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by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse Weather-related disasters have skyrocketed over the past half-century, causing far more damage even as better warning systems have meant fewer deaths, the UN said Wednesday. A report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) examined mortality and economic losses from weather, climate and water extremes between 1970 and 2019. It found that such disasters have increased fivefold during that period, driven largely by a warming planet, and warned […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization has said it is monitoring a new coronavirus variant known as “Mu”, which was first identified in Colombia in January. Mu, known scientifically as B.1.621, has been classified as a “variant of interest”, the global health body said Tuesday in its weekly pandemic bulletin. The WHO said the variant has mutations that indicate a risk of resistance to vaccines and stressed that further studies were needed to […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Ireland on Tuesday announced that it will fully reopen on October 22 after 18 months of rolling lockdowns introduced to limit coronavirus infections. “The time is now right to begin the move from regulation and widespread restrictions on people’s personal freedom, to an approach primarily defined by public health advice, personal behaviour, judgement and responsibility,” prime minister Micheal Martin said in a televised broadcast. From September 6, there will be […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said Britain owed “an immense debt” to Afghans who worked with NATO forces as he announced “vital support” for those resettling in the UK. But his government is coming under fire after thousands of Afghans who helped NATO and are eligible to move to Britain under the “Relocations and Assistance Policy” were believed to be have been left stranded in Afghanistan, where they are […]
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Thirty-two passengers died, including two children, and more than 20 were injured when a bus plummeted from a cliff in Peru early Tuesday, officials said, in the country’s third multiple-victim transport accident in four days. The accident happened on a narrow stretch of the Carretera Central road some 37 miles (60 kilometers) east of the capital Lima. “Unfortunately, at the moment, there are 32 dead,” said police commander Cesar Cervantes. A […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York prosecutors on Tuesday charged 15 people in a fake vaccination card conspiracy masterminded by a woman known as “AntiVaxMomma” — a case that highlights the black market for false proofs of inoculation against Covid-19. Jasmine Clifford, a 31-year-old from New Jersey, is accused of selling approximately 250 forged cards through her Instagram account @AntiVaxMomma, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said in a statement. Starting in May this […]
by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden made a forceful defense Tuesday of his “wise” decision to leave Afghanistan, telling Americans he refuses to send another generation to fight in a “forever war.” The traumatic departure from Afghanistan, completed Monday after 20 years of war against the Taliban, was “a wise decision and the best decision for America,” Biden said in an address to the nation. After coming under fire from […]
by Daxia ROJAS NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) — Louisiana and Mississippi took stock Tuesday of the disaster inflicted by powerful Hurricane Ida, as receding floodwaters began to reveal the full extent of the damage along the US Gulf Coast and the death toll rose to four. New Orleans was still mostly without power nearly two days after Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 storm, exactly 16 years after devastating Hurricane […]
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AFP) — There is “no evidence” that a Guinean woman who tested positive for Ebola after arriving in neighbouring Ivory Coast had the disease, the WHO said on Tuesday citing a new analysis from a lab in France. Her diagnosis in mid-August was thought to be the first confirmed case of Ebola in the west African country since 1994. The diagnoses sparked a huge contact-tracing operation by the World Health Organization and […]
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel on Tuesday recorded its highly daily coronavirus case tally of nearly 11,000 new infections, amid a surge caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant as schools prepare to re-open. The previous high came on January 18, with 10,118 cases. Despite Tuesday’s 10,947 confirmed cases, Israel is pressing ahead with plans to fully open its school system on Wednesday as it tries to boost vaccination rates. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka on Tuesday declared a state of emergency over food shortages as private banks ran out of foreign exchange to finance imports. With the country suffering a hard-hitting economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he ordered emergency regulations to counter the hoarding of sugar, rice and other essential foods. Rajapaksa has named a top army officer as “Commissioner General of Essential Services to coordinate the supply of paddy, rice, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military disabled scores of aircraft and armored vehicles as well as a high-tech rocket defense system at the Kabul airport before it left Monday, a US general said. Central Command head General Kenneth McKenzie said 73 aircraft that were already at Hamid Karzai International Airport were “demilitarized,” or rendered useless, by US troops before they wrapped up the two-week evacuation of the Taliban-controlled country. “Those aircraft will never […]
