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PARIS, France (AFP) — The French government on Friday announced it is bringing forward its nighttime curfew by two hours in 15 regions to help combat the coronavirus, as infections remain high. The 15 of France’s 101 departments affected by the switch from Saturday, to a curfew beginning at 6:00 pm rather than 8:00 pm, include the Les Alpes-Maritimes department where the Mediterranean city of Nice is located. The other areas are concentrated in the […]
by Ben Sheppard WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States has recorded more than 20 million cases of Covid-19, Johns Hopkins University said Friday in its real-time tally, as the New Year brought another grim milestone underlining the country’s struggle to quell the virus. The US has so far registered 20,007,149 cases and 346,408 deaths in the pandemic, the Baltimore-based university said, making it the country with by far the highest official number of […]
by Jitendra JOSHI and Phil HAZLEWOOD with Agence France Presse bureaus LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Thursday finally severed its turbulent half-century partnership with Europe, quitting the EU single market and customs union to go its own way four-and-a-half years after its shock vote to leave the bloc. Brexit, which has dominated politics on both sides of the Channel since 2016, became a reality as Big Ben struck 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) […]
by Helen ROWE with AFP bureaus From Sydney Harbour Bridge to the Acropolis, fireworks burst in skies above eerily deserted landmarks as the world ushered in the New Year with muted celebrations and said good riddance to a pandemic-ridden 2020. After a grinding year that has seen at least 1.7 million people die from Covid-19, fresh waves of infection have sparked renewed lockdowns and forced would-be revellers to extend their 2020 tradition of watching […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo reported over 1,300 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, a daily record, as officials warned that a state of emergency might be needed to tackle spiking cases. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held emergency talks with ministers late Thursday but did not immediately outline plans for any new measures. “The trend is clearly increasing. I regard this as very serious,” Suga told reporters, as he urged people to wear masks, wash […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — More than 3,900 people died of Covid-19 in the US Wednesday, according to a count released by Johns Hopkins University, a new daily record for fatalities from the virus. The Baltimore-based university said 3,927 people had died of the coronavirus in the 24 hours before 8.30 pm (0130 GMT Thursday) in the US, the worst-hit country in the world, while 189,671 new cases had been recorded. That brought the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has granted “conditional” market approval to a Sinopharm vaccine with a reported 79 percent efficacy rate against Covid-19, health authorities said Thursday, a major stride towards inoculating the world’s largest population. The Sinopharm jab, which has surged ahead of a raft of Chinese competitors during Phase 3 trials, could signal a breakthrough in the battle to squash the pandemic in Asia. Around 4.5 million doses of largely unproven emergency […]
by Jitendra JOSHI with Dave CLARK in Brussels Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain and the EU signed a post-Brexit trade deal on Wednesday, sealing their drawn-out divorce in the closing hours before the UK definitively ends its half-century European experiment. Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the heads of the European Commission and European Council, smiled at a brief televised ceremony to put their names to the 1,246-page Trade […]
by Mohamed Abdelhakim with Fawaz Al Haidari in Abu Dhabi Agence France Presse Aden, Yemen (AFP) — At least 26 people were killed when explosions rocked Yemen’s Aden airport moments after a new unity government flew in, in what some officials charged was a “cowardly” attack by Iran-backed Huthi rebels. Although all government ministers were reported to be unharmed in Wednesday’s attack, more than 50 people were wounded, medical and government sources told AFP […]
by Patrick BAERT Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — The number of coronavirus cases in the Chinese city where the pathogen was first detected may have been 10 times higher than official figures suggest, according to a study by health authorities in Wuhan. About 4.4 percent of the city’s 11 million residents had developed antibodies against the virus causing Covid-19 by April, the report by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said. […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore began a coronavirus vaccination campaign Wednesday with a nurse receiving the first jab, making it among the first Asian nations to roll out inoculations. The city-state, which has suffered a mild outbreak, became the first country in Asia to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier this month, and its programme kicked off with healthcare workers. Nurse Sarah Lim, 46, whose work includes screening suspected Covid-19 patients, was the first to be […]
by Lajla VESELICA Agence France Presse PETRINJA, Croatia (AFP) — Fresh tremors shook Croatia on Wednesday as the Adriatic country was still picking up the pieces of a deadly earthquake that claimed seven lives and reduced buildings to rubble the day before. The series of aftershocks jangled nerves in towns south of Zagreb where Tuesday’s major 6.4-magnitude flattened village homes, left gaping holes in buildings and crushed cars under mountains of bricks. Many in […]
