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ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greece is suffering its worst heatwave since 1987, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Monday, as forecasters said temperatures could hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) later. The intense heat has helped fan wildfires that have destroyed more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of pine and olive groves in the country’s west since Saturday. © Agence France-Presse
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s daily Covid caseload crossed 37,000 mark for the first time on Monday, the health ministry said, as the Islamic republic also recorded its highest daily fatalities in three months. In the past 24 hours, Iran registered a record 37,189 positive cases, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 3,940,708. The record caseload is Iran’s fourth in two weeks as positive cases surge in what […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — Seasonal workers from selected Pacific countries will be allowed into New Zealand without undergoing two weeks in quarantine, Jacinda Ardern said Monday. The expansion of the travel bubble will be restricted to workers from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu employed in the horticulture and viticulture industries where there are not enough New Zealand-based workers. “This new one-way travel policy will significantly expand the potential workforce available for those experiencing labour shortages,” […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysian political heavyweights Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim put aside long-running animosity and joined an opposition protest Monday against the shutdown of parliament and demand the country’s embattled premier resign. The final day of a parliament session, due to take place Monday, has been cancelled after the discovery of several coronavirus cases in the legislature. But rivals accused Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin of using Covid-19 as an excuse to dodge […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Troops hit Sydney’s streets on Monday to help enforce its prolonged lockdown, as stay-at-home orders in Australia’s third-largest city Brisbane were extended to curb a worsening outbreak. About 300 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed to the country’s largest city after New South Wales state police requested military help to enforce Covid-19 rules. Authorities have been struggling to stop the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney — […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Millions of people were confined to their homes in China Monday as the country tried to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months with mass testing and travel curbs. China on Monday reported 55 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases, as an outbreak of the fast-spreading Delta variant reached over 20 cities and more than a dozen provinces. Local governments in major cities including Beijing have now tested millions of residents, while […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A 5.9 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region Monday, the United States Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage. The quake hit at a relatively shallow depth of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles), about 180 kilometers northeast of Tual city. Shallow quakes tend to do more damage than deep tremors. Indonesia experiences frequent quakes due to its position on the […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thailand has extended a night-time curfew and other virus restrictions to 16 more provinces beginning Tuesday as the kingdom’s Covid-19 death toll soared to a new record. The Southeast Asian country is struggling to contain its latest outbreak fuelled by the Delta variant, with infections and deaths skyrocketing and the healthcare system stretched thin. Severe curbs on daily life including a seven-hour night-time curfew have already hit residents in a dozen […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Sunday that a planned military exercise between Seoul and Washington would “becloud” relations, state-run media reported. The warning comes amid a surprise thaw on the Korean peninsula, prompted by a series of personal letters between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The two sides on Tuesday restored cross-border communications that were severed more than a year ago, announcing […]
by Raziye AKKOC with AFP bureaus ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Dozens of villages were evacuated in tourist hotspots in southern Turkey on Sunday as wildfires that have claimed eight lives raged for a fifth day, while blazes also hit Greece, Italy and Spain. Fanned by soaring temperatures and strong winds — with experts saying that climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such blazes — this year’s fire season has been significantly more […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany plans to start offering Covid-19 booster shots to the elderly and at-risk from September 1, according to a draft document seen by AFP on Sunday, as concerns grow about the spread of the Delta variant. The plan also recommends promoting vaccination for those aged 12-17, which would go further than earlier guidance issued by the country’s vaccine regulator. Health Minister Jens Spahn and Germany’s 16 regional health ministers are expected […]
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — Cambodia began a roll out of Covid-19 vaccinations for teenagers in its capital Phnom Penh and three provinces Sunday, with Premier Hun Sen’s grandchildren among the first to get the jab. Several countries in Southeast Asia are currently experiencing a deadly Covid-19 resurgence largely driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, which has set back the region’s successes last year in curbing pandemic tolls. While Cambodia appeared to have escaped […]
