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TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — Israel on Monday began administering a third shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to patients with compromised immune systems, as cases in the country rise, the health ministry said. Those immediately eligible for a third shot include people who have had heart, lung and kidney transplants and some cancer patients. “There is accumulating evidence that patients with immunosuppression do not develop an adequate antibody response after two doses of the […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Several people reportedly taking selfies near a historical fort in northern India were among nearly 80 killed by lightning strikes during the early stages of the annual monsoon season, officials said Monday. Deadly lightning strikes are common in the vast Asian nation during the June-September deluge, which bring respite from the summer heat across the northern Indian plains. Of the 76 killed, at least 23 people died in the mostly […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — The Spanish tourist regions of Catalonia and Valencia on Monday announced new measures to rein in the growing spread of coronavirus. Regional leaders in northeastern Catalonia said all public activities must finish at half past midnight, and no more than 10 people will be allowed to gather in private or public places. “The data are more than worrying, they are frankly very, very bad,” Catalonia’s public health secretary Josep Maria Argimon […]
by Andrew MARSZAL LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Wildfires were burning across more than one million acres of the western United States and Canada on Monday, as scorching temperatures held their grip on areas reeling from a brutal weekend heat wave. Some 850,000 acres were on fire in the United States — mainly in western states such as Oregon, California and Arizona — while more than 300,000 acres smoldered in Canada’s British Columbia alone, […]
by Bassem al-Rikabi NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — At least 41 people died when fire engulfed the coronavirus isolation ward of an Iraqi hospital on Monday, the second such deadly blaze in three months, a health official said. The fire broke out at the Al-Hussein hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah late Monday and was brought under control by local civil defence forces. Another health official, Haydar al-Zamili, told AFP that the “fire… ripped […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Irish no-frills airline Ryanair unveiled plans Monday to hire more than 2,000 additional pilots as it navigates a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The pilots will fly Ryanair’s planned new fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, which are aimed at cutting costs, fuel consumption, noise and CO2 emissions, the Dublin-based carrier added in a statement. Ryanair had in May posted an annual net loss of 1.0 billion euros ($1.18 billion) […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Two Chinese vaccine makers, Sinovac and Sinopharm, have agreed to immediately begin making more than 100 million Covid vaccine doses available to the Covax distribution facility, Gavi said Monday. “The agreements, which come at a time when the Delta variant is posing a rising risk to health systems, will begin to make 110 million doses immediately available to participants of the Covax facility, with options for additional doses,” said the vaccine […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A hotel collapsed in eastern China Monday, leaving at least one person dead and 10 others missing, the local government said. Rescuers had pulled seven survivors from the rubble of the budget Siji Kaiyuan hotel in the popular tourist city of Suzhou, according to a statement on the city government’s official social media account. The Suzhou government said it was “sparing no effort to treat the injured”, adding that authorities were […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — More than 50 people were killed in lightning strikes across several states in India, authorities said Monday, including 11 people at a historic fort. Hundreds of people are killed each year in intense storms at the start of the monsoon season, which bring respite from the summer heat across the northern Indian plains. Media reports said about 10 other people were killed Sunday in the desert state of Rajasthan and […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Over ten million people were placed under fresh Covid-19 restrictions and a curfew in the Thai capital Monday, as the kingdom battles a surge of cases worsened by the highly infectious Alpha and Delta variants. Thailand has so far recorded more than 345,000 cases and 2,791 deaths — with the bulk of them coming in this latest wave that kicked off in April. First detected in clubs frequented by the Thai […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern on Monday announced a hastily convened virtual meeting of APEC leaders this week to discuss the Asia-Pacific region’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic impact. Ardern is scheduled to host the annual 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit online in November, but called an additional ‘informal’ meeting for this Friday to examine immediate steps to address the crisis. “This is the first time in […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Hundreds of flights were cancelled in Beijing as schools and tourist sites were shut due to torrential downpours and gale-force winds on Monday. City authorities issued warnings to residents to stay home as the Chinese capital faced its biggest storm this year. As much as 100 millimetres of rain is predicted through the day in some areas, and aviation tracker VariFlight recorded some 700 flights cancelled at the city’s two airports. […]
