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by Katy LEE with AFP bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — Several European countries introduced new lockdown measures Saturday as they battled surging coronavirus infections, while Tokyo Olympics organizers were forced to announce an “unavoidable” ban on overseas fans to keep the Games safe. Residents in Poland, parts of France and Ukraine’s capital Ukraine all faced new restrictions, with most shops shut and people urged to work from home. Elsewhere in Europe, frustrations with Covid-19 curbs […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Thousands of people in Sydney’s outer suburbs were ordered to evacuate Sunday, as Australia’s east coast was hit by record rainfall and widespread flooding. Emergency services issued the evacuation orders for several low-lying areas in the city’s north-west, a day after authorities warned of potentially “life-threatening” flash floods in New South Wales state. People had already begun flocking to evacuation centers in towns north of Sydney as torrential rains on Saturday […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Makeshift barricades of bamboo, brick and burning rubber tyres have lent the streets of Myanmar’s largest city the look of an urban warzone, and now the military are forcing civilians to dismantle them, piece by piece… at gunpoint. Constructed using any material to hand, the barriers that have sprung up across Yangon offer scant protection against the live rounds the security forces have resorted to with increasing frequency and lethal effect […]
by Jeremie RICHARD GRINDAVIK, Iceland (AFP) — A volcano that spewed glowing red lava near Iceland’s capital Reykjavik after awakening for the first time in 900 years appeared to be subsiding on Saturday, posing no danger to people, experts said. Streams of red lava bubbled and flowed out of a fissure in a valley in Geldingadalur, close to Mount Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland. As the lava flow slowed under rain showers […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami advisory on Saturday, after a strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast. The quake hit at 6:09 pm (0909 GMT) in Pacific waters off Miyagi region with a depth of 60 kilometres (37 miles), the JMA said, issuing an advisory for tsunami waves of around one metre. There was no immediate reports of damage from Miyagi, and local utilities were inspecting the status […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 struck central Mexico on Friday, seismologists said, triggering alarms in the capital where anxious residents poured into the streets. Despite the panic, there were no immediate reports of injuries or significant damage. The quake struck 59 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of San Marcos in Guerrero state at a depth of 19 kilometers, according to the national seismology service. The tremor triggered Mexico City’s […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The son of one of six women of Asian descent killed when a white man went on a shooting rampage in a series of Georgia spas had raised $1.5 million Friday after setting up a GoFundMe page to help provide for himself and his younger brother. Randy Park, 23, had aimed to raise $20,000 after his mother Hyun Jung Grant was shot dead at the Gold Spa in Atlanta, […]
by Eric BARADAT Agence France Presse ATLANTA, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Friday denounced the upsurge of violence against Asian-Americans, telling a community plunged into grief after this week’s Atlanta murders that the nation must not be complicit in the face of racism and xenophobia. After meeting with leaders of Georgia’s Asian-American community, Biden delivered a brief speech at Atlanta’s Emory University, where he branded hate and racism “the ugly […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday received a first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, at the London hospital where he fought for his life almost a year ago, assuring the public the jab is safe. “I literally did not feel a thing. It was very good, very quick,” the 56-year-old leader told reporters at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London, close to his Downing Street residence. “Everybody, when […]
OSLO, Norway (AFP) — Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg is being investigated after revelations that she and her family broke the country’s Covid-19 restrictions, police said Friday. For her 60th birthday, at the end of February, Solberg gathered her family in the ski resort town of Geilo, in breach of restrictions and recommendations on limiting social interactions, public broadcaster NRK revealed on Thursday. “Against the background of information that has surfaced through the press, […]
by Deborah COLE Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Coronavirus cases in Germany are rising at a “very clearly exponential rate”, a top public health institute said Friday, as the EU’s biggest country debated tightening a shutdown. The vice president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, Lars Schaade, told reporters that highly contagious virus variants were getting the upper hand, wiping out progress seen last month in containing the pandemic. […]
by Danny Kemp with AFP Bureaus THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Leading EU countries said Thursday they would resume AstraZeneca vaccinations after the European medical regulator said the jab is “safe and effective” and not associated with a higher blood clot risk after days of commotion around the shot. The closely-watched announcement from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) came after the WHO and Britain’s health watchdog both said the vaccine was safe, adding that it […]
