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by John HADOULIS ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Hundreds of Greek firefighters fought for a second day on Friday to bring a large forest blaze under control, with better weather conditions providing hope the flames could be subdued. Nearly 300 firefighters battled throughout the night to keep the fire contained on the Geraneia mountain range, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Athens. “Conditions are much better (today),” fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told Skai TV, adding […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday welcomed a ceasefire brokered between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, after 11 days of deadly fighting. “Good that there is now a ceasefire,” Maas tweeted, a day after he visited Israel and Ramallah for talks. “Now we have to deal with the causes, rebuild trust and find a solution to the Middle East conflict,” he said. © […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo could freeze all aid to Myanmar, Japan’s foreign minister warned in an interview published Friday, as the military junta continues to use lethal force against opponents of its coup. Japan is a top donor to Myanmar, and has already suspended new aid after the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But Toshimitsu Motegi, speaking to the Nikkei newspaper, said the freeze could be expanded. “We don’t want to […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden signed a hate crimes law Thursday aimed at protecting Asian Americans who have suffered a surge in attacks during the Covid-19 pandemic. Racism, Biden told Asian American politicians and senior members of Congress in a packed room at the White House, is “an ugly poison that has long plagued our nation.” Reeling off a list of violent incidents, which took place against a backdrop of anti-Chinese […]
by Sakher Abou El Oun with Ben Simon in Jerusalem JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, came into force early Friday after 11 days of deadly fighting that pounded the Palestinian enclave and forced countless Israelis to seek shelter from rockets. Celebrations were heard on Gaza streets in the minutes after the truce began as cars honked their horns and some guns were […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The Eiffel Tower will reopen on July 16 after several months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Paris landmark’s operator said on Thursday. Visitor numbers will be limited to 10,000 a day to meet social distancing requirements, fewer than half of their pre-Covid levels, operator Sete told AFP. All floors of the monument will be accessible to visitors, except some areas where renovation work is ongoing. Only 50 percent […]
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) — Bangladesh authorities on Thursday imposed a lockdown in five Rohingya refugee camps in the country’s southeast after a spike in coronavirus cases in recent days, officials said. The restrictions barred gatherings and movement between camps, which are home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees, Bangladesh’s deputy refugee commissioner Shamsud Douza told AFP. “We imposed the restrictions from today after sudden spikes in coronavirus cases in the five camps,” he said, […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil has detected its first six cases of the so-called Indian variant of the Covid-19 virus, in crew members who arrived aboard a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, officials said Thursday. Tests “identified the B.1.617.2 variant of the Covid-19 virus in samples taken from crew of the MV Shandong Da Zhi,” which arrived from South Africa, the health ministry for the northeastern state of Maranhao said in a statement. “In […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Progress against the coronavirus pandemic remains “fragile” and international travel should be avoided, the World Health Organization’s Europe director warned on Thursday but stressed that authorized vaccines do work against variants of concern. “Right now, in the face of a continued threat and new uncertainty, we need to continue to exercise caution, and rethink or avoid international travel,” Hans Kluge said, adding that “pockets of increasing transmission” on the continent could […]
by Hazel Ward with Daniel Silva in Madrid CEUTA, Spain (AFP) — The seas were calm along the Moroccan-Spanish frontier late Wednesday with no sign of swimmers trying to reach Spain’s north African Ceuta enclave after a record 8,000 arrivals in just one day. Spanish authorities were caught by surprise when large numbers of people began flooding across the frontier on Monday as the Moroccan border forces looked the other way, quickly leaving the tiny […]
(Eagle News) – The Israel government press office (GPO) said the Palestine militant group Hamas which is currently occupying and ruling Gaza was “responsible for the death and injury of tens of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian civilians.” In a statement issued Wednesday, May 19 by the State of Israel’s Prime Minister’s office and the GPO, it said that Hamas — a Palestine Islamist group tagged as a terrorist organization by the United […]
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A young Pakistani was killed as he pretended to shoot himself while being filmed by friends for a TikTok video, police said Thursday. Hamidullah, 19, who police said was well-known locally on social media, held a friend’s pistol to his temple and pulled the trigger, unaware the gun was loaded. “The young man died on spot,” said Badshah Hazrat, a senior police official in the northwestern Swat Valley. While the clip […]
