International

Spain extends virus aid until end of October

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain’s cabinet approved Tuesday the extension of measures to protect the most vulnerable from economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, including a moratorium on home evictions until November. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s coalition government first approved the package of social measures in March 2020 during the height of the first wave of the pandemic in Spain, one of Europe’s hardest-hit nations. The so-called “social shield” includes a ban on leaving […]

Continue Reading →

Sixteen more killed, dozens rescued in India’s monsoon deluge

KOLKATA, India (AFP) — At least 16 people have been killed and a quarter of a million people displaced from their homes after heavy monsoon rains lashed eastern India, officials said Tuesday, as the air force joined rescue efforts. The latest deaths in West Bengal came a few days after 11 people were also killed in the state as the torrent of water swept away homes and triggered landslides. Flooding and landslides are common during […]

Continue Reading →

Over 100 charged with insulting king in one year of Thai protests: tally

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — More than 100 protesters have been charged under Thailand’s royal insult laws since last July, when rallies across the kingdom began demanding reforms to the unassailable monarchy, a lawyer representing the activists and an AFP tally showed Tuesday. A mostly youth-led movement kicked off last summer, fuelled by discontent with the government of Thai Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha, a former military chief who first came to power in a coup in 2014. […]

Continue Reading →

Covid returns to China’s Wuhan as global Delta variant woes mount

by Jing Xuan TENG and AFP Bureaus BEIJING, China (AFP) — Authorities in China’s Wuhan said Tuesday they would test the city’s entire population for Covid-19, as the virus returned to the place where it first emerged and the highly contagious Delta variant drove tightening lockdowns worldwide. A resurgent virus has returned with a vengeance, buoyed by stalling vaccination rates and deadly new mutations even in places which had long touted their successes in overcoming […]

Continue Reading →

Libya gets 2 million Sinopharm doses with more expected

TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Libya called Monday on people to come forward to be vaccinated after it received two million doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, with more on the way. “We call on all our fellow citizens to be vaccinated,” Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah told reporters at Mitiga airport near Tripoli after the shipment arrived. Adding to its security and political problems, the North African country of around seven million people has been hard […]

Continue Reading →

EU sends help to Turkey as wildfire death toll hits eight

by Kadir DEMIR MARMARIS, Turkey (AFP) — The European Union sent help to Turkey on Monday and volunteers joined firefighters in battling a week of violent blazes that have killed eight people and put pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey’s struggles against its deadliest wildfires in decades come as a blistering heatwave grips southeastern Europe creating tinderbox conditions that Greek officials blame squarely on climate change. The fires tearing through Turkey since last Wednesday […]

Continue Reading →

Guadeloupe to lock down amid alarming Covid surge

POINTE-A-PITRE, France (AFP) — France’s overseas territory of Guadeloupe is to return to lockdown for at least three weeks because of a “catastrophic” surge in Covid cases, officials announced Monday. The announcement comes days after Martinique, another region of France 190 kilometres (120 miles) to the south, returned to lockdown on Friday for at least three weeks. And the French island of Reunion entered a partial two-week lockdown this weekend, including a 6:00 pm to […]

Continue Reading →

33 killed as bus hits fuel truck in DR Congo

KIKWIT, DR Congo (AFP) — Thirty-three people died in a horrific collision between a fuel truck and a crowded bus in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend, police said Monday. The victims were engulfed by a “huge fire sparked by the collision” overnight Saturday in the west of the country, local police captain Antoine Pululu told AFP. Another police source said the bodies were destroyed by the flames, adding that the remains that […]

Continue Reading →

Schools in US state offer $1,000 bonus to vaccinated staff

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Schools in a county in the southeastern US state of Georgia will pay $1,000 bonuses to staff who are vaccinated against Covid-19 in a bid to protect themselves from the resurgent pandemic, authorities said. With that incentive county officials said they hope to avoid the “numerous disruptions that were encountered in public education over the past two school years due to a global pandemic.” “Last year was a challenge like […]

Continue Reading →

Biden urges new eviction pause as Delta spreads

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Monday urged the imposition of a new ban on evictions to prevent a wave of homelessness as the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus takes hold. But just a day after a nationwide eviction moratorium expired, Biden acknowledged the administration does not have the legal authority to help renters stay in their homes. That leaves the White House with few tools to deal with […]

Continue Reading →

US hits Biden’s Covid vaccination goal, almost a month late

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Monday hit President Joe Biden’s goal of administering 70 percent of adults with at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, almost a month after the July 4 target date. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website showed that 60.6 percent of adults, and 49.7 percent of the total population, have now been fully vaccinated. The Biden administration initially targeted the country’s Independence Day […]

Continue Reading →

El Salvador bans pork imports over African swine fever fears

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AFP) — El Salvador said it would ban all imports of pork products Sunday, as cases of the highly contagious African swine fever in the Dominican Republic sparked fears of a wider regional outbreak. A highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild pigs, African Swine Fever (ASF) is present in parts of Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. A major outbreak in China in 2018 led to the culling of […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 700 701 702 703 704 … 2,428