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BEIJING, China (AFP) — The number of Covid-19 jabs administered in China has passed the one billion mark, health officials said Sunday, more than a third of the doses given worldwide. The announcement by the National Health Commission comes after the number of shots administered globally surpassed 2.5 billion on Friday, according to an AFP count from official sources. It is unclear what percentage of China’s population has now been inoculated but its vaccination […]
by Louis GENOT Agence France Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil on Saturday became the second country after the United States to surpass 500,000 Covid-19 deaths as the South American giant grapples with a third wave of the pandemic. “500,000 lives lost due to the pandemic that affects our Brazil and the world,” Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga tweeted. The Health Ministry reported 500,800 deaths, including 2,301 in the last 24 hours, a […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s capital Moscow on Friday registered 9,056 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, a record since the start of the pandemic, according to government statistics. Some 9,056 new cases were recorded in the megapolis of 12 million in the past 24 hours, up from 3,000 two weeks ago and a new daily record since the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020, according to official statistics. Country-wide, 17,262 new cases were […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese police have detained eight suspects over a gas blast that killed 25 people and reduced several buildings to rubble in the central city of Shiyan, authorities said Friday. Over a hundred people were injured in the explosion, which struck a busy two-storey building packed with shoppers and people eating breakfast in the Hubei province city on Sunday morning. Eight suspects, including the general manager of the company that owned the […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — One person was killed and a dozen injured in a drive-by shooting spree Thursday as a gunman roamed the streets in the southwestern US state of Arizona, police said. Over the course of one-and-a-half hours, a suspect opened fire in at least eight sites around communities outside Phoenix, apparently at random, before he was taken into custody at a traffic stop. As well as the fatality, three other people […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his country needs to prepare for “both dialogue and confrontation” with the United States under President Joe Biden, state media reported Friday. At a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea on Thursday, Kim outlined his strategy for relations with Washington, and the “policy tendency of the newly emerged US administration”, the Korean Central News Agency […]
by Laurent Lozano DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — Guinea will announce an end to its Ebola epidemic this weekend, the health minister said Thursday, hailing the rapid response to the second outbreak of the disease in the country. Speaking during a webinar hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO), Health Minister Remy Lamah said the viral epidemic will be declared over on Saturday — barring the discovery of new cases. “The availability of epidemic treatment centres […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Thursday recorded 11,007 new daily coronavirus cases, with the emergence of the Delta variant pushing the figure above 10,000 for the first time since late February. The government on Monday announced it was delaying steps to lift restrictions due to concern over the spread of the new strain, first detected in India. The government said a four-week delay would give it time to fully vaccinate millions more. The […]
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AFP) — Kuwait announced Thursday it would allow foreigners who have been fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus to enter the country from August 1, after a months-long suspension. The Gulf country in February banned the entry of non-citizens in a bid to limit the spread of the virus, but has started to ease some of its Covid-19 restrictions in recent weeks. Government spokesman Tareq al-Mizrem said foreign travelers will need to […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The administration of US President Joe Biden announced plans on Thursday to spend $3.2 billion to accelerate the development and discovery of antiviral treatments against Covid-19 and future threats. The plan is called the Antiviral Program for Pandemics and its funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion package passed by Congress in March. “Antivirals are an important complement to existing vaccines, especially for individuals with certain conditions […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A top aide said Thursday that US President Joe Biden’s first foreign trip showed G7 and NATO unity in pushing back on Beijing but that Biden was also ready to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping. Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, said Biden showed an alternative to China by leading the Group of Seven in a new infrastructure initiative and that a NATO summit for the first time succeeded in […]
by Maria Panina and Sebastian Smith Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin sought to cool tensions in the combustible US-Russian relationship at their first summit in Geneva on Wednesday, with the US president saying his Kremlin counterpart doesn’t want a new Cold War. The two leaders emerged cautiously positive after more than three hours of talks, including two hours alone with just the Russian foreign minister and US […]
