KOLKATA, India (AFP) — A powerful cyclone headed for eastern India Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of nearly two million people just a week after another huge storm claimed at least 155 lives on the west coast. Cyclone Yaas in the Bay of Bengal is expected to slam into West Bengal and Odisha states around midday on Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department said, and could bring winds of up to 165 kilometres (100 miles) per hour. […]
International
Up to 2,500 homes destroyed in DR Congo volcano eruption
GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — As many as 2,500 homes were destroyed after the Nyiragongo volcano erupted in eastern DR Congo last weekend, according to an estimate by humanitarian groups Tuesday. Molten lava destroyed between 900 and 2,500 dwellings, said Raphael Tenaud, deputy head of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation, adding that this meant at least 5,000 people were now homeless. © Agence France-Presse
Indonesia arrests four for stealing vaccines meant for prisoners
MEDAN, Indonesia (AFP) — Four people have been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly stealing Covid-19 vaccines marked for prisoners and selling them to the public, authorities said Tuesday. The suspects took more than 1,000 doses made by China’s Sinovac from the prisoners’ quota, offering them to buyers in the capital Jakarta and in North Sumatra’s Medan city for around 250,000 rupiah ($17) each. The four arrested included a doctor at a prison in Medan and […]
‘No change’ on Olympics, Japan says after US virus travel warning
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A new US travel warning for Japan over virus risks will not affect this summer’s pandemic-postponed Olympic Games, the Japanese government and Tokyo 2020 organizers said Tuesday. The US State Department advisory released Monday urges citizens to avoid travel to Japan, where the borders are already closed to almost all foreigners. It cites government health advice, as well as “secondary factors such as commercial flight availability, restrictions on US citizen entry, […]
Singapore Airlines says rerouting flights to avoid Belarus
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore Airlines said Tuesday it was rerouting flights to avoid Belarus after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident. “We are currently rerouting our flights that are bound for Europe to avoid the Belarusian airspace, and we will continue to closely monitor the situation,” a spokesperson told AFP. © Agence France-Presse
New Zealand halts travel bubble with Australian state
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand suspended quarantine-free travel with Australia’s Victoria state over a new coronavirus cluster Tuesday, the fourth time the trans-Tasman travel bubble has been disrupted since it opened last month. Officials in Wellington said they were taking a cautious approach after Melbourne recorded nine locally acquired cases in the past two days, believed to be related to a leak from a quarantine hotel. New Zealand’s Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins […]
Hong Kong could soon throw away millions of unused vaccine doses, including Pfizer jabs
Some 2 million Pfizer doses still to be used by Jerome TAYLOR Agence France Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong may soon have to throw away millions of coronavirus vaccine doses because they are approaching their expiry date and not enough people have signed up for the jabs, an official warned Tuesday. Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world fortunate enough to have secured more than enough doses […]
Volcano death toll rises as aftershocks shake DR Congo
GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Five people were found choked to death on toxic fumes from the eruption of eastern DR Congo’s Nyiragongo volcano on Monday, as strong aftershocks rocked the city of Goma. The deaths bring to 20 the number killed since Africa’s most active volcano erupted on Saturday, spewing red-hot molten lava that engulfed homes in its wake. “We have just discovered five dead people,” civil society leader Mambo Kawaya told AFP, saying […]
China rejects claim of illness at Wuhan lab in late 2019
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Monday dismissed as “totally untrue” reports that three researchers in Wuhan went to hospital with an illness shortly before the coronavirus emerged in the city and spread around the globe. Since infecting its first victims in the central Chinese city in late 2019, the pathogen has afflicted almost every country in the world, killing more than 3.4 million people and pummelling national economies. Beijing has always fiercely fought the […]
More than 200 injured in Malaysia metro train crash
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — More than 200 passengers were injured in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Monday when two metro trains collided in a tunnel, police said. The accident happened just before 9:00 pm (1300 GMT), when a packed train collided with a second that was empty and heading in the opposite direction. Pictures circulating on social media showed injured passengers sprawled on the floor of a carriage, which was covered in glass. […]
Spain urges border respect as 1,000 minors still in Ceuta
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain sent a clear message to Morocco Monday, insisting on respect for its shared borders a week after over 8,000 migrants entered its Ceuta enclave, with 1,000 minors still there. Speaking in Brussels during an EU summit, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the crisis had “triggered a crisis unprecedented in recent years between the European Union and Morocco”. Spain’s two tiny enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla have Europe’s only land border […]
Panama temporarily closes land, sea, and river borders with Colombia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjNBkdnIM2A (Eagle News) — In Central America, Panama has closed the door to travelers trying to enter the country from Colombia. The Panama national government, through a statement released by its foreign ministry, said it had to “temporarily suspend the entry into the national territory by land, sea and river routes of any person coming from the border with the Republic of Colombia, as of May 20, 2021.” Panama only has a total […]





