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by AFP Bureaus France and Belgium further relaxed their Covid-19 restrictions Wednesday, allowing restaurants and cafes to serve indoors, while the United States eased travel warnings for dozens of countries as vaccinations boost hopes of a return to normal life. The pandemic’s impact on life around the planet was also illustrated Wednesday with a shake-up of the list of the world’s most liveable cities, with Auckland rocketing to the top on the back of […]
KOLKATA, India (AFP) — Lightning strikes killed 27 people and four passengers on a flight were hospitalized after severe turbulence during monsoon storms in eastern India, officials said Tuesday. Lightning strikes during the June-September annual monsoon are fairly common in India. Officials said West Bengal was hit by thunderstorms late Monday, with lightning strikes in parts of the state. “Many of the 27 killed on Monday evening… in the state were farmers and working in […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam, once a model for its successful handling of the pandemic, has started asking for public donations to buy vaccines as it struggles to contain a new coronavirus wave. The Southeast Asian country has vaccinated only about one percent of its population of nearly 100 million, and authorities have become increasingly alarmed by a recent spike in cases. Since last week, mobile phone users have received up to three text messages […]
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) — Burkina Faso said Tuesday that more than 7,000 people had fled the country’s volatile north following the bloodiest massacre in a six-year-old jihadist insurgency. “Steps have already been taken to give (displaced people) a minimum level of comfort, lodgings, and food,” Prime Minister Christophe Dabire said, promising on a visit to the area that the attack “will not go unpunished”. Dabire’s advisers told AFP that 7,600 people had fled to […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Five million Melbourne residents will exit lockdown Thursday after Australian authorities said their adherence to strict rules had “changed the course” of a coronavirus outbreak in the city. After two weeks under stay-at-home orders, the toughest restrictions in Australia’s second-biggest city will be lifted from 11:59 pm Thursday, after just one new virus case was recorded on Tuesday. “This is a good day. Everyone should be absolutely proud of what we […]
by Jerome RIVET with Adam PLOWRIGHT in Paris TAIN- I’HERMITAGE, France (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped in the face while greeting a crowd in southeast France on Tuesday, in a shock incident he shrugged off as “isolated” but which drew widespread condemnation in a tense political climate. Video footage on social media shows Macron shaking hands with voters when a man in a green t-shirt takes hold of his forearm and slaps […]
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AFP) — The CoronaVac vaccine reduces coronavirus mortality by 97 percent, according to early results of the immunization campaign in Uruguay, which relies heavily on the Chinese jab. In people who had received two doses, it reduced infection with the coronavirus by 57 percent and intensive care admissions by 95 percent, said a report by the health ministry of the South American nation. Compared to other vaccines in use, there have been few […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has approved the emergency use of a Covid-19 vaccine for those as young as three, the drugmaker confirmed Tuesday, making it the first country to offer jabs to young children. Since the coronavirus first emerged in central China, Beijing has mostly managed to bring the country’s outbreak under control, and has administered over 777 million vaccine doses after a sluggish start. A spokesperson for Sinovac told AFP its vaccine had […]
by Shaun TANDON WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday eased its warnings against travel to a number of major nations including Olympics host Japan, raising hopes that widespread vaccinations will bring a return to normal travel. Close US allies and neighbors including Canada, Mexico, France and Germany also received upgrades, with the State Department asking Americans to reconsider travel but ending its blanket advice not to go at all. South Korea […]
SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — Chile on Tuesday inaugurated Latin America’s first-ever thermosolar energy plant, a vast complex dubbed Cerro Dominador in the Atacama desert that gives a boost to the country’s quest for carbon-neutrality by 2050. In an area exceeding 700 hectares, 10,600 mirrors surround a 250-meter-high tower topped with a receiver onto which the Sun’s rays are reflected. Molten salts in the receiver absorb the heat and are then used to generate electricity — […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York is planning to host a major concert in Central Park in August as a way to celebrate the city’s “rebirth” following the Covid-19 pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. No program details were revealed, but De Blasio has asked veteran music producer Clive Davis — who often draws A-listers to his events — to organize the line-up. “You can see the comeback happening,” De Blasio told […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden reaffirmed US support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity Monday after Russian troop movements on its border, and invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden talked by phone with Zelensky, telling him “he will stand up firmly for Ukraine’s sovereignty” and “looks forward to welcoming him to the White House this summer.” The invitation to visit in July marked […]
