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by Jordi MIRO BASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro overhauled his government Monday, changing six cabinet members including the foreign, defense and justice ministers, as the far-right leader faced mounting pressure over a deadly surge of Covid-19. Bolsonaro, who comes up for re-election in October 2022, has drawn backlash with his handling of the pandemic in hard-hit Brazil, where the average daily death toll has nearly quadrupled since the start of the year […]
by Adam PLOWRIGHT PARIS, France (AFP) — The French government has vowed to do everything possible to avoid a third national lockdown, but with cases rising sharply almost everywhere and hospitals in Paris overflowing, can it avoid another crippling shutdown? This week will be decisive for the strategy overseen by President Emmanuel Macron and his government who argue that every day without a lockdown is a bonus for France which they see as exhausted after […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Amnesty International announced on Monday it had appointed global human rights expert Agnes Callamard as its new secretary general with immediate effect. The London-based rights group said it chose Callamard, who led the recent high-profile UN probe into the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, following an extensive global search. It added that the Frenchwoman, who is in her mid-50s and previously worked for Amnesty from 1995 to 2001, […]
The World Health Organization warned Monday against a widening gap between numbers of coronavirus vaccines in wealthy countries and those distributed to poorer nations through the global Covax initiative. “The gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries, and the number of vaccines administered through Covax is growing every single day,” UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “The unequitable distribution of vaccines is not just a moral outrage, it’s also […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — A French court on Monday found pharma giant Servier guilty of “aggravated fraud” and “involuntary manslaughter” over a diabetes and weight loss pill blamed for hundreds of deaths in one of the country’s biggest recent health scandals. The drug Mediator was on the market for 33 years and used by about five million people before being pulled in 2009 over fears it could cause serious heart problems — more than a […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia has agreed a deal for more than 60 million doses of its Sputnik V vaccine to be produced in China from May, the jab’s developer said on Monday. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which has financed the development of the vaccine, said it and Shenzhen Yuanxing Gene-tech Co. “have agreed to cooperate on production of over 60 million doses” of Sputnik in China. The RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — US President Joe Biden led global condemnation of an “absolutely outrageous” crackdown by Myanmar’s junta that killed more than 100 people over the weekend, as funerals were held Monday for the victims. Soldiers and police have killed hundreds in a brutal campaign against mass anti-coup protests demanding a restoration of democracy and the release of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. At least 107 more people — including seven children […]
by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — An international expert mission to Wuhan has concluded it was very likely that Covid-19 first passed to humans from a bat through an intermediary animal, while all but ruling out a laboratory leak. The intermediate host hypothesis was deemed “likely to very likely”, while the theory that the virus escaped from a lab was seen as “extremely unlikely”, according to the long-awaited report, which AFP obtained a copy […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — The enormous container ship blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week has been turned 80 percent in the right direction, officials said Monday, raising hopes the vital trade route could soon be clear. But its owner said that while the giant ship “has turned”, it was still not yet fully unwedged. The MV Ever Given, longer than four football fields, became wedged diagonally across the canal during a sandstorm last […]
PARIS, France (AFP) Paris hospitals are fast approaching saturation point because of snowballing Covid admissions and may be forced to turn patients away, top officials warned Sunday. “There’s a feeling of anger at finding oneself in a situation that will force you to do disaster medicine,” said senior Paris hospitals official Remi Salomon. “In 10 days, 15 days or three weeks we may be overwhelmed,” he told the all-news channel BFMTV, pleading for a new […]
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — More than two million people in Brisbane were ordered into a three-day lockdown Monday after a cluster of coronavirus cases was detected in Australia’s third-biggest city. It is the second snap lockdown of the greater Brisbane area this year, and comes after seven people tested positive for Covid-19 — the first significant community outbreak in Australia in weeks. “This is the UK strain. It is highly infectious. We need to […]
by Andi Hajramurni Agence France Presse JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — An Indonesian cathedral was rocked by a suicide bombing on Sunday with body parts littering the chaotic scene as Christians inside celebrated the start of the Catholic Church’s Holy Week. The powerful blast at the church in Makassar city on Sulawesi island happened around 10:30 am local time (0330 GMT) and left at least 14 church officials and congregants injured by debris, police said. […]
