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by Dibyangshu SARKAR DIGHA, India (AFP) — Heavy rains and howling winds lashed eastern India on Wednesday as the Covid-stricken country’s second cyclone in as many weeks battered the coast, forcing more than 1.2 million people to seek shelter. Many scientists say cyclones are becoming more frequent and severe in the northern Indian Ocean as climate change warms the sea. Last week Cyclone Tauktae claimed at least 155 lives in western India. The latest system, […]
by Alexandria SAGE with Jordi MIRO in Brasilia ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italian prosecutors and police on Tuesday cheered the capture in Brazil of a leading mafia boss who has skirted justice in Italy for nearly 30 years. Rocco Morabito, number two on the Italian interior ministry’s most dangerous fugitives list, was arrested Monday in northeast Brazil. His capture came almost two years after his audacious escape from a prison in Uruguay, where he was […]
by Sunghee Hwang SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Nuclear-armed North Korea is advancing on the front lines of cyberwarfare, analysts say, stealing billions of dollars and presenting a clearer and more present danger than its banned weapons programmes. Pyongyang is under multiple international sanctions over its atomic bomb and ballistic missile programmes, which have seen rapid progress under North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But while the world’s diplomatic focus has been on its nuclear […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The coronavirus variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization report showed Wednesday. Additionally, the WHO has received information from unofficial sources that the B.1.617 variant has been found in seven other territories, figures in the UN health agency’s weekly epidemiological update showed, taking the total to 60. The report said B.1.617 had shown increased transmissibility, while disease severity […]
SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — The Jesuit congregation of Chile has acknowledged that its priests sexually abused 64 people, including 34 children, between 2005 and 2020, according to a report from the Catholic order obtained by AFP Tuesday. Eleven Jesuit priests were found guilty following an internal investigation of “abusive situations with a sexual connotation” involving underage victims, according to the report by the Society of Jesus, known colloquially as the Jesuits. Of the perpetrators, […]
by Franceso Gilioli with Alexandria Sage in Rome STRESA, Italy (AFP) — Investigators were on Monday probing the causes of a horrific cable car crash in the Italian mountains that left 14 people dead and a five-year-old child as the sole survivor. The boy, who lost his parents, grandparents and two-year-old sibling in Sunday’s accident, was hospitalized in a critical condition, but there were hopes for his recovery. “He is still under intensive care, intubated […]
KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — A cholera outbreak in northern Nigeria has killed at least 20 people in the past two weeks with more than 300 hospitalized from the disease, a health official said Tuesday. Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, suffers from a high rate of water-borne diseases as a result of dilapidated infrastructure and under-investment. The latest outbreak in Bauchi state was reported in nine districts, with the state capital Bauchi worst hit, Mohammed Maigoro, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Half of all US adults have now received full Covid-19 vaccines, the White House said Tuesday, marking another huge milestone in the fight against the pandemic. “Now 50% of all American adults are fully vaccinated,” tweeted Cyrus Shahpar, Covid-19 data director for the White House. That means half the adult population has received either two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, or one of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson. […]
by Marc BURLEIGH BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — EU leaders on Tuesday welcomed the introduction of a bloc-wide Covid-19 pass that they hope will unlock a tourist surge this summer. The 27 member states want the EU Digital Covid Certificate, to be launched July 1, to turn the page on coronavirus restrictions that have crimped Europeans’ cherished freedom of movement. Coupled with a separate plan to let in fully vaccinated travelers from countries outside the EU, […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll surpassed 450,000 on Tuesday, as delays plague the hard-hit country’s vaccine rollout and epidemiologists warned a brutal new surge of the virus could be coming. The health ministry reported 2,173 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the official number of lives lost to the coronavirus in Brazil to 452,031, second only to the United States. The situation has stabilized somewhat, with an average of […]
MINSK, Belarus (AFP) — Belarus on Tuesday sentenced seven activists, including senior opposition figure Pavel Severinets, to jail terms of four to seven years, a journalist reported from court. In a trial held behind closed doors in a court in the eastern Mogilev region, the activists were found guilty of taking part in “mass unrest”, referring to the historic protests that erupted after a disputed presidential election last August. The demonstrations gripped the country for […]
by Serge Daniel and Kassim Traore BAMAKO, Mali (AFP) — Mali was in turmoil Tuesday after disgruntled army officers detained the president and the prime minister, sparking fears of a coup less than a year after the last military takeover in the impoverished west African nation. The newest crisis to hit the vast country where jihadists control large swathes of territory sparked widespread international condemnation. Army officers upset with a government reshuffle detained President Bah […]
