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by Delphine TOUITOU WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — After kicking their massive lending powers into overdrive to help the nations hardest hit by Covid-19 last year, the IMF and the World Bank are now focusing on getting vaccines to poor countries to keep the pandemic from derailing the global economic recovery. Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva is spearheading a $50 billion joint effort with the World Health Organization to expand vaccine […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Moderna said Tuesday it was applying for full approval in the United States of its Covid-19 vaccine for people aged 18 and over, joining Pfizer which made the same request last month. The vaccine has been available since December 18, 2020 under an “emergency use authorization” intended to make life-saving medications available as fast as possible. More than 124 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the US. […]
by Amal JAYASINGHE COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — A fire aboard a ship that triggered Sri Lanka’s worst-ever marine ecological disaster was finally extinguished Tuesday after a 13-day international operation, the navy said. The near two-week inferno prompted a mammoth clean-up operation as huge volumes of microplastic granules from the Singapore-registered ship’s containers inundated 80 kilometers (50 miles) of beach. The unprecedented pollution forced a fishing ban and saw thousands of troops deployed to scoop […]
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Low pay, 24-hour shifts and severe shortages of staff and protective gear have left many doctors on the frontlines of India’s brutal pandemic surge near breaking point and fearful for their lives. Coronavirus infections have killed at least 165,000 people in the vast South Asian nation — home to some of the world’s most densely populated cities — since the start of April. Although India’s latest Covid-19 […]
by Laurent BANGUET PARADISE, United States (AFP) — “Now, when there’s smoke here, everybody panics,” said Steve Crowder, mayor of the small town of Paradise that was almost wiped off the map by California’s deadly 2018 wildfires. The former police officer still struggles to hold back tears when talking about the blaze that claimed dozens of lives and engulfed 95 percent of his community’s buildings. “It’s still hard to get over the 85 people that […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — A coronavirus lockdown of Australia’s second-biggest city will be extended by another seven days, authorities announced Wednesday, as they attempt to stamp out a cluster of cases in Melbourne. “We have right now 60 cases and over 350 exposure sites and a variant of the virus that is quicker and more contagious than we have ever seen before,” said James Merlino, the acting premier of the state of Victoria. © Agence […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia scrambled jets to intercept 16 Chinese military aircraft off the country’s coast in the South China Sea, a rare incident that the foreign minister angrily denounced Tuesday as an “intrusion”. It took place Monday off the Malaysian part of Borneo island over the fiercely contested waters, where China and Malaysia have overlapping territorial claims. The Chinese air force transport planes approached Malaysian airspace in “tactical formation” and flew to […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Tuesday reported zero daily deaths from Covid-19 for the first time since last July, despite a recent rise in cases linked to the Delta variant. According to the latest government figures, 127,782 people in the UK have died within 28 days of a positive test since the start of the pandemic — the worst death toll in any European country. The UK has had 4.49 million cases in […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The WHO said Tuesday that only one strain of the Covid-19 Delta variant first detected in India was now considered “of concern”, while two other strains had been downgraded. The B.1.617 variant of the virus, which has in part been blamed for India’s explosive outbreak, has been dubbed a triple mutant variant since it is split into three lineages. The UN health agency last month declared the entire strain a “variant […]
PUEBLA, Mexico (AFP) — A giant sinkhole that was expanding by dozens of meters each day has alarmed residents in a rural area of central Mexico where it was threatening to swallow a house. When the Sanchez family heard a loud crash on Saturday they first thought that it was a lightning strike. But they soon discovered that the ground had collapsed just meters from their home in a field in Santa Maria Zacatepec in […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel inched closer to lifting Covid restrictions Tuesday as its caseload remains tiny following a sweeping nationwide vaccination campaign. People are no longer required to show vaccination certificates to enter restaurants and entertainment venues, and capacity limits on businesses have been lifted. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said his office would discuss ending an indoor mask requirement over the coming two weeks. “The Israeli economy and public may have some more breathing” […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern toured flood-hit areas of the country’s South Island on Tuesday, expressing shock at the destruction left when three months’ worth of rain fell in three days. Swollen rivers swept away bridges and landslides blocked highways in the deluge, which finally began to ease on Tuesday after a 72-hour barrage that Ardern described as a once-in-a-century event. “It’s quite devastating, there’s a lot of work […]
