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BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Riot police fired water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters in Bangkok Tuesday as hundreds rallied for democratic reform and against the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Demonstrators defied a ban on public gatherings as Thailand tries to quash its worst virus outbreak so far, with new cases hovering around the 20,000 mark daily. The slow start to the coronavirus vaccination program in Thailand and economic pain from […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — The United States has promised to send 8.5 million more coronavirus vaccines to Mexico as the Latin American country battles a third wave of infections, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday. The offer came during a phone call between Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, when they also discussed migrant flows and prospects of reopening the border. “The United States is […]
CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — Guinea has recorded the first known case of Marburg virus, a lethal cousin to Ebola, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) says. Here is a factfile on the disease (source: WHO, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). – What is Marburg? – Marburg virus is a highly dangerous pathogen that causes haemorrhagic fever. According to past outbreaks, the average fatality rate is 50 percent, in a range of 24-88 […]
by Beiyi SEOW DANDONG, China (AFP) — A Chinese court on Wednesday jailed Canadian businessman Michael Spavor for 11 years after finding him guilty of spying in a case his country has condemned as politically motivated. Spavor was detained in 2018 along with compatriot Michael Kovrig on what Ottawa has said are trumped-up charges after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a US extradition warrant. Relations between the two countries have hit rock […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore on Wednesday upgraded its growth forecast for this year as the trade-reliant economy’s key export markets pick up strength thanks to rapid coronavirus vaccine rollouts. The prosperous city-state, one of the world’s most open economies, suffered its worst ever recession last year as it was hammered by the pandemic. But stronger overseas demand is helping to power a rebound, which is being closely watched as Singapore is seen as a […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Seoul will face a “serious security crisis” for going ahead with its joint military drills with the United States, a senior Pyongyang official threatened Wednesday, saying the South had missed its opportunity to improve inter-Korean ties. The statement by Kim Yong Chol came just a day after Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, demanded Washington withdraw its forces from the peninsula. The US and South […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Five million people in Australia’s second-largest city will remain under stay-at-home orders for at least another week after authorities extended a lockdown Wednesday after failing to curb Melbourne’s latest Covid outbreak. The city entered its sixth pandemic lockdown last Thursday after a fresh Delta variant cluster emerged at a Melbourne school and quickly spread. Daniel Andrews, the premier of the state of Victoria, said lockdown rules will be extended until at […]
by Lucie AUBOURG WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The recent surge of Covid-19, driven by the Delta variant, has reignited political controversy around mask-wearing in the United States, with some governors opposing all measures to make masks mandatory despite advice from health authorities. The dispute feels familiar, harkening back to the early days of the pandemic when masks became a symbol of political affiliation in the US — the clash led by then-president Donald Trump, […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany will end free coronavirus tests in October, regional leaders and the federal government agreed on Tuesday, in a push to incentivise more people to get vaccinated. Covid-19 tests or proof of vaccination or recovery will be required to access facilities including restaurants, cinemas and gyms, in areas where infection rates rise above a certain threshold. From October those who refuse to get jabbed will have to pay to prove they […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — US biotech company Moderna will build a plant in Canada to produce vaccines for Covid-19 and other respiratory infections, the Canadian government and the company announced Tuesday. Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne made the announcement with the head of Moderna, saying the plant would fulfill orders for its messenger RNA vaccines, with manufacturers struggling to meet soaring demand for Covid-19 shots worldwide. “The collaboration aims to provide Canadians with access to a […]
ALGIERS, Algeria (AFP) — Wildfires fanned by blistering temperatures and tinder-dry conditions have killed at least 42 people in Algeria, authorities said on Tuesday, adding that the fires had criminal origins. Late Tuesday the toll stood at 25 soldiers and 17 civilians killed. Photographs posted on social media show huge walls of flame and billowing clouds of smoke towering over charred trees in the forested hills of the Kabylie region, east of the capital Algiers. […]
MONTREAL,Canada (AFP) — Canadians wanting to eat at a restaurant, go to a bar or gym, or attend a festival in Quebec will have to present a vaccine passport starting September 1, officials announced Tuesday. The province will be the first in Canada to require such passes, which are increasingly being used across the world to limit entry to public places to those who have been vaccinated, recovered from Covid-19 or tested negative. They are […]
