PARIS, France (AFP) — A total of 160,000 people protested across France on Saturday, the interior ministry said, angered at the country’s Covid health pass system which they say unfairly restricts the unvaccinated. By early evening the authorities had logged 222 separate protest actions, including 14,500 people who turned out in Paris. Sixteen people were arrested and three police officers slightly injured in what was the seventh consecutive weekend of Covid protests. “The vaccine isn’t […]
International
US Gulf coast braces as ‘extremely dangerous’ Hurricane Ida looms
by Daxia ROJAS NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) — People evacuating ahead of Hurricane Ida clogged roads headed north on Saturday from the US Gulf Coast, with the strengthening storm set to hit New Orleans 16 years to the day after devastating Hurricane Katrina. “Ida is turning into a very, very dangerous storm,” President Joe Biden said as it built to a Category 2 hurricane, packing 100 mile (160 kilometer) per hour sustained winds and […]
Anger after UK embassy ‘left Afghan staff details’ in Kabul
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — UK politicians on Friday slammed British diplomats for reportedly leaving Afghan staff’s contact details on the ground as they evacuated the Kabul embassy compound, now guarded by the Taliban. The discovery comes as the UK has acknowledged its hurried evacuation effort left hundreds of eligible Afghans behind. The Times in a front-page story by veteran war correspondent Anthony Loyd reported that he found unshredded documents revealing contact details of […]
UK evacuating last civilians from Kabul on Saturday
LONDON, United States (AFP) — Britain said it will run its last evacuation flights from Kabul on Saturday before pulling out its troops, leaving several hundred Afghans otherwise eligible to fly to the UK behind. The UK is winding up its operation to airlift civilians ahead of the August 31 deadline for US troop withdrawal as Taliban forces prepare to take over the airport. “We’re reaching the end of the evacuation, which will take place […]
Japan probes two deaths after jabs from tainted Moderna batch
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan is investigating the death of two men who received jabs from batches of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine suspended from use due to contamination, the health ministry said Saturday. The men aged 30 and 38 died earlier this month after getting their second Moderna doses from one of three manufacturing lots suspended by the government on Thursday after several vials were found to be contaminated, the ministry said in a statement. […]
US strikes IS target in Afghanistan, pushes airlift into final stage
by David FOX Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — The US conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan on Saturday, as the airlift of those desperate to flee moved into its fraught final stages with fresh terror attack warnings and encroaching Taliban forces primed to take over Kabul airport. US forces overseeing the evacuation have been forced into closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent any repeat of […]
US south coast braces for ‘extremely dangerous’ Hurricane Ida
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Residents evacuated high-risk areas and lined up to buy supplies Friday as Louisiana braced for Hurricane Ida, expected to strengthen to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm when it hits the southern United States this weekend. The National Weather Service is now forecasting a “life-threatening storm surge” when the hurricane makes landfall along the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, warning of “catastrophic wind damage” and urging those in affected areas […]
Judge backs Florida school mask mandate, snubbing conservative governor
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — A judge overruled Florida’s conservative, pro-Trump governor Friday and said the state’s schools can make mask-wearing mandatory. Judge John Cooper sided with a group of parents who had filed a lawsuit challenging an executive order by Governor Ron DeSantis that barred schools from making students and school staff wearing masks to fight Covid-19. Several school districts in Florida had decided to make masks mandatory because of a rise in […]
India vaccinates 10 million in one day
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India has given more than 10 million Covid-19 jabs in a single day for the first time, authorities said Saturday, as the South Asian giant bolsters its defences for a predicted new surge. The health ministry said the 10 million landmark was passed on Friday, beating the country’s previous daily record of 9.2 million. The government has been stung by criticism after a brutal coronavirus wave in April and May […]
Chinese embassy slams US ‘political manipulation’ in Covid origins report
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — China’s embassy in Washington Friday accused the US intelligence community of “political manipulation” after a report in which Beijing was accused of withholding key information about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The report by the US intelligence community shows that the US is bent on going down the wrong path of political manipulation,” the embassy said in a statement. “The report by the intelligence community is based on the […]
US tells citizens to leave Kabul airport gates ‘immediately’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States urged its citizens Friday to “immediately” leave the gates around Kabul’s airport, where a suicide bomber this week targeted crowds trying to flee Taliban rule. Earlier Friday, the Pentagon said that the high-risk Kabul airlift operation to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies still faced “specific, credible threats”. “US citizens who are at the Abbey gate, East gate, North gate or the New Ministry of Interior gate now […]
DR Congo’s former health official held over Covid funds fraud
KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — Former DR Congo health minister Eteni Longondo was detained on Friday over the alleged misappropriation of funds allocated to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, official sources said. Longondo “was placed under a provisional arrest warrant this evening” following lengthy questioning, a government source said. The former health minister, who was in office until April, was taken to the Makala prison in the capital Kinshasa, according to a prison official […]





