown was lifted in Australia’s largest city. Sydney’s more than five million residents have been subjected to a 106-day lockdown, designed to limit the march of the highly transmissible Delta variant. With new infections now falling — New South Wales state recorded 477 cases on Sunday — and […]
TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — At least 6,000 Tunisians rallied on Sunday against a presidential power grab in the only democracy to have emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago. Despite checkpoints and security screenings of protesters, it was the biggest rally yet against the actions of President Kais Saied, who on July 25 sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and granted himself judicial powers, after months of political stalemate. Saied followed up the […]
